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![[OPINION] Aunty Mo: Her Story - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/6178819b9269ded06bff2c0d38596c40_L.jpg)
Mosun Belo-Olusoga. I am Tamramat: The Fruit of God’s Mercy, 2024, 247 pp.
“EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN accordance with God’s plan and just as ordained by Him. Our course in life is charted and guided by His plans. While things may not always go as we initially intended, with benefit of hindsight, we see the wisdom of it. Maybe if everything had happened the way I wanted; married early, had children early, I probably wouldn’t be as appreciative or as devout as I am today.
Being human, we can easily forget the role God plays when everything happens according to our expectations and plans. I’m not perfect, but I have a close relationship with God and I have a lot to be grateful to Him for.” (p. 235)
The foregoing excerpt from Mrs Mosun Belo-Olusoga’s autobiography, I am Tamramat:The Fruit of God’s Mercy, more or less summarizes the thematic focus of her reflections on her life and times, even if at 67, she is still young enough to have opportunities for further reflections in her journey of life, but within the space of 67 years so far, she offers in this book a very rich account of where she has been, how she has lived her life, the pains and the joys, the trauma and the thrill of that intensely personal, and unique journey. My immediate take is that she tells a good story, that is at once relatable, delivered in an unpretentious, convivial tone, that draws you into the narrative and compels the reader, willy-nilly to reflect on his or her own individual journey. Life after all is a journey, the only destination is death, but in-between that polarity is the stuff that defines our destiny, experience and impact. Mrs. Olusoga falls into the ranks of women in Nigeria and Africa today who literally and practically broke the limits and chains of gender, and displaced the glass ceiling to record a number of remarkable firsts that should be a source of inspiration to womankind. She has a story to tell, and it is brilliantly told.
Mrs Olusoga, or Aunty Mo as she is more popularly known to many, is the first female Executive Director of Guaranty Trust Bank (now GT Bank); first female Director and Chairman, Board of Access Bank, first female Director, Premium Pension, first African Director, Global Banking Alliance for Women in Banking (now Financial Alliance for Women); President, Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN); first female Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Olabisi Onabanjo University, and first co-chair, Women Corporate Directors, Nigerian Chapter. She is also a proud recipient of two Honorary Doctorate Degrees - in Finance from Crescent University and in Accounting from Al Hikman University. With this brief profile alone, she is without question in the same class as the Amazons of Africa who have proven the strength and value of the girl-child in a continent where patriarchy predominates and the girl-child was traditionally seen in many traditional communities as a material best fit for matrimony under a man’s control. Exposure to Western education had helped to knock the stands off the stools of patriarchy especially among the Yoruba of the South West of Nigeria where the author hails from, and parents learnt early to treat every child as equal and the girl-child as an individual with inalienable rights. Aunty Mo is not alone in this category. Nigeria is a country of remarkable Amazons whose footprints have endured over the years and the times: Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Mrs Margaret Ekpo, Hajia Gawaba Sambo and in more recent seasons, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. Ibukun Awosika, Mrs Osaretin Demuren, Dr. Dere Awosika, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, and many who through their careers in the public space project a stronger narrative about the place of women in society.
This is why I consider Aunty Mo’s book, a motivational and inspirational book which must be read by all the young women out there who think that their main purpose in life is to “slay”, expose as much flesh as possible to attract rich men and live a life of comfort as “a kept woman”. The likes of Aunty Mo provide better case studies for the centering of womanhood in gender studies. It is possible to be a “Disco Baby” as she once was as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan where she got her first degree in Economics, Second Class Upper Category, and yet she went on to work at Coopers and Lybrand as an articled Accountant. There, she later qualified as a Chartered Accountant. She was winner of the first-place award for ICAN (Institute of Chartered Accountants) in the May 1983 set, and was also the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) Merit Award winner for the best graduating female student in that year. Her father, who was himself a Chartered Accountant, founder of Akanji Belo and Co, a firm of Chartered Accountants, was of course proud of his daughter! Her SWAN award was handed over to her by yet another distinguished woman of history, Mrs. Toyin Olakunrin, the first female Chartered Accountant in sub-Saharan Africa and the second female President of ICAN.
Aunty Mo sprinted forwards and faster, steadily and confidently. She would soon leave Coopers and Lybrand where she had worked since graduation as an auditor to go into banking. Her first stop was at Continental Merchant Bank -and here she quickly learned the ropes as a banker- Budget and Finance Department, Loans Syndication, Credit and Marketing. In 1990, she joined GT bank as a pioneer staff. The book assumes a different tone at this point where Aunty Mo talks about her experience at Continental Merchant Bank (CMB) and the “University of Guaranty Trust” as she refers to GT bank in the early days. This section of the book should be of interest to both males and females in any career whatsoever. Basically, in Chapters Three and Four, and in sequences, Aunty Mo narrates the story of her banking career before the rewards that came together in Chapter Eight which is instructively titled “Arriving At the Summit”. Between Chapters Three and Eight, the author shares the story of how she got to that summit. In this regard, one of my favourite quotes in this book is when she writes at page 138 that “In life you get what you put in”. And we see a clear demonstration of this in terms of what she put into her career as a banker. This book is not just about her as a person but the story of her career.
It is about GT bank majorly and also about Access Bank, and about all the persons who worked with her in all the departments either in Credit or Transaction Services, or on the boards where she ended up as Director or Chairman. It is a book about the building of institutions, even beyond banking. But banking is the core focus. GT Bank once decided: We must beat Citibank. “That year, we beat Citibank. We were the first bank to make one billion Naira profit in Nigeria.” (p. 85). Mrs Olusoga provides a Master Class on how to build institutions and sustain excellence. There are ample lessons here again for young persons seeking to build and excel in any career of their choice.
As Aunty Mo advised, at page 138 indeed, “in life you get what you put in”. This is an eternal law of nature. What a man sows he reaps. It is the same as well for businesses and careers. The author was so immersed in work and career, she almost forgot to marry. She had to be reminded again and again that she had been left behind on the shelf. Her youngest sister even got married 10 years before her. At one point she lived in Iyana Ipaja, and had to get to work by 6 am in Ikoyi. She would later move to Ilupeju, and go through the early commute from the Mainland to the Island. Even when she was given an official residence on the island, she had to stay behind in Ilupeju because her husband, by the way she finally left the shelf at the age of 36, did not like the idea of an official accommodation. She stood by her husband! She was right at the centre of the renaissance in the banking industry in Nigeria in the 1980s and yet privately, in her personal life, she had to play the balancing act between career and private life. There is yet another lesson here for younger women in her position who are enormously conflicted about how to strike that balance and juggle the balls, most of them curved balls, that life throws at the career-oriented woman. I would like to stress this personal tale.
Most women are under pressure to get married but Aunty Mo is clear-minded about this and it is better to quote her directly: “The pressure to get married became even more intense,” she writes. “People said all sorts of things…One of my uncles suggested I park my car for a while and commute by bus. “Maybe you will see somebody who will give you a lift”, he told me. It was absurd. If someone was intimidated by my car, would I forever play a role that wasn’t mine? I tell young people today not to shrink themselves to boost someone’s fragile ego. A lot of ladies say they don’t want to appear smart, intelligent, or beautiful, in order not to intimidate men. In choosing a life partner, one has to be careful and strategic. That’s the truth. A spouse has to be somebody who would support you and not feel insecure, even if you are earning more. I used to earn more than Ope. He was working with the Government and I was working with a bank…” Ope was her husband. He was a staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lagos State and a farmer. She was then an Assistant Manager at Continental Merchant Bank. They got married in July 1993. He died before their daughter, Nadirah was born, after a long, moving struggle with IVF.
This is also a book about family. Aunty Mo is a family person in both the nuclear and the extended sense. If you ever worked with her or grew up with her or crossed her path, and you didn’t get mentioned by her in this book, it simply means in the view of this reviewer that you did not make enough impression on her to be remembered. I should put that in context though. I mean within the time frame covered by the book, after all, hers is a living and continuing story. This review, in other words, is titled “Aunty Mo: Her Story” but this is also the story of other people, their connections with her and their humanity. Her siblings, cousins and nephews are all over the pages: her parents, uncles, family friends that became family, cousins as well as all the characters at every place where she worked, especially the ones that became family: Herbert Wigwe, Aig-Imokhuede and his wife, Ofovwe, Fola Adeola, Tayo Aderinokun. Chapter Five: “The Threads that Bind Me”, Chapter Six: “The Journeys That Ended”, and Chapter Nine: “The Fruit of God’s Mercy” are about the value of family. In Chapter Nine, the author narrates the story of how suddenly, shortly after the celebration of her 60th birthday, she came down with a condition known as TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS (TEN). She was in induced coma for four months and bedridden for close to a year and she received treatment for about two years. Her family stood up for her. The characters come alive: from LB to Funlade and his wife Chris, Aunty Oyinade, Sola, Mama J, Dr. K., Toki, Queen, Herbert and Aig. The sombre moments in the book are tear-inducing because of the sheer honesty and empathy of the experience. Aunty Mo’s life is a story of trials and triumphs.
And yet in this book, there are hearty moments for humour, wit, laughter and nostalgia that the reader can easily connect with. For example, at page 16, there is the Indian neighbour with the waggling head and spicy curry aroma, and at page 125, the author narrates the story of how a woman who had come to commiserate with the family at her mother’s funeral in Ijebu Ode consumed a three-course meal of eba, rice and ikokore. So she writes “…this was a woman who said my mother’s death was too bitter a pill for her to swallow. Had it not been that bitter, she probably would have swallowed more food. When we buried my father, it shocked me to realise that people could eat on such a sad occasion. When we were cooking and making provision for over a thousand guests, I believed nobody would eat. But the food was exhausted!” People ate despite being sad!” The author’s parents died decades ago. These days, families have to engage security agents to secure food items at funerals out of fear that hoodlums could storm the venue and make way with food meant for guests. Nigeria has now changed so much that at funeral parties, guests could be seen with take away packs, struggling to steal extra food. It is indeed not difficult to see how much society has changed. As a young woman, Aunty Mo grew up in a society where a woman could drive safely around the city, or trek from one village to another without fear of being molested. There was no kidnapping. In those days also, families sent their children to live with other families. Today, Nigerians have lost that sense of community. In those days, it was not a big deal to go and study abroad because Nigerian schools and universities were as good as any other in the world. When she graduated from University in those days, employers of labour were waiting to recruit fresh graduates. Most Nigerian university graduates are on the roads today in search of jobs that do not exist.
Aunty Mo writes about projects that are dear to her heart, her life joys: she is the founder of a training consultancy - the Knowledge and Resource Centre Limited (KRC) and the secondary school she has established along the Benin-Ijebu Ode Expressway, the City of Knowledge Academy (CKA) which is building a young generation of future achievers with the ethical pillars of Culture, Character and Confidence. She also writes about her daughter, Nadirah but she is clearly maternalistic and preachy, the conservative, old-school mummy that she is, trying to cope with inter-generational differences. A good book overall, eminently readable and instructive, even though there are loud moments of silence that the author covers up. There are also a number of editorial errors as the book progresses. The publisher also forgot to insert an identity imprint nor an ISBN number. These are oversights that should be corrected in a future reprint. Nonetheless, a brilliantly written memoir, recommended enthusiastically for general reading.
![[OPINION] Tinubu’s Cabinet Reshuffle And Other Stories - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/1c295e320c7f3143c4a29eafc442d784_L.jpg?t=20241029_152336)
“Bros how you dey oh”
“Omo, body still dey inside cloth. We dey push am.”
How for do? Man no die, man no leave one place, all of us just dey.”
“God works in mysterious ways.”
“But how you come take this their cabinet reshuffle?”
“Underwhelming. An anti-climax. What is all the noise about? I can’t see it.”
“Which noise?”
“The President had announced the cabinet reshuffle a month ago. Then he travelled abroad and we were told he didn’t want to be put under pressure by anybody. Then he returns from England and France and he says, he is announcing eight key actions to boost efficiency. I don’t see what he has done that will increase any efficiency.”
“The Ministry of the Niger Delta is now a Ministry of Regional Development. That is something in case you are looking for something.”
“Just a bloated bureaucracy. The Ministry of Niger Delta caters to the interest of the oil producing states which stretch beyond the South South. It includes states like Imo, Abia and Ondo. How about the people of the North Central. They have HYPADEC but that is a development Commission focusing on hydro power. The North East Development Commission is targeted at banditry. I don’t see a convergence. What I see is confusion. I can’t see light or sense in the decision.”
“Maybe you will see sense then in the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.”
“No. I do not either. The Ministry of Tourism is so important. It should stand on its own. We may have had a Minister who could not rise to the occasion, but what is the point, subordinating the Ministry to another Ministry that already has its hands full.”
“Come off it. Tourism is not that strategic.”
“You say? Oh my. Oh my. Can you just listen to yourself? Are you aware that some countries depend on tourism for revenue? People visit countries like France, Spain, United States, Italy, Turkey, Morocco, the UK, Greece, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Japan, China, Maldives, United Arab Emirates because those countries have something to offer. The number of people who visit your country is a measure of how welcoming, attractive, risk-averse your country is. In Spain, tourism is such a major part of the local economy that the locals in cities like San Sebastian are even protesting that tourists should stay away from their city. They are complaining about over-tourism. The people of Canary Islands are also protesting. They say tourists are pushing up rentals, pricing out locals. Residents in Italy and Greece have also taken to the streets. In a year, about 90 million people visit Spain. Over a 100 million visit France. The potential in that industry is so huge, there was no point merging the Ministry with another one. The President doesn’t get it. I wonder who advised him on that course of action.”
“The statement that they issued was signed by the Presidency. No name. No date. Who is the Presidency? Too many flip flops.”
“Imagine that.”
“They have also gone back to the old days of the National Sports Commission by scrapping the Ministry of Sports.”
Now, I don’t get it. I don’t get it because I thought John Enoh was doing a good job as Minister of Sports. He came across as a very enthusiastic man. Now they have demoted him, making him the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment.”
“He would be working with someone that I think knows her subject though. Dr Jumoke Oduwole has a significant and relevant experience having served previously as a Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC, ease of doing business and Investment Law. Her experience and expertise combined with Enoh’s energy and enthusiasm, if they can forge a good working relationship, may help.”
“But as for the man in the Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, he is basically a football person. We need to grow the sports sector beyond football, and develop other sports. Does he have a broad view of the assignment? Already his colleagues in Football House are already saying the appointment is for them, not just one man. My view is that there is so much potential in sports that Nigeria can develop, beyond the obsession with football.”
“By the way, your friend Sunday Dare is back. He is now Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation.”
“Meaning what? They say he is going to be in the Ministry of Information, not the Presidency. To do what exactly in the Ministry? The Ministry already has a Director-General of the National Orientation Agency. There is a Minister. It would have been best to name Dare Minister of State, to give him a leverage instead of hanging him afloat between the Ministry and the Presidency”.
“I want to think the President knows what he is doing. It is his prerogative to hire and fire. The discretion is his. He can delegate as he wishes.”
“Is that why he has Yorubas all over the place in all the important positions? It is his right to run a government as he deems fit. But it is also our right to talk. Nobody can stop us from talking.”
“Yes. You have been talking and talking. What difference has your talk, talk ever made? Talk. Keep talking. Are you aware that this cabinet reshuffle was based on a review of performance of the Ministers by the Central Delivery Co-ordination Unit led by Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman? The reshuffle is based on empirical facts and findings”
“That is a lie. Have you seen the report by Hadiza Bala-Usman?”
“No.”
“So, why would you or anyone jump to the conclusion that the President followed her recommendations? I don’t think so. The President sacks five Ministers, appoints seven new ones, and redeploys 10 Ministers. He used to have 45 Ministers, now he has ended up with 48, with four from Ogun State alone!”
“His prerogative sir!”
“Stop saying it is his prerogative. Is that a new word you just learnt? We are all in this together. This is a democracy, and the last time I checked we have the right to talk. The President removed the Minister of Women Affairs. Okay, I agree, the woman was very controversial, but very loyal. She must be grateful she was made a Minister in the first place. Lola Ade-John, Jamila Bio Ibrahim, and Abdullahi Gwarzo – those ones left the same way they came quietly. But why would the President remove a man like Tahir Mamman, former Vice Chancellor, former DG of the Nigerian Law School and replace him with a medical doctor from Lagos State. I know they say Dr. Alausa is also a university person, but what is Professor Tahir Mamman’s offence”
“I can only think of two things. He was Vice Chancellor of a university belonging to the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections. He has also been very controversial with all this talk about age eligibility for university admissions. That is one policy that will be scrapped, you will see, because it only hurts people from the South.”
“There are many other Ministers that Nigerians would have preferred to be turned adrift from the cabinet. The Ministers in critical positions should have been sent away. You are talking about controversy. Wike is the most controversial person in that cabinet. The President could have scored a goal by going for the big ones to signal a change of direction. He sacks the easy ones, and tells us about “eight key actions”. I beg.”
“Mr. Bayo Onanuga has said in one television interview that the cabinet reshuffle reflects the feelings and opinions of Nigerians.”
“That is, again, a lie. I don’t know anybody who thinks this goes far enough or that it is any important message. No. I insist. No”
“I think the President is going somewhere. For all you know, he may be testing waters. If he wakes up two months down the line and he says he wants to change the cabinet again, can anyone query him? The answer is No.”
“The Senate can reject his nominees”
“Which Senate? This 10th National Assembly will rubber stamp anything President Bola Tinubu brings to them. I can bet on that.”
“There you are!”
“But I am still convinced that this President is going somewhere that we may not know yet. He has just for example said no Minister should go about with more than three official vehicles and five security details.”
“That is like saying nothing. In 2003, the Obasanjo administration introduced a monetization policy to cover vehicle loans, domestic staff, accommodation – the whole range. I am not aware that the policy has been abrogated. Under President Jonathan, no Minister used more than three cars by the way. How? Why? But today, Ministers use sirens and fly flags in what is clearly a break-down of law and order.”
“One by one, President Tinubu will get there”
“Oh yes, by the time we have all lost flesh. The government keeps getting fatter, we are asked to make sacrifices and be patient. What stops the President from reducing his cabinet to a team of just 16 persons? I don’t even know the names of most of the Ministers because they have done nothing, said nothing, and yet they enjoy privileges. I even hear that some people are saying a new aircraft should be bought for the Vice President.”
“Poor fellow. I heard he could not go to the Commonwealth Summit because his aircraft had an incident in JFK Airport in New York. The President has bought an aircraft for himself. The Navy has bought a yacht. They should buy something for the VP too.”
“Now you are talking from both sides of the mouth. And you know I do not like hypocrisy.”
“So, what do you want me to say? The Speaker of the Borno House of Assembly says the life of the VP is at risk, because his aircraft is bad. Why should the VP travel about in a faulty aircraft?”
“He can travel commercial”
“Hen hen. Just don’t play Ngbati politics with me. Your Yoruba brother can enjoy luxury, but the Borrno man should manage. This is the problem with us in this country.””
“The problem with all Nigerians is that we tend to see everything form an ethnic or personal angle. This is why an Asari Dokubo would have the guts to say that President Tinubu has disappointed him. What does he want? Him too wan be Minister?”
“I am sorry, you are losing me. I don’t want to talk about Asari Dokubo, Bobrisky, Very Dark Man or this musician, what do they call him? Portable.”
“It pains me though that Nigeria was not at the Commonwealth Summit in Samoa. I know we sent the Minister of Environment but the VP would have been a better fit to speak on the key issues of climate change and reparations.”
“Your Minister of Environment is one of those persons that I think are sleep-walking through this administration. I have seen the Vice President in action before. He is smarter, far more intelligent than most of the Ministers. Well read. Suave. Good choice. But as for the Ministers, I beg”
“What a world we live in? Who would have thought the subject of reparation would come back on the table? I recall that this was Chief MKO Abiola’s project, he wanted the injustice of the British Empire to be addressed. Now the Caribbean countries are saying yes, this is the way to go.”
“Don’t mind the British. They have forgotten that in 1833, the same Britain paid reparations for the slave trade between the 15thand 19th Centuries, but now in 2024, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer and King Charles III are now saying we should talk about the past, but we should focus on the future. No reparations. No apologies. And Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, says there is no money to give anybody but Britain can offer reparatory justice. Justice as they would define it.”
“Can you blame them? The Labour Party in Britain is at this moment trying to prevent austerity, by seeking ways to plug a black hole of about 22 billion pounds, cut public sector spending, raise taxes including National Insurance, and reform the NHS. Not the right time to pay reparations and they won’t. Tomorrow, Rachel Reeves will unveil the Starmer administration’s budget. I miss MKO”
“MKO is our man oh. He fought for reparation. It is good to see that his idea lives. All the former British colonies in the South Pacific, Australia and CARICOM are calling for reparations. Last week in Canberra, Australia, the King was booed at the House of Parliament by Senator Linda Thorpe, an indigenous, First Nation lawmaker who screamed - You are Not my King!”
“I am sure we will hear more, particularly now that an African is the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth. Shirley Botchwey, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. She follows in the footsteps of Nigeria’s Chief Emeka Anyaoku.”
“Great man. Great. Unfortunately, the Tinubu administration is not grooming or appointing new diplomats. It has been more than a year since Nigeria recalled its ambassadors from all over the world. They are yet to be replaced. Why? A government that says it is interested in global investments should have ambassadors all over the world. Why not? The world is changing, re-aligning, look at BRICS. India, Russia, China. Where is Nigeria?”
“I think our President will get round to things.”
“Let him buckle up. Your man should wake up.”
“You know I am more optimistic than you. What if the President wakes up tomorrow and he decides to shake up the Departments and Agencies. These are the real drivers of government. He can shake things up, so radically you would almost apologize for all your critical words.”
“Forget apology. We are just saying the President should learn to do what is right at the right time, the right way and manner.That is the way forward.”
“I see. I see. I get it. But we will see”.
![[OPINION] Between The States And EFCC & Ors. - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/bbeb5bf478448190c3b86a73d723fcc4_M.jpg?t=20241022_043431)
Today, October 22, is the day that has been set aside by the Supreme Court of Nigeria for the hearing and the consolidation of the suit brought before the Court in the matter between 16 states of the Federation and the Attorney General of the Federation to determine the legality or otherwise, to wit the constitutionality or otherwise also, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Proceeds of Crimes Act. The suit originally filed by the AG Kogi State- SC/CV/178/2023 - has now been joined by 15 other states. Out of these, 13 are expressly questioning the legality of the EFCC and similar anti-graft agencies, and they are asking the Supreme Court to nullify all such commissions created outside the province of Constitutional provisions. Two states – Ogun and Cross River States are challenging the assumed powers of the NFIU to dictate how much states can withdraw or control with regard to funds appropriated by the House of Assembly. The co-plaintiffs and those who seek consolidation will appear today before a seven-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji. This is an interesting development, with regard to the public interest law dimension of the case, and the response from the public and stakeholders have been robust, plus the fact that the enabling framework for public institutions and the Constitution itself end up being strengthened when they are tested and interpreted in the courts.
The issues in this case can be easily summarized as follows. One, the plaintiffs argue that the EFCC Act is unconstitutional. It is a product of a United Nations Convention against corruption, and was not ratified in accordance with Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Section 12 of the Constitution says no treaty can have the force of law in Nigeria until it is ratified by a majority of all the Houses of Assembly in the Federation. The states argue that the EFCC Act cannot be applied to them because they were not party to it. They argue that the agencies lack the powers and the authority to investigate and prosecute matters related to the misappropriation of public funds. They cite Joseph Nwobike vs FRN as the authority to back up their claim. The Defendant, the Attorney General of the Federation argues that the concurrence of the states as stakeholders was not necessary to make the EFCC Act valid. Two, at least three states argue that the NFIU cannot investigate, requisition documents, arrest, or invite anyone with regard to how the states manage funds. Three, the states insist that they have the right to establish their own anti-graft agencies and not be answerable to any federal agency since this is a Federation.
The case has generated considerable interest from both lawyers and non-lawyers alike with everyone trying not to pre-empt the Supreme Court. But the point has been well made that this is not the first time that the legality of the EFCC, and the NFIU et al. has been raised and that there are precedents. Analysts have cited the cases of Olafisoye v. FRN (2004) where the court upheld the powers of the anti-corruption agencies to do their work, and AG Ondo State v. AG Federation (2002) where the court ruled that the National Assembly has the powers to legislate on corruption related matters with regard to Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution, and Section 4(2). In Olafisoye’s case, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly has the exclusive powers to legislate over corruption matters which would seem to nullify the claim by the states that they would rather establish their own anti-graft agencies. The objection to the NFIU is rooted in the desperate attempts by the states to control local government funds and defeat the goals of financial autonomy for local councils. In 2019, the state governments had a running battle with the NFIU which had given a directive that no state government must touch funds meant for the local councils. The NFIU gave specific guidelines that the states should transfer funds meant for the councils accordingly and that withdrawal from the same account by the local councils must not exceed N500, 000 per day. Withdrawals must also be duly reported to the NFIU. The Governors insisted that the states-local councils joint account is a creation of the constitution and it was wrong to describe the local government system as a third tier of government. The Nigerian Governors Forum sued the FG and NFIU. In 2022, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja ruled in favour of the defendants. Again in 2024, the Supreme Court further affirmed the financial autonomy of the country’s 774 local governments. It is therefore not surprising that the states and the Governors who have turned the local councils into mere appendages are now also approaching the Supreme Court. In both major issues, the plaintiffs seem to have found a loophole in the enabling acts of the anti-graft agencies which they hope to put through the furnace of judicial test.
Two legal luminaries, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Dr. Olisa Agbakoba and Mr. Femi Falana have offered their perspectives on the subject. Agbakoba, in separate letters titled “Re: Urgent Legislative Attention on Constitutional Reforms Relating to Law Enforcement Agencies and Anti-Corruption Efforts” written to the Senate and the House of Representatives, without holding brief for the state governments, submitted that the EFCC was “unconstitutionally established” and hence, “an unlawful organization”. He said the National Assembly acted ultra vires, simply exceeded its authority under Section 4 of the Constitution, and that is why the states are challenging the validity of the EFCC. Agbakoba SAN made specific demands: (a) that the enabling framework setting up the EFCC has to be reviewed because the EFCC appears to be working at cross-purposes with the Nigeria Police Force; (b) that the National Assembly should organize a public hearing to consider constitutional issues to discuss needed reforms in line with section 13 of the Constitution; (c) that the National Assembly should reform the EFCC by clearly defining its mandate to prevent future abuses. When he appeared on Arise News flagship programme, The Morning Show, Agbakoba went a step further, by reminding everyone that the EFCC legislation was passed in two days in 2003- the fastest legislation ever passed in Nigeria (!), and many mistakes were made. He wants the mistakes in the EFCC Act reviewed. But the high point of the interview was when Dr. Agbakoba, saying the EFCC has not been effective, railed: “These guys are terrorists; in my view they terrorize us; they use their might in their red coats to terrorize us. Once you say EFCC, you are scared. That is not what a law enforcement agency should be. They ought to be better.”
Femi Falana SAN, disagrees with some of the points raised by his brother Silk. He has also written his own separate letters to the Senate and the House of Representatives to counter Agbakoba’s submissions. He said that contrary to Agbakoba’s claim, the Supreme Court has consistently supported the ICPC and the EFCC (Nyame vs. FRN; AG Ondo vs. AG Federation); and that no illegality can be established with regard to claims about violations of the principles of federalism (Olafisoye vs FRN). Falana further contends that it is the duty of the state to “abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power” and that the EFCC is a common agency with constitutional authority. He deplores the attempt by the state governments to frustrate the prosecution of public officers. Falana’s main conclusion is that the National Assembly should entrench the legality of the EFCC and ICPC in the Constitution as part of the ongoing Constitution amendment process – a point to which Agbakoba says he concurs.
Having thus raised the facts of the case, the issues involved, rules as established in precedents, and expert opinions of senior counsel, it remains for us to await the ruling of the Supreme Court exercising its original and inherent jurisdictions in what is clearly a matter of public policy. Despite the precedents that have been quoted, it is up to the Justices of the apex court to either affirm or reverse themselves. Nonetheless, certain conclusions can be reached.
It must be remembered that in 2003, Nigeria was heavily in debt to the tune of about US$35. 9 billion. The Obasanjo administration embarked on the historic and important mission of getting debt relief for the country. The country was spending more on interest payments for its debt, with debt to GDP ratio at about 58%. Nigeria needed help and President Obasanjo was committed to getting help to rescue the country. In October 2000, the Obasanjo administration established the Debt Management Office (DMO). The country’s efforts to secure debt relief soon met a brickwall, when the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-listed Nigeria along with 22 other countries, that is countries that could not combat financial crimes like corruption and money laundering as well as terrorism financing. To make progress the Nigerian government had to set up anti-corruption agencies - the EFCC and the ICPC. Both bodies were products of expediency, but the outcomes were pleasant. In October 2005, Nigeria and the Paris Club reached a final agreement of $18 billon debt relief and reduction of Nigeria’s debt stock by $30 billion. About 18 years later, it is most unfortunate that Nigeria’s external debt has since crossed the $41 billion mark! The country is back in the debt trap. In the intervening years, the EFCC traced about N776 billion fraud cases, stolen only by public officials. In 2024 alone, this year, the EFCC has secured 3, 175 convictions and recovered N156 billion.
So, is this a case of corruption fighting back? Dele Oyewale, EFCC spokesperson claims that there is a push-back against the EFCC because it has been so effective. We must note the concern that has been expressed however that the EFCC has been too histrionic in its efforts and selective in its operations creating the impression that it can be used as a tool of political witch-hunt by whoever is in power at the centre. Some past Governors are shielded from prosecution while some others are specially targeted. What the EFCC requires is to be seen to be fair to all parties concerned and be above board. Fairness is at the heart of any justice administration process. This is what Agbakoba SAN alludes to when he dismisses the EFCC as a terror organization. The National Assembly has been accused of not following due process in establishing the EFCC, but even if that were established, would that render all acts by the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies a nullity? Under the doctrine of covering the field, the validity of the exercise of the National Assembly’s powers under Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution can be upheld. The state has a responsibility to check corruption, and over the years, we have seen the ingenuity of Nigerians in both public and private places to take what is not theirs. The closer many Nigerians get to the proverbial national cake, the more covetous they become. Agbakoba says “once you say EFCC, you are scared”. Well, the situation is so bad, somebody needs to scare Nigerians. Even with the best efforts of the various anti-graft agencies, Nigeria has consistently ranked poorly on the Global Transparency Index. The country grapples with a worsening reputational damage.
We should therefore not throw the baby away with the bath water. Nigeria needs the anti-graft agencies now more than the country did in 2003. Indeed, in February 2023, the FATF added Nigeria again to the list of countries that have been grey-listed. The country is required to implement an action plan comprising 19 items before May 2025 to avoid the certain prospect of moving from “the Grey List” to the “Black List.” This certainly is not the best of times for Nigeria to start talking about nullifying its anti-graft agencies. Perhaps, the better option lies in the middle ground between Agbakoba and Falana.
Agbakoba is right when he says the EFCC is in urgent need of reform. The agency must be seen to be acting always within the ambits of the law. In recent times, EFCC officials showed too much overzealousness, exposing the institution to public ridicule and the derision of the persons they had declared wanted. For example, the former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello who had been declared wanted by the EFCC showed up at the EFCC headquarters only to be told by the people who had declared him wanted locally and internationally to go back home. Then, in the evening of the same day, they went hunting for him, shooting in the air, and terrorizing the public. Just in case there are too many people in the EFCC who are addicts of Hollywood and Nollywood films, they should be re-directed to where they can make the best use of their talents. Such persons tend to turn EFCC operations into movie-like engagements. Nollywood is a fast-growing industry that can accommodate more talents. The EFCC should stay firmly on the path of professionalism.
Both Falana and Agbakoba agree that there is a need to “constitutionalize” the EFCC. This is important. Whatever grey areas may exist in the enabling acts of the anti-graft agencies can be corrected through amendments to constitutional provisions and the acts. The EFCC, ICPC, NFIU should see the latest development not as evidence that they are working so that is why they are being resisted. This should be an opportunity for soul-searching and reflection, and a re-dedication to core organizational goals and objectives. Nigerians are calling for the abolition of the agencies because of shortcomings that they have observed. EFCC officials are known, for example, for engaging in all kinds of tactics. At a point, the EFCC Chairman himself had to complain that there are corrupt elements in the EFCC. Going forward, EFCC officials must be made to declare their assets. People fighting corruption must not be seen to be living above their means. Many Nigerians wonder why anti-corruption agents become so rich. This was how the police lost the trust of the public. EFCC officials must focus on their core task of fighting financial and economic crimes. They should not allow themselves to be used as debt recovery agents looking for commissions. They must stop media trial. They must stop supporting politicians as they were accused of doing in the last general elections. There is a Manual on operational guidelines for the EFCC prepared by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. They must abide by those guidelines, and resist the temptation to become an organization where anything goes. The EFCC needs its own ombudsman to make it more professional, ethical and law-abiding.
![[OPINION] Tinubu, Paul Biya And Birthday Tributes - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/38ad1940cea313778830d7e30d456bdf_M.jpg?t=20241015_133620)
“Bros, na wah for you oh. How person go dey call you, you no go pick call?”
“A beg. My head no straight these days.”
“Are you okay? You sick?”
“I sick. I sick well, well, well.”
What is the matter? And your wife could not call family? These women! What is going on?”
“I sick oh. Because my salary can no longer take me home. Nobody is increasing salaries. They don’t even pay as at when due anymore. When I buy fuel, the thing evaporates in 24 hours. My heart is perpetually pumping up and down. My body aches. And Madam is putting me under pressure that we have not yet paid the children’s school fees. I am sick. I can feel it in my bones. Have you not noticed that the fuel we buy these days simply evaporates?
“My brother. Bros. Na wah.”
“Tell me where are we going in this country?”
“President Tinubu and his wife are certain that we are going somewhere that is good. Mrs. Tinubu made the point the other day that we, Nigerians are not seeing what the Lord is doing and that in two years, we will all see the truth.”
“Like Saul who became Paul on the road to Damascus. I beg. Let nobody deceive me. Na hungry I hungry, I am not blind oh. I can see what is going on in Nigeria. What is the Lord doing in Nigeria that Mrs. Tinubu is talking about? She goes to Ife, visits her alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University and donates one billion Naira. What does she do for a living? Where did she get the money from? And then she says we, Nigerians must learn to work hard. Oh. Oh. These people. So, I don’t have one billion Naira because I am lazy? And then on top of it all, the Ooni of Ife erects a fake gold statue in her honour. Rochas Okorocha Iberiberism in Ife! And I am here, looking for quality fuel. This country is not okay, I swear.”
“E lo fokan bale. I believe that everything will be okay. President Tinubu is working on it. He is on a working vacation. From England to France. As a Christian, I believe that you will soon see what the Lord is doing.”
“I can see what is going on. We must stop blackmailing God in this matter. I can see that the leaders of Nigeria do not care enough about us. They are going about in luxury jets, SUVs, yachts, and Nigerians are told to work harder and be patient. It is the slave master’s logic. And the President says he is on a working vacation. Okay, what working vacation? It is either you are on vacation which is legitimate, perfectly legitimate. But you are working and you are on vacation? What an oxymoron! And Mrs. Tinubu gets a statue in Ile Ife? As what?” Tell me.”
“As our wife. First Lady. Mother of the Nation. Yoruba wife.”
“I have told you. We are not okay in this country.”
“But I disagree with you that the President cannot go on a working vacation? Mr. Bayo Onanuga has made it clear that the President can run this country from anywhere on the planet. If he so wishes he can leave France and go to Australia and stay there till the end of the year.”
“No. No. No. I disagree. Number One. Why must he always go to Britain and France? Number Two. It is not true that he can stay away from Nigeria for as long as he likes. Sections 145 and 146 of the 1999 Constitution are very clear. If he is going to be away due to vacation or incapacitation, he is required by the Constitution to hand over to his Deputy. Did he hand over to the Vice President? Did he inform the National Assembly? He just carried his bags and said he was going on a working vacation? President Tinubu is undermining the Nigerian Constitution.”
“It is his prerogative. He is President. He can delegate as he wishes. The Nigerian President is a monarch. That is the truth.”
“They say he is on a working vacation. I want to know what work he has done. He had to leave Britain just when that country was hosting business leaders from every part of the world to discuss the future of investment and Britain’s economic growth. It would have been a great networking opportunity for Nigeria. But our President left.”
“Again. You miss the point. The International Investment Summit in Central London was strictly by invitation. Elon Musk who wanted to be at the Summit, so desperately, was not invited. Other leaders in the world were not invited. The Summit is not a gathering of the tribes and former colonies.”
“Okay I get the point. Nigeria was not considered important enough. So what work did President Tinubu do or that you know that he did during this working vacation? Nigerians have the right to know”
“No. You cannot order the President around. He is not your prisoner. He is a monarch. Get that straight. Why do Nigerians think that because this is a democracy, they can order the President and his wife around anyhow? What is wrong with us? In fact, we should count ourselves lucky. The people of Cameroon have just been told that it is a breach of national security to talk about the whereabouts of President Paul Biya. Biya was last seen in September when he appeared on television at a function in Beijing. He is 91 years old. He has been ruling Cameroon for more than 41 years, the second longest ruling monarch after Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Tinubu is just two years on the throne, you are looking for him. Come on man, he is still better than Paul Biya. I dare say he is even better than President Buhari who spent a total of more than a year outside the country.”
“And is that good for Nigeria? I ask. Answer. Is that how anybody should run a serious country?”
“Don’t worry yourself, Nigeria will survive. We will always survive. President Tinubu told us, have you forgotten? E lo fokan bale.”
“I have my doubts. I am anxious. Which fokan bale is that? Very soon men will lose their wives because they will no longer be men at home. Wives will give up their husbands and homes will be ruined.”
“Be patient bro. Two years.”
“Two years, with this hardship?”
“Something will come up. Naija no dey carry last. Our God will never forsake us.”
“Will you stop that crap? Let the Pastors say that on Sunday to their congregations. All these Pastors who ride limousines and private jets and they preach hope to their poorly-fed church members.”
“Touch not my anointed. Thou shall not speak ill of the people of God.”.
“Very soon, I will stop going to Church. No more paying of tithes. I will use the money to buy fuel and food. The Pastors are still telling people Nigeria go better because people still go to their churches. When people stop showing up, then they will know that something has gone wrong with Nigeria.”
“People will always go to church. The Pastors preach hope. Hope keeps us alive.”
“Go and mark my words. Nigeria is heading to a crossroads where hope will no longer show the way, hope without purpose and direction means nothing. The road called hope must be paved with clear targets. Please where are we?”
“As we speak, I am on my lunch break at work, munching on something, thinking aloud with you”
“I am angry”
“I believe. I hope that tomorrow is another day. Nigeria always survives. We can’t go on like this, yes. Something may change the course of our history. Look at Guyana, a country of 800, 000 people. As of 2009, that country was famous for eco-tourism and its rain forests. In 2015, Exxon Mobil found oil in large quantities in its coastal waters. Today, Guyana, a former British colony way back in 1796, is now an oil rich country, so rich the Prime Minister is promising people free money and free opportunities, the country’s colonial architecture is giving way to glass sealed buildings. It is a new day in Guyana. The Lord that did it for them in that country can do it also for us in Nigeria”
“Bad example. Bad comparison. Nigeria already travelled through that road before. We found oil and the country scattered. What has oil brought us? It has brought to a point where we cannot even refine our fuel. Something that flows in some people’s father’s backyards. It has brought us to a point where a man from a state where there is no crude oil is now the one refining fuel for Nigeria making all the people who boast about our oil, na my papa get am, look truly stupid.”
“That is life. You can have something, talk about it and not know what to do with it. God has a hand in it. He will then bring somebody who can do it.”
“You always talk back and forth, here and there. I do not know what your people are doing.”
“Which my people? I don’t know them oh. I am just trying to be a good person?”
“You are a PDP man then?”
“Which PDP? Those ones that will fight from now till 2028. They will wake up after the 2027 elections have been won and lost”
“Are you cursing the PDP? The main opposition party in the country?”
“Let me quote Daniel Bwala jare. Kokoro ti n je efo, inu efo lo wa? The maggot that is spoiling the vegetable is inside the vegetable. Do you get it?”
“I get it. No hope for the APC either. Things are so bad even Libya is now insulting Nigeria, in football.”
![[OPINION] Of Birthdays: Is-haq Oloyede, Taiwo Lakanu and Kayode Owolabi](/media/k2/items/cache/e4576834d2e2636281fb0db93789a6ec_M.jpg?t=20241016_040735)
Many persons that I know and that are dear to me have been celebrating their birthdays in the last week and one of them, Pastor Kayode Owolabi turns 60 on October 17. On October 10, Professor Is-haq Oloyede turned 70. He is the current Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) and a Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Letters. He is also the Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, the 8th and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, former Chairman of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and Committee of Vice Chancellors, and former President of the Association of African Universities.
Oloyede is one of such Diamonds who have spent a lifetime excelling in whatever they do, from his emergence as a National Merit Scholar (a distinction I proudly share with him) to graduating with a First Class Honour (we are in that boat together too), to becoming a Professor in 1995 (I left university teaching to become a talking head in the media). He later became the Vice Chancellor of his alma mater in 2007. Oloyede’s tenure as Vice Chancellor in Ilorin was regarded as the brightest moments in that University’s history. He is a focused, committed scholar and a man who pays great attention to details. He has proven his measure as Registrar of JAMB, a position to which he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016. In eight years, Oloyede has turned JAMB around and made it a success story. JAMB used to be an unprofitable government agency, a cesspool of corruption, but today, JAMB makes profit for the Nigerian Government and remains one of the success stories of Nigeria. Under Oloyede’s watch, the institution has been sanitized.
Oloyede is a perfect example of a good Muslim, a good citizen, a good scholar and a platinum-citizen representing Nigeria well. He calls me “the Deputy Governor” but that is a story for another day. I congratulate him on the occasion of his 70th birthday. President Tinubu describes him as “an exceptional scholar, and an uncommon scholar who has shown rare commitment to financial integrity and accountability in public service”. Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State where Oloyede hails from, says he “remains a leading light among many of his contemporaries and distinctly stands out for his integrity and thorough approach.” He deserves the accolades.
DIG Taiwo Lakanu (rtd) marked his 65th birthday over the weekend, Saturday, October 12. This is a good man who supported me in the days of struggle. He is a policeman. I am a journalist. But he is one good example of how a policeman can be your friend and I have no doubts that many who know Lakanu would attest to this fact. He is professional, firm, knowledgeable and dependable. With degrees in History and Law, (BA., LL B, B. L, LLM.) he belongs to the elite class of the Nigerian Police, one of those in that profession who could sustain an argument and an intelligent conversation. He rose, not surprisingly to the rank of a Deputy Inspector General of Police. He joined the police in 1986, and served as Commissioner in Imo and Ekiti. He was CP, Lagos Airport Command, AIG, Zone 7, Abuja. He was also Police Secretary. The only reward for hardwork and distinction is more work. DIG Lakanu has since been recalled for more work by an appreciative government. He served on the Lagos State #EndSARS panel. He is now back in Abuja as a member of the Police Service Commission. He is the Akogun of Lagos. Congratulations, Akogun of the Universe! Live long.
And finally, in two days, one of the persons closest to my heart in this world, Pastor Kayode Owolabi turns 60 on October 17. We grew up together. We shared dreams together. Our paths may be different. We are brothers, going back to the roots. Work demands would not permit me to travel to England, where he lives to celebrate his special occasion with him, but he is a man who deserves to be celebrated and he has earned all the successes that he has recorded. Kay, as I used to call him, he is now Pastor Kay, is one intense personality, he tells you he wants to achieve a goal, he will latch on to it and refuse to waiver until he reaches that goal. He is a very organized, and a deliberate man to the last detail. He used to tell me I am not making enough use of my talents. I think he pushes me too hard. But he means well. He has a generous and kind heart. Growing up together, his family was my family and mine was his too. Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in History, he later obtained a Master’s in Law and Diplomacy (MILD). He worked as a banker for years. Then he found God or perhaps God called him to service as a man of His word. He is today the general overseer, Senior Pastor of the Everlasting Arms Ministries, shepherd and author, with headquarters in London. He is constantly travelling all over the world winning souls for Christ. He found his calling. But this is no surprise. His father, E. V. O. Owolabi was also a priest of the Anglican Church. Happy Birthday, Pastor Oluwakayode Babatunde Adeleke Owolabi. God bless you. Your brother salutes you.
![[OPINION] Fire And The Ballot Revolution in Rivers State - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/8743376d3c4a41b642d1857b2939d748_M.jpg?t=20241008_115241)
There is a fire and ballot revolution in Rivers state and the main victim that I can see for now in the burning fire is Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, incumbent Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) who is on record has having boasted garrulously that if anybody, a politician from any other part of the country thinks that he or she can support Governor Sim Fubara, his successor, to take the political structure away from him, he, Wike would put fire in that person’s state. Wike is also on record as having said that there is no politician in the country today that is bigger than him. Wike was so strong a week ago that when he was hosted by a group of Ijaws, supposedly Fubara’s kinsmen, he even repeated his claim that he was effectively in charge of Rivers State. At that occasion, Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State begged Wike not to bring fire to his own state. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum publicly confessed that Wike is indeed the Godfather of Niger Delta politics. Wike may never have heard of Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias. But what has happened in our reckoning on October 5, with the conduct of the local Government elections in Rivers State is better described as Wike’s Ozymandias moment. It was a moment when Sim Fubara who was brought to power, by Wike as Wike and his allies claim, and who has suffered for so long in their hands decided that enough was enough and that Wike’s dictatorial hold over Rivers State must end. On Saturday, October 5, Fubara the godson, decided that it was time he became the father of the father, and produced his own sons. It was the moment he decided that his own Godfather must be beheaded, so that the son could become the man. He proved the point that Godfathers do not live forever, particularly in Nigerian politics, and that the answer to Godfatherism is political patricide, given the circumstances.
It will be recalled that Minister Nyesom Wike has never hidden the fact that he made Sim Fubara Governor of Rivers State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Fubara was indeed Wike’s Chief Accountant (2020 – 2022). Wike decided that Fubara would be his preferred successor. So, he bought the form for his nomination. He told the people of Rivers State that Fubara would be their next Governor. He bankrolled the campaign so he claims. He has told us that he did everything possible to make Fubara the Governor. And that came to pass. And that was where the problem began. It was not enough that Wike had been rewarded with a Ministerial appointment by President Bola Tinubu of the rival, now ruling party, the All -Progressives Congress (APC) in compensation for Wike’s treachery against his own party, the PDP, we were faced with a curious situation whereby Wike decided that he would remain in control of governance in Rivers State. He was shameless in defending the amphibian nature of his politics, a man who betrayed his party at the national level insisting that he would also hold on to how politics is played in his home state. His critics alleged that he chose all the political appointees in Fubara’s administration with the exception of maybe one or two. Members of the House of Assembly were majorly Wike’s men. Key commissioners in the administration treated the Governor shabbily because they reported directly to the Godfather in Abuja. Fubara’s wife was not even allowed to attend any event without Wike’s approval. Fubara himself was under close watch. He was a captive in the position that he occupied, a prisoner of the Godfather’s goodwill. But there is a limit to which some people can be pushed to the wall. In May 2024, a frustrated, humiliated Governor Fubara felt compelled to speak up. He said “The Jungle Has Matured.”
What he meant then was that he was tired of the former Governor, wearing the toga of the Godfather riding roughshod over him, breathing down his neck. He threatened to set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the past administration. He sacked or frustrated out of his government Wike’s acolytes who spied on him and treated him as if he did not matter. He faced the House of Assembly members head-long and began to stare them down. His larynx suddenly opened up and he began to talk. He transformed from the timid Godson who begged for peace to the Godson who had developed fangs. He had the support of the elders and youths of the community who felt Wike should allow Fubara to have his turn as Governor. He wanted to suspend local government chairmen. He was told he could not do it. The people of Rivers had now become divided, pro-Wike, pro-Fubara, both parties threatening fire and brimstone. The majority stood by Fubara. In December 2023, Fubara sacked local government chairmen who served under Wike. He also removed the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers, another Wike ally. He threatened to demolish both the Rivers State House of Assembly and the state legislative quarters.
On October 5, 2024 the jungle had finally matured. It was the day when local council elections were held in 23 local councils of Rivers State. Before the election, Wike’s loyalists in the PDP and the APC staged a protest on the streets. The PDP in Rivers State, the sitting Governor’s own party even went ahead to boycott the elections. Boycott has never been a potent political weapon. It may raise questions of legitimacy after the fact but the election would have been won and lost. There were court cases, with the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court giving conflicting judgments. In the end, Governor Fubara insisted that the elections would proceed as scheduled on the strength of a July 11, 2024 Supreme Court ruling that only democratically elected persons could be Chairpersons of Local Councils in Nigeria, the Rivers High Court ruling, Section 197 of the 1999 Constitution which creates State Independent Electoral Commissions and Section 59 of the Rivers State Electoral Commission Law No. 2 of 2018. Pro-Wike objectors to the election relied on a Federal High Court ruling which ordered that even the Police must not provide security during the elections. There were skirmishes about the police carting away election materials and the Governor having to visit the headquarters of the RSIEC, as the state electoral body is known, to challenge the police. Nonetheless, the Governor insisted that the elections will take place.
And so it was, that on Saturday October 5, in 23 local governments, 6, 866 polling units in 319 wards in Rivers State, local government elections were conducted, superintended by Justice Adolphus Enebeli (rtd), and his staff at RSIEC, with 18 political parties out of 19, participating. The people of Rivers State turned out in large numbers. They defied the rain. And they voted in a process witnessed by journalists, observers, members of the Nigerian Bar Association and party agents. In the end, Justice Enebeli (rtd) declared the Action Peoples Party (APP), Fubara’s proxy party, since his own PDP boycotted the elections having been hijacked by Wike, as winner in 22 LGAs and 314 councillorship positions. Etche Local Government where results had been suspended was finally declared for the Action Alliance. The remaining councillorship seats were won by the APC (in Ward 3), the Social Democratic Party, the Boot Party and the Young People's Party (YPP). Without much ado, the newly elected Chairmen were quickly sworn in and given their certificates of return on Sunday, October 6 at a Government House ceremony where Governor Fubara proclaimed that desperate situations require desperate measures.
Truly, the situation in Rivers last Saturday was a desperate one. For me, the following are the quick takeaways. One, Fubara, the godson had become the father. This is in line with an aspect of the wisdom of Silenus which says that ultimately the son becomes the father in the process of Being-ness. Charles Kettering once said that “Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.” Whatever advice Wike may have given Fubara, what we witnessed on Saturday in Rivers state was a case of Fubara following Wike’s example. In 2016, one of the first things Wike did upon the assumption of office as Governor was to sack some of the Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairmen appointed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, his predecessor. Wike would soon elect his own Local council Chairmen. And he seized control of the political structure in Rivers State. He beheaded his own Godfather. The same destiny has now caught up with him. Nemesis. Hubris. What a man sows he reaps. Karma. What goes around comes around. Fubara is now the new Godfather in Rivers politics and he sounded so as he admonished the new local council Chairmen on Sunday to serve the people and not their stomachs.
Two, Wike had promised to put fire in other people’s states should they interfere in the politics of Rivers State. The fire that he talked about has been lit in his own very backyard. Should he be allowed to put fire in Rivers State? The biggest fear in Rivers today is the fear of violence and the breakdown of law and order. On election day, there was violence in Ogunabali area of Port Harcourt where voters were attacked and election materials were destroyed. In Ward 19, Elekahia, policemen were said to have invaded the polling unit and obstructed the voting process. On Monday, that is yesterday, after the police announced that they had unsealed the local council secretariats, hoodlums attacked the local councils in Ikwerre, Emohua, Ahoada East and Eleme and set them on fire. Elsewhere, anti-Fubara groups tried to prevent the local government chairmen from taking office. Each one of those locations must be treated as crime scenes. The police may have unsealed the secretariats but their role in the Rivers crisis is deplorable. The Nigeria Police Force has a constitutional role under Sections 214 – 216 of the 1999 Constitution, and Section 4 of the Police Act to protect lives and property. It is one of those strange things in Nigeria’s democratic process that a court of law would give an order that the Police must not provide security in any part of Nigeria and the police hierarchy would claim it is bound by that order, rather than challenge it immediately. The elections in Rivers took place without the police providing security. It is unfortunate that the Nigeria Police unwittingly exposed its own creeping irrelevance in election matters. The people of Rivers did not need 35, 000 policemen deployed in the Edo Gubernatorial elections last month. When the people are determined, they will safeguard the peace and make their own choices. President Tinubu after the fact, and fire that has erupted in Rivers State has now ordered the police to provide security in that state. Must the President wait for the blow-out before intervening?
Three, the President must go a step further. He must call the main gladiators in Rivers state to order. He must put a stop to the money business whereby Wike and his allies come to see him in the morning, and Fubara sneaks in later in the day, both parties carrying tales about who is right and who is wrong. Before the burning of local council headquarters began in Rivers, President Goodluck Jonathan had warned that the desperate situation in Rivers should be handled with caution. He was right. It was precisely an election and the craziness of the political actors that set the Western Region on fire in 1965. Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa thought it was a problem of the Yoruba people, so Awolowo should worry about it. The Western Region soon became the “Wild Wild West”, and the fires that time consumed not just the Western region but the entire country and Nigeria’s democracy at its infancy. Tinubu says he is on a working vacation abroad, even when such an oxymoron as a working vacation is most strange. We need him to call Fubara and make it clear that he needs to put Rivers in order, otherwise he risks the possibility of a state of emergency being declared in that state. As for Wike, he must be told eyeball to eyeball that if there is no peace in Rivers, he will lose his Ministerial position in the proposed cabinet reshuffle. Fubara and his allies have made it clear that Wike is not so much of a political asset to Tinubu after all. He is not bound to be the man that will deliver Rivers state to Tinubu in 2027. The people of Rivers State have shown that they are done with him. It remains for Wike to learn from Sir Peter Odili, and Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers Governors who have chosen peace by staying in a position of respect and dignity.
Four, the judiciary showed up wrongly in the Rivers election. Can you imagine a court of law forbidding the security agencies from carrying out their constitutional duties to provide security? This is against the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Can you imagine courts of equal and co-ordinate jurisdiction issuing conflicting orders, allowing political actors to shop for forum from Port Harcourt to Abuja? There is a new sheriff in the judiciary who has promised to put an end to such conduct. We urge Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, CJN, to begin with the example of Rivers State. The various gladiators have announced that the courts will be their next battle ground. His Lordship must call the judex to order and put a stop to the continued denigration of the role of the judiciary in Nigeria’s electoral processes.
Five, something has to be done about the local council election process, which in virtually every state simply ends up producing the ruling party in the state or the proxy party of the Governor as the victor. The Governors have seized control of the local government process. In the last week of September in Anambra State, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was declared winner by the ANSIEC in the state’s 21 local government councils and 326 wards. In Rivers, the Governor’s proxy party, the APP took 22 out of 23 local councils and 314 wards out of 319. They “donated” just one local council to another party – the Action Alliance. We witnessed the same scenario in Akwa Ibom state over the weekend where the ruling PDP took 30 councils out of 31. One council, Essien Udim was “donated” to the APC. Senator Godswill Akpabio comes from that local government! The Governor had to spare Essien Udim in recognition of Akpabio’s political relevance. Local council elections were also held in Benue on Saturday, October 5. The Governor of Benue state is a Catholic priest in politics, Fr. Hyacinth Alia. His party followed the familiar pattern winning all 23 Chairmanship positions and all 276 councillorship seats. We need to rethink, review and reconsider our local council/state election system that serves only the interest of the incumbent Governor.
![[OPINION] Remembering Mrs. Remi Oyo - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/af889f098a4a43034e1a9a5e78d0418c_S.jpg?t=20241001_115513)
Today in Lagos, the Oyo family - husband, children, grandchildren, in laws and the extended families from Ekitiland, Urhoboland and elsewhere as well as friends and former colleagues would be holding a remembrance and thanksgiving service in honour of Mrs. Felicia Oluremi Oyo, at the Catholic Church of Presentation, Ikeja GRA, Lagos. Ten years ago, Mrs Oyo left this earthly prison house and transited to the great beyond, to tranquil Heaven at the relatively young age of 61. Thomas Campbell says, and he is right that “to live in the hearts of those we love is not to die”. Mrs. Oyo lives on, her memory endures, and her example stands out in terms of her great accomplishments. She was a journalist of the first rank. She did not want to be identified as a female journalist but as a pressman, and indeed a pressman she was, out there in the forefront of action, inspiring younger journalists both male and female in the process. In one of those ironies of life that no one can explain she was born in the month of October. She died also in the same month, less than two weeks to her 62nd birthday as a result of cancer. But hers was a life of impact, love and influence. She studied Mass Communication at the University of Lagos and obtained a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Kent. Journalism was her career and in this she excelled. She started as a reporter with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in 1973 – the story out there is that she met her husband, Mr. Vincent Oyo while working in radio, and the two Oyos would in later life carve a niche for themselves in both journalism and marketing communications. Mrs. Oyo left the NBC to join the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in 1981, and rose to become the Principal Editor of NAN. She later joined the Inter Press Service (IPS) and again rose to become the Nigerian Bureau Chief and later, West African Bureau Chief.
It was around this time that our paths crossed. Auntie as we fondly called her had become very active in the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE). Under Mr. Biodun Oduwole, NGE President, 1992 – 1994, Mrs. Oyo was a member of the standing committee but she was very influential, known by younger journalists as “Mama awon Boys” because of her generosity. Together, the Oduwole team presided over one of the golden moments of the Guild. Mr. Oduwole was then Managing Editor at the Nigerian Tribune in Ibadan, which was practically in the hands of both Mr Oduwole and Mr. Folu Olamiti as Editor Daily. Even before the emergence of Mr. Oduwole as President, he had been friends with some of us who were members of the OSU Collective, and three of us got close to him. In those days, in the early 90s, members of the OSU Collective were prolific on the pages of newspapers, generating debates and contributing to public affairs issues of the day. Three of us: Wale Olaitan, Sina Kawonise and I were close to Mr. Oduwole who took it upon himself to encourage these brilliant young lecturers from Ogun State University as it then was. I was in the Department of English, Kawonise in Sociology and Olaitan in Political Science. Like all young men, we thought we could change the world with our pens and lyrical prose. It was through Egbon as we called Mr. Oduwole that we got to know Mrs Oyo, and she just took to us as her aburos.
By 1994, I had left Ogun State University to join the Guardian Newspapers as a member of the Editorial Board. I recall that in September that year, I had to travel to Egypt to attend the International Conference on Population and Development (5 -13 September 1994) under the auspices of the National Council on Population and Environmental Activities, an NGO led by Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi. I was then one of the resource persons to the NCPEA, under the guidance of Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi who provided opportunities for us to know more about developing trends in the world. When we arrived in Egypt and I went to the press centre, there was Mrs. Remi Oyo, manning the IPS desk. I saw her at work, writing stories, casting headlines, conducting interviews. She enjoyed what she did: to tell stories. When we were in Cairo, I casually mentioned to Auntie that I was planning to get married. She promptly asked me what I would need. I told her I brought some money to buy wedding rings. One late afternoon, she left her desk and she took me somewhere inside Cairo where she said we would get original gold. When we finished buying the gold rings, she asked me to follow her again to another store. She then asked me to look for any shoe that I felt comfortable with. She paid for the pair of shoes and said that is the shoe I want you to wear on your wedding day: from me to you! I would later visit Aunty at her office at the National Theatre where she had become the head of IPS. In those days, the National Theatre (now Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Arts) was the rendezvous for artists. We went there to watch films, stage plays or simply to congregate at a place called Abe Igi, to socialize and enjoy an assortment of delicacies. Auntie’s office was just down the road from Abe Igi and I used to go there. It was not difficult to see that although she was head of IPS, she had great rapport with the people in NAN who shared the same premises. She moved from NAN to IPS, but she had friends on both sides. She was a doyenne of wire service journalism.
In 1998, Mrs. Oyo showed interest in the Presidency of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. Garba Shehu who was Oduwole’s Deputy President had just completed his term (1994 -1997) and the position was due to return to the South. We the boys were like “Auntie Must Win!”. IN short, all the boys championed her campaign. She eventually emerged as the President and ended up serving for five years (1998 – 2003). She lifted the profile of the office and was very good at getting support for the media from authority figures. She was for record purposes the first woman to serve as President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors since 1961, when Alhaji Lateef Jakande was the pioneer President of the Guild. Mrs. Oyo performed so excellently, it can be said of her legacy that she inspired other women within the profession to take a keen interest in the affairs of both the NGE and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). In the West, East and the North, women began to occupy key positions in the media unions. In Lagos, Mrs. Funke Fadugba as Chairman of the Lagos NUJ was such a formidable force. She singlehandedly set up two estates for journalists and turned many into landlords. Lagos Journalists would be forever grateful to Funke Fadugba as the brain behind Journalists Estate in Arepo and PEN Estate along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Unfortunately, when Funke Fadugba wanted to become President of the NUJ, she was betrayed by her own colleagues from the Lagos Chapter. In 2016, following in Mrs. Oyo’s footsteps, Funke Egbemode emerged as the President of the NGE and spent three remarkable years in the saddle as the second female President.
Mrs Oyo’s distinction did not go unnoticed. In 2003, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Again, she served meritoriously in that position, earning her the national honour of Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) in 2006. When President Yar’Adua assumed office in 2007, Mrs. Oyo was shortly after named the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria. It was a kind of homecoming for her, returning to her former base, and reuniting with old colleagues. Her tenure as MD, NAN was not without a measure of controversy. But what I recall vividly was her advice to me when President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed me as his Spokesperson/ Special Adviser – Media and Publicity in 2011. She was one of the first persons to reach out to me.
“Reuben, my advice to you will be basically three things. Number one, the person you need most on this job is the President, the man who gave you the job. If you have him on your side, you are good. You will survive. This is a very tough job. The politics is heavy.”
She then went on to tell me about how many people would be interested in the office because of the glamour of being the spokesperson for the President. She mentioned names of persons who would go behind her to President Obasanjo just to malign her. But at every turn, President Obasanjo stood by her.
“No. 2”, she said, “be very careful with our colleagues. They are the biggest threat to anyone in this office. They will bad mouth you. They will try to pull you down. They will claim that they know how to do the job better than you. They will envy you and try to undermine you. Just hold on to your principal. Once the President believes you are doing a good job, there is nothing anybody can do to you.”
“No. 3”, she added, “take good care of your health. This job drains you from head to toe. You will be busy throughout and yet everybody will criticize you. But you have to keep healthy and safe. If anything happens to you, it is only your family that will be most affected. Stay healthy and alive for your family.”
This last bit frightened me a little. Mrs. Oyo’s predecessor in the same office, Mr. Tunji Oseni had died from complications from a respiratory condition. Seeing that I was a bit scared, she brought the conversation to an end with: “Aburo, good luck. You’d be fine.”
She was right on every score. Nobody can do the job of a spokesperson without the principal’s support. One of the first things I experienced was what became known in the Villa at the time as “The Gap Theory”. It was explained to me by a gentleman called Akachukwu Sullivan Nwakpo. In my early days at the Villa, Akachukwu had thought it necessary to explain the gap theory to me as follows: that the Villa is a dog-eat-dog space. You have to man your space and guard it jealously. If you are off guard for a minute, someone would see that as an opportunity and try to do your job for you. He advised me to be vigilant and keep out interlopers.
Media work was actually something everyone thought they could do including those who could not write a successful paragraph in the English language. People would come to me and tell me “Oga says you must write this press release”. Twice, I fell for their trick. I took the statements to President Jonathan, until he had to make it clear to me that I must never issue any statement without his direct authorization or listen to any third party giving me instructions. Nonetheless, there were persons who thought they knew best how to do the job. Our colleagues in the media, as Mrs. Oyo predicted, were not very kind either. They used to go behind to seek audience with President Jonathan. Some of them even brought drafts of speeches, not knowing the President would still hand over every draft to me with the rider: “see if there is anything you can take from this or that draft. Some of my friends in the media brought them to me”. These friends in the media had developed a method of by-passing my office. In the end, their hustle did not make any difference. President Jonathan had assured me that I should not be bothered. As President, it was his duty to encourage everyone and give people hope. Did I try to protect the territory as Akachukwu advised? I leave that to other people to judge. Did I keep safe? That is another story for another day. I was too glad to return home in one piece. It is not everything that a hunter sees or hears in the forest that he gets back home to tell. After leaving Aso Villa, one of the things I did was to visit Chief Duro Onabule (1939 – 2022), popularly known as double Chief. He is a veteran journalist, former Editor of the National Concord (1984-1985). He had just returned from vacation in England, and he called to say he had bought a book for me. I went to his residence at Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi. He had stories to tell, similar to Mrs Oyo’s comments about the spokesperson’s assignment. He re-echoed Mrs Oyo’s experience when he told me that the biggest threat to any journalist in government is his or her own colleagues. Double Chief was spokesperson to President Ibrahim Babangida.
I remembered Mrs Oyo’s advice the other day when Ajuri Ngelale threw in the towel as President Tinubu’s spokesperson. Was he muscled out by some of our colleagues who wanted his job, and thought they were better at it or better qualified? Did he protect his territory enough? Or was he a victim of Akachukwu’s gap theory? And there was a line in his letter of resignation: that he needed to attend to his family’s medical needs. Again, this thing about health and one’s family after an encounter with Aso Villa. Did he have President Tinubu’s full support? Many lessons for future spokespersons.
But we are here this morning to remember and celebrate late Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, FNGE, FNIM, OON (1952 – 2014). “Almighty God, we remember with thanksgiving Mrs Remi Oyo, Thank you for everything we treasure about her, for all that she means to us. Take care of her, Lord, until we all reach that time and place where every tear is dry, every question answered and all things are made new. Lord in your love, Hear our prayer. Amen.”
![[OPINION] The Battle Of Edo State 2024: A Review - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/ecfb38516a472bbf89f82faef4654a7e_S.jpg?t=20240924_123515)
A battle on the electoral turf has just been won and lost in Edo state, Nigeria. Governor Godwin Obaseki was elected as Governor in 2016 on the platform of the All-Progressive Congress (APC) in that state. By 2019, he had fallen out of favour with the Godfather that brought him to power, former Nigerian Labour Congress President, and former Governor of Edo State for eight years (2008 – 2016), now Senator Adams Oshiomhole. In due course, Oshiomhole left the PDP and pitched his tent with the APC where he would later rise to the position of the National Chairman of the Party. In 2020, Obaseki crossed over to the Peoples’ Democratic Party and successfully upstaged his Godfather to get a second term in office. His tenure in office ends on November 11, 2024. Hence, there has been a lead up to Gubernatorial elections in Edo State to mark the effective end of Obaseki’s tenure, the Nigerian Constitution providing for only two terms in office for Governors and the President. The Gubernatorial election to see Obaseki out of office and to determine the next occupant of the Osadebey Government House in Benin was held on Saturday, September 21, with 17 candidates and political parties on the ballot.
We were eventually confronted with a three horse-way race involving boardroom guru and lawyer, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC and former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) as the leading contenders. The voting took place in 4, 519 polling units, in the state’s three Senatorial districts, with 35, 000 policemen in attendance along with 8, 000 other security agents – military, EFCC and the Civil Defence Corps. Total number of registered voters in the election was 2, 629, 025. Total number of 2, 249, 780 voters’ cards were collected. It was a high stakes election as seen in the febrile drama that led to the election, with the incumbent Governor saying it was a do-or-die election in which the Federal Government was determined to rig in favour of the APC candidate, creating a Federal Might vs. The People’s might encounter. The PDP further alleged that the state police command and the state resident INEC commissioner were known associates of former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun pledged that the police were impartial and unbiased. Wike did not help matters by boasting openly on live television that no Jupiter could change the police commissioner in Edo state and the INEC resident commissioner and that he, Wike would not endorse either Ighodalo or the PDP in Edo State. This is the same Wike who claims to be the political leader of the PDP in Rivers State, but he is currently an unabashed agent of the APC in deed and in words! No individual should be so brazen.
Instructively, Obaseki, the PDP and their candidate refused to sign the Peace Accord that had been brokered by the National Peace Committee, a respectable body of eminent men and women led by Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah and others. A Governorship debate that was organized for the candidates was boycotted by the PDP and APC. Only the candidate of the LP showed up to complain bitterly about the effrontery of the APC that offered to send Senator Adams Oshiomhole who was clearly not the candidate to stand in for Okpebholo. Similarly, Akpata condemned Ighodalo. There were fears about the possible outbreak of violence and the breakdown of law and order. Poll watchers and analysts pointed to a number of factors that could determine the September 21 election as follows: climate of fear and voter apathy, which could affect voter turn-out, manipulation of votes, violence and ballot snatching, vote buying or stomach infrastructure; voter suppression, current economic hardship, neutrality of otherwise of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies, the influence of key political actors especially Godfathers, Federal might and power of incumbency at both Federal and state levels. When the battle was won and determined on September 21, against the background of a slew of allegations and mixed reactions, INEC on September 22, announced the results to the effect that Monday Okepbholo of the APC had been validly elected, with 291, 667 votes, winning in 11 Local Government Areas, Asue Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, with 247, 274 votes with majority in 7 LGAs, and Olumide Akpata, of the LP with 22, 763 votes, without any majority in any LGA, not even in his own polling unit. APC leaders have been singing and dancing since then, claiming that God has blessed the words of their mouth, that the APC would triumph. The PDP leaders believe that they have been robbed. Gov. Obaseki calls this “a travesty and a tragedy”, a display of brute force and a violation of the people’s right to choose. He has however asked that the aggrieved should be calm and seek redress by following due process in expressing their grievances. Asue Ighodalo, the PDP candidate alleges that the Edo Election 2024, might be the worst ever in the history of this country. Akpata says the votes went to the highest bidder. Mr. Peter Obi, Presidential candidate of the LP has said this was a case of “state capture”.
My quick observation is that whatever happens hereafter, perhaps at the election petition tribunal and the courts, both Ighodalo and Akpata have put up a gallant and spirited challenge and there are more people in and out of Edo State who consider them the better candidates in the race. If the beauty of television advertisements alone could win elections, the tally would have gone to Olumide Akpata. If the ability to speak English grammar and a person’s pedigree mattered for anything in Nigerian politics, Ighodalo would have won. What we have just been confronted with in Edo state is the reality of Nigerian politics - where ideas, pedigree, brilliance - in the context of a webbed transactional politics that compromise and overwhelm every single factor in the process, do not matter.
In 1999, shortly after the election that brought President Obasanjo and the PDP to power in Nigeria, election observers had reported that Nigerian politicians had devised many methods of election rigging, which some analysts identified in a well-publicized list. This led to talks about electoral reform and the need to clean up Nigeria’s elections to promote the common good. In 2003, and 2007, analysts had observed greater sophistication in the corrupt manipulation of election results across the country. It was so bad in 2007 that the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration that came to power openly admitted that the elections were flawed, and insisted that the most urgent task before Nigeria was electoral reform. In 2015, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was a victim of his own insistence on the values of transparency, integrity and accountability in elections. The APC leaders who succeeded him could not care less. In 2021, it was a tough battle to get the amended Electoral Reform Bill of 2010 signed by President Buhari. In fact, it was not signed for flimsy reasons. In 2022, the National Assembly finally managed to smuggle in an Electoral Act 2022, under which the 2023 general elections were conducted. But in real terms, nothing has changed since 1999. Civil society groups are still arguing for an Electoral Framework with the same old argument that the extant Electoral Act is defective. The first lesson of Edo Election 2024 is that nothing has changed in Nigerian politics. The political parties, the institutions, the politicians and the people have learnt nothing. The people quotient of Nigerian democracy is weak, poor, disconnected. Edo State has just confirmed our worst fears. There has been open, front-face evidence of vote-trading. On Saturday, September 21, politicians and agents offered to buy votes, with the cost now as high as N20, 000. It used to be cheaper to buy a vote, but we are made to understand that the high inflation in the land and economic hardship have both marked up asking prices. In Edo, they were selling votes as if they were trading bags of tomatoes. Ballots were snatched. Ballot papers were burnt. There were sporadic shootings if not an outright breakout of violence. Yiaga Africa, one of the many civil society observer groups that formed the Nigerian Situation Room observing the Edo election has reported that the biggest problem was the failure of integrity.
The stakes were high. Edo 2024 was a revenge operation among the Godfathers and the political actors. It has been said that the loser in the election is not Asue Ighodalo (PDP) but Godwin Obaseki, the incumbent Governor, seen to be the main supporter of Ighodalo, and who had acquired a very powerful team of former allies turned “enemies”. These enemies were determined to teach him a lesson for alienating them. Asue Ighodalo probably chose the wrong party for as we see, there was nothing he could have done to please the likes of Adams Oshiomhole, the Godfather whom Obaseki turned against and embarrassed thoroughly and Philip Shuaibu, the Deputy Governor whom Obaseki despised and humiliated. There were other anti-Obaseki political actors: Dan Orbih, Anselm Ojezua, Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Kabiru Adjoto. Obaseki was also considered unfriendly to the exalted throne of the Omo N’Oba. In Edo state, anyone considered rude to the palace loses favour, even among the people. The Oba once had cause to admonish Obaseki publicly to remember that one day he would no longer be Governor and he should be guided accordingly. That moment has arrived! It is Ighodalo who has now paid the price of this undercurrent. Philip Shuaibu was on television yesterday boasting that he won his polling unit, his ward and his LGA for Monday Okpebholo, the best record in Edo State. He boasted that Obaseki was a non-politician that was brought from Lagos and made a Governor. Obaseki in this last election did not win his ward and LGA. He was outboxed, outthought, and bulldozed as Daniel Dubois did to Anthony Joshua at the IBF boxing match at the Wembley Stadium the very same day! In 2020, Obaseki boasted, while seeking a second term, that “Edo No Be Lagos” in a subtle reference to Tinubu’s promise that he would return Edo State to the APC. Over the weekend, the point would seem to have been made that “Edo is now Lagos” and we saw the APC chieftains dancing. Shuaibu says Obaseki has to come and beg the victors. That may not be an idle threat.
The security agencies have been praised for overseeing a peaceful election in Edo State. But was it free and fair? Is the outcome fair to all parties concerned? It would have been scandalous for the security agencies to deploy a total of 43, 000 men, who could have been put to better use to fight banditry and terrorism, to an off-cycle election and we would have a breakdown of law and order. The architects of violence in Edo State had to moderate their madness perhaps because the security presence was intimidating, and oppressive. Edo State was like a war zone. Two days earlier, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa was on the ground to address his troops and the people, noting that he had express instructions from the President, Commander in Chief to enforce peace in Edo State. Elections should not be held with the gun pointed at the people’s heads. It should be a peaceful, civil event where the people make informed choices freely and without fear and pressure. Not surprisingly, voter turn-out in the Edo election was low, despite the people’s obvious enthusiasm. Election observers put the voter turn-out rate at 22.4% with a margin of error of +/- 1.6%, much lower than the 27% turn-out in the 2020 Edo Gubernatorial election. If this is a case of apathy, then it means the people in Edo as elsewhere, are beginning to lose faith in Nigeria’s electoral process.
INEC, the electoral umpire has featured prominently in the various reports. The electoral umpire did well with BVAS and accreditation but voting processes did not start early. As at 8:30 am only about 17% of the voters had been accredited, by 11:51 am, about 64%. For an off-cycle election in just one state, this was not good enough. There were inconsistencies in the officially announced results, on IREV, the INEC portal. At some point, the political parties and their agents felt obliged to take over the collation process. Governor Adamu Fintiri of Adamawa state who was in Benin, as Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council for the Edo election, had to do his own collation and advise INEC not to delay the announcement of results in outstanding three LGAs. Fintiri had to explain that he had not broken any law – he merely announced what he found on the IREV portal. Nonetheless, INEC is the only body empowered by law to announce any results. But Fintiri insists that the Edo election was a rape of democracy and that the PDP candidate won. He says he weeps for Nigeria because “democracy is under attack”. The desperation of the various political personae casts doubts on the effectiveness of INEC in the Edo election. There is no denying it: there is still the urgent need to strengthen electoral institutions and address the challenge of reforms. Obviously, no amount of law can transform Nigeria’s elections unless the people themselves agree to change and the institutions function differently.
The Edo Gubernatorial election 2024 has taken place against the background of the fact that many Nigerians have been complaining about poor governance and hunger in Nigeria. In August, this class of Nigerians openly expressed their anger and they are threatening to do so again in October. In other climes, when people face economic hardship in the hands of a sitting government, they express themselves through the polls when they have the opportunity to do so. Nigeria is a strange country where a political party’s performance in power does not really matter, and hence, politicians get rewarded, regardless of how the people think or feel. It is therefore not for nothing that an APC chieftain has remarked that the outcome of the Edo election is an affirmation of the people’s confidence in President Tinubu’s economic reforms. It is possible in Nigerian politics to say anything when your party has won and has been declared winner. The standard rule in Nigerian politics is for you to work on your strategy so well, whether in a crooked manner or not, win and let the other party complain. Both PDP/Ighodalo and LP/Akpata may be talking to their lawyers right now but while they are spending more money paying lawyers, Monday Okpebholo would be sworn in on November 11, 2024. With the Federal Might behind him, and powerful Godfathers like Adams Oshiomhole, Nyesom Wike, Philip Shuaibu and the APC demolition machinery involved, it would be difficult to upturn the results announced on September 22. It is called realpolitik.
![[OPINION] Now That Tinubu Is Back… - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/17c92d6ccaba9817dcbf03b4b34e78b1_S.jpg?t=20240917_082518)
The return of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from what looked like a long trip abroad must come to many as a relief. When the President travelled on August 29, his destination was announced in very clear terms. He was heading to China to attend the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in his capacity as Nigeria’s leader and as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS). The President himself has described his trip to China as successful. On September 2, he met with President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People, and also, On September 4 with Premier Li Qiang, with the Chinese expressing a commitment to upgrade China-Nigeria relation to “a comprehensive strategic partnership”. At the end of bilateral meetings with the Chinese five Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed on the Belt and Road Initiative, nuclear energy, infrastructure, media engineering and mining at national, sub-national levels and with the Nigerian private sector. The President also visited two Chinese companies. At the opening session of FOCAC, President Tinubu made a strong case for China-Africa relations within the context of multilateralism and the promotion of global peace. I thought he added a little dose of saccharine when he said the objectives of FOCAC align with those of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. How exactly? But what is not in doubt is that China is determined to further extend its inroad into Africa and the developing world, under the New Silk Road project, committing to making available to the African countries additional financing support of 51.4 billion US dollars. President Tinubu met with Nigerians in China, members of NIDO, China chapter, using the opportunity to explain his administration’s reform efforts. He lauded the $280 billion economic trade partnership between China and Africa.
China has a lot to gain from Africa and vice versa. Africa is the last frontier where major nations of the world – France, Russia, Japan, Germany etc. are seeking partners and markets. In an increasingly multi-polar world, Africa provides China with a fertile ground to deepen its geo-political influence in the face of its fierce competition with the West, especially the US in virtually everything. Africa also has a lot to learn from the Chinese. I was expecting that the 53 African leaders who went to China for FOCAC would return home with memories of the technological wonders in China, the speed trains, the cutting-edge innovations of the Chinese, their work culture, organizational efficiency and capacity to pay attention to details, and therefore seek to imbibe the value of how a nation defines its own character. African leaders are very quick at signing MOUs and showing excitement at the promises that China offers, but they hardly have the skills set to maximize advantages for their own people. This is the story of the debt trap in which many African countries including Zambia, Angola, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya have found themselves, resulting in accusations that what China practices is “debt trap diplomacy.” Nations look out for their own interests. No nation except perhaps Nigeria engages in Father Christmas diplomacy, and now years later, the same countries who benefitted from Nigeria’s generosity treat us badly. In addition to whatever we do in the foreign scene, there is yet a need for the re-thinking of Nigeria’s foreign policy process.
Shortly before President Tinubu’s departure to China, there was an incident involving Ogun State and a Chinese company, Zhongstan Fucheng – the enforcement of an arbitral judgement which saw three Nigerian aircraft being attached in France as well as properties in the UK and Canada. This was the latest in a series of agreements that Nigeria botched. It will be recalled that around 2016/2017 when President Muhammadu Buhari visited China, so many MOUs were also signed. But what happened? Many of the agreements with the Chinese were not implemented or they are in various states of confusion, including the HEDA-SINOPEC deal, and other projects involving Chinese companies such as China Composites Group Corporation (CCGC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Many of the issues could be resolved not through litigation or arbitration, but diplomacy. Did President Tinubu address this challenge during his trip to China? Was there anything about the contract problem involving Ogun State, more so as that particular issue generated so much concern among Nigerians? The problem with Nigeria is our ad-hoc-ism, lack of consistency and continuity. International agreements require competence and consistency in execution. President Tinubu said at the heart of China-Africa relations is a foundation built on trust and mutual respect. The Chinese will only respect us if we get our acts together. It is not enough to sign MoUs, there should be follow-through action on the understanding reached. President Tinubu has visited about 24 countries in the last 16 months. We need ambassadors in these countries. Many of our missions have no ambassadors manning them at the most senior level. It has been a whole year since Nigerian envoys were recalled. The President must send envoys abroad, competent persons not party members and their children looking for titles!
The China summit ended on September 6, and we were informed that the President would have a stop-over in London. He stayed longer in London than he did in China, only to return on Sunday, after more than an additional week. In one report we were informed that the President stopped over to discuss climate action with King Charles III. For one week? What kind of climate action discussion is that? This is not the first time that the President would travel to one destination, and instead of returning after his main assignment, Nigerians would be told that he would stop over either in France or London. Twice, his managers even forgot to announce his whereabouts. Such absent-mindedness should be avoided, the President of Nigeria must not disappear into an artificial Bermuda triangle even for a day, only to show up later in a photo-op. The people of Nigeria have the right to ask for their President. They voted for him. He asked to be given the job. The littlest expectation is that he will show up on duty. If there is any reason for him to be absent, the people have the right to know. In the absence of transparency, Nigerians are quick to resort to speculations and rumour-mongering. And that was exactly what happened this time around: someone had taken a photograph of the President leaving a hospital in London, it was said, and immediately the rumour-mill jumped to the conclusion that the President had gone to see his doctors. The President is a human being. There is nowhere in the Nigerian Constitution where it is said that to be eligible for President, the candidate must be super-human. The President’s handlers must pay attention to this detail and going forward, respect the people’s right to know. In other parts of the world, the state of the President’s health could have reverberations in markets, and generate political consequences.
But now that he is back, it is good to see him, getting back quickly into the groove of things. He was in Maiduguri, Borno state capital yesterday to identify with the people who were displaced by the massive flooding that overtook Maiduguri and Jere LGAs of the state. Knowing that the President had just returned from the UK where he reportedly discussed climate action with the King, and knowing that there have been torrential floods in parts of the world, certain government officials may inform the government that the flooding in Maiduguri is as a result of climate change. It is a lie. The flooding could have been prevented. The dam managers, if they are experts, should have known that there would be a massive inflow from Nagdda River, at a particular time of the year, and plan for any eventuality accordingly. I refer President Tinubu to a damning report in the Daily Trust of Monday, September 16 at page 4 titled “Maiduguri flood: N400 m budgeted for Alau Dam in 4 years.” The pith of the story is that the Alau Dam has been defective for upwards nine years, and despite over N400 million budgeted for its rehabilitation between 2020 and 2024, the dam managers did nothing. Now, over 30,000 persons have been displaced, the death toll keeps mounting, there are fears of a possible disease outbreak. The visit of the President and the Vice President before him, and the prompt response of the agencies: NEMA and the Nigerian Army is commendable, but there is a lot more to be done. The President should order an immediate investigation into the Borno flood incident. What happened to the budgeted funds? Who collected what? What did the Chad Basin Development Authority do or did not do? Each time there is a crisis in this country, we are quick to lament and wring our hands, but the real challenge is the negligence and incompetence of officials. Every year, Nigeria’s low plains are flooded, from the banks of Rivers Niger and Benue to the Delta. Farms are destroyed. Lives are lost. We lament. We move on. The following year, the same tale is re-enacted – it is either the Rivers Niger and Benue overflow their banks, or water is released from Lagdo Dam in Cameron, or from Oyan Dam or the Ogun-Osun River Basin. We lament. We move on. This year, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency in its 2024 Annual Flood Outlook had listed 31 states as high-risk areas, including Borno. Characteristically, nobody took precautions. We need to take a second look at our dams nationwide, and the management of the country’s river basins.
President Tinubu returned to Nigeria on the same day NNPC Limited lifted petrol, from the Dangote Refinery, a $20 billion investment, with a refining capacity of over 650, 000 barrels per day, the largest single-train refinery in the world. Dangote has been praised deservedly for his courage, patriotism and faith in the Nigerian project, and on Sunday, President Tinubu was also congratulated. It is on his watch that the Dangote Refinery began its operations. Government-owned refineries have been moribund for about 28 years, swallowing state resources and producing nothing of value other than corruption. The Dangote Refinery marks a watershed moment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. The responsibility of government is to provide an enabling environment for those who believe in this country to thrive. This is why I consider the altercation between NNPC Limited and Dangote Refinery, somewhat of a distraction. Dangote Refinery is not an NGO, it is not a charity organization. It is in business to make profit. NNPC Limited is also in business to make profit, what it calls a willing buyer, willing seller market. The regulator is the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA). Whatever negotiations that may be necessary by October 1 as announced must be the focus of the government at this time, not the battle of press releases that we have seen in the last few days. As President Tinubu settles down after his long trip around the world, he must get on top of the issue of petrol supply. Nigerians would like to know for once if the government is truly subsidizing fuel and by what amount and if the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) needs to be revisited, so be it. Laws should serve the best interests of the people. Market forces must wear a Nigerian face.
The energy security that has been talked about, and savings in forex expenditure that local refining may bring should translate into greater productivity in the Nigerian economy. President Tinubu should move away from running a palliatives economy, and run an economy that puts people to work and creates massive opportunities. This should be the renewed hope message that he preaches. No country grows on the strength of a handout economy, where as we have seen, the people have been turned into beggars in their own country. The people of Nigeria have made it clear that they are hungry and angry, and what government does is to distribute rice, and millet, and cash that may not be properly accounted for. I have only just heard that each Minister has been given 1, 200 bags of rice to distribute to the old and vulnerable in their constituencies. Your guess is as good as mine as to what will happen to those bags of rice, but there is also something ugly about having a Federal Cabinet of rice distributors.
In Maiduguri, President Tinubu reportedly said he had to alter his travel plans to return home to visit Maiduguri. He had planned to move from the UK to America. I don’t want to believe that he actually said that. He went to China a week after returning from France! There is brewing discontent in the land as a result of the rising cost of living. If, as someone calculated, it costs about N1, 500 to have a slightly decent meal these days, then anyone would need about N5, 000 per day. Multiply that by 30 days, that is about N150, 000 per month on feeding alone. People have other expenses, including rent, out of pocket healthcare spending, an army of extended family mouths, and other dependants, and yet the minimum wage of N70, 000 has not yet been implemented. The new national minimum wage has already been wiped out by inflation. It is no longer a status thing to own a car. It is expensive to maintain. In the month of August, Nigerian youths trooped out in a protest they called #EndBadGovernnace, some of the persons arrested during that protest are now facing trial for treason. Should any citizen receive the death penalty for saying he or she is hungry, or for carrying placards? While the President was away, these same angry youths have been talking about another protest. They call it #FearlessinOctober. There is an army of hungry people out there ready to defy the authorities. They think they deserve more than the handouts of rice, maize and millet from their government. Other Presidents before Tinubu enjoyed some honeymoon with the people of Nigeria before the critics descended on them. President Tinubu must reconsider his strategy.
![[OPINION] “Country hard, no be small” - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/2714dc09e83dc57f9a98224a1125d3b2_S.jpg?t=20240910_090958)
“Bros, you dey craze. I watch you dis morning, you just dey yarn, You just dey craze. You just dey troll Una dey drink something for that una programme? Una dey mad?”
“What is the matter, uncle?”
“Don’t Owain me? How can you go on television and give the faintest impression that Buhari is a better economic manager than Tinubu? This is the thing about you, Yoruba people, you don’t know when to be loyal to your own people You do not know when to say this is our own and we need to stand by him, when he needs us.”
“I am sorry. I don’t get what you are saying”
“I am saying that Tinubu needs all the support he can get right now from among his own people. It looks bad to have on TV, any Yoruba man or woman condemning their own. You have a responsibility to defend your own person”
“I don’t get your drift. I am educated enough to reject what you are suggesting.”
“And I am telling you that this is Nigeria. Whatever Tinubu does with the Nigerian economy, you have to stand by him. He is one of us. He cannot do any wrong. Whatever anybody says about the economy, it is our son that is there, and we, Yorubas have a reputation for knowing anything about the economy. Ibos are traders. They know commerce, even if they end up dominating other people’s homesteads. Hausa-Fulanis think power is their birthright. They will come into your community and they will try to take over everything. Yorubas think they are the wise ones in the room. They will carry their shoulders high thinking they are the ones that know it all, on whose shoulders everything hangs but at the end of the day, they get deceived. Igbos claim that they are the lords of commerce. They are in every community in Nigeria, plying trade. What I am trying to say is that this country no balance. The people who think they are wise and smart, are actually stupid. The stupid people are the wise ones.”
“Is that why you will go on television and say Buhari is wiser than Tinubu? And that Yoruba people are stupid, and they do not know how to manage the economy?”
“Okay, Bros. I did not mean it that way. I was just saying that Yoruba people are supposed to be Nigeria’s best economic managers. We have been in charge for about one year now. Bros, how market? It is enough time for Buhari to sit back and laugh at the expense of the same Yoruba people who think that when it comes to the economy that they know it all. Let me confess to you: I feel grossly embarrassed. I am ashamed.”
“Stop embarrassing yourself. Buhari and his Fulani people caused this problem. They messed up the country. Tinubu is trying to clear up the mess. The problem with Nigeria is the mess that Buhari caused. It has nothing to do with Tinubu. Buhari was sleep-walking for eight years. You have a President who is active. The Jagaban himself and you are going back to the sleepy crowd. I disagree vehemently with you.”
“My brother go and sleep. I am telling you how Yoruba people behave. Economy, Na we know am. Economy na we sabi. Go and fix the economy. Look, if we want to tell ourselves the truth, this economy was not this bad under Buhari. Go and fix it.”
“Try and be fair. Buhari caused the problem”
“Fix it. That is why we voted for you. You APC people said you will renew our hope. Renew it.”
“Your hope is being renewed. What the government says is that the people of Nigeria must be prepared to make some sacrifices. I don’t even like this narrative about Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa-Fulani. There are over 250 ethnic groups in this country. We must put an end to ethnic politics in this country.”
“We are the people being asked to make sacrifices. How much sacrifice is the government making? Or the people in government? They are riding yachts. They are busy buying new aircraft. They are busy travelling all over the world. I tried to buy fuel. I had to pay more money. Schools are resuming, after the holidays. They have increased school fees. I wanted to buy suya. Ordinary suya oh. They said the price has gone up. Transport fares have increased by about 50%”
“NLC will take care of that. Labour Congress is on top of it. Labour says the NLC has been betrayed.”
“Which NLC? Which Labour? Are you aware that Joe Ajaero has been arrested?”
“Who arrested him?”
“The Nigerian Government”
“Are you sure?”
“I read it in the papers. The DSS arrested him. I hear he is now in the custody of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency. The NIA.”
“What do they say his offence is?”
“I never hear oh”
“Why are these people perpetually looking for trouble? Are you sure there are no fifth columnists inside this government? I am beginning to worry oh. You have not solved one problem, you go and create another.”
“I agree with you. Joe Ajaero is a very small irritant. This is not the time to go after him. He is a Labour Leader. He can say what he likes. He can be ignored.”
“They say he is financing terrorism. He is not above the law. No man is above the law.”
“Then you ignore him because of the followership that he commands. If you have to do anything, you do it underground. Nobody will believe you if you want to do anything then you do it under the cover, never in the open.”
“We are talking about terrorism. The law does not work that way.”.
“We are talking about the leader of the largest Labour union in the country. Do you want to burn down the country?”
“My attitude is that nobody is above the law”
“Fine. Detain Nigeria’s Labour leader then. What I am saying is that a country cannot fight on all fronts at the same time.”
“Tinubu is not fighting the country. He is saying this country has gone so bad, it has to be fixed. He is saying organised Labour must not hold this country to ransom. He is saying he won the election in 2023, and he would not allow Obidients and Atiku and his followers to sabotage this country, claiming to be opposition. This is where we are. Try and be patriotic.”
“Which Nigerian law says to be patriotic you have to be a Tinubu lackey? Tell me.”
“We are saying don’t follow the opposition. Be a man”
“I am not a man. I cannot pay school fees. I cannot fund basic things. I am in pains. Don’t tell me to be a man. How can I be a man in this country?”
“Be a woman then. Your wife can feed you, if she can”.”
“What kind of talk is that?”
“Be the woman. That is what Nigeria today calls for. If you have a woman who can, then humble yourself.”
“Is that what Tinubu is supposed to reduce us to?”
“Life is like that sometimes.”
“No wonder Ajuri Ngelale left them. He told them to keep their job. He walked away from it all.”
“I am of the view that you do not know what you are talking about. Ajuri Ngelale is the luckiest man who ever occupied the position of Presidential Spokesman. He was not just spokesman. He was Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change. He was Chairman of the Federal Government Project Evergreen Initiative. No other person in that position was ever so garlanded.”
“And he will abandon all of that?”
“It is not everybody that would rather die in a government job. He has asked us to respect his family’s privacy. He talked about family medical issues. Can we all just respect his privacy and personal space?”
“Could this be a case of the demons in Aso Villa chasing Ajuri Ngelale?”
“I have no comment”
“Demons in the Villa.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There is a spiritual side to that Villa. Anybody that goes in there is no longer recognizable.”
“I have nothing to say.”
“So who do you think will take over Ajuri’s job? Who is the demon that will step into his shoes?”
“They have more than enough people in that place falling over themselves to take over the job. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Do you think that it is normal that the same Tinubu who used to lead pro-democracy protests will stand by and allow protesters to be charged for treason under his watch?”
“Tinubu is not the judiciary. He wants the judiciary to do its work. Find something else to say.”
“Oh God Oh God. Okay, is Tinubu happy that we the people of Nigeria cannot find fuel to buy?”
“I understand fuel is now available in the filling stations across the country. You drive in, you buy. Willing buyer, willing seller”
“At what price?”
“I refer you to Section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021)
“Rubbish. I am not interested in any useless Sections of the law. Is Nigeria better today than it was a year ago? We can’t buy diesel. We can’t buy fuel. Lagos, the country’s commercial center is a ghost town because the people cannot get or buy fuel. Section whatever. Is that what will feed my family?”
“E lo fo kan bale”
“Egbon. Did I hear you right?”
“E lo fo kan bale”
“God. God. God.”
“E lo fo kan bale. There is renewed hope”
“No. I don’t see hope. Not to talk of renewed hope. I sewar to God Almighty anytime there is another call for protest in this country, I will carry placard and go out.”
“Fine. When you get arrested and you are charged for treason, just know that you are on your own. I have always told you. You cannot fight government. After government it is God. Fight government and live with the consequences.”
“To hell with Government”
“And with God too”
“I did not say that. Don’t put words in my mouth. I will never say to hell with God.”
“It is God that has chosen Tinubu as President of Nigeria. God is forever right. He is all-knowing. Nigerians must learn never to fight God.”
“I don’t discuss religious issues. There is too much mumbo jumbo in that arena”
“Are you aware that all the churches will be filled to the brim this Sunday? The same people who cannot find fuel to go to work, they will get fuel to attend Church and enough money to give to Pastors”
“Good for them”
“Many of the congregants will even go with jerry cans of fuel for the Pastors”
“One day, the Pastors and God will meet face to face. I believe in the concept of Judgement Day. Let God judge every man according to his deed.”
“I think President Tinubu should start by paying tribute to the Paralympics athletes who have just done Nigeria proud in Paris. These are the kind of people we want to see on the National Honours List. Not office holders. Not traditional rulers.”
“I agree. I am impressed. Even if this is Nigeria’s worst outing at the Paralympics since Barcelona 1992. We did better in Athens, London, Tokyo and elsewhere, but at least this one, we came home with seven medals. Congratulations to Nigeria’s Paralympic team. I want to specially recognize Oluwafemiayo and Eniola Bolaji. They made history.”
“I want to add that there is ability in disability. Nigeria’s main team went to the main Olympics. What did they come back with? Zero. Odo. Nothing. Physically challenged people went to represent Nigeria, they returned with medals. I predicted it. In this country, the blind see, the deaf hear, people who have their faculties all intact are the enemies of national progress. Nigeria is a living paradox.”
“There are still people in this country who can see and hear. I know a few. Things are not as bad as you paint them.”
“Like who, please?”
“Austen Eguavoen. he just led the Super Eagles to beat the Cheetahs of Republic of Benin. He did not allow Gernot Rohr and his team to cheat us. We beat them 3-0.”
“When Eguavoen and the Super Eagles qualify for both the AFCON, and the World Cup, that is when we can talk. For now, I am just watching. They are in Rwanda. Let them bring us victory from Rwanda too.”
“What of the U-20 Falconets? They are in the group of 16. They are making us proud in the FIFA U-20 tournament.”
“I want to see them in the finals. Nigerian women are always better than the men.”
“You are a pessimist. I need you to see Nigeria in a positive light.”
“I do. I do. It is just that sometimes this country get on your nerves.”
“I know your problem. I know why you are in a foul mood. It is time for children to return to school. You have to pay school fees. And the fees have gone up. But think of all the positives in this country. Dangote Refinery for example. Soon, there will be fuel in every filling station. Dangote is a Nigerian like you. He has done something for his country. You can do something too. You can be a positive force for progress. Stop whining. This country belongs to all of us.”
“Dangote?”
“Yes. Dangote.”
“Are you sure Dangote is happy he has done something for Nigeria right now?”
“Don’t worry yourself. Everything will be resolved.”
“Really?”
“I think so. No be Nigeria?”
“I dey vex. Country hard no be small.”
“Don’t worry. You will be able to eat suya again if that is your problem. And you will get fuel in your car. Don’t take out your anger on other people”
“I dey vex, no be small”
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“Hello, Bros. Hello. Hello. Hello”
“Yes. I can hear you”
“Which kin thing be this now? I don dey call you since, you no pick call. Person go dey call you, you no go pick.”
“At your level, you should know that if you call somebody once or twice and the phone rings, the best thing to do is to leave a message and expect the person to call back.”
“I called you up to ten times.”
“Why? Once you call a person twice, leave a message or send a text. Do I owe you money? You Nigerians do not know how to use a phone. You think if you call me, I must answer you compulsorily. I do not respond to such calls. All the people who call me up and down are people who want to beg for money. In this Tinubu Nigeria, if you call me and up and down, I won’t answer. I may even block your line because the desperation is a serious signal, that a hungry Nigerian is calling me. I did not cause inflation oh, let nobody come and disturb me. All of you who voted for APC in 2015, 2019 and 2023, carry your cross. Do you know some people even have the effrontery to come and ask me to help pay for their wives’ hospital bills in the maternity ward. If you have enough strength to impregnate a woman, when it is nine months and the result comes out, carry your own cross. The notice is long enough. I don’t want to hear that nonsense about helping the neighbour. Neighbour wey no get common sense.”
“So, am I one of those persons who will disturb you for hospital bills? When person call you, make you pick”
“I dey unavailable that time. Davido says I am unavailable. Dem no dey see me. The network must have told you that the line you were calling was not available at the time. So, what’s up, Omo? I have a busy day.”
“Have you seen what I am seeing in the papers today? They say NNPC Limited is facing financial strain, financial pressure and that is why there is fuel scarcity, and long queues. NNPC says it is overburdened by debt obligations running into about $6.8 billion”
“I thought they said it was weather and bad roads causing the fuel supply disruptions, and that even if they were owing, it is in the nature of the business to source credit.”
“We are in September. The weather condition will soon change from rainy season to dry season in Nigeria. There is a limit to which anyone can blame the weather and the roads. The truth has now been let out of the bag. My question to you is what do you think this implies?”
“It is obvious. NNPCL is the breadwinner of Nigeria. If the company says it is under financial pressure, it is as good as saying that Nigeria is financially bankrupt. When you link that to the fact that NNPCL is the sole importer of finished products in the downstream sector, it means that the NNPC Limited has no money to import more PMS, and that would create supply problems and translate into fuel scarcity and longer queues at the fuel stations. Very simple.”
“Nigeria produces over 1.3 million barrels of crude per day. How is that possible? NNPC Limited can sell crude and make money.”
“Sorry. Your 1.3 million, 1.4 million barrels have already been used to take loans upfront from Afrexim Bank and other sources. You produce the crude; you use it to pay existing debts. It is a perfect storm.”
“But what of the plan to have an Operation and Maintenance concession with private investors at the Warri and Kaduna Refineries?”
“It is called O and M. If you are an investor, I ask you, will you go and invest your resources in the same refineries that the Nigerian Government has not been able to fix for the past 20 years? Not even the Chinese who are looking for every possible opportunity in Africa will go near that. Why do you think the multinationals are very careful with Nigeria and some of them are using style, style to reduce their risk margins in Nigeria? A country that cannot protect its biggest assets cannot be trusted. Investors look at risk factors. And I don’t think that refineries should be for concession. They should be privatized. Or sold as scrap. The Nigerian Government cannot run refineries.”
“President Tinubu is in China. He is talking to the Chinese looking for more investments. We pray that he succeeds at the Forum for China- Africa Co-operation (FOCAC)”
“I hear everybody is in China too, with some of your Ministers behaving like they have seen Heaven, the same Heaven that they cannot create here in Nigeria”
“Don’t mind those ones. Very soon there will be a cabinet reshuffle and they will be sent out”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I am not sure of anything. I just think that the President should return to the country to address the many matters arising. He is Minister of Petroleum, and the fuel queues have not disappeared. There is flooding in many of the states.”
“The President does not have to be on the ground for the country to run properly. That is why he has appointed people to do the job. The fuel scarcity issue is simple. I wish the government can deal with all the rent collectors in the oil and gas sector. They are the ones causing the problems and they are all over the system. The fuel marketers. The fuel depot owners. The middlemen. The thieves. Tinubu did not cause the crisis. This is one of those things that Tinubu inherited. He is trying to clear the rot in the land. His situation is compounded by the fact that he is coming as President after eight years of Buhari, whose government is remembered for its sleep-walking for eight years!”
‘Buhari. Hmm. Have you noticed that since he left office more than one year ago, nobody, I mean nobody, I mean no institution or platform anywhere in the world has invited him to come and give a lecture on any subject, not even cattle rearing? Even his Vice President gets invited all over the world. President Jonathan has been busy virtually every month since he left office in 2015. President Tinubu has a lot to worry about taking over from Buhari”.
“I am hearing that the Federal Government may increase fuel price. The Minister of State for Petroleum has said that PMS must be sold above the landing cost, at the open market price to stop smuggling and ensure sustainable fuel supply.”
“One, I don’t think the fuel subsidy regime which government had to go back to is sustainable. It only benefits the rent collectors of Nigeria. Two, I am worried about fuel price going through the roof. What would be the open market price of PMS? N2,000?”
“People are already buying fuel at over N1, 000”
“We have issues with foreign exchange. If we don’t strengthen the Naira, people will groan.”
“As an economist, I think the pain may be for about two months, then things will stabilize and the market will adjust and self-correct.”
“Please leave economics out of this matter. No economic theory works in Nigeria. When prices go up in this environment, they will refuse to come down and the government will be confronted with another problem.”
“But I hear the Dangote Refinery has started production, up to about 70 to 80%. If they pressurize the refinery further, production levels for PMS could reach 90%.”
“What you do not know is that Dangote Refinery is a private business. Oil business is international. Dangote Refinery is not a charity outfit. They will sell at open market price and in any case NNPC limited has not yet reached an agreement with the Refinery as to how much fuel should be sold.”
“Are we helpless then? Will fuel price go up?”
“Things will get worse before they get better.”
“But how about this thing I am hearing that one British national, Andrew Wynne is working with some other persons to remove Tinubu. The Police have declared a certain Drew Povey, also a Briton wanted for subversive activities against Tinubu’s government. Povey is accused of renting a space at Labour House in Abuja as a cover for his activities which includes the funding of protests to create anarchy in Nigeria.”
“The same Povey says he has been running an innocent business in Nigeria for about seven years and that he has never done anything wrong.”
“A sleeper cell in Labour House, shortly after the NLC President was invited by the Police for terrorism related issues? I sense something here. But my position, Bros is that nobody should ever think of talking about removing Tinubu’s government. Britons coming to Nigeria to remove government? That would be pure madness. Anybody that tries any nonsense. No, it is not even trying, if anybody gets so reckless as to think of it, that person and his or her collaborators should be summarily executed. When a Northerner was in power, nobody talked about removing anybody. Now that it is our turn, some animals are talking about removing. This country belongs to all of us. Whoever is frustrated, hungry or angry should wait till the general elections in 2027, and make a choice at the polling station.”
“I agree with you. The Nigerian Military has also pledged their loyalty to the President and the Nigerian state. Even the Police.”
“The Police have no option. The retirement age for policemen has just been extended by the Senate from 60 to 65 years. The IGP, Kayode Egbetokun has been granted a grace period of four more years.”
“Well, well, well. I really don’t have a problem with that. The extension is not for Egbetokun alone. Other policemen will benefit from it, and every government has a right and the privilege to adopt its own directions. In the. UK, Sir Keir Starmer wants to stop winter fuel privileges. He wants to introduce a more stringent tax regime. The only thing that bothers me is that I know one police officer who is always terrorizing other people, threatening to lock people up. What this new law means is that he would spend more time wearing the police uniform. Useless man.”
“The general belief out there is that the retirement age for policemen was revised just to keep Egbetokun as Inspector General of Police. He is a Tinubu man, they say. And Tinubu wants his own person in that office.”
“I don’t get it. If you are President, will you as Tinubu appoint Peter Obi’s person or Atiku’s person as IGP? These are commonsense things. What we should expect is performance and better quality from the Nigeria Police Force.”
“You know what I am thinking?”
“What?”
“With all these problems that we are facing in Nigeria, why would the President buy a new Tokunbo Presidential jet? Why would a member of the National Assembly of Nigeria collect as much as N21 million per month at a time NNPC Ltd says it is facing financial constraints?”
“You have a point. Nigerian leaders should be seen to identify with the people. Yes. But purchase of PMS is not the same as buying a presidential jet or the N21 million that Senators collect. It doesn’t show on them anyway. Many of these our lawmakers look miserable.”
“It is just that I expect higher standards of conduct.”
“From who? From Comrade Senator Adams Oshiomhole for example?”
“Ha. Comrade oh Comrade. I am his fan oh. And I like his contributions on the floor of the Senate. His intervention on the National Anthem issue. His request that the Nigerian military must account for all the money that they collected to fight terrorism and banditry. But Comrade drop person hand oh, with his attack on Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, the wife of Governor Obaseki of Edo State, publicly calling her a barren woman, and asking the couple why they have failed to adopt a child.”
“I was shocked too. When did Comrade Oshiomhole become a family planning expert. And who ask am question? Wetin concern am?”
“He was actually defending the APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, after Mrs Obaseki while introducing Mrs Ifeyinwa Ighodalo to the women electorate in Ubiaja, South East Local Government said that it is only the PDP candidate that has a wife among all the Gubernatorial aspirants in Edo State. She did not mention anybody’s name.”
“Having a wife or a child is not a pre-requisite for becoming a Governor. There is no such thing in the Nigerian Constitution. But even if the innuendo lands perfectly where it is targeted, what is Oshiomhole’s own in the matter? We hear more from him than from the APC candidate himself. He has become Okpebholo’s spokesman and campaign manager. I sympathize with the people of Edo State. Instead of their politicians talking about issues – how to fix roads, generate employment, create jobs, promote prosperity, what we now hear is gutter politics – who has a wife who does not have, who has children, who does not have. Who has DSTV, who does not. Terrible”
“I think the Comrade Senator owes the Obasekis an apology. Politics or no politics, there are things an elder should not say. When JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate in the US election played the same fertility card referring to Kamala Harris as a “childless cat”, there was an uproar. There must be decorum in politics.”
“Sometimes I actually think that the whole world is going mad. Look at what the South African did to Chidinma Adesina. They pursued her out of the Miss South Africa Beauty Pageant. They threw all kinds of things at her: They said she was married or divorced, the organizers said it did not matter, they said her mother is an identity thief and that she is actually from Mozambique. Nobody remembered that Nelson Mandela, father of modern South Africa also married a former First Lady from Mozambique. When Chidinma was invited to participate in the Miss universe pageant in Nigeria, South African netizens pursued her still. They gave their votes to Miss Kwara. But in the end Miss Chdinma Adesina emerged victorious. A very big story about xenophobia, national identity politics, Nigeria South Africa relations and the love-hate relationship between the peoples of both countries.”
“Quite a moving human story. Congratulations to Chdinma Adesina. Thanks to all the fans who gave her the 15, 482 votes that brought her victory. Perhaps not everyone is going crazy. Some people will always stand by you, no matter what.”
“What do you think of Nyesom Wike saying he would fight anybody that supports Governor Fubara of Rivers state, be such a person a Governor of another state or anybody at all?”
“Please, Bros, I think my phone is out of credit. I sincerely do not want to discuss Wike.”
![[OPINION] The Return Of Fuel Subsidy - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/9e2512f07e517c12604bde8d2745eb1f_XS.jpg?t=20240827_051641)
I was away on vacation for just two weeks only to return to meet fuel queues still on the streets of Nigeria with the fuel stations rationing fuel in Lagos and other parts of the country. It is a big shame, and an embarrassment that the world’s sixth largest producer of crude oil cannot refine its own petroleum products. Nigeria has the finest blend of crude- Brent Crude notable for its low sulphur content, but as in everything else, we export the best of our assets, including people, only to buy back the same assets from outsiders. With finished petroleum products, we now import the same petrol that flows in abundance in the creeks of the Niger Delta and the backyard of some people’s ancestors. Reuters reported recently, that NNPC Limited, the sole importer of finished products, enjoying a monopoly in that regard was indebted to gasoline suppliers to the tune of over $6 billion forcing traders to backout, resulting in a scarcity of fuel in the country. Under contract terms, NNPCL is required to pay within 90 days of delivery, failing which the traders collect a late payment compensation of $250, 000 per cargo. So, when Nigeria tenders for fuel, a number of traders now look the other way. Nigeria has no savings to bail it out, instead the government is desperately looking for money. It won’t be long before the Nigerian government begins to tax persons for dying, or having babies or for marrying or engaging in the basic ordinary tasks of living. In 2023, NNPCL took a loan of $3.3 billion from Afrexim Bank, but it looks like even that has been depleted. What we are dealing with, those who are familiar with the subject tell us, is simply the failure of policy, the lack of vision at the highest levels and the cumulative effect of the many years of the oil curse. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu worsened the situation. The crisis that non-availability of fuel in the country has now created, with the high cost of living, inflation, loss of time and capital and the widespread angst in the land could have been avoided. We suffer because of Tinubu’s populism, over-excitement and lack of caution.
On May 29 2023, at his inauguration as President of Nigeria, Tinubu allowed his emotions to get the better part of him when he suddenly announced in his inaugural speech that “fuel subsidy is gone!” Some poorly educated persons in his team must have told him that he should do something radical from the first day, and that after all in Kenya, William Ruto did something radical as soon as he assumed office. Ruto is today rueing the day he caused the tragedy that his exuberance has brought upon him. There may have also been persons around President Tinubu who told him to take a step that would please the IMF and the World Bank, both of which had always argued that Nigeria could not sustain its subsidy regime. What no one told Tinubu was that whereas the removal of fuel subsidy was prescribed in the Petroleum Industry Act of 2023., President Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu’s predecessor was happy to claim the credit that it was under his watch that the PIA was passed after 13 years – one of the longest running pieces of legislation in recent times - but he was not willing to implement every aspect of it. Section 205(1) of the PIA states that wholesale and retail prices of petroleum products would be determined by market forces, to encourage competition and private sector investment. As of 2022, almost one naira in every four Naira earned by the Nigerian government was spent on fuel subsidy. Nonetheless, the Buhari administration played smart. It postponed the divine reign of market forces until after 18 months, stating that the removal of fuel subsidy could result in social upheaval, and that the timing would be problematic. Buhari wilfully disobeyed the same law that he signed. He postponed the evil day and left a booby trap for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who clearly out of over-exuberance on inauguration day proclaimed that “the fuel subsidy is gone”. His media handlers have said that he was left with no option in the matter, because in any cas,e the extension by the Buhari administration was due to expire. But could Tinubu have considered other options? Could he have chosen the option of a little honeymoon with the Nigerian people?
The least that he could have done would have been to wait and study the situation and not resort to an impulsive policy making decision to please the Western crowd. The error is not his alone. What happened to the so-called members of the transition, hand-over committee? They should have looked at the situation on the ground and advise the President accordingly. Buhari thought the removal of fuel subsidy would cause social upheaval, Tinubu’s transition team should have embarked on a rigorous interrogation of why and how Buhari tactfully avoided the storm. He must be laughing at Tinubu in his Daura home. And this is without prejudice to the fact that every economist that I know argued that the fuel subsidy regime was unsustainable. It had become an avenue for corruption and sharp practices, the very reason the Jonathan administration decided in 2012 to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. The Mafia, benefitting from the rot in the industry including present occupants in the corridors of power, sabotaged the Jonathan government. They have since eaten their vomit, returning to 2012, and they are shamelessly comfortable about it. In 2012, fuel subsidy gulped just about N1 trillion. Tinubu created a perfect storm by removing fuel subsidy and also abolishing the dual foreign exchange rate at the same time. It is simple common sense. Both moves were populist but the timing and the combination were wrong. Within 15 months, Nigeria is literally on its knees. Between May 2023 and now, the pump price of fuel has gone from N197 per litre to N617 per litre and up to N1, 3000. President Tinubu promised the people that he would renew hope. He told us “e lo fokan bale.” On the contrary. cases of sudden death syndrome have increased. Nigerian youths are fleeing abroad in droves because they cannot find hope in their own country. Nigeria has not even been able to meet its OPEC production quota. When the spot price of Brent goes up as it did during COVID-19, and now in the face of the conflicts in the Middle East, and between Russia and Ukraine, Nigeria is unable to take advantage of given opportunities. The country is also underperforming in Domestic Revenue Generation as the elites in power, after a fashion, are more interested in their own luxury and comfort. The optics are scary. The Tinubu government has left the people in a place of confusion: Fuel subsidy was removed on a whim, without clarity and proper consultation with stakeholders, and apparently no co-ordination with the sub-nationals.
What I find particularly intriguing is that last week the same Tinubu administration trying to find a way around the fuel scarcity in the country and the fact that fuel now sells for as much as N1, 300 per litre in parts of the country, directed the NNPC to use its 2023 final dividends due to the Federation to pay for petrol subsidy, in other words, the Federal Government wants the payment of dividends to the Federation to be suspended, to boost NNPCL’s cash flow. On its part, NNPCL says it will be unable to remit taxes and royalties to the Federation anyway because of on-going subsidy payments or what it calls “subsidy shortfall and FX differential.” In summary NNPCL says it has been paying subsidy, and the Federal Government says it should pay more. This is enough talk to make anybody have a headache. For, the same Tinubu administration since May 29, 2023, had insisted that there was no fuel subsidy in Nigeria, even when everyone including the IMF reported that fuel subsidy had been re-introduced as far back as December 2023. Nasir el-Rufai and others told us the government had reintroduced fuel subsidy. Senator Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning said this was not true, quoting the PIA, and insisting that in fact the government was saving money from the removal of fuel subsidy, up to about N400 billion monthly.
The lie is now out in the open. The minimum that the Tinubu administration can do is stop the continuing cycle of deceit and hypocrisy on the fuel subsidy issue. The deceit should stop. We are in the era of transparency and accountability. The word of the government should be its bond. A government can admit that it made a mistake and it has found cause to change its mind. There is nothing wrong in that. It is not enough for President Tinubu to issue an order to NNPCL directing it to use royalties and dividends due to the Federal Government to manage fuel prices. What is the exact amount that we are talking about? What are the details? For how long? If there has been a change of policy, President Tinubu should be courageous enough to come before Nigerians and use the same energy and enthusiasm with which he pronounced “fuel subsidy is gone” to APOLOGISE to Nigerians, tell them a mistake has been made, and explain how his administration hopes to resolve the problem. The reason there has been so much turmoil in town is because the people feel betrayed. President Tinubu needs to rebuild public confidence in his administration. He can start by making the government less ostentatious. He wants the people to make sacrifices. The process must begin with him. He needs to reinvent politics. He must lead by example. The nation needs to know the truth. It is normal to make mistakes. It is nobler to admit one’s errors and seek to make corrections.
In the face of the fuel scarcity in the land, Nigerians are asking: what is happening to the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna? It does not require divine intelligence to get the refineries working, but what we are confronted with is an endless circus of lies. We are told again and again that the refineries will be completed, but we might as well be waiting for Godot. In August 2023, we were confidently informed that Nigeria would restart its four refineries by the end of 2024, so said Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum. We heard the same thing in 2022. Lokpobiri repeated the lie. The Nigerian government should stop telling lies! It is irritating. Where is the Warri refinery that was supposed to start operation in the first quarter of 2024? Where is the Port Harcourt refinery that was “technically completed” in December 2023? Dates are set. Deadlines are not met. And we, the people, are supposed to understand that we live in a country where promises are not meant to be kept and leaders can do as they wish, without any explanation.? No. No. No. It is offensive that Nigeria is so blessed with oil and gas resources and all we talk about is crude oil theft, militancy in the Niger Delta and the country’s failure to meet production quota. To all intents and purposes, Nigeria is still dependent on oil resources despite argumentations that the country needs to diversify its economy, and invest more in the non-oil sector.
There is the unresolved matter of the Dangote Refinery. This was a project that we all prayed for and hoped for to meet local demands for petroleum products and generate competition and investment. In typical Nigeria fashion, a $20 billion worth of investment and the prospect of a pathway to economic regeneration has been reduced to petty stories about Dangote’s personality and identity, with such questions as why would he, a Kano man, set up such a big project in Yorubaland? Or why would anyone allow an extension of Dangote’s monopoly? How much did he contribute to Tinubu’s election campaign in 2023? As if that should matter? Somehow, the excitement over the proposed 650, 000 barrels of petroleum products per day has been abbreviated by typical Nigerian stories. Some kill joys have even tried to de-market the Dangote project. And then there are others who are saying that Mele Kyari is the problem. Twice on television, I have said clearly that Engr. Kyari is not the problem. In terms of record, he has done much better than his own predecessors. His spokespersons have given us much information about his efforts. I do not intend to be their megaphone, only to add that it is far too simplistic for Nigerians to seek a fall guy for the same problems that could have been easily addressed through long-term visioning. Nigeria waits for you. While you are busy doing your own thing, trying to make an impact, Nigerians have a good habit of waiting till you get to a significant moment and they would pounce on you, to destroy your dream. We must all be careful not to turn this country into a hostile environment for talent, creativity and good citizenship. Tinubu has a duty not only to fix the loopholes, but also to embark on an urgent national project of moral regeneration. There is too much toxicity in this land.
I end this piece knowing that the fuel queues are still out there. NNPCL has given the excuse of distribution challenges and weather conditions, but can they tell us another story please? Even in countries with the most extreme weather conditions, they have fuel at their filling stations. And how about distribution challenges? A government that is determined to help and serve the people will find the political will to address those challenges whatever their colour or shape. There is no limit to how far a government can go to deceive the people, but there is certainly a limit to the people’s anger and frustration. President Tinubu should know this.
![[OPINION] Nigeria And The Chinese Problem From Ogun State - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/cfa5fbf82ba563c38c9a6d66e74227bf_XS.jpg?t=20240820_100252)
“I hear the people of Ogun State have put the people of Nigeria in serious trouble with the Chinese.”
“You did not hear anything. The story is out there and it is so loud that even the deaf can hear that there is a Chinese problem in Nigeria right now. And just to correct your statement, it is not the people of Ogun State. It is the government of Ogun State. There is a difference.”
“I don’t see any difference. Government acts on behalf of the people.”
“Not true. Oftentimes, the government acts in the selfish interest of the people that are in charge at any particular time. Policies are sometimes made, actions are taken simply to settle personal scores, and the people end up being the victims. Now everybody is saying that the people of Ogun State should be careful how they go about calling their state the gateway to Nigeria. The people themselves are victims.”
“Come to think of it. The idea of an Economic Free Zone would have made the state truly the Gateway in terms of opportunities. It is sad that the Ogun state Government mismanaged its contractual agreements with Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, and even ruined relationships in the process.”
“I recall that as far back as 2007, the Otunba Daniel Administration initiated the Free Trade Zone concept in Ogun State. It was a bid initiative then, located in Igbesa.. It was called the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone. There was also the Olokola Free Trade Zone, the OKFTZ, which was a collaborative effort between Ogun and Ondo states and the private sector to be located on about 20, 000 hectares. The dream was to turn Ogun State into an industrial hub. When it was further reported that oil had also been discovered in Ogun State, the future could not have looked brighter.”
“It is one thing for government to dream. It is another thing for the goals to be achieved. I am not talking about the past. I am talking about a situation where because of Ogun State, the Court of Justice in Paris has attached three aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Government: a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6, and an Airbus A330, one of which is a brand-new Presidential aircraft, newly procured.”
“I think they have released the Presidential jet. It is the one President Tinubu is cruising to France or short work trip”
“Hmm. I hope they don’t seize it again while the President is in France. The Zhongshan Fucheng people you know are also planning to seize the 20 million pounds that was awarded in favour of Nigeria against P&ID in the UK, and they also want to confiscate two properties belonging to Nigeria in Liverpool.”
“These people are thieves. I think that they are like the P& ID people”.
“No, they are not. The only connection between this case and the P & ID in my view is that the Ogun State Government was careless. The most important thing in international trade is trust. When trust is broken, chaos results. Agreements are sacrosanct. When you enter into an agreement, you are required to honour it. States have to be guided by international best practices. The Daniel administration brought the Chinese, the Zhongshan. The Amosun administration later entered into an agreement with Zhongfu, a subsidiary of Zhongshan, a dispute arose and the company was driven away. Zhongshan went to arbitration and got a compensation award of $55.6 million and another US$75,000 plus interests., which now makes it over $70 million. That was in 2021.The court gave the opportunity to file an appeal. Nobody responded in time, just as in the P&ID case, and by the time Nigeria woke up, our lawyers started quoting jurisdiction and sovereignty which were promptly dismissed by the US Court. And now the Chinese company wants to enforce the judgement.
“You have mentioned France, UK, US, my problem with these China people is their forum shopping. They have gone to every arbitral court possible: UK, Quebec, US, France, British Virgin Islands, and Belgium, just to embarrass Nigeria. Why Nigeria? Why not Ogun State?”
“Nigeria has a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with China. Its provisions are very clear. Signatories to that treaty can raise arbitral issues under customary international law, even when the wrongful act that has been committed is by the organ of a sovereign. Blame Nigeria, don’t blame the Chinese”
“But do you agree that there are many sides to this story? Former Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has said this is a dispute between two Chinese companies, and that Zhongfu is an impostor, and the whole thing has nothing to do with either Ogun State or Nigeria.”
“So, who does it have to do with? The concrete story at the moment is the ruling at arbitration and the provisions of the New York Convention which are enforceable in 170 countries. Get it into your head, there is something called International Arbitration, and at that level rules are rules and those rules are not made by your Nigerian big men.”
“Well, if that is the case, the government of Ogun State should bear its own liabilities. I am not interested in the legal rights of the Chinese. I am a concerned Nigerian and I don’t think anybody should seize the assets belonging to 36 states and the FCT because of the wrongful act of one state of the Federation. Ogun State is just one part of Nigeria. If they have committed an international crime, they should pay for it in that state. Why should an Akwa Ibom or Gombe man lose part of the commonwealth of Nigeria because Ogun State people have caused problems?”
“I think the bigger issue is that you don’t know what will come up tomorrow from your state too. Or any other state. Most of these sub-nationals have serious foreign debt portfolios, protected by sovereign guarantee. When the alarm blows, Nigeria will be in a mess. What we need to address is the capacity of the sub-nationals to enter into international agreements. In particular, our states do not have the capacity to engage with China. Don’t be fooled by the open romance, and China’s interest in Africa. China is a friend only as long as its own interests are served. This is what African leaders do not understand. Our institutions in Africa are also weak.”
“I have never trusted the Chinese and their Belt and Road Initiative, or their debt trap diplomacy. But I blame African leaders who lack the capacity to read between the lines. Nobody should ever rely on the same Chinese who have seized assets in Zambia and Djibouti, and also have challenges with Kenya and Angola. They come bearing gifts and incentives, but always at a cost to the recipient. Ogun State people should pay their own debt, please. Maybe that will teach every other state government a lesson.”
“Serious embarrassment to Nigeria. But rather than blame the Chinese, I see something else: the point that other international investors would not want to do business with Nigeria, a country where there is no certainty, where you can reach an agreement with one government and another government would come and change everything and you lose money in the process.”
“Professor Pat Utomi said that much in his commentary on the Ogun State saga. I won’t be surprised if more people raise an alarm like Prof. Utomi did. It is not only international investors that are at risk. Local investors too. When you try to invest in Nigeria, you get your fingers burnt, that is why people are running away from us. Ask Dangote too. And I think I agree with Donald Duke, former Governor of Cross River State when he says Nigeria’s politics is full of quacks…they’ve taken it to the lowest level.”
“But do you think President Goodluck Jonathan can help to rescue Nigeria, and restore the years that the locust has eaten if he decides to run in 2027?”
“Wait, wait, wait! How did we just jump right now from international commerce to President Jonathan coming back to rescue Nigeria in 2027? Where is that coming from?”
“It is all out there in the public space. Governor Bala Muhammed of Bauchi was the first to fly the kite. Then, there was a story in Basorun Dele Momodu’s The Boss Newspaper, and yesterday, only this yesterday, ThisDay newspaper carried the same story, saying that there are moves by Northern politicians to draft President Jonathan into the 2027 race after the #EndBadGovernance protests.”
“Okay you have said it, you say they are flying a kite. I recall when I was a child, we used to fly kites, we even had this competition and the wish that our kites could fly as high as an airplane. Right now, I am not thinking of kites, please. I am concerned about how to get fuel into my car and move around. The situation is worse. The country is literally on its knees.”
“President Tinubu is off to France, for a brief work stay.”
“What has that got to do with what I am saying? They don’t have fuel scarcity in France, for God’s sake.”
“I get you. I get you. bought fuel at N1, 200 per litre and it was a painful experience queuing at the fuel station. While I am suffering here and other Nigerians are suffering, the President goes to France in a new jet.”
“I hear he also has a new car, a glamorous, Armoured Cadillac SUV called The Beast. The Chairman. The cost is said to be about N995 million.”
“What a Beast! N995 million. And the new presidential jet is how much? $100 million? I hope both the jet and the Escalade are not made in China. And I get to go and queue up at petrol stations? And poor Nigerians are asked to make sacrifices for the country and endure hardship? Meanwhile, Nigerian Senators are earning N29 million per month! Is that how to lead by example?”
“Well, let’s be realistic here. The President of Nigeria is royalty. You cannot expect him to go about like a plebeian. His security is also very important. You can bring up all your #EndBadGovernance narratives but it is an absolutely false equivalent for you to compare your miserable search for fuel to the lifestyle of the Nigerian President. All things fair and well, the President has tried to meet Nigerians halfway before leaving for France. The President has given NNPC Limited the approval to spend savings from petrol subsidy removal - dividends, taxes and royalties- about N7 trillion from August 2023 to December 2024 to pay for petrol subsidy.”
“In other words, the government has finally admitted that there is no fuel subsidy removal anymore. Government has reversed itself! So, subsidy is no longer gone! Subsidy is back! Nigeria, we hail thee! The same people that told us that there is no more fuel subsidy as recently as two months ago have now turned around to say in fact fuel subsidy is the only way forward. What a policy somersault! They have thrown the Petroleum industry Act (PIA) into the dust bin just like that? But does that mean I will now find it easier to buy fuel? Will the fuel queues disappear?”
“No guarantee for now. But maybe you can buy fuel whenever it is available at a cheaper price.”
“And when would that be? I am just tired. I don’t know who to trust again in this country, not even the Churches, despite the fact that I am a Christian.”
“As a Christian, you must have faith.”
“Faith. You say, faith? Faith when Prophet Odumeje, the Liquid Metal, the Indaboski, the Onitsha trader who became a Prophet goes to Russia and says on TikTok that Russia is not at war. Faith when I hear that Pastor Adeboye woke up a person who had died for 11 days with an anointed handkerchief from the church. Faith when Primate Ayodele says Victor Osimhen will end his career if he joins Chelsea because there is a curse on that football club. Is the Primate now running a football ministry?”
“Have faith brother because on the contrary, the churches are doing well. Davido’s father over the weekend donated a gift of one billion Naira to a Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Lagos during a Thanksgiving service in honour of his late mother.”
“One ginni?”
“One billion. Davido’s father is not called Baba Olowo for nothing. He simply lived up to his reputation. So just know that it is not everybody that is complaining in this country”
“I just hope that Baba Olowo will also intervene when church elders begin to fight over that One billion Naira. And what is the wisdom in donating N1 billion?”
“He has the right to spend his money the way he deems fit. And why will church elders fight over matters of God. The Bible says...”
“Forget the Bible. Just this last weekend in Abuja, some church elders pushed the Bible aside and engaged in open combat in their church premises. The FCT Police Command had to fire tear gas to disperse the fighters and put an end to the violence. The police had to lock up the church.”
“United Methodist Church. It was a fight over alien practices introduced by the Church headquarters in the US, which divided the Church.”
“Signs of the end-time. Alien practices in the church. Elders and the congregation fighting for hours. There is nothing we will not see in Nigeria.”
“I can only say that it is not only the political leaders that are at fault. We, the citizens, have our problems too. Leave the churches alone. The Nigerian Constitution allows people to worship God their own way.”
“Anyway, I see that Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States have declared Tuesday, August 20, Isese Day, a public holiday for traditional religion worshippers.”
“Fair is fair. So, if you think the churches have disappointed you, you can take the day off to celebrate with the Isese people.”
“I rebuke Satan!”
“Leave matter. Many Nigerians are traditionalists. They just camouflage. What is important is that people must learn to defend the common good.”
“You are right. I am even surprised that the NYSC has now had to demobilize 54 fake university graduates and they are to face prosecution.”
“Be specific. They are 54 graduates of the University of Calabar, including a campus bread seller.”
“No. This is not about UNICAL. It is a general problem. In fact, it was the Vice Chancellor of the university that raised the alarm. NYSC is praising her for her vigilance. And I suspect it is not new. Can you imagine how many persons have been mobilized for NYSC over the years, holding fake certificates and occupying important positions?”
“True. Too many quacks indeed in high and low places. What a country!”.
![[OPINION] The 2024 Paris Olympics - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/84326dea016e682b68b2ce6f85b8cb20_XS.jpg?t=20240813_085141)
The Paris Olympics Games, July 26 – August 11 began on a tentative note, but it has turned out to be a memorable, successful, sensational event, which not only lived up to the billing, but was also a masterpiece showcase of French history, culture and hospitality. The French have every reason to congratulate themselves, history was made, there were emotional moments, records were broken, marriage proposals took place in the city of love and lights in what Thomas Bach, the retiring International Olympic Committee (IOC) Chairman calls “Seine-sational” - in obvious reference to the fact that the Paris Olympics, after 100 years since France last hosted it, began in the open, along the Seine River which courses through Paris. Athletes from 184 countries marched on the Seine in 90 boats, across 3.7 miles, surrounded by dancers and serenaded by singers (French Pop star Aya Nakamura and legendary Celine Dion). Ahead of the Olympics, France had just concluded its snap parliamentary elections with fears that the febrile politics of the elections could affect the Olympics but that didn’t happen as both the far-right and the far-left in French politics buried their ideologies to receive and host the world. There were also fears about security after the attack on targets across Europe and the rising threat of terrorism and extremism. France deployed 75, 000 police officers around Paris, and also got friendly countries to send troops in support. The United Kingdom contributed 50 special constables, Spain sent 142 civil guards, 171 police officers, 10 horses and dogs; the United States sent 94 police officers and the FBI; in total, 40 countries including Qatar, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Morocco and 31 European countries contributed a support force of about 2,000 police officers in what was a statement about the value of international security operation. In the end, security did not constitute a problem. It was bon. It was magnifique.
There were a few hitches though. During the opening ceremony, there was an embarrassing mix up with the national anthems of North Korea and South Korea, the drag queen sequence and the parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” which drew the ire of the Catholic Church, Christians and which in other quarters led to death threats. During the group stage men’s basketball game between South Sudan and Puerto Rico the wrong national anthem was played for South Sudan, a gaffe that the South Sudanese did not find funny at all. At the athletics Olympics village, there were complaints about substandard food, hot accommodation and cardboard beds. Team Great Britain ended up hiring a chef, many of the American superstars relocated to hotels. Transportation to the event venues was also inconvenient for the most part. River Seine gave the organizers grave concerns, as the heavy rain showers on opening day further polluted the water, raising the level of E-coli, making it difficult for the river to be used for the men’s and women’s triathlon. The planned games on River Seine were rescheduled, all the same, three German athletes reported that they had been infected, athletes from Belgium and Switzerland also fell ill.
But we witnessed, nonetheless, the triumph of the human spirit, the defining characteristic of the Olympics since its Athenian beginnings, and its re-invention in modern times in 1896 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin. Memories of the Paris Olympics will linger and endure in terms of the drama, the colourful, history-laden displays and the use of the cityscape of France, with the Eiffel Tower looming large in the background. Andy Murray, the British tennis star, announced his retirement during the Olympics. Novak Djokovic, won the men’s tennis singles final, a gold medal at last at the Olympics, practically fulfilling a dream. Simon Biles who had to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, due to a condition called “twisties” made a remarkable comeback, to win three gold medals and a silver in gymnastics and in the process, became the most decorated gymnast in American history. Suni Lee, a former Olympic all-round champion and US gymnast was diagnosed with an incurable kidney disease in 2023. In Paris, she won gold at the all-round team finals, a bronze in uneven bars and yet another bronze at the all-round competition. She did all that while battling two types of incurable kidney disease. Julien Alfred, 23, won the women’s 100 m race to claim St. Lucia’s first Olympics medal. She also won a silver medal in the women’s 200 metres. The tiny Caribbean-island of St. Lucia, and her home town of Ciceron broke out in joyous ecstasy. Juju as she is known is now a national hero in St. Lucia. Adriana Ruano, 29, won the first ever gold medal in the shooting women’s trap final for Guatemala. Kaylia Nemour, 17, made history for her country, Algeria and for Africa by being the first from the continent to win a medal in gymnastics. Carlos Yulo, 24, of the Philippines won two gold medals in men’s floor exercise and vault- the first also for his country. Sifan Hassan became the first athlete in 72 years to win medals in the women’s 5,000, 10, 000 and marathon races; a haul of gold and two bronze medals within the space of five days, with a total distance of 62,195 km covered. History was made in the women’s floor final with the first all-black gymnastics podium ever in the Olympics with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (gold), Simon Biles (silver) and Jordan Chiles (bronze). Chiles has reportedly been stripped of the bronze medal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and replaced with Romania’s Anna Barbosa who was upgraded from 4th to 3rd but she remains a most worthy Olympian. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won Africa’s first ever 200m gold at the Olympics and was the anchor of Botswana’s 4 x 400 relay team which took silver. The Government of Botswana was so excited, the President declared a half-day public holiday in celebration On August 9. Similarly, Leon Marchand became an instant hero in France having won four individual gold medals in swimming. Emma Hayes, who spent 12 years managing the women Chelsea football team, winning seven WSL titles, five FA Cups, and the League Cup twice. She has just led the US Women’s football team to golden victory barely two months after she took over the US National team. The Olympics has always been about individual heroism. But it is also about national pride.
There were many special moments as well: Simon Biles and Jordan Chiles paying homage to Rebeca Andrade in a gracious and humble manner; North Korea and South Korea athletes taking a selfie together in a gesture that showed sports transcend politics. Romance blossomed too: Brazilian triple jumper Almir Dos Santos proposed to his girlfriend Talita Ramos, Massimo Bertelloni proposed to Alessia Maurelli, Liu Yuchen to Huang Yaqiong, Paton Otterdahl to Maddy Nilles, Alice Finot to Bruno Martinez, Pablo Simonet to Maria Campoy, Jean-Emmanuel Mestre to Charline Picon, Kathryn Treder to Alev Kelter, Justin Best to Lainey Duncan and so on and so forth - a firm confirmation that love is indeed in Paris. Many others who may not have won a medal found love. There were pregnant athletes in attendance too: Alysia Montano, 38, American, in the 800m race, Amber Jo Rutter of Team GB, a mum that shoots and got a silver medal in women’s Skeet and Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan who said she felt her baby kicking as she competed in the archery event. These women athletes pushed the boundaries of possibilities at the Paris Olympics. And there were delightful moments of laughter. French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati’s penis knocked off the crossbar during the semi-final heat in pole vault becoming a trending sensation as a result. He did not make it to any podium but he ended up getting a $250, 000 offer from an adult entertainment company which thought his bulge could be an asset beyond the Olympics.! Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif, 25, caused quite a stir with her gender appearance, only to go on to win the gold medal in the women’s boxing welterweight category. Yusuf Dikec, 51, won a silver in the mixed team 10 m air pistol event but he became a popular character in Paris, because of his steeze. While other shooters wore high tech gear, Dikec was non-challant, he wore regular eye glasses, kept his left hand in his pocket and yet got a silver medal. Other athletes thought this was some form of magic and they started putting their hands in their pockets too. Yet another star attraction in Paris was Snoop Dogg, 52, American rapper and actor, (real name Calvin Broadus Jnr.) who carried the Olympic torch and also worked as a broadcaster for US host, the NBC Channel. Snoop Dogg was all over the place, having fun and being himself. NBC paid him US$ 500, 000 per day. Some people are in this world just to catch cruise and enjoy. God, when?
On Sunday, August 11, the Olympics ended on a note of great excitement, grace, pomp and satisfaction on the part of the organizers after 16 days, 329 events and 32 different sports. Tom Cruise, in a “Mission Impossible” kind of stunt abselled from the top of the Stade de France, for the closing ceremony, giving it a feel of the surreal. He took the flag from Simon Biles and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, jumped onto a motorcycle and rode out of the arena. The next Olympics in 2028, will be hosted in Los Angeles, the home town of Snoop Dogg. In this Olympics, the United States led the medals table with a total of 126 medals, followed by China with 91, Australia, 53, France 64 and Great Britain, 65. How did Nigeria fare? We were present for the 16 days that the event lasted but we won nothing. We participated in 12 sports. We sent 88 athletes. Nigeria spent N9 billion. We came home empty-handed. We, however, made little history that may be useful for the future. Our female basketball team, D’Tigress managed by Rena Wakama, fought valiantly and got to the quarter-finals, the first time any African team would go to that far in Olympics basketball. Ms. Wakama, 32, has since been named the Best Female Basketball Coach at the 2024 Olympics by the International Basketball Federation. Samuel Ogazi made it to the 400 m Olympics final, the first athlete to do so since Innocent Egbunike did so 36 years ago. And for the first time in a long while, something very unusual, the Minister of Sports, John Enoh could boast that all the athletes representing Nigeria got their training allowances and bonuses. This is something we are supposed to celebrate. But Nigeria’s participation was generally marred by the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Olympics Committee to submit Favour Ofili’s name for the 100 m race. The sheer incompetence of both bodies is not new: they did the same thing at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 denying 14 athletes the opportunity to participate in the Olympics. They have repeated the same offence this year in Paris, and the best they can do is to trade blames. Nigeria’s men’s 4 x 400 relay team was disqualified for a lane violation in the semi-final. While no Nigerian made it to the podium in Paris, it has been reported that our athletes despite not winning any medal, partied hard and ate to their heart’s content.
But the big shame was seeing Nigerians carrying the flag of other countries. Yemisi Ogunleye who won gold for Germany in shot put is from Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti State. Samu Omorodion was part of the Spanish football team that won gold in the men’s category. He is a Nigerian. Rasheedat Adeleke, the fastest female athlete in Ireland is a Nigerian too. She was part of Ireland’s 4x4 women’s relay that came fourth. She holds Ireland’s national record in 60m, 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m. Annette Nneka Echikunwoke who won silver in Hammer Throw for the United States represented Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics but she switched to the United States because of the incompetence and corruption of Nigerian officials, and now she is described as the first American woman to win a medal in Hammer Throw. There is also Antoinette Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu (can any name be more Nigerian than that?) but she competed at the Olympics and got a silver medal not for Nigeria but Bahrain. In her case, she not only abandoned Nigeria, she even changed her name to Salwa Eid Naser to identify fully with her chosen country and new religion. There may well be other Africans who have switched loyalty to other countries. Winfred Yavi, who previously represented Kenya, but is also now a Bharain athlete in 3,000 m steeplechase won gold in Paris, setting the new Olympic record in that event.
Most African countries are guilty of underinvestment in sports facilities. Nigeria is worse. Those who lead the various sports Federations are corrupt and incompetent. Many of the athletes on the continent prefer to switch to other countries because there are better training facilities abroad and better rewards for talent. At the Paris Olympics, Hong Kong promised its gold medalists - $768,000, Kazahkstan offered $250, 000 for gold, France - $87,00; Singapore - $745,000; Indonesia - $300,000. Sports has become big business. In a globalized world, athletes are entrepreneurs and they would, like everyone else, migrate to where they can gain the best comparative advantage for their talent. In Atlanta 1996, Nigeria won two gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals. But we have since lost the magic due to years of indolence, rascality, and the failure to treat sports as a strategic vehicle for diplomacy and national development. Sports Minister, John Enoh says there would be consequences for the failure of the AFN and Nigeria’s IOC at the Paris Olympics. What consequences, if we may ask? The least that we can ask for is that Nigeria should begin to prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and not wait till the very last minute. We can also probably expect that the Nigerian athletes going for the Paralympics also in Paris, from August 28 – September 8, will do much better. Nigeria does not care enough for the physically challenged among its people, but ironically, this much neglected compatriots have historically done better at the Olympics: a pungent, bitter irony of a country where the blind see better than those with eyesight, and the lame are faster than those who can walk. While Nigeria deals with its multiple dilemmas, let us tell the people and government of France: merci!