Category: Opinion

“I have never met Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode in my life, but have read some of his write-up in the papers.
There are some of his views I do not share, but at times reason with some of his cogitation.
I saw his immediate political future recently, but I am sad to report that his star may dim so soon, if he doesn’t pray and change course.
Here is what the Holy Spirit is telling us to tell Mr. Fani-Kayode:
“After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.
On the third day, a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor. “Where have you come from?”
David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.” “The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit.
When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’ “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’
“‘An Amalekite,’ I answered. “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’ “So, I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive.
And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.” Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them.
They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered. David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So, he struck him down, and he died. For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.'” (II Samuel 1:1-15).
This demands for wisdom and spiritual understanding”.
(FROM PASTOR MOSHOOD IFAYEMIWO, MARYLAND, U.S.A, JUNE 2017)
MY RESPONSE TO PASTOR MOSHOOD IFAYEMIWO:
“I saw the counsel that I was offered in this piece. I thank him for his concern for me and his prayers.
I do however urge him to dig deeper.
I know the author and I respect him immensly.
He made geat sacrifices during the June 12th struggle and he suffered torture and incarceration for two or three years. I commend him for his courage at that difficult time in our history.
He can however be rest assured that I am not an Amalekite. I am David. He can also be rest assured that Buhari is not a Saul that was annointed by God but rather a Pharaoh and a Herod all rolled into one that was annointed by the devil.
No-one will chop my head off or kill me before my time and neither am I a messenger. I am David.
I am a King and I will chop off the heads of the Amalekites and ALL my enemies at the soonest.
One by one they will fall until the spiritual circle is complete and the way is clear.
I do not fight my battles: God fights them for me. I am David.
Behold they fall one by one already. Slowly but surely.
Consider the following:
the 6 Senators that bitterly opposed my Ministerial nomination on the Senate floor, that said I would be a Minister only over their dead bodies and that got up and insulted me during my Senate Ministerial clearance hearing in 2006 all died of strange dieseases within a few years.
Meanwhile ALL the Senators that got up, spoke for me and supported me that day are all alive and well till today. Two of them went on to be made Ministers a few years later and two of them were elected governor.
Again the northern traditional ruler that wrote OBJ and said that I should be removed as a Minister in 2006 for being anti-Islam and anti-north was killed, together with his Senator son and his grandson, in a horrific plane crash a few weeks after writing his letter.
Again all of the Senators that sat on the Senate Commitee on Aviation that probed me in 2008 (led by Senator Anyim Ude) all paid a terrible price and none of them came back to the Senate at the next election except for one.
And the one that came back was the only one on the Commitee that showed me kindness and that was fair to me during the proceedings. Not only did he come back to the Senate but he was also later made a Minister.
Again the President that told EFCC to maliciously charge me to court in 2008 for doing no wrong dropped dead in 2010.
Again the Head of the EFCC that executed the plan for him was removed from her job unceremoniously, lost her 35 year old child and lost her husband a few years later.
Worst still, the officer that was sent to lead the team that arrested me in the Nigerian Senate was murdered three years later by men of the underworld.
I was prosecuted for 7 years and on July 1st 2015, 7 years to the day when the whole ordeal started, I was discharged and acquitted of all charges by the courts.
One year later they came after me again on the orders of the new government and once again history repeated itself.
Just like before the President that ordered that the EFCC should maliciously charge me to court in 2016 for doing no wrong is bed-ridden and brain dead in a foreign land today and will leave this world very soon if he has not done so already.
Again the Head of the EFCC who executed the plan for him has been rejected by the Senate twice and has not been cleared or confirmed.
Much will still happen. Wait and see. It is just a matter of time.
These things do not happen by my power but by the power of God.
Anyone that seeks to destroy me, that seeks my hurt, that seeks to abort God’s plan for my life or that wishes me ill always has a terrible end or is stalked by misfortune and tragedy.
I am David. I cannot be cut short and I cannot die before my time.
I will carry out my assignment in this nation and on this planet successfully before I am called home whether my detractors like it or not.
The bible says “touch not my annointed and do my prophets no harm”.
Many in our nation still have much to learn from that. They would do well to learn it fast.
Meanwhile I shall live long and prosper because the Lord is with me.
And like David at Ziklag I shall pursue, overtake and recover all that my enemies have taken from me. The Lord is faithful to His own. Shalom”- FFK, Abuja, Nigeria. 17th June 2017.

Fellow Nigerians, I write movingly today because those who have the platforms to reach a mass audience should rise to rescue Nigeria from those hell-bent on unleashing stupendous terror and horror on our dearly beloved country. It is necessary for me to repeat some of my life history for people to understand the pain and anguish I feel about those toying with our very existence as a nation. I was not born with a silver spoon. I have willingly laboured more for myself and our country than I ever want to receive. I have suffered enough pains, frustrations and denigration like, if not more than, the man next door. You may never know because we are yet to hold a sovereign national conference of the Sufferers Association of Nigeria. Unless you are told in very clear terms, you would never know, suspect or imagine what is buried within the underbelly of a human being.

Growing up was not so simple or easy for me. The primary school I attended was so local and rural that it even reflected in its name, Local Authority Primary School, Ifewara Road, Ile-Ife. From there, I travelled to Inisa Grammar, Inisa for my secondary education. This was a journey from Ile-Ife through Ife suburbs like Ipetumodu, Gbongan, Sekona, to Ede, Osogbo, Ikirun and finally Inisa. I have narrated the route just to show the arduous journey and how many bridges I had to cross as a young boy of eleven years old to go to school. The experience was so harrowing as we had to trek some distance to fetch water from Odo Otin river and had to wake up by 5.00am daily. I regularly escaped from school, running back to my parents. Being the only child of my mum for my dad, they were quite alarmed fearing something terrible might happen to me. I was brought back to Ile-Ife and I landed at Oluorogbo High School. I spent only one year in this school before moving St. John’s Grammar School, Ilode. I never had the privilege of attending any psychedelic schools of those days, as you can see.

As if my background was not chaotic enough, I suddenly lost my wonderful father on June 14, 1973. I was barely 13 and life went from bad to worse. Just visualise being left with a poor and illiterate woman who merely eked a living as a petty trader. My only saving grace was the wisdom she imparted on me from her native education and natural wisdom. My spoken English was a catastrophic disaster. I improved a bit in the written language after reading substantial literature under one of the best teachers ever, Mrs H. Sutton. I sat my first WAEC Examination in 1976, succeeded only in bagging a poor Grade 3. I flunked Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry with straight F9. I repeated the exams in 1977 but disaster struck again as in that evil year exam papers leaked like water inside basket. Though I had no access to what was nicknamed ORIJO (as in Original) at the time, my result was one of the many withheld. It was so bad, my mum felt like my ordeal was spiritual.

I sat the exams a third time in 1978 and it was third time lucky. I also passed the inaugural JAMB exam and became a pioneer JAMBITE at the University of Ife. Such was my incredible trajectory in search of the golden fleece of Bachelor of Arts. It was at Unife (as the University was then called) that I met and became bosom friends with Prince Adedamola Aderemi, who completed my English transformation by teaching me how to pronounce words properly and improve my diction.

1978 witnessed the Ali-Must-Go demonstrations in Nigerian universities. I was naturally disposed to join the A LUTA CONTINUA struggle though I was yet to resume school as an undergraduate. I was working in the University Library at the time and practically fancied myself as a full-fledged student because of my many family and friends who were already studying there. Since then, I have lost count of how many dangerous and deadly demonstrations and riots I have witnessed or participated in. We fought against all manner of oppressive tendencies. Many have been jailed or killed in the process. The sad news is that nothing has changed positively. We’ve never had a respite of one year during which we could say life was indeed very good.

In deep frustration and anger, many of our citizens have blamed everyone else for the woes of Nigeria and reached the illogical conclusion that the solution is breaking up the country called Nigeria. The first costly step was THE BIAFRA WAR. Valuable properties were wantonly destroyed and lives senselessly wasted whilst sadly, these souls ran into millions. At the end of the day, our brave Biafrans surrendered and their participation in the country called Nigeria had to be re-negotiated. But not much ever changed. The marginalisation of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians continued unabated and the frustrations of the different ethnic groups became reinvigorated. Once again, the agitation for the breakup of Nigeria became strident and cacophonous. The exponents of this war-mongering and disunification unfortunately cannot see that lumping large groups of diverse people together as one tribe is not necessarily accurate. Let me give a few examples.

When you say the Yoruba of South West Nigeria, who are you referring to? Would you consider them a single entity united by race, culture, tradition, language or religion? You would be dead wrong. In Lagos State alone, you have different ethnic groups and they hardly see eye to eye. If it were possible, the peoples of Epe, Ikorodu, Awori, Badagry would prefer their separate States. It is a similar story in Ogun State where the Egba and Egbado are not the same despite the similarity in their names. Ditto Ijebu and Remo and Yewa. Please, move to Oyo State which is even more critical because of too many big townships and tribes. I have not even bothered to talk about religion. There are different kinds of Christians, Pentecostals and Traditionalists. Between them there are different sects and beliefs. The same goes for the Muslims who can be divided into Sunni, Shia etc. The story of Nigeria is replete with similar configurations everywhere. It is therefore jejune and over-naïve to assume that all the cases of oppression and suppression in Nigeria will evaporate and vamoose once we dissolve into fragments.

Let me say categorically that there is no way any part of Nigeria can break away or sack others without anarchy. Firstly, to break up a country, there must be a referendum of sorts because the leaders of this gambit must seek the mandate of the people to know if they want to take such a monumental step or not. No one in Yorubaland for example can say with autocratic confidence that he’s been mandated to declare a Yoruba or Oduduwa Republic. Such a person would languish indefinitely in fantasyland. I also believe there is no such thing as a monolithic North. There are so many ethnic groups representing the geographical spread called Northern Region of Nigeria. The three regions of Northern Nigeria cannot be collapsed into one by fiat without resulting in fiasco at this time and age. The same can be said of the South South where I partly come from paternally. If the dream to break up ever comes to fruition, there would be cries of marginalisation, sooner rather than later. Even under the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, we heard those who grumbled about Ijaw domination. The Igbos clamouring for Biafra would have been the most pitiable and laughable had it not been tragic. They draw up a map which includes the South South who have not been consulted as to whether they would want to join with people they have a natural distrust of. Indeed, their agitation and inclusion of the South South States demonstrates the tomfoolery of their actions because it is the same subjugation they complain about that they would seek to impose on the South South.

Lest we forget, we must also examine the fallacy of thinking that having our home man or woman in power would turn our part of the country into Eldorado. It is never so. We only need to examine the various hometowns, not even States, of our former leaders to see that this is only but a mirage. For the first time, a leader from Niger Delta attained Presidential power, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2010-15), did the South South transform into a modern-day wonder? Why are we fooling around in the name of secession as if that is the talismanic wand to crumbling our monumental challenges?

Let me warn without any fear of contradiction that Nigeria cannot afford to go through a second civil war just to massage the ego of any over-ambitious person or persons. Those calling for war should first put and push their children forward. It would be ungodly to use poor kids of the proletariat as cannon fodder. Anyone who has ever seen the effect of wars on human beings, animals and vegetation would never call for war, again.

I led a delegation to Sierra Leone in 2001 and the trauma of what I saw did not leave me for a long time. Through the protection of God and the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), my friends and I were able to navigate our ways through the dangerous forests of Mange and Port Loco. We saw humans in various stages of dilapidation and` destruction. I personally met and spoke with a few rebel leaders encouraging them to be merciful by laying down their arms. The degree of human suffering was despicable and disheartening. We visited the Nigerian peacekeepers who described their harrowing experience in the bush. We prayed never to encounter such atrocity and brutality in our country Nigeria.

I repeated a similar peace mission to Liberia where our soldiers controlled ten out of the 15 counties in the war-torn country. I visited our peacekeepers and we exchanged very useful information about the effect of war in a country already impoverished by poverty and ravaged by diseases. God forbid, with our humongous population, the whole of West Africa will collapse and sink into the abyss if we ever allow the selfish gladiators to have their way.

Lastly, those calling for war now forget that the youths of this country do not share their negative vibes about Nigeria. They see this country as a prospective world power. They dream of a nation that is technologically advanced and self-reliant where people of diverse ethnic groups and religions come together to contribute to nation building. They ignore tribe and religion in their relationships. They do not care where their leader comes from as long as he or she has the acumen, capacity, ability and competence to lead. This is why Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is receiving accolades everywhere now. We, the ageing, decrepit generation, had better look back and not destroy the future of our kids because of our own failed past, bloated egos and self-aggrandisement.

The solution to our problems does not lie in splintering, or in any structural re-configuration. It lies in capable, competent and incorruptible leadership. Our much-maligned Constitution, despite its many failings, has already provided a viable structure. It is the implementation of this lofty Constitution that is our bane.

I leave you with a powerful note of caution from a piece making the rounds on social media, which was forwarded to me by a Sierra Leonean friend:

Timely Warning To Nigerians!

OMAR BANGURA (not sure of identity) from Sierra Leone has this to tell Nigerians…

“I don’t think you guys know what you are playing with. You can call each other names and laugh about it now but when you end up inciting hate …. and a real civil war starts in your country you will regret what you are doing now. Your religious and political leaders are trying to divide you between religious lines and you are helping them do that rather than standing up and say we are all Nigerians never mind our tribe, region or religion. That’s the only stand that will save your blessed nation. The foreign powers pushing the government to take certain decisions will abandon you when you start killing one another and reject you from running to their countries so be careful. Our 11-year war in Sierra Leone was not even based on religious or tribal difference and see what we did to our country. The worst conflicts are those based on tribal and religious differences. See Central Africa, Bosnia, South Sudan and Rwanda. To have a better knowledge of this, please watch the documentary/movie called “Hotel Rwanda” or “Sometime in April”. My heart bleeds when I read what you guys are saying because I know what this will lead to. You will be the losers all of you whether Christian, Muslim, Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa. Stand as one and save your nation together because you have only one Nigeria that has the potential to lead Africa.”

He waltzes into the lounge in Amsterdam carrying all of the six capital letters with which Nigeria spells BIG MAN on his head. He stops at the door for an imperious survey of the lounge, two aides fussing and grovelling and making themselves small and inconsequential around him.

Even before I lift my eyes from the magazine I am reading to behold the unfolding spectacle, I already sense and smell danger from afar.

In nature, every animal in the food chain is equipped to sense and detect a predator from afar. Five decades of being animals of prey in the food chain have equipped Nigerians with everything they need to smell the only predator they have: the Nigerian government official. The way an antelope smells a lion is the way an ordinary Nigerian smells a government official from afar.

The smell hits my nose. I look up and I see him surveying. This one is definitely a Nigerian man of power, I say to myself, my sobolation mode now fully activated. Nigerian government officials are my favorite subject of study. I study the carriage of this one and determine that he is very close to the top.

I try to place his face. I draw a blank. Definitely not a Governor. Not a Senator. Not a Minister. Perhaps he is one of the miscellaneous directors of miscellaneous portfolios in the Villa, I say to myself. The unmistakable smell of Abuja wafts across the lounge. The Abuja of power. Maybe this is one of the troops sneaking in and out of London to see Baba on our public wallet, I surmise again.

The aides are a pathetic sight. They are doing everything political aides do in Nigeria: making themselves floor mat; making themselves carpet. Even in an airport lounge in Europe. The party of three is starting to look ridiculous. Oyinbo people are starting to look up, wondering. I can surmise what is going on in the minds of the Oyinbo people. What is all this drama over entering an airport lounge, finding a seat, and getting yourself some food?

I smile. The Oyinbo people do not know that this Nigerian big man is experiencing the nightmare of Nigerian big men outside of Nigeria. The West has a way of ordinarying you and Nigerian big men have a pathological fear of this ordinarinization. That is why they are always in a hurry to get back to Abuja. The Nigerian people recognize them as Gods and that Hegelian master-slave recognition is the sum total of the psychological DNA of the Nigerian big man.

In Europe, that recognition is not there. You are just as ordinary as everybody else and this triggers all kinds of emotional and psychological reactions in the Nigerian big man, with very comical and dramatic results. They try to perform to force the recognition. If this clown at the door had entered any room or any scene in Nigeria, they would have stopped the flow of oxygen to “recognize his presence.” Nobody is seeing him here and he is making a fool of himself.

Finally, he and his aides settle for seats not very far away from me. They still haven’t noticed the only other black man in the room and tha augurs well for my study and observation. The aides rush to get him food and drinks. Another stupid behaviour. I remember Rotimi Amaechi visiting the office of Sahara Reporters in New York when he was a Governor. Omoyele Sowore takes him to a buffet just opposite the SR office. It is an African buffet and Sowore has taken yours truly there a couple of times. You pick your tray at the entrance and you move in line picking what you want. Amaechi’s aides grabbed trays to serve their boss. Sowore would have none of it. Your boss is my guest. I brought him here. I am paying. He must serve himself. This is how you make monsters of these guys in Nigeria. Amaechi finally backed down and served himself.

I remember this story now as I see this one here struggling to resist being ordinaried by Europe. As the aides are grabbing his food, he starts to answer calls. He answers nearly 5 calls in 5 minutes. Every single call heavily interlaced with “Your Excellency”. Everybody can hear him, his decibel level is Nigerian. Add to it the fact that he is a big man. That is triple the level of the usual Nigerian decibel. The Oyinbos are amused.

I look at him in pity and thank God for my life. With all the looting, all the stealing, all the corruption, here is he struggling for recognition, struggling against the ordinariness of Europe, having to share the same lounge space with an ordinary University teacher.

He has had to steal his way to the airport lounges of Europe. I read books to the airport lounges of Europe. Between now and September, I will be crisscrossing the African continent like I do every summer, giving back to Universities on the continent. So, I will be meeting his type nearly every two weeks in the lounges of Europe. This is the season when I serve them to my readers with commentary.

If you are a millennial reading this, I am telling you that you do not have to aspire to the routes traveled by these people to the luxurious airport lounges of Europe. You can get here via other routes of integrity. I am here.

The rules don’t even allow them to fly business anymore in most government departments in Nigeria but they still do it. And many of them still do it with aides who carry their phones and briefcases and serve them food in the lounge. See Oga here.

Despite all his drama, nobody is looking at him or recognizing him and he is suffering from it. I am much more important than him right now in this space. If I so much as introduce myself to anybody here as a University teacher, that will command immediate attention. This Nigerian big shot and his aides are totally inconsequential here.

So, millennial, do not be drawn to the routes that this Yeyenatu Nigerian official took to climb in life. This is a globalized and globalizing world.

Take routes that the world will respect.

You can get to the places they get to without doing what they do.

I have a flight to catch.

As I am stepping out of the lounge, I see his aides anxiously pointing in my direction and whispering in their Oga’s ears. They have finally noticed and recognized me. I wonder what they are telling him. Oga, we have to be careful o. We may end up on social media or Sahara Reporters.

The recognition they could not get with all their theatrics, books finally forced them to confer it on me.

Millennial, keep reading.

Bata re a dun kon ko ka.

Babatunde Fashola is a man after many people’s hearts. He is loved by many for his “performance” during his time as the governor of Lagos State. It is hard not to begrudge him for his incredible streak of luck in capturing the imagination and love of the people for his supposedly “good work”.

But he is also loathed by some critical and discerning minds for leaving a legacy of mismanagement, inflated contracts, misplaced priorities, and alleged abuse of office in using public money to feather his nest. He has been held to no account since he left office; instead he is celebrated by his supporters and his party as the wonder boy of his generation. In saner societies where accountability is taken seriously, he would have been made to account for his stewardship in Lagos.

Even his mentor, Bola Tinubu acknowledged recently that he was worried the huge debt Fashola left behind would hamstring his successor from delivering on his campaign promises. Such is Fashola’s legacy.

If I may ask, how many Nigerian public servants can boast of Fashola’s luck to be showered with such effusive love and affection after such incredible mismanagement of public resources? How many can boast of his eloquence – even when he is uttering lame and rubbish excuses for his poor performance, still manages to convince his devout supporters to excuse his grand failure? How many can boast of his diction, his self-assured righteous posture – just to gain acclaim from less discerning Nigerians? Not many. As a matter of fact, I know no one. He is one of those who got away by exploiting his gift of the gab, and has been busy assaulting our sensibilities with crimes allegedly committed by others.

Following the allocation of three critical portfolios, viz. Power, Works and Housing to him to head, he was rightly or wrongly described as the prime minister and the actualiser of Buhari’s change agenda. Many celebrated this designation, thinking he would be the lightening rod of the Buhari administration.

However, I had looked forward to his ministerial tenure with particular indifference, knowing full well that his accomplishments as a governor were grossly overstated by every stretch of the imagination, when matched with the resources that were at his disposal, while his failings were dismissed with a wave of the hand as fabricated falsehoods to undermine his brand by hack writers and revisionists.

But somehow, there was a tinge of hope that his appointment might just be beneficial to Lagos in their convoluted change. Of course his appreciation of the enormous challenges facing this mega-city (or should I call it mega confusion?) was a factor in that hope, and that he would do much more to give the state some federal lift, considering that he was scathing about the Goodluck Jonathan government’s performance in Lagos. Nearly two years after, and under Fashola’s watch, federal infrastructure in Lagos is in worse shape than ever. It is puzzling as to why someone who repeatedly told the public that Apapa, especially, was a mess because the then PDP-led federal government deliberately wanted it so – would now forsake the same Apapa under the APC-led federal government. Was all that rhetoric on the stump just the good boy playing dirty politics? We need answers from Fashola now.

With criticisms swirling around him for the unpardonable neglect of Apapa, Fashola, ever adept at finding excuses, pulled another reason to buy some respite for his unedifying performance. He promised work would soon commence on Apapa road, but that the government needed N100 billion to fix the road. My questions for Fashola are: What kind of road does he want to build with N100billion? Is it going to be paved with gold or diamond? Was the road design done in heaven? How many roads are being targeted for fixing and what is the total kilometre stretch?

Looking at how he ran Lagos, I am worried about this outrageously offensive cost being peddled by Fashola to fix Apapa road. This is a man who built the 1.358 kilometre Lekki-Ikoyi bridge on a shallow part of the lagoon for over N29 billion. Only recently, the Bureau of Public Procurement was reported to have queried Fashola (you can see his double standard regarding Lagos’ request to reconstruct Oshodi/Airport road) over the award of contracts worth N166 billion in violation of the laws guiding contract awards in the country, particularly the manner Fashola’s ministry was said to have selected contractors for the projects.

The cost of the Apapa road must be subjected to a thorough investigation. It is even more so, considering that it is to be constructed with concrete which we are told is cheaper alternative to the asphalt option. While we desperately want the roads in Apapa fixed, we must not allow the fleecing of taxpayers in the name of constructing Apapa road.
Fashola also disclosed that the design and other requirements needed for the reconstruction of the road were ready, adding, “I just want to appeal to the residents of Apapa and to people whose livelihood depends on Apapa, that Apapa is one of the priority roads under our Ministry of Works to solve roads that lead to critical ports.” I don’t believe this man. And please let no one believe him or be fooled by his persuasive eloquence.

Come to think of it, his ministry gave this same response over a year ago and up till now, there has been no meaningful action. They even mobilised Julius Berger to site to carry out repairs at the foot of the Ijora bridge when the situation became embarrassingly unbearable and became a death trap to a record number of trucks and their huge containers. Beyond that, nothing serious has been done on the roads. And since then, the situation in Apapa has progressively deteriorated with huge losses to the economy. It’s now so bad that residents and a few remaining businesses appear to have resigned themselves to fasting and prayers for God to touch the hearts of all those connected to fixing the roads.

Who would have thought that right under Fashola’s nose, federal roads in Lagos, particularly in Apapa, the port city of the nation’s premier sea ports, Tin Can Island and Apapa ports, would be in these deplorable conditions? Access to the ports either through the Ijora bridge or the Oshodi/Apapa expressway is a hellish preposition. From Ijora bridge, you are immediately confronted by a nightmarish gridlock that stretches kilometres in all directions as a result of the huge craters right in front of the Forte Oil filing station inwards Apapa, stretching past Flour Mills of Nigeria on the very strategic artery.

Descending into the once beloved ports city, you have two choices, depending on your destination. None of these choices is palatable. You either take the Liverpool diversion or drive straight through front of Flour Mills of Nigeria. And of course the Oshodi Apapa expressway axis from Coconut bus stop is a disgrace to this country.
From near impassable craters to the sheer nuisance of massive haulage drivers, Apapa writhes in agony and urgently needs to be rescued. The entire stretch from Airways bus stop to the Liverpool roundabout is a complete mess, with craters substituting for potholes everywhere. The flyover bridge above the roundabout leading to Tin Can Port, right up to Coconut bus stop is in a criminal state of neglect and dilapidation.

Let’s even leave the unacceptable state of Apapa roads for a moment. Take a look at the state of the maze of flyovers owned by the federal government snaking all over Lagos and tell me whether what you see makes you happy and proud as a Nigerian? They are in such a state of total neglect that you are left to wonder whether our leaders have any sense of shame or feel revulsion at the sorry state of infrastructure in the state. All the protective barrier railings on nearly every bridge or flyover are gone, leaving motorists and other road users to frightening consequences. The asphalt on most of the bridges, especially the Ijora bridge has eroded from wear and tear, exposing motorists to bumpy rides. It is high time we called out our leaders for their failure. We must hold Fashola to account using the same standards he set for others.

Fashola is in a unique position to help Lagos but he hasn’t done much in that direction. In March this year, Lagos formally accused Fashola’s Ministry of Works of sitting on its request to allow it carry out a total reconstruction of the Oshodi/Airport road. Can anyone out there spot the tragic irony here?
As a governor, he was always running his mouth about how the PDP was deliberately neglecting his “beloved Lagos” because it was then an opposition party state.

Fast forward 2017, this same Fashola as a federal minister was being accused of sitting on the progressive vision of Lagos by the Lagos State government for refusing to grant it permission to take over the reconstruction of Oshodi/Airport road.

The minister’s response to the allegation was not only telling but revealing. Here are excerpts: “The ministry has presented the memorandum conveying the request of the Lagos State government to the federal executive council as was done with a similar request by the Kaduna State government in 2016. Due to the fact that two of the roads also connect Ogun State, the federal executive council could not reach an immediate decision on them because it requested the input of the other state government…

“Federal executive council memoranda are debated and commented upon by all members and in cases of roads, surveys, maps and other materials have to be provided to assist members understand the location and connectivity of the roads, (in this case four roads), in order to assist how they vote on the memorandum.”

Frankly, it’s been a long time I saw such drivel written as an official government response to justify failure. The argument that two of the roads also connect Ogun State, it requested the input of the state, is an excuse to do nothing because it is neither rational nor logically persuasive. Where action and substance was needed, Fashola gave us a spectacle.

I am very convinced Lagos State will not embark on the construction of the section of the road that is outside its territory. Why does Ogun State have to be consulted before federal roads within Lagos are handed over to Lagos State, even if such roads connect Ogun? If Ogun is interested in constructing the section within its state, then let it apply to the federal government just like Lagos did, period!

Fashola went further in that statement to lecture the public on the “workings of government”, saying that it is an intricate sequence of processes, consultations and collaboration, even requiring a debate and voting to decide the fate of projects. “Equating processes with a lack of cooperation is therefore akin to creating a storm in a tea cup,” he said.

Can you believe that Fashola was the one lecturing us on the “workings of government”? He was telling Nigerians that members of the federal executive council would have to debate and vote on the memorandum on a matter as ordinary as granting permission to Lagos to reconstruct the airport road neglected for a long time by the federal government. Fashola was somewhat oddly boastful of his new-found knowledge of the “workings of government”. It was even implied in the statement that since it took 10 months for the federal government to reach a decision when the Kaduna State government applied for permission to take over two federal roads in the state, Lagos would probably have to wait for that length of time, or even longer, to also get a decision.

I must confess I am talking as one who doesn’t know the “workings of government” like Fashola. But 10 months or more to take a decision as routine as granting permission to a state to take over a federal road in such a disgraceful state is a general reflection of the lethargic decision-taking process of these self-righteous change agents. One can imagine the many critical issues waiting to be debated and voted by the federal executive council before decisions are taken. If you are looking for one more proof why the economy fell into recession, look no further.
Did members of the council need maps and surveys to understand the fierce urgency to fix that road – the international gateway into Nigeria? If yes, then shame on them all.

The question for Fashola is who in the federal executive council doesn’t know that the Lagos Oshodi/Airport road is a disgrace to Nigeria? Who in that council hasn’t passed through that road and let out a sigh of disappointment when returning from abroad at the state of the road? Maybe, the honourable minister has not.

Now that acting President Yemi Osinbajo has by executive order granted Lagos State permission to fix the road without Fashola’s drama, or strict adherence to “debate and vote” by council members, will it diminish or enhance the way government works? Did the acting president even review the maps and surveys before granting Lagos permission to reconstruct the road which had been awaiting debate and voting for months? Why didn’t the minister just write a recommendation to the president, with justification, seeking expeditious approval of the request by the Lagos State government? Would that not have been a more pragmatic approach?

What if the voting had taken place and gone against the request, does it mean the road would have been left in the same state of disrepair? Or perhaps, a narrower form of it which Fashola’s ministry had proposed would have been built? Who loses in such a scenario? Is it not ironic that under Fashola, access roads to two critical premier infrastructure – the international airport, Ikeja and Apapa and Tin Can ports – that investors need to do business are in an unpardonable state?

In the conundrum of what these people say and what they do, or lack of it, I probably may have lost my sanity to this season of anomie where one can hardly distinguish between facts and fiction, truths and falsehoods, realities and propaganda. In many great cities around the world, bridges and flyovers form the architectural allure that give urban landscapes character and form. With advancement in engineering possibilities and innovation in technology, designs have become more spectacular and ever more daring and aesthetically beautiful – a testament to a city’s progress. They have become the cynosure of all eyes. They receive regular checks and top-notch maintenance to keep them structurally fit and safe for vehicular traffic.

But here, the managers of our cities lack the maintenance culture. It is absolutely vexatious for our leaders to utter patriotic urgings to citizens of this country when they can’t fix such ordinary basic infrastructure as roads. Their appeal for understanding in the face of failure has become a constant irritation to us.

Many of us are even struggling to understand the motivation that drives our public officials, and what they mean when they exhort us to be patriotic and make sacrifices for the betterment of the collective. These officials of state usually regale the world at conferences – local and foreign – with tales of how opportunities abound here and the certainty of huge return on investments. They promise all sorts of enabling infrastructure to further the Ease of Doing Business for investors to risk their capital. It has become such a boring routine only meant for the cameras.

Let me send them a message if they claim not to know: No one takes them seriously anymore because nothing ever happens after the applause at the end of their posturing.

Fellow Nigerians, let me confess my sadness over the unfortunate, illogical and irrational bickering and grandstanding going on all over our dear beloved country at the moment. At the outset of my epistle today, let me confess my exceptional love for this country named Nigeria. Say what you will, Nigeria was created great despite the amalgamation of birds of different feathers. It was not for fun that our country was made the biggest black nation on planet earth. We are better and stronger as a bigger country than as tiny fragments that some people want us to become in their pipe dreams. I disagree vehemently with anyone who insists that the only solution to our myriad of problems, and the only way out of our forests of a thousand daemons, is to break up this gigantic entity called Nigeria. I say without any equivocation that they are wrong, very wrong!

Our situation could be compared to the challenges of being in a marriage. There are moments you ask yourself what you’re doing in the same house in which arguments break out daily. You wonder what the attraction was that made you to voluntarily agree to be led to Golgotha instead of an altar. But somehow with a little bit of tolerance, patience, love and God in your affairs, your union survives, year after year. You begin to see the things that bind you together than those things that wish to push you asunder. Any man who wishes to stay married must be blind to so many things. Any woman who wants to keep her marriage must be deaf to too many things.

It is the same with a country with a cacophonous assemblage of hundreds of highly volatile ethnic groups with sharp tongues and short tempers. Despite our sharp differences, we share a common greatness that actually comes from uncommon grace. Just imagine how many Nigerians are employed by Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote and Tony Elumelu. Adenuga’s influence is particularly humongous through telecoms because it means he has reached and touched lives in almost every township or village in Nigeria. That is how it should be and that is how it is. Thousands of those directly employed and those empowered to sell recharge cards speak one language at the end of the day. That language is called money. The same goes for the many agents employed and self-employed who deal in the distribution of Dangote cement.

Opportunities that abound today would readily evaporate if, God forbid, we decide to fight another senseless war just because we feel uncomfortable living together like husband and wife. The task of breaking up Nigeria is not as simple as it seems and I’m sure that some, if not all, of the agitators are blinded by personal ambition that they can’t see what evil this portends for us all. Some of those beating the drums of war were probably too young, or not yet born, when Nigeria went through the Biafra war. No matter the reasons for calling for war again, any Nigerian can aspire to become whatever he desires except those who depend solely and endlessly on government patronage and largesse. That to me is the crux of the matter. Those baying for blood are only doing so for their selfish reasons – personal aggrandisement and the allure of filthy lucre!

For me, the solution to our problems does not lie in the reports of the wasteful national conferences that we have had over the years. They have been just another avenue for draining our economy. If, we properly embrace our Constitution, implementing the Federalism that is enshrined in it, without seeking to make a mockery of the institutions therein, we shall have gone far in uniting our great country and not destroying it. The American, Canadian, Indian and Australian examples are models of what size can achieve despite major differences in tongue and even religion. The Soviet Union debacle typifies what can be lost if that size is dismantled!

True, we’ve face cases of oppression in our land. Yes, some animals are more equal than the others. Sure, monkey dey work while baboons dey chop. It would be tantamount to escapism to break up our amazing country because of a few irritants. I try to see more good in Nigeria than the bad. As a mere mortal, I suffer occasional frustrations like everyone else. But it is not enough for me to write off our country completely. The only time my faith was seriously tested and badly shaken was after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. I watched incredulously as Nigeria floundered aimlessly. I could not believe how the same people who queued up and conducted themselves sensibly and reasonably used their own hands to kill and try to obliterate the sweet memory of our best election ever. The military goons and their civilian allies skilfully used ethnicity to make the revalidation of that election impossible. Since then, Nigeria has known no peace.

We’ve faced other challenges but the good news is we’ve survived against all odds. The reasons for the renewed agitations are not far-fetched. We’ve never been known to be competent crisis managers. Our present leaders believe too much in the use of brute force. I think this is what has been passed down from our military eras. I will give a few examples of how we walked ourselves like certified somnambulists into unnecessary and preventable fiascos. There would have been no Boko Haram if we had not killed their relatively anonymous, original leader in cold blood. There would have been no clear leader for the new Biafra if the virtually unknown Nnamdi Kanu had been allowed to return in peace to his foreign. By detaining him indefinitely, government only succeeded in turning him into a super brand and a rallying force. I had pleaded at the beginning that he should be released but the obduracy of government prevailed. Today Kanu has become a superstar who must be respected by Igbo elites even if not obeyed to the chagrin of many people.

I do not know the reasons why some Shiite leaders are still being detained but I know what the outcome is likely to be. We are setting our country up again for fire. I will never support an indefinite detention of any soul, saint or sinner. If these guys have cases to answer, please arraign them before a proper court of Law. It is wrong and callous to detain fellow Nigerians without trial. I expect some people to call them terrorists and argue that this is the practice even in advanced nations. The conditions are different and the cold truth is that this is also inaccurate. I take exception to the continued detention of Sambo Dasuki without trial. He is not the only corrupt individual. And detaining him is not going to recover all the looted funds or end corruptive influence in government. Indeed, until he is found guilty and properly punished his detention sends the wrong signals because he remains an unconvicted felon who may even walk away whenever government eventually changes after its four or eight-year cycle! There must be another way forward no matter the complications that make it difficult to put him on trial. These are the situations that breed bitterness and dangerous avengers.

It should be noted that we lost a substantial chunk of our oil output because of our preference for a fight against the militants. Have we not gained more by embracing dialogue? Are we not pumping enough oil now instead of continuing haemorrhaging daily as we did by the stupendous volumes we lost in recent times?

It is not every war that must be fought because we never know which wars we can win. There is too much anger in the land and it is so unfortunate. The time we should spend on thinking through our challenges of nation building we are wasting on wars of attrition. I would have loved to let those in charge of the Judiciary do their jobs DESPITE their obvious imperfections. With time, they would improve and straighten themselves up. There is separation of powers in our Constitution. Any government that hopes and decide to control every institution and apparatus of power will definitely have its hands full. That is what has happened to the present Buhari/Osinbajo administration.

I am however, gratified and happy in the knowledge that our children are not easily susceptible to the foibles and weaknesses of their parents. They are cosmopolitan. They see no tribe or religion. They have a vison for a better, brighter and brilliant Nigeria emblazoned in glory and they realise that its size and population is one of its strength. In our country, we have a ready market for everything that we can produce. You should see the inventions and innovations being pursued by our youth. Not for them the old and useless rhetoric of tribalism, religion and so-called resource control. Indeed, our invaluable resources are in each individual element of our population and not just under the ground, in the various towns and cities of our disparate regions.

I suspect the APC government has now realised the futility of fighting on all fronts. The recent change of style is thus a welcome development. The unification exercise embarked upon by the Acting President will pay off ultimately, and this is already palpable. Tension will go down ultimately. Professor Yemi Osinbajo has demonstrated that a Nigerian leader should be able to visit any part of the country without any fear. Being a slave of security has never helped any leader. Nigerian leaders virtually abandoned the hapless people of the North East to the territorial control of Boko Haram leaders. If a Commander-in-Chief is afraid to travel and walk freely in any part of a country he leads, why should he expect his troops to risk their own lives?

The Acting President should be encouraged to speed up his activities. Nigerians from every part are happy and proud that his boss has given him this opportunity to reinvigorate and refresh their government and indeed President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is bouncing back to glory from the brink of monumental disgrace. Only a smart father would understand when it is time to cede some responsibilities to his children. We have seen the efficacy of such truism in the Buhari/Osinbajo union. It is indeed a marriage made in heaven.

Those fanning the embers of disunity would have no cause to pursue their agenda if the Buhari/Osinbajo magic endures. May God bless Nigeria.

THANKS, SENATOR HADI SIRIKA

My dear Brother, let me start by wishing you Ramadan Kareem.

I wish to commend your recent efforts. You have shown that you are a responsive leader as I have noticed some changes at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

I was happy to see the dismantling of the ugly desks erected at check-in points in the airport. Walahi, that was one terrible way of advertising Nigeria to the world as a country living in antiquity. If truth must be told, it was more of collection points for, you know what!!! Thank you for enforcing the innovative and illuminating Executive Order from the Acting President. I must not fail to commend FAAN because I know how difficult it must have been to get the hordes of agencies to pack their stinking desks away and move to more unobtrusive locations that would in fact enhance the quality and professionalism of their work.

But, Sir, there is still so much to do. You should try to pay surprise visits to our airports, especially Lagos and Abuja. I noticed on my way out of Lagos, days ago, that officials of the displaced agencies were still milling around screening points and surreptitiously and stylishly harassing passengers. I’m sure they would soon find the courage to operate brazenly if there is no one to check their excesses.

We must also reduce the amount of time passengers spend at Immigration by collapsing the two desks to one. This can be achieved by ending the punishment of carrying passports to two separate agents. I’m not sure I’ve seen this style anywhere before. Security should never be in people’s faces but should, in fact, be understated and underplayed. That is when it is most effective. There is nothing simpler than to receive airline manifests before or after a flight departs or lands as appropriate and screen exiting or incoming passengers that way, long before they approach immigration!

New elevators and escalators should be fixed urgently. Nigeria is not so poor that these things cannot be purchased and installed in the next one month. That airport requires the services of very well trained and exposed cleaners. The odour that oozes out of the Arrival Halls can wake up the dead. It is that bad. The present contractor should be made to wake up to its responsibilities or disengaged. The airport is too important to be handed over to those who think it is their home to be messed at their whims.

I pray God will help you to succeed where too many others had failed woefully.