Category: Opinion

Fellow Nigerians, let me do a recap of my last column for the benefit of those who might have missed that important forecast of who and what may determine our next President. I will try to predict the principles that would guide how people are likely to vote in that election. Some names have surfaced as potential aspirants and candidates for this all important election that will likely determine what lessons we have learnt and what the medium term future portends for our great country.

The first of the serious candidates, naturally, is President Muhammadu Buhari, who is allowed by the Nigerian Constitution to seek a second term. But this right does not grant him automatic return to power. Indeed, the example of President Goodluck Jonathan is a sobering indicator of this possibility. Going by his old age and present state of health, it may be ill-advised for President Buhari to seek a second time when he is already crawling and groaning to finish this first term. But, who knows, Nigeria is a country where the unthinkable continues to happen. Some vociferous aides of the President have started drumming it into our ears that Baba Buhari will run, come rain, come shine. Who are we to argue with them?

The second, is the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. He’s on my list of frontline candidates, not because he has indicated interest, but because he may get the nod of his boss to continue the good job he’s been doing, if the boss chooses not to run. That is if President Buhari can snub and ignore the ethnic jingoists and religious bigots who always prefer to play the race and religious cards above that of merit and competence.

Since ill-health has deprived Baba of the stamina to showcase his true vision for Nigeria, it is not too late to tap into the massive goodwill that his Vice President has managed to garner in the last few months and cash in on his substantial equity in the Nigerian polity to revalidate the trust once reposed in this government and its “Change” mantra. The theory is that Baba’s last card should be his ability to rise above ethnicity and religion which have both combined to give him a bad name over time, advertently or inadvertently, by doing what seems right for the country, namely the endorsement of the Acting President to complete the work that the ticket was entrusted with. It is going to be tough to groom a new and acceptable successor in the next few months and he may as well go for a man who is already doing him and Nigeria proud.

Osinbajo’s headache would be how to discourage so many ambitious politicians within and outside his party. They include his former boss, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of Nigeria’s most influential politicians. Barring any last minute change of mind, Tinubu is said to be gathering and garnering all his awesome strength and formidable arsenal in readiness for the epic battle ahead. The other major force within their party is former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I doubt if he would jettison his spectacular ambition for anyone after hovering in the wings since 2003. For sure, at already over 70 years of age, this would be his last chance to grab that much coveted title of President and Commander-in-Chief. However, like Tinubu, Atiku has many foes who would rather die than see him at the helm of affairs in Nigeria. Those are the top players in APC.

There are other major contenders, just below the bigwigs I have just mentioned who are working hard to gain national appeal or build on what they already have. They include former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso; The Governor of Sokoto State Waziri Aminu Tambuwal; Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El Rufai; The Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha; The Senate President, also a former Governor, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, and several others.

The election would be decided by the following principles, amongst others. The first hurdle would be who gets the tickets of the top two parties, APC and PDP. This will be a do or die affair. If Buhari decides to run, the party apparatchik would have no choice but to defer and concede to him in order not to subject him to possible humiliation. This may break the party into pieces. A few of the aspirants would be tempted to jump ship but PDP may be too saturated to accept and absorb more ambitious politicians. A third force may be on the cards but trust me, it won’t fly and it is likely to be a monumental misadventure.

The godfathers of Nigerian politics always penetrate the parties to decide who gets what. Nigeria is controlled by some Mafia groups but at the highest echelon is the military fraternity. Former President Obasanjo seems to be the capo di tutti capi here because of his humongous international connections and networks. His robust knowledge of Nigeria is second to none. He enjoys incredible camaraderie with the silent power house, former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. And wherever Babangida goes, his protégé, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar crawls after him like a snail and its shell. By virtue of his sharp intellect, uncommon bravery and bottomless pockets, Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma holds some powerful aces. There is no way they would not be adequately consulted by local and international stakeholders. There are other distinguished members of the military Mafia. Let’s leave them alone for now.

The youths of Nigeria who are desperate for inclusion in the political process still have a long way to go. No one is going to hand the baton to them, just like that, on a platter of gold. They would have to wrestle tirelessly for it. None of those on the battle lines at the moment would be less than 55 in 2019. The youngest of them would still be aged over 50 at the very least, I believe.

Please, don’t write off PDP, and don’t rule out former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan yet. If you understand Nigerian politics a bit, you will appreciate the axiom of “one man’s meat is another man’s poison…” A Presidential game is ruled by big names, pedigree, experience, performance, loads of cash, raw emotion and sentiments. Sometimes it does not matter how bad the experience has been or how woefully the person has performed. Jonathan is therefore still the biggest name PDP can put forward today. Despite the abysmally corrupt practices of his administration and the public odium that continues to trail it, some in the PDP still view Jonathan as the charismatic leader that they can rally around.

What makes the possibility of this nightmarish scenario becoming reality is the poverty and ignorance in our land. There are always more illiterates, jobless people, disoriented youths in every nation. The bourgeois and aristocrats may debate and argue all they like about the impossibility of Jonathan or any of his cohorts returning to power but they pooh pooh and ignore such a freakish occurrence at their peril. In America, all the intellectual elites practically stuck out their necks for Hillary Clinton while the not so educated people pushed out their chests for Donald Trump. You will be shocked at how the same way the hatred for Jonathan got him sacked from power may be replayed in 2019, if APC mismanages the rabid sentiment some people have against Buhari. This theory is based on the principle of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend…”

I have said repeatedly, there are no rigid principles, philosophy and ideologies guiding Nigerian politics. Nearly all the bad guys in PDP have virtually migrated to APC without any remorse or repercussions. And the same people can still do their shifting cultivation anytime, almost effortlessly. Home, sweet home, they will be welcome. I’ve been in places where people were arguing for and against Jonathan. It is certain that all it will take for Jonathan or PDP to return to power is for APC to make some more wrong moves particularly, in their choice of candidate. From the absurd, to the ridiculous, comes the prospect of Governor Ayodele Fayose, who says he wants to run, getting his party ticket and truly becoming a candidate. I leave the rest to your imagination but, again, Fayose’s stomach infrastructure propaganda propelled him like a shooting star to Ekiti Government House. Who says the same hunger is not afflicting the vast majority of our national population. Such a policy may well resonate.

The other aspirants can be broken into the following categories. The military class. Former Senate President, David Mark, is said to be interested. Like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he has the financial muscle to kick-start a major campaign within PDP. It is not known if Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa is still nursing his Presidential ambition, this former military Governor is one of the most educated and refined Generals turned politician. His name has been cropping up here and there.
The Governor’s Forum would wish to have one of their own in the presidential villa. Tinubu, Saraki, Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, and current Governors Tambuwal and El Rufai, Rochas Okorocha, Peter Obi, Orji Uzor Kalu, would certainly be in the forefront as presidential or Vice Presidential candidates.

Three men, many young Nigerians would love to see in the race, in one capacity or the other are the unforgettable former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke and former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akwabio. The infrastructure development they achieved in the past, when they had executive power, is their greatest selling point. Their biggest challenge is that their current level of performance, particularly Fashola and Akpabio, in the disparate roles that they have currently found themselves erodes into the considerable goodwill that they enjoyed as Governors. Donald Duke fortunately does not have such an issue as he has silently gone about his business in the private sector. The fact that he clearly does not see politics as a vocation continues to endear him to people. What is clear is that these achievers have shown that they can’t perform much when they are bogged down by elaborate bureaucracy. There are whispers that the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode may be dragged into the race to assuage the feeling of the youths who seem tired of the old leaders. It is believed that he has displayed exceptional brilliance, capacity and vision in just over two years and that such a man is needed urgently to correct the infrastructure deficit in Nigeria. Nigeria can no longer afford to be saddled with those who lack the vision and the speed for development.

Now, don’t laugh. In case you’ve not heard of this arrangement, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been under pressure to run the Presidential race. The promoters of this idea believe Nigeria would never move forward until it is rescued from hard core politicians and run like a business. Others have mentioned the UBA Chairman, Tony Elumelu, in a similar vein. It is believed that running a global bank in about 19 countries, like Dangote’s expansive businesses in 14 countries, constitutes great experience and exposure for both. Chief Moshood Abiola attempted this in 1993 and almost succeeded before his landmark victory was summarily and cruelly aborted. Many point to business guru, Trump’s, emergence as American President as the sort of miracle that could happen in Nigeria given the public’s increasing disenchantment with the establishment and the call for a new orientation and a business-like approach to government.

Nigerians are desperately seeking leaders who can perform and deliver and not mere representative of a tribe or religious sect. at the end of the day, the choice may well be a stark one. It could lead to a rosy or gloomy future. What is certain is Nigerians do not want failure again. That does not mean that they know how to avoid this. This is mostly true of the poor masses in who really lies the power to do and undo although they obviously do not appreciate this. At the end of it all, if we fail again, then we can only have ourselves to blame once more for our collective stupidity and potential doom. Finito.

Fellow Nigerians, I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh when I got a call early this week from Ambassador Dayo Israel, one of the brightest youths I had mentored in my own modest way some years ago. It was a plaintive cry for help after the debacle of a failed local government chairmanship aspiration bid and the death knell of the campaign for youth emancipation in the Senate.

Dayo has since those halcyon days, when he came under my tutelage, worked very hard to be an iconic youth in Nigeria and beyond. Dayo recently threw his hat into the political ring recently when he attempted to pick the APC Chairmanship nomination for Lagos Mainland Local Government, to contest today against other Lagos Mainland Chairmanship aspirants in that Local Government of Lagos State. As you read my epistle right now, the election is taking place as scheduled but without Dayo’s name on the ballot papers.

Dayo had requested my intervention, several times in the last few months, for help with his political aspiration. He took his case to the high and mighty in our society and solicited the support of political godfathers in his party, APC. There is no doubt that Dayo is eminently qualified to run in this race and I was reasonably assured that he would deliver on most of the promises made by him. However, the arithmetic of politics in Nigeria, and in most places, is not always one plus one. The way these things are configured often make it impossible for brilliant young guys like Dayo to have a smooth sail in political climes like Nigeria. Ask me! I had my own Baptism of fire in 2011 when I got inspired by the audacity and miracle of Barack Obama in the United States of America and assumed foolishly that such could be replicated back home in Nigeria. Lord have mercy, I was dead wrong.

I had predicated my faith and boundless optimism on several factors: my personal credentials (I was well educated with a Masters degree in Literature-in-English), my political background (I had been in politics since 1982 and had even been a personal secretary to the then Deputy Governor of Old Ondo State, Chief Akin Omoboriowo. Since then I had interacted with some of Nigeria’s biggest political juggernauts), my business experience (I had managed people and resources from medium scale to high level), my global exposure (I had been blessed with access to world figures at home and abroad) and crucially, I now had what I thought were my greatest assets, the youths of Nigeria. But my dream of leading Nigeria out of the doldrums soon vanished.

The youths mostly teased and taunted me as inexperienced and poor. They preferred the calibre of people they claimed had pilfered, looted and wasted their common wealth – politicians with very loaded pockets. These are people who could instantly daze and dazzle them with cash which represents only a token of what they’ve stolen, and later abandon them and for good measure impoverish society at large. I could not believe my ears and my eyes as I watched developments with incredulity. I was too idealistic about a revolution foretold which became nothing but a mirage. I refused to join the mainstream parties in my naïve belief that the duo of PDP and AC had been substantially contaminated and we should start on a cleaner note. There is no doubt that the biggest party in Nigeria remains the unheralded and unregistered Floaters Party, comprising, of mainly, the most vocal but reticent youths in Africa. Anyway, I lost the election but learnt a lot of incredible lessons from the experience and exposure.

When Dayo Israel decided to go into politics, I readily and instantly knew he would have to climb Mount Everest in short time to clinch his party ticket. I admired his guts and appreciated his superlative enthusiasm. But I knew that alone could not catapult him to the dreamland that he foresaw. His campaign was remarkable and fresh. I did not want to discourage him in any way. I was in a position to give him privileged information that would have dampened his enthusiasm but refrained from doing so in order not to weaken his resolve or demoralise him, particularly for the future. Nevertheless, I knew the chicken would eventually come home to roost. Truth is the elders that we usually complain against, and grumble about, are better organised and more fraternised than the younger ones. Nigerian youths are yet to demonstrate sufficient capacity for sustained struggle and clear-cut principle or ideology. I was the only Presidential candidate in the history of Nigeria ever with uncommon faith in the abilities of Nigerian youths and demonstrated this when I picked a prodigiously gifted 26-year old Ohimai Godwin Amaize as my Presidential Campaign Coordinator. His biggest foes were the same youths he had fought for all his adult life. They regularly dissed and derided him as if success as a young man is a curse in Nigeria.

It was no surprise to me when Dayo started seeing red lights halting him in his tracks and denying him progress. His dreams and vision began to evaporate before his very eyes. He came crying to me several times and I tried to pacify him as much as possible. I sometimes had to tell him the blatant and unpleasant truth, which only brought more anguish for him. I prepared his mind for the worst case scenario. At first, he was reluctant and resisted my humble advice and realistic forecast as to how his ambition would be scuttled. Eventually, he saw reason and accepted his fate with equanimity. I was excited about his decision not to throw tantrums against his party leaders but to cooperate beautifully with them and rally together other disappointed and angry aspirants who were in denial, like he was initially. Obviously, “he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day,” according to an adage. Every act of compromise is not always an act of cowardice but is often a demonstration of wisdom and a show of strength of character.

That done and ambition thwarted for now, Dayo with youthful vigour decided to join yet another cause, the “not too young to run” campaign. Dayo Israel and company banked their resolve in this regard, on the support of the Nigerian Senate. I really don’t know what or who persuaded them that the Senate, as presently composed, was going to buy into their vision, but they somehow believed the bill was going to sail through. That hope too was soon dashed. Dayo was livid and incandescent with rage. He called me frantically. Since I didn’t know what informed the decision of the Senate not to kowtow to the wishes of our youths I decided to beg Dayo to cool temper. “Uncle, Uncle, please we need your intervention,” he pleaded like a penitent school boy. “What happened, Dayo,” I asked innocently. I didn’t really know why he was so worked up. Then he told me how the Senate had thrown out the bill that would help the Nigerian youths participate more effectively in politics, and he was so disappointed. I told him I was helpless. However, I also assured him that, If and when, I have the opportunity to speak to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, I will speak to him about it,” I calmly told him that this was a solemn promise. And I also promised to publicly add my voice to this necessary crusade via my Pendulum column today.

The Nigerian youths must be told the unpalatable truth. No one gives up, or relinquishes power on a platter of gold. You must go all out and work assiduously to grab it. If necessary, you must fight ferociously for it. Life is not a bed of roses and the battle for power is no less so. The Azikiwes, Awolowos, Tafawa Balewas, and others all prepared well and adequately for power. They did not wake up suddenly to ask for it. Our youths must first distinguish themselves in their respective areas of expertise and endeavour. When you are distinguished, you will have the confidence to speak authoritatively and convincingly. People will listen to you. Nigerian youths should stop expecting manna from heaven. The last time it dropped was only reported in the Holy Bible, and that must be many centuries ago.

Nigerian youths must join mainstream political parties and form themselves into formidable cells. If you claim politics is too dirty and dangerous and abandon it on the laps of useless characters, you can’t come back later to blame anyone for your negligence or ostrich behaviour. Not only must they join the main political parties, Nigerian youths must invest in their political future by making donations towards funding of the electoral process. If you allow the moneybags hijack the political parties, that is it. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. One of the reasons corruption is difficult to contain or exterminate in Nigeria is because politicians are forced to raise and spend too much of their personal resources to contest elections. It is thus natural that an outlandish investor would want to recoup his humongous investment as soon as possible, if he is successful.

Nigerian youths must acquire and imbibe the spirit of patience by making painstaking effort to queue, vote and protect their votes on election day. Since phantoms or aliens are not going to descend from the heavens or outer space to elect our leaders for us, we must do it for ourselves by exercising our voting rights. The nonchalance of our youths must yield way to a more passionate interest in this most important matter of enfranchisement. We must register to vote and recognise that it is cool to vote no matter how tedious the process may be. No magic would change Nigeria for the better if we fail to do what is right. The elites, in particular, make it easy for stark illiterates and mediocres to take over our political landscape by thinking they are too big to vote or soil themselves by participating in party politics. When tomorrow comes, it is only those who presented themselves that would determine those who are to be voted in or out.

I sincerely sympathise with our youths. In 2019, some of the leading aspirants again would be in their sixties and seventies. That is the sad reality I must tell you about today. I’m yet to see those in the thirties and forties seriously warming up for the tough race ahead. On my part, at 57, I already feel I’m getting too old. It is now more obvious than ever that Nigeria must urgently seek energetic, youthful but accomplished, visionary, upwardly mobile leaders who would think and work outside the box regardless of tribe, gender or religion. We need our young entrepreneurs and innovators to also claim the political space. I do not care where our leaders come from as long as I’m reasonably convinced of their competence. However, we continue to do the same things repeatedly by churning out lacklustre and poor candidates who have no clue about governance or national development. For this reason, we should not expect different results from those of the past. Our lunacy would have been finally confirmed if we continue not only to repeat the mistakes of the past but also continue to embrace it. No nation develops without learning from its history and without leaning on its youth. It is not a coincidence that our greatest periods of national development and progress have been at the time when we have young men at the helm of affairs. We do not need to reinvent our existence or raison d’etre. We only need to flow with it and redevelop our instincts for youth and vigour, imagination and innovation – In short visionary, dedicated and disciplined leadership.

God help Nigeria.

 

 

PENDULUM By Dele Momodu; dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, let me say emphatically that our dear beloved country has never been in short demand or adequate supply of useless rumours. We all love gossip of all kinds, mundane or sublime, plausible or outrageous. We enjoy junk and gobble up any news in sight, no matter how ridiculously far-fetched. I remember one hot story during the last Presidential campaign of 2015. Major General Muhammadu Buhari had left Nigeria to London. His main mission was to honour an invitation from the influential Chatham House. I don’t know if he had other reasons to visit London but rumour soon had it that he was brain dead. I had wondered why no one waited a few more days to see if he would surface and speak at his Chatham House engagement. There was so much hoopla and hullaballoo all over the place. At a stage, even I started believing the naysayers, such was the volume and monotony of the babble. A call from Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki rescued my sanity. He confirmed that the People’s General was going to honour his appointment and face a barrage of questions. APC was not yet in disarray at that time and the members worked in unison. The only problem was that there was no one on ground to handle the media fallout during and after the event. I told Dr Saraki I had just left London the day before and was back in Accra, Ghana. I promised to see what I could do.

 

My number one priority was to get fantastic coverage for the event and so my first duty was to contact our international photographer, Dragan Mikki, in Canterbury. It was already too late to seek and obtain media accreditation. Two, such an assignment would require the audacity and tenacity of a warhorse like Dragan who has the guts of a lion and the friendliness of a dove. Dragan would talk his way through the labyrinth of fire unhurt. Next, we’ll need to set up a situation office somewhere safe and private from where we can report the event live and control cyberspace. I had been reliably informed that the Director-General of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential campaign organisation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was going to be in London and the hotel where he was going to stay was also disclosed. I decided last minute to return to London. For me, oju oloju ko le jo oju eni (another man’s eyes can never be as effective as one’s own). I had to make this sacrifice for my country even if I was not (and still not) a member of APC.

Off I went back to London and landed the following morning. Dr Saraki was stunned when information reached him that I had purchased my own ticket and headed back to London the day after I left the historic city. I had arranged a room at the Intercontinental Park Lane where Dragan joined me to plan a major media blitz. Amaechi was shocked to see me in the hotel. We discussed briefly before he drove off to Chatham House with Dragan Mikki in tow. I managed to set up a one-man riot squad in my room with blistering broadband internet in tandem. I was ready to blast the news to a global audience. Dragan was instructed to feed me with live and exclusive pictures as the event unfolded. Trust Dragan, he over-delivered.

First, he meandered his way through the extensive and elaborate security and got extraordinary shots of Buhari’s private meeting with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This was getting too good to be true. So “Buhari was not brain dead as widely speculated”, I soliloquised. My confidence returned in full force. Buhari actually wowed his captive audience as he answered most questions with as much candour and humour as possible. I was impressed and elated. My coming back to London was not a wasted journey after-all. There was a motley crowd of demonstrators gathered outside, ostensibly hired by the PDP ruling government to inflict as much humiliation and psychological damage on Buhari. Not wanting to take any risk, the British Metropolitan Police spirited Buhari out of Chatham House in James Bond version. He was ferried in a nondescript van to his modest rented apartment in Mayfair. I later got a call from Amaechi asking me to join the retired Army General.

I was delighted to join Buhari and company. Amaechi, Sirika, Farouk, Hadiza, Keyamo and others were present in the flat. Buhari was in a relaxed mood and he stood up to welcome me and pose for pictures. He obviously and definitely did not appear like a man who had any brain damage. That done, I plotted my exit from London and returned to Accra. Those who said Buhari was already a vegetable never explained if it was his ghost that spoke at Chatham House or if he had resurrected from the dead. And they certainly did not render any apologies to their misled audience. Sad.

Sure, Buhari has suffered health challenges, like all mortals, since winning the election and becoming President. He is after all in his seventies and has had a long and chequered military career. He has been away on long absences for medical treatment and constitutionally handed over power temporarily to his Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The bad news is that the rumours that dogged him in 2015 have been upgraded each time he’s had to travel. As usual, Buhari has been killed on social media many times, all to no avail in the physical realm. The most charitable ones have declared him to be in coma claiming a few members of the Buhari cabal have been ruling by proxy, whatever that means. Anyway. The truth, as we have been told by the Acting President, Professor Osinbajo following his whistle-stop visit to the President in Abuja House, Kensington, London, is that President Buhari is hale and hearty, albeit recuperating from an undisclosed ailment, and is due to return home shortly to the consternation and chagrin of his detractors.

That latest rumour about Buhari vegetating in London thus seemed to have been debunked in one fell swoop by this sudden trip of Professor Osinbajo to London for a quick but meaningful meeting with the once ailing but now “recuperating President.” A few things became clear to me. One, President Buhari is still unwell but not as bad as being rumoured. Two, the visit was a masterstroke, as President Buhari offered Acting President Osinbajo a chance to discuss with him directly instead of listening to emissaries and dealing with third parties. Three, Buhari shows himself as loving Nigeria more than most people are willing to acknowledge by stylishly displaying a synergy between himself and his deputy. Four, the meeting is a warning signal to over-ambitious elements who may wish to be opportunistic by attempting to seize power through the backdoor. Five, it looks like a less than subtle ringing endorsement of Osinbajo as the man in charge and a super warning to would-be plotters to stay off. Six, this is a team that is thriving on the trust and respect that the President and his Vice have for one another. Seven, Buhari is confident he would recover fully and return to work as soon as his health permits. These are my personal thoughts and my prayers are with the President.

As for those accusing Osinbajo of being squeamish and not working at full capacity out of fear, they should understand that the worst thing a man can be accused of disloyalty. If one thing is clear from the debacle unfolding before us, it is that Professor Osinbajo is a man of integrity who is not given to playing the kind of games that politicians are renowned for. Indeed, by his simple mien and resolute commitment to dealing with the task at hand, he is outsmarting and defeating those who wish him and the administration ill. If I were in Osinbajo’s shoes, I’m sure I’ll be very careful to avoid any suspicion of disloyalty. I therefore respect Osinbajo for his principled stance and temperate character. His boss has constitutionally transferred power to him as Acting President and there is nothing more to be desperate about. Buhari’s taciturnity is the reason many think and talk for him. But he has demonstrated, even in ill-health, that he wants no division in his government and Osinbajo remains his major ally. Contrary to the rumours being spread by unscrupulous elements in the polity, Osinbajo is demonstrating great courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity. His opponents grudgingly understand this but would like to paint the picture that his sure-footedness is borne of timidity and trepidation for the unknown rather than the steadfastness and adeptness of a man who knows what he is doing and where he wants to be and is prepared to be tactful and cautious to achieve the goal of a prosperous and corruption free Nigeria.

Nigeria has more to gain in an atmosphere of peace and unity. Those who harbour Presidential ambitions should pursue their dreams responsibly and within the realm of the Constitution. It is pointless flying futile kites, in flights of fancy. No amount of silent whispers and poisonous innuendos can destroy something that has the heavenly seal of approval. Whilst it is anyone’s right to aspire, it’s certainly not anyone’s space to destabilise a government that is beginning to gather steam and ready to fly.

Congratulations to Mrs Osinbajo on Her Golden Jubilee

The wife of the Acting President, Mrs Oludolapo Olutosin Osinbajo turns 50 today and I take this opportunity to salute a woman who has brought an unusual quiet, calming graciousness and dignity to the position that she occupies. I have known Mrs Osinbajo for many three decades, as she is the first cousin of Mrs Olukemi Aderemi, who is a dear family friend.

The Wife of the Acting President, is a soft-spoken, intelligent, unassuming and humble woman who complements her husband in practically every respect. You could say that they are the perfect couple. Both are lawyers, authors and Pastors who share a common love for teaching and a compassion for the poor and downtrodden. Incidentally they both also partly come from the same hometown, Ikenne in Remo, Ogun State.

The way in which Mrs Osinbajo carries herself with such humility and demureness one would not realise that she comes from the family of the great Obafemi Awolowo on her mother side. But it should really be no surprise that she demonstrates these traits. Both on the paternal and maternal side, (her father, Mr Tayo Soyode, is the son of a wealthy and distinguished fishing magnate who plied his trade in Ijora, “Pipi” Soyode) Mrs Osinbajo combines wealth, grace, leadership and discipline. The effortless ease at which she goes about her duties shows that she is someone to nobility born.

Mrs Osinbajo has brought a real sense of decency, decorum and respect to her office. She is fashionable, tastefully glamorous, not loud or lurid. Even when she wears the simplest of attires, her radiant beauty and the self confidence that she exudes makes her look as regal and resplendent as when she dresses in haute couture clothing. In her own inimitable way, Mrs Osinbajo is a style icon with a difference.

Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo is a role model worthy of emulation in all respects. The kind of moral and upright upbringing that she had, can be seen in the rounded development of her three lovely children, two girls – Damilola and Kanyinsola “Kiki” and the last born and son, Fiyinfolowa. They would make any parent proud as they sensibly live their lives outside the public glare and without the haughtiness that children of dignitaries often display.

It is my joy to celebrate a deserving lady of distinction and repute today as she turns 50 years old. I pray that she continues to enjoy good health and has a long life full of joy, happiness, contentment and peace. Amen.

Sahara Reporters has just published a false report that Senate President Bukola Saraki has been pushing me to defend himself and my senate colleagues. Dr. Saraki knows too well that Sola Adeyeye is a man who cannot be cajoled, intimidated or “pushed” to do what he does not believe.

Unbeknownst to the membership of the Nigerian Senate and the public at large, nobody in the Nigerian senate has given Saraki more headache than myself. At a time when Senator Ali Ndume (the former Senate Leader) and Senator Saraki were bosom buddies, my principled and uncompromising stand at senate leadership meetings irked Ndume so much that tempers sometimes boiled and flared.

As a member of the senate leadership, my voice has NEVER been muffled. I shall, one day, give account to God for how I use that voice. But I know too well that all I have is one voice and one vote. Regardless of strong personal convictions on any issue, triumph in democratic contestation is sometimes a manifestation of majoritarian tyranny rather than the dominance of virtuous views. As such, one learns to take occasional triumphs and repeated defeats with equanimity. Even so, being human, one is saddened that transducers often choose to malign one’s actions and inaction.

The Plenary Session of the Nigerian Senate is given live coverage on Wednesdays. Many Wednesdays ago, my repeated attempts to amend a Senate Resolution on the matter of the Comptroller General of Customs was greeted by a boisterous and implacable chorus of “Nay” from my colleagues. My attempt to save the senate from needlessly boxing itself into a corner met unyielding resistance and the television audience bore me witness. Thereafter, I took my seat and and kept my silence.

Many who complain about my silence on some national matters are the first to dish lampoons at me if I air any view (on such matters) that differs from theirs! In blowing the trumpet of conscience, I have learnt to sometimes keep that trumpet mute because discretion is the better part of valor. I have also learnt to sometimes stick my neck out, however unpopular it may be to do so, because the test of a man is where he stands when challenges beckon.

It really is bemusing when my recent writings are attributed to the prompting of Saraki. The truth of course is that versions of these writings have been circulated to opinion leaders of my party a long, long time ago. I do my best to preempt or minimize crisis. In doing so, my highest consideration has always been what is best for Nigeria.

So that no one would manufacture tales about my loyalty, I usually circulate my views to those who need to hear them long before such views are released to the public, and even when they are not disclosed to the public. I have learnt not to seek applause or publicity.

Many months ago, Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Aregbesola and I met with President Buhari. I chuckled and guffawed when I read various speculations in newspapers about how the meeting came to be and what we discussed. The truth is that I was the initiator and moderator of that meeting at which I spoke most respectfully but without mincing words on pressing national matters. My commitment to the Buhari Presidency is strong, indeed, almost fanatical. As such, while always being respectful, I have never had to guard my words when I speak with the President. I always give him the benefit of my honest opinion.

As for the Acting President, it is indeed laughable to read the innuendo of my being Saraki’s pawn for undermining Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Totally ludicrous! Someday, I may disclose the relationship between Prof Osinbajo and myself. Suffice to say that given the ponderous responsibilities that God has placed on him, my earnest prayers and wishes are for his resounding success. May no evil whatsoever befall him. Instead, may any evil that would touch him come upon me. It is precisely because I believe that some celebrated lawyers are misleading him that I have stuck my neck out in recent times. In my most recent interview on ChannelsTV, despite my own position on the matter of Senate Confirmation of the EFCC Chairman, I was categorical in my denunciation of Attorney General Malami for publicly contradicting the Acting President. Conscience is a lonely road, but I am used to walking it.

During the saga of the accursed Third Term Agenda of President Obasanjo, I declared that there is not enough money in the Central Bank of Nigeria to buy my conscience or enough weapons in the armory of Nigeria to frighten my soul. That is till the case with me.

Occasionally, I feel the fatigue of battles. Still, a silent inner voice tells me not to succumb to battle fatigue. As my sister recently reminded me, Rome wasn’t built in a day and not by one person. For a long time now, I have stated on my Whatsapp Status that “The process seems slow but a new Nigeria is in rebirth.” The walls of the new Nigeria will be built with bricks that have withstood the buffetings of time. Each brick will have a name on it denoting the contributions of past and present heroes. I am striving to get my name on one brick. Just one brick. Sola Adeyeye knows that unscrupulous pawns in the game of power will not have their names on these bricks. That is why I can never be a pawn for anyone.

Flooding is not a Lagos problem alone. This year, massive flood had happened in parts of London, Houston with great casualties in human and properties. Just three days ago, there was a major flood in Japan that killed 15 people as reported by CNN. It washed off road, buildings, electric poles etc. Those are better planned cities. We need better planning and stronger town planning regulations, no doubt. What happened in Lagos now is beyond drainages and water channels in my view. More of consequence of climate change than government failure. We are always too hard on our governments when things like this happens as if they don’t happen elsewhere.

And to those who are happy that the rich people along Lekki/Ajah corridor are victims, calm down and do away with that your ‘it-serves-them-right-mentality.’ There are more very poor and most vulnerable people in that axis than the fewer rich.

Let our humanity be our guide in all situation.

Yerima Shetima is my friend and has been one since late 80s, but I never knew he has been such hollow to accept dictates from an empty professor not worthy of such title, a professor of ineptitude; professor of sadism; professor of all sorts of inhuman bigotry; an animal in human skin like one Ango Abdullahi who Dr. Bala Yusuf Usman challenged in 1986 to prove his professorship with reference to any of his research works in any journal. Ango still don’t have any published work of academic reckoning.

That Yerima submitted himself to run errands and bear the palls for this empty professor of stupidity show to me how lucky we were during the anti military dictatorship struggles.

I met Shetima during that struggle, and like many of his likes that history has recently exposed, many of us who trusted these opportunists could have been killed through their opportunism..

Yerima Shetima has simply destroyed the better part of his own history.

As for Ango Abdullahi, he has never had any good part in history and am sure he’s not bothered, like all sadists don’t.

Yerima is my friend and he lives in Lagos not in any part of the north.

Yerima can’t hurt a fly but he has made a pronouncement capable of causing pogrom.
And that’s why any responsible government should get him a room in a maximum security jail house.

I have never met that Kanu but I think he should share a room with Yerima in jail.
Both young men are dangerous to humanity with contaminating venoms capable of flaring what they can neither sustain nor contain.

If there is a federal government in Nigeria, Ango, Yerima, Kanu and their likes should have been taken off the public space by now. Just that our government and security agencies enjoy being reactive rather than exercising their proactive prerogatives. This is how boko haram was allowed to fly far above the purview of our security capabilities.

Whether we like it or not, Yerima and Kanu have spoken.

Those of us speaking against their orders are simply speaking to ourselves

Street urchins have taken the orders, heavily armed with the commanding statements from these two.

It would be wrong calculation for our government and security agencies to wait until the expiration of the various ultimatum before picking up these warmongers.

 

Denja Yaqub is an Assistant Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja.

It is part of the Nigerian character to imagine an improved society even when our daily activities are a map to hell.

We hear of the arrest of kidnap kingpin Evans, for instance, and smile a smile of relief. Our era, we think, just got a little more secure.

We never ask the teenage local errand boy, who stopped going to school because his father lost his job four years ago, what he thinks. We do not ask similar questions of the maid’s daughter whose mother cannot send her to school; they are both qualified only to serve our needs.

Never do we suggest we are an egotistical, self-centred magic show. In no shape are we Evans, ever telling our families let alone our neighbours on the church pew, that for a living-our real living-we are ruthless hypocrites fundamentally responsible for society’s dislocation.

We do not admit the corners we cut. We are not responsible for the people who died of treatable ailments, or in the desert trying to reach Libya, or in the Mediterranean seeking the embrace of some European country.

Think about this for a moment: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sends to Nigeria 200 tonnes of dates as a Ramadan gift to Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs), fellow Nigerians cut adrift as Boko Haram spread its menace.

Why dates? Well, it is Ramadan, and dates are a key component of the Ramadan fast experience.

In response to the Saudi gift,our shame-faced Ministry of Foreign Affairs would subsequently explain, the Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs prepared a list of distribution locations, a list which included IDP camps and some prominent mosques.

The Ministry was trying to find the words for an apology to Saudi Arabia after the dates, all 200 million tonnes, were found to have been diverted, appearing in local Nigerian market stalls.

As the entire world well knows, one Goodluck Jonathan had the presidential magic carpet swept from beneath him two years ago partly because Boko Haram was on a rampage and he didn’t know what to do.

The then aspiring government of President Muhammadu Buhari would have no such nonsense, it said, promising to hammer the militant group into the ground. In any event, the Jonathan government was unforgivably corrupt, making the case for its replacement rather easy.

Those reasons are why it is not the battles that are now not being won from Boko Haram that are the most painful, but those being conceded by Nigeria itself, such as greedy officials taking food out of the mouths of children, the hungry and the homeless.

According to a May 2017 United Nations report, in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, there are currently 8.5 million people deeply in need of life-saving aid, 5.9 million people requiring emergency health care, and 5.2 million on the edge of starvation.

These figures do not include the 204,500 Nigerian refugees in Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Remember that in January this year, a Nigeria Air Force jet mistakenly bombed an IDP camp in Rann, near the Cameroun/Chad borders, killing at least 236 and wounding hundreds. At the time, the Rann camp held about 20,000 people. On April 9 in this column, I also cited the case of 130,000 of our compatriots abandoned on a desert highway outside Diffa, in Niger, with no homes and no supplies. Internally, there are Nigerians in camps nationwide for various reasons.

These are the kinds of victims to whom our Saudi friends sent those dates: people facing hunger, sickness, despair. But in an insensitive and uncaring country, some officials could find no mercy or a sense of responsibility. It was business as usual.

As part of its apology, the Nigerian government announced an investigation. The Saudis would be unwise to hold their breath. Nothing will come of it, as such an investigation is for the consumption of the international community. Experience shows that in just days, the government would have abandoned its pretences.

Exactly one year ago, for instance, following yet another report of the Global Fund announcing that funds it sent to Nigeria to combat HIV & AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria had again been looted, the second such report since 2010. Swiftly, the Muhammadu Buhari government launched three investigations: one by the EFCC; another by Health Minister Isaac Adewole; and a third by Auditor-General Samuel Ukura. Three!

But nothing came of any of them: if anyone was found to have been complicit, the culprit was quietly sent off to other adventures. Now, if Nigerians can be so cruelly sentenced to die of disease, what are fruits?

In serious countries, perpetrators of these kinds of crime are identifiable, within a few days, but in Nigeria, the treatment of institutionalized impunity that is worse than the diagnosis is proof that even when the government is different, Nigeria does not. We are the auditor; a wise man arrives when the war is over and bayonets the wounded.

The future offers little comfort. Last week, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, finding himself sitting on a sewer with no cover, admitted that 50 of every 100 lorries being sent to the north-east to deliver food aid do not reach their destination.

That is a scandalous 50 per cent menace. To improve performance, he said the latest consignment of aid was being protected by over 1000 soldiers.

I admire his efforts, but his odds are not good, for it is not the guns we carry on the outside but the bayonets we wear in our hearts. In 2010, the predecessor-government of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan bungled the Global Fund situation so badly the Fund stated, sadly: “Money was (even) siphoned to a person arrested in 2003 for money laundering and smuggling diamonds that are mined and sold to support the war.”

Nigeria comforted the world with an investigation that died as soon as the government felt people had forgotten.

Six years later, the Fund’s new report included revelations of systematic embezzlement of programme funds, fraudulent practices, misappropriation, manipulated hotel expenditures; falsified or inflated receipts, bogus travel claims and kickbacks.

Again, Nigeria responded with a public relations gimmick: a loud outburst of investigations. It is little surprise that one year later,all those indicted by the Fund in its exhaustive report are still in office, as are the pretend-investigators of this government. I could name a hundred Global Fund-type situations in the past 16 years.

But our problem is actually worse than this. Last week, Itse Sagay, the chairman of Buhari’s Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, came one adjective short of dismissing his government’s anti-corruption pretences.

Speaking at a public event in Abuja, he declared that the government, “particularly the President and Vice-President, who were elected into office principally to eliminate corruption,” must find the requisite response to corruption, “otherwise we are all dead.”

Otherwise? Remember, it is the same Professor Sagay who, THEWILL reported in March, was dead set against the trial in Nigeria for corruption, of the notorious James Ibori, citing his trial and conviction in England.

No, Evans-like Ishola Oyenusi and Lawrence Anini, like thousands of political manipulators and budget-padding specialists and sundry sharers of the dates of poor Nigerians since 1960-never told his neighbours and friends what he really did for a living.

We do not, either. Somewhere, who knows, another teenage IDP, his humanitarian aid being offered to him for sale in a market, grows desperate.

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