DR. ONA SOLEYE; OJASOPE MOURNS A FATHER, FRIEND AND MENTOR

Dr. Olusegun Onaolapo Soleye clocked 90th birthday on November 11, 2023. However, unlike previous birthdays, I was unable to reach him by phone or receive a response to my messages. Initially, I thought nothing of it as he sometimes took up to 24 hours to reply. Unfortunately, my greatest mentor and father figure who affectionately referred to me as his friend was preparing for his final departure from this mortal sphere.

Dr. Soleye served as the Minister for Finance under the Buhari Military regime and was the closest friend of Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo - Nigeria's two-time Head of Government. He was not only a loving husband and great father but also an influential community leader. He was known for having daily devotionals on Radio in Abeokuta and always made decisions based on his faith and moral persuasions.

Our relationship had evolved into one where we would engage in "Question and Answer"sessions similar to how Dr Soleye confided that he only discussed Nigeria issues with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo when they were alone together. During our meetings outside public functions, I prepared lists of questions and topics that we could discuss further at length; Dr Soleye always displayed immense patience while providing practical examples through vivid scenarios like a seasoned tutor that he was.

Dr Soleye's intellectual prowess extended beyond being a scholar; he facilitated seminars/conferences with ease while also serving dutifully as a public servant who loved books dearly. One memory that stood out was when he invited me over to his "Ile Ogbon"library opposite Owu Baptist Day School, Oke Sokoei in Abeokuta where we explored memories behind some of the books within its walls - His primary motivation being re-igniting reading culture amongst younger generations whilst giving back to society simultaneously.

My fondest memories were during outings with him; Dr Soleye introduced me as his friend while reminding me not be intimidated by security details before proceeding ahead confidently which resulted in unforgettable moments such as meeting personalities whom I had previously seen only on television at receptions held honoring Chief Olusegun Obasanjo after successfully completing two terms as Executive President of Nigeria held opposite his Ile Ogbon library  – We laughed about this experience during our next meeting.

Whenever around him, I couldn't help but picture how contented life could be if lived simply yet family-focused whilst serving God and impacting future generations positively just like Dr Soleye did effortlessly throughout his lifetime. He never accepted any chieftaincy titles despite belonging amongst few cultural groups due largely because of passion towards Yoruba land & culture, fearing the language extinction unless care is taken urgently.

I will miss him dearly especially whenever national issues arise since he provided insights & explanations patiently whenever contacted via phone calls or text messages. He was acting as my go-between, for me  and former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ensuring my name remained visible within manifests for visitations. 

May God grant mummy (his wife) fortitude needed alongside children/friends too affected by this loss whilst extending condolences also towards former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo knowing well how much Jonathan’s demise meant to King David in the bible too. 

In conclusion, “Dr Ona Soleye” leaves behind an indelible legacy worthy of emulation and according to his son (my friend/political associate, Hon Tayo Soleye); "he was truly a good man in every sense of it".

QUOTE: “A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be obtained.” -– Shawn Hitchcock

Rotimi Johnson Ojasope

PGDPA, ANIPR, FPD-CR 

Oyo State: Unleashing Potentials; GSM Raises the Bar. || Rotimi Johnson Ojasope

In public leadership, balancing expectations with realities is often a challenge due to the great divergence between objective knowledge and producing results with people. In Nigeria, obtaining desired results can be difficult if the principal lacks wisdom and patience.

The second term of most governors in Nigeria is known for crises, noisemaking, and wobbling performance. However, Governor Seyi Makinde (GSM) has been exceptional in this regard. He has consistently developed infrastructure and improved direct relationships with politicians, civil servants, and other sectors of the general public.

Despite being grossly accused of a populist approach in his first term as governor, GSM has proven beyond reasonable doubt that populism brings electoral dividends. His recent salary awards promised to state workers and pensioners on November 6th - backdated to October - demonstrate his usual benevolence towards Oyo State workers and pensioners. This payment represents an unprecedented level of support for these groups, more than in over two decades.

This week also saw NANS (National Association of Nigerian Students) appoint Governor Seyi Makinde as their Grand Patron for the zone - an unusual move considering previous tensions between student bodies and governors in Oyo State. In this same Oyo State, we had Students calling the "Governor Ram" and another time, they molested and called the Governor "Constituted Authority". The appointment reflects Makinde's commitment to uplifting education standards and very cordial relationship with the Student bodies. 

Governor Makinde's interconnectivity initiatives across different zones within Oyo State through good road networks are commendable given past underdevelopment by previous governors who were celebrated despite abysmal infrastructure development records during their tenures. 

These strides by Governor Seyi Makinde have implications far beyond the next election cycle; they will benefit generations to come regardless of political affiliations or religious inclinations.

Finally, it is worth noting that Governor Makinde's exceptional wisdom extends even into balancing religious dichotomies within Oyo State. His administration makes all religions at ease without favoring any particular sector which demonstrates great leadership qualities according to Proverbs 16:7 from King Solomon "When a man's ways please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him".

Regardless of party affiliation or personal reservations about Governor Seyi Makinde's political agenda or style; one cannot reasonably dispute his extraordinary performance as governor thus far. I wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant leadership challenges that "this is the defining moment for leadership at all spheres". Indeed, it was a defining moment, and Governor Seyi Makinde did so well then and still doing well. 

Leadership Quote: "Leadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day." — Dr. Jesse Jackson.

Rotimi Johnson Ojasope 

PGDPA, ANIPR, FCD-CR

MAJOR REASON WHY GOOD BUSINESSES FAIL IN NIGERIA. || ROTIMI JOHNSON OJASOPE

A couple of weeks ago, my friend who came to town asked me to take him to where I buy my gadgets in Ibadan, I was eager because I needed to do window shopping for a gadget I needed and we were close to the retail outlet already. Once inside, I noticed the counters were not as full as they used to be and not many customers in the shop; evidently, this business is beginning to run down, at least this outlet.

I used to have a friend at the headquarters of this outlet and that was my reason for the attachment to the brand, even after my friend left the industry, I kept patronizing the brand. For about 8yrs now, I have been a faithful customer and come in to buy or fix my gadgets at least three times a year but this was the first time this year. No familiar faces and the desks and counters had been rearranged but my concern was the scanty products displayed. 

My friend made his order and the attendant at the brand desk whispered to him that we could get the accessories from her and we said okay. After the payment and testing of the gadgets, we were given the accessories but I noticed they were secretly handed to my friend who didn't notice what was happening. I discovered one of the accessories goes for the same price as the retail shop and that means the staff went outside to get it cheaper and sold it to my unsuspecting friend at the same price, robbing the organization that pays her salary the little profit. The second accessory was not available in the outlet but my friend was charged 300% higher than the usual price; they knew he was a wealthy guy anyway.

My curiosity made find out the cost of these items and I was sorry for Nigerian businesses; many investors particularly Nigerians in the diaspora are weary of Nigerian employees and unfaithful attitudes to their business establishments. Many of my friends have suffered unfortunate incidents that led to the closure of their businesses with serious debts. One was greatly humiliated and broke when he got nothing from the whole capital he brought from the USA to invest in Nigeria due to corruption and unfaithfulness in the employees. You just have to man your businesses personally and with all alertness "if you don't want to be sent back to the slave market" 

It is very easy for Nigerians to blame politicians for our woes but many Nigerians are not better than the politicians in our attitudes toward our employers and communities; we take company products or utilities home for personal uses, use office hours for personal activities and some even embezzle company funds. My uncle who had a printing press at Agbowo in the early 2000s was not only a victim but was heartbroken when he discovered it was his most trusted staff, the Press Manager who perpetrated all the corrupt practices systematically for a long time. After involving the police, he sold off the equipment and closed down the business because he couldn't trust anyone again. People keep saying business is not good but do not know why. Most Lebanese and other nationals run successful businesses in Nigeria because they have very strict and tough systems and operational policies but the employees always complain bitterly. 

As an Insurance marketer in the early 2000s, I entered many businesses in Ibadan owned by foreign nationals and I saw the very strict conditions Nigerians are subjected to. I don't like the extreme conditions but at the same time, I can't blame these investors who crossed many oceans to come and do business in Nigeria. Many Nigerian politicians steal money but don't invest in Nigeria because even thieves wouldn't hand over their business to another thief. Corruption is an epidemic in Nigeria and it is those who try to do things right that the majority of Nigerians hate; they don't care about procedure or integrity as long as they benefit from the lapses and outcomes of beating the system.

Things have gone so worse that you cannot campaign against someone in Nigeria because he is corrupt, not even in most religious organizations that preach piety and uprightness. We have normalised abnormalities and the voices of truth have become very faint. Our Media personalities too have started joining the wagon when they couldn't beat them and most have taken sides of the political divides for survival's sake. 

Civil societies and nongovernmental organizations have also joined in the rat race, unlike when I was a teenager, we had many public figures to look up to; men and women who couldn't be bought, those who are opinionated and outspoken but nowadays, the opinionated and outspoken ones have been compromised and largely partisan.

I can never forget what one of my constituents told me in 2011, before the election: "I love you, I know you will do well but I can never vote for you because you won't steal money and if you don't steal, you won't be generous to us", he stated boldly in Yoruba and walked away before I could convince him otherwise. I was desperate to convince him because I needed his vote and support but he was too persuaded about his opinion to listen to me. Over a decade after the incident, we are closer but his perception of who to support for public office has not changed and his condition has not been better. This is the mindset of the average electorate; they are interested in anyone as long as he makes the money go around, not minding how it was gotten. That is why we keep having what is meant for all in the coffers of very few people, thereby making the greater majority live in abject poverty.

We keep complaining about the lack of employment among youths but both government policies and employee attitudes kill businesses in Nigeria; no one is loyal to the organization or the country again; "it is now chop, make I chop". We hurt ourselves and hinder our collective progress. Corruption in Nigeria is both endemic and epidemic; only a holistic approach and mass re-orientation can reduce the prevalence. Politicians don't have empathy because they feel they are just the fortunate few from among the vast majority waiting to have a chunk off the national cake. 

You rarely hear jingles or Television adverts campaigning against corrupt practices again like in the 1980s and 1990s; those days, there were jingles on Radio and videos on television to address all social vices. Our values have dropped below the ground level and we should be asking for resurrection now. We must declare a state of emergency against corruption if Nigeria is to have any meaningful progress and with intensive mass re-orientation programs. Please don't ask me who will do this but when you see these done, then we can begin to sigh for relief and begin to renew our hopes. 

Let me thank my friend who persuaded me to follow him to the retail shop, where I got inspired to write this piece and I appreciate him for also giving me a new phone as surprise that day. 

Leadership Quote: In a society where the majority choose charisma over character, democracy does more harm than good to the actual progress of that society.   - Abhijit Naskar

Rotimi Johnson Ojasope

Public Affairs Analyst, PR Consultants

Youth Unemployment as Nigeria's self-destruct timebomb. || Rotimi Johnson Ojasope.

Youth unemployment in Nigeria is a pressing sociopolitical challenge that requires immediate attention and comprehensive solutions. However, it has taken unprecedented dimension and has a ticking alarm for those of discerning minds.  With a youthful population and a struggling job market, the issue of joblessness among the young is a ticking time bomb with far-reaching consequences for the nation's stability and development.

Nigeria boasts a predominantly youthful population, with over 60% of its citizens under the age of 25. While this demographic could be a potential demographic dividend, it has paradoxically turned into a socio-political challenge due to high levels of youth unemployment. The inability to provide job opportunities for this burgeoning youth population has led to various socio-political consequences. There are too many young adults roaming aimlessly about or congregating at the street corners during work hours in Nigeria. Many of these idle youths have joined street cults or gangs and level of substance abuse among them is phenomenal. 

The economic implications of youth unemployment in Nigeria are far-reaching. A significant portion of the nation's potential labor force remains untapped, resulting in reduced productivity and economic growth. Moreover, the government faces increased pressure to provide social welfare services, further straining the nation's resources.

Youth unemployment often leads to social unrest and increased crime rates. The post End-Sars violence in October 2020 is an insight to how devastating the effects of this timebomb could be and the rate has increased since then too. Jobless youths are susceptible to recruitment into criminal organizations, and incidents of violence and theft have been linked to this issue. The inability to secure gainful employment can also lead to mental health problems among the youth, affecting their overall well-being. 

The frustration of jobless youth can spill over into political unrest and instability. When a significant portion of the population feels economically marginalized and excluded, it can result in protests, strikes, and, in extreme cases, violent uprisings. 

Several factors contribute to the youth unemployment crisis in Nigeria. These include a lack of skills matching the job market, inadequate educational systems, incessant strikes in higher institution of learning, causing many to drop out due to peer pressure and a dearth of industries to absorb the growing workforce. Additionally, corruption and nepotism in public recruitment processes often prevent qualified young Nigerians from accessing job opportunities. 

Although successive government at the Federal have not done must to tackle this menace, the present administration doesn't look like it understands the urgency this requires. 

Addressing youth unemployment requires a multi-faceted approach. Some key strategies include:

Education Reform: Improve the quality and reduce the cost of education because of relevance of education to equip youths with the skills required by the job market. The uneducated youths are more crude and cruel in criminality; funds spent to educate the youths will invariably reduce funds needed to tackle security problems in the communities. 

Diversification of the Economy: Encourage the growth of industries and sectors that can absorb a young workforce. Government still has a lot to do in monitoring how private sectors comply with labour laws and providing enabling environment for healthy competition in work places. However, because the private sectors are struggling to survive under cost of alternative power supplies, harsh economic conditions and tough policies, one can't expect too much from them to the workforce. 

Entrepreneurship Promotion: Support youth entrepreneurship through access to funding, mentorship, and training programs. Though governments often pay lip service to this but it must be taken to the next level and a very pragmatic approach adopted for the sake of our collective posterity.

Meritocracy : Combat nepotism and corruption in public recruitment processes to ensure equal opportunities for all. Promoting meritocracy will increase healthy competition among the youths; once hardwork and excellence produce commensurate results, that become the goal of the majority with high expectations.

Youth unemployment in Nigeria is not only a socio-political challenge but also a ticking time bomb with far-reaching consequences. To harness the potential of the youthful population and avert the sociopolitical crises associated with unemployment, comprehensive and sustained effort is required. The government, private sector, civil society, and international partners must work together to create opportunities and empower the youth, ensuring a brighter future for Nigeria.

Leadership Quote: No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order.   - Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Rotimi Johnson Ojasope. 

Public Affair Analyst, PR Consultant.

Freudian fraud, Akpabio and EFCC chair. || Festus Adedayo

Father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, must have had the conversation last week between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the recently cleared Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede in mind. While propounding the theory of what is now known as Freudian slips in his 1901 book he entitled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud discussed what in German is called Fehlleistungen. It is another name for faulty actions which mirror bits of unconscious mind leakages into conscious behaviour. This leakage, otherwise known as misspeak, according to him, prompts a speaker to say what is unintended in the course of speaking. While some call it slip of the tongue, psychoanalysts call such slips parapraxis. They are slip-ups that can be traced to unconscious thoughts, desires and urges.

Last week at the Senate screening session for the then chairmanship nominee of the EFCC, Olukoyede let slip what he most probably wanted to say, but what ostensibly dominates the minds of Nigerian people. Such words are heresies today and can only be said in whooshes of whispers. Only bastards who do not love the current musical ensemble can utter them out. Or tribes that harbour ethnic hatred for the current power calculus. Nevertheless, the conversation, which psychoanalytic theory calls Freudian slip, from Olukoyede to Akpabio unconsciously revealed the dirty underbelly of the fight against corruption in Nigeria. It is why, per adventure, Olukoyede has the mind to clean the Augean stable of corruption in Nigeria, he is perceived to have, ab initio, failed as he is ranged against the impossible.

As the screening session went by, Olukoyede was sucked into the need to explain the modus operandi of the EFCC. To do that, he went comparative, deploying a relatable, living scenario to convey the commission’s operations. “If we are investigating the Senate President for example…” he had begun. Apparently a good reader of his environment, Olukoyede immediately perceived the turgidity of the atmosphere. Smiles suddenly evaporated from the faces of the lawmakers and their countenances were ashen like one who had just marched on excreta. Olukoyede must have felt like he had stepped on a cobra’s tail. And he recoiled. The gudugbe – the humongous and consequential – had fallen nevertheless. Like porcelain that it was, or the egg that Niyi Osundare fittingly compared to the spoken word in his The word is an egg, the egg had fallen and its messy entrails were now visible to a discerning world.

Akpabio would not have Freud direct his fate that magisterially. And he bellowed it out immediately. “I’m very glad that the nominee wants to use the Senate President as an example. But Mr. nominee, leave the Senate President for now, look at this direction (pointing at the seats of opposition lawmakers).”

“For now…” That should be another Freudian slip; this time, an Akpabio speaking the minds of Nigerians. Olukoyede should leave the Senate President, for now, but he should not leave him for too long. The EFCC chair must investigate Nigeria’s No 3 man who is festooned all over by dark tar of fraud allegations.

Until May of this year, Akpabio was a subject of intense investigations by the EFCC. The commission claimed that a N40 billion fraud was allegedly perpetrated by him in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which he headed for three years. It claimed further that his name and that of former Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, had featured notoriously in frauds unearthed in the commission. Both were major dramatis personae in investigations into allegations of fraud in an over-N86 billion contract scams. In the EFCC’s claim, the duo left footpaths that maggots leave in their trails while wriggling on rotten meat. Pondei, you will recall, was the hero of that ill-starred slumping drama in the House of Representatives not too long ago. As the grilling in the parliament became intense and hot, the professor was suddenly reported to have lost consciousness. Now that Akpabio has become Nigeria’s No 3 man, with power and majesty at his beck and call, Prof Pondei has no need to go on a binge of infantile slumping any longer. Since then, even with all the mind-boggling sleaze uncovered in the NDDC, like a typical big man in Nigeria, the slumping professor has lived happily ever thereafter.

God bless the Yoruba. When a man’s irritancy becomes ten a dime, they liken him to the tortoise, the alabahun who was always embroiled in illicit acts. Like the alabahun, it seemed allegations of corruption do not refuse to stick to Akpabio at every whimper. Before then, the anti-graft agency had arrested Akpabio for an alleged theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom State funds during his governorship. It was the product of a petition by an Abuja-based lawyer and activist, Leo Ekpenyong. Akpabio had spurned an invitation by the EFCC to appear for questioning on March 29, 2023 and travelled abroad. His lawyer, Umeh Kalu, SAN, in a letter to the anti-graft commission dated March 27, 2023, alleged that the man who is now Nigeria’s Senate President suffered from pneumonia and cardiac arrhythmia. Big ailment of big people in big trouble.

Unquestionable as the way of Almighty God is, these two ailments suddenly disappeared immediately words allegedly went round that Akpabio was the preferred candidate of President Bola Tinubu to head the senate. Since Akpabio became head of the upper legislature, his sins have literally been forgiven him. In any case, the hunter haranguing him then, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has met his own comeuppance. Not only has the hunter become the hunted, Bawa has languished in the penitentiary for months now and nobody is losing sleep about the detention. The claim that he is probably suffering this fate because he knew too much about the Big Man of power’s past has not attracted any Nigerian’s bother. Bawa’s sin must be as tall as Ibadan’s Bower’s Tower for our saintly Big Man to have locked him behind bar without having him charged to court. A few days ago, words surfaced that the youthful ex-anti-corruption czar was embroiled in a N580 million illicit funds binge.

Akpabio must have shouted “Praise the Lord!”

God always rescues His own, shortly before they hit their feet against the stone. He couldn’t keep His eyes away from His elect, who is now the Senate President of Nigeria. By Akpabio’s testimony on the floor of the Senate, the good Lord rescued him from the machinations of the EFCC and its erstwhile chair, saving him from being “embarrassed” by the brusque, youthful EFCC chief. Again, that Bawa’s rudeness must be as high as Bower’s. Why would he be rude to the Almighty Akpabio? While not addressing how he didn’t steal the said money the EFCC claimed he had stolen, Akpabio believed that sensationalism was the culprit, and it must roast in hell. “I think the EFCC has engaged more in sensationalism than in real investigation. For me I have had my own fair share (of embarrassment) where even a letter informing EFCC that I won’t be able to come over a frivolous petition, was released by the office of the chairman of EFCC. You could see the chairman’s stamp on it. He released the letter just to embarrass me before the 2023 elections but by the glory of God I surmounted it.”

In the same vein, Akpabio brought in the issue of the arrest of ex-Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who was apprehended in a gangsteric manner by the EFCC. “I don’t see how the EFCC will arrest a former governor and come through the rooftop as if they are taking Pablo Escobar. It happened to Rochas Okorocha. They broke through the POP and the whole world watched and for you that is investigation. EFCC needs to conduct proper investigations before carrying out arrests,” he said.

Then Akpabio went to Ogun State, to Yewa land, where he solicited the support of the people for the governorship ambition of Senator Adeola Olamilekan, popularly called Yayi. Four months plus into this term, politicians have already begun to haggle the price of the next term, as if it is a fish. Democracy, as it is understood in saner climes, isn’t and shouldn’t be only about elections and voting. It is more importantly about good governance, respect for the people and their rights to decent living. How is Akpabio respecting their rights by pushing a candidate their throats at this time? What have they benefitted from “his” government now to back up this homily from him? Akpabio would have discharged himself well at that occasion if he had spoken softly to the people about what ‘his’ government is doing at the moment to remove the people’s economic and living heartaches, rather than dabbling into the politics of a people who do not see governorship as reward for big purses.

Sorry that I digressed. So when, at the end of the senators’ boisterous laughter and the expiration of his Freudian slip on the floor of the senate, Olukoyede said “If you are fighting corruption, you become the enemy of everybody,” he probably knew the enormity of what he was about. By this appointment, Olukoyede has been asked to fight principalities and powers that have existed in Nigeria even before his forefathers were born, what Daniel Jordan, in his famous A culture of corruption, has described as Nigeria’s “image as a bastion of bribery, venality, and deceit.” He has been asked to combat a crime which, among Nigerians, went global the very moment new criminal markets began to emerge all over the world. His job description is, at the risk of sounding like a prophet of doom, doomed from the beginning.

The incubus Olukoyede is being asked to confront, according to a review of Stephen Elis’ This Present Darkenss: A history of organized crime in Nigeria, has become a culture and reputation renowned with Nigeria and Nigerians. A culture which, broken to its brass-tacks, is that of drug-trafficking, fraud, cyber-crime and other types of criminal activity. The new EFCC chief is being asked to fight criminal networks that have a global reach; a Nigeria where its origin of organized crime has been traced to, as far back to the years before colonial rule. These crimes then became manifest during the First Republic when “nationalist politicians… in need of funds for campaigning, (offered) government contracts to foreign businesses in return for kickbacks, in a pattern that recurs to this day” and where “political corruption encouraged a wider disrespect for the law that spreads throughout Nigerian society.”

If Olukoyede is desirous of making impact in his new assignment; if he genuinely wants to reverse the belief out there that he would make a colossal failure of the job, the first thing he should do is do an organizational introspection. When a child goes inside the bush, Yoruba’s constant belief is that such a child would emerge therefrom with their clothes stuck by mistletoe. So they expressed this in incantations that, “wara were l’omode nt’oko eemo bo.” This seems to be true with past chairmen of the EFCC as they always emerge from the office with their clothes covered by “eemo.”

Since the EFCC Establishment Act was first enacted in 2002, the “eemo” failure has dogged their path. The Act authorized the commission to combat economic and financial crimes, prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalize economic and financial crimes, so as to sanitize the system. From Nuhu Ribadu, to Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, Ibrahim Magu to Bawa, the commission is seen today as a mockery of crime fighting. The only major sparkle that ultimately became unenduring, came from Ribadu who initially put the fear of God in the hearts of political and social criminals who dot the landscape of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the spark was for a short while. Ribadu soon dissolved the agency into an Alsatian dog that the Obasanjo presidency sent on howling assignments as its whim dictated. His own lust for political power finally rammed the nail on the remnants of his personal social capital.

Today, the EFCC, which arrested, prosecuted and jailed a former Inspector General of Police in Nigeria, has become the tiger that politicians boast that they have by its tail. It descended from that Olympian height into carving a pussyfooting renown for itself as a hunter of kindergarten online malefactors. So, if Olukoyede wants to make a success of his new job, he must reinvent the image that the drafters of the EFCC Act projected for the commission. Fear, they say, is the whip that exorcises the ghost of crime from the human heart. It is only when the EFCC earns back the dread, respect and fear of Nigerians that it can be seen as an effective tool against criminals.

Today, the atmosphere of crime and criminals has become more acidic than the 2002 when Obasanjo established the commission. In 1908, the United States of America occupied Nigeria’s unenviable vantage too. Though the years of industrialization had made America wealthier than ever and becoming in the process a new world power on the block, having become victorious in its naval conquest over Spain, the dark clouds that dogged its horizon was that of crime. American cities and towns were fast assuming the image of a breeding ground for a future generation of professional lawbreakers. Compared with corruption that was becoming rampant in local politics, with the emergence of crooked political machines, violence was just the tip of the criminal iceberg in the USA. Businesses had become a cauldron of sleaze too and hearts of crime were spreading like a metastasis. But in 1906, President Roosevelt, a man “who had no tolerance for corruption and little trust of those he called the ‘malefactors of great wealth,’” began the reform in the criminal justice system in America and appointed someone who was a likeminded reformer like him, Charles Bonaparte, as his Attorney General. On March 16, 1909, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was born. Till today, the FBI has remained a highly dreaded domestic intelligence and security service of the US and the country’s principal federal law enforcement agency.

If Olukoyede is averse to going down the drain like his predecessors, becoming captives of the corruption they were asked to fight, politicians must dread him and malefactors must see him as incorruptible. He must wear the toga of one policeman in the service of the Oyo State Command, ACP Francis Ojomo who politicians and evil-doers nicknamed Ko gb’owo, ko gb’obi (literally, he collects neither money nor kolanut) for his incorruptibility. That nickname was a parodied epithet of God as one who demands no bribe from anyone to perform His fatherly duty in the life of man. Olukoyede must avoid any dalliance with politicians. He must make the Bola Tinubu presidency his place of primary assignment. In doing this, he would have shown the world that politicians, no matter their political leanings, are not free from his corruption-sniffing Rottweiler dogs.

The first place the EFCC chair should begin his assignment is to invite Godswill Akpabio to explain allegations of corruption against him. Not doing this will give the impression that his senate clearing, in spite of glaring violations of the EFCC Act on his appointment as the commission’s chairman, was a pro quid pro for pushing allegations against Akpabio under the cellar.

Olukoyede can help Nigeria battle this image crisis and perception of our country as the habitat of corrupt people. Because the world is a global village, the available information out there, secured at the press of a button, are damming. No meaningful development can take place with such optics. The EFCC chair can help reduce that uncomplimentary image to the barest minimum by ferreting corrupt Nigerians from their holes and making public examples of them.

Does Shiroro fallen soldiers’ blood matter? || Festus Adedayo

When death became ubiquitous and cheap as air, afflicting the young and the old in their scores, Yoruba of old said it had become three-for-a-penny. There was what they called iyo olo’kan (one-penny salt). Ookan was a penny and the least of the denominations of the money of the time. A mound of salt was sold for a penny. Death that harvested people in their prime, unannounced, they also likened to creepy, parasitic mistletoe – afomo. It is a leathery-leaved parasitic plant which grows on apple, oak, and other broadleaf trees in the forest and also sticks to trees, either of cocoa or kolanut. Farmers watch out for an afomo on their crash crops because, the moment a tree gets infested with it, it is on its way to barrenness. While the mistletoe has no root of its own, it bores roots inside the trunk of its host and starves the tree of nutrients. 

Afomo, however, has a dual usage. In refrains of chants for mercy and favour, afomo is a regular. It is chanted to remind the universe that all trees of the forest, including palm trees, have mercy on the mistletoe – ti’gi t’ope ni s’anu afomo. They also chant that the mistletoe has no roots but has every tree as its kindred (afomo o ni gbongbo, igi gbogbo ni ba tan). Wherever you see the afomo, it is a bloodsucking leech. That is what death has become in this land; it puts its hideous cap on the young, the old, male and female while those put in charge of lives of the people dance on unconcerned. 

Last week, on August 14 and 15 respectively, like an afomo or, if you like, in the surreptitious manner of a wolf, men of terror crept into the Nigerian and Nigerien military forces. By the time they were done piercing their maniacal incisors into the raw flesh of soldiers of both countries, caked blood, mangled flesh, weeping and wailing were left in their trails. Terrorists and bandits literally washed their bloodsucking hands with the gallant blood of patriotic soldiers. The Nigerian soldiers were killed in two attacks. The first was in an ambush around Kundu village in the Shiroro local government area of Niger state and the second, the downing of a Nigerian Air Force MI-171 helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission near Chukuba village in same Shiroro local council area. While the Nigerian Defence spokesman, Major-General Edward Buba, itemized fatalities recorded in the attacks to include three officers and 22 soldiers, with seven wounded, foreign news agencies said the casualties were “at least, 36.” The downed Air Force Mi-171 helicopter killed all occupants on board which included 14 officers and men, inclusive of two pilots and two crew members. The number also factored into it bodies of those earlier killed in action in the earlier operation. If the afomo must cling to every tree of the forest, must it weave its parasitic self round well-tended trees as well?

A day after the Nigerian attack, at least 17 Nigerien soldiers were also killed in an attack said to have been masterminded by armed groups at a place near the Nigerien border with Mali. A detachment of the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) roving between Boni and Torodi was ambushed near the town of Koutougou, 52km southwest of Torodi by a deadly band of terrorists. Twenty of the soldiers were mortally injured and eventually evacuated to Niamey, the capital. The Nigerien army however said it “neutralized” more than 100 assailants as they retreated from where they inflicted sorrow, tears and blood on Niger. This particular area, which is the border area, a convergence point for central Mali, northern Burkina Faso and western Niger, had been noted to be an epicenter of violence by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the Sahel region. This repeated bloodshed has provoked anger in the Sahel, fuelling military takeovers in three African countries of the Sahel since 2020. Niger Republic is the latest casualty of this military takeover as the coup which ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 was attributed to the growing insecurity in the country.

On a national television last week, Edward Gabkwet, Air Commodore and Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, was contrite at the thought of wastages of the lives of his military colleagues. In his defence of the Nigerian army however, he made it look as if death was a regular afomo for soldiers that required no societal hoopla. Which should not be. In a release he issued thereafter, entitled We will not give in to terrorists’ propaganda, Gabkwet said, “like all military organizations involved in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, incidences of fatalities, mishaps and crashes are sometimes inevitable.”

The Nigerian Army has struggled to defoliate the gravity of the Shiroro attacks. Both Gabkwet and Buba, deploying all euphemistic equivalents available to them, have attempted to mis-tag the downing of the military helicopter as a crash due ostensibly to foggy weather. This must be in apparent deference to patriotism. Two military sources however told Reuters that the Air Force helicopter was most likely brought down “after gang members shot at it.”Abdullahi Abubakar, a renowned terrorist who is also popularly known as Dogo Gide, later claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter. In a viral video, he said, “By God’s grace, this is what we will be showing you. These are dead bodies of Nigerian soldiers that attacked us with the aim of killing us. They wanted to kill Dogo Gide. But Dogo Gide by God’s grace is still alive and he will not die (by soldiers’ bullets). These are soldiers lying on the ground. Look at them…and their helicopter lying wasted. I want you people to repent because we don’t have any problem with anyone. We’ll not kill anyone except those who plan to attack us.”

It will be recalled that in the last two years, especially under former president Muhammadu Buhari, bloodsucking gangs of heavily armed men called bandits, terrorists or other synonyms, have wreaked irreparable havocs on Nigeria’s northwest. They kidnapped Nigerians in their thousands, killed hundreds and rendered life unlivable in that part of Nigeria. Forget the bally-ho and muscle-flexing, attacks coordinated by gangs, especially the deadly ones who are locally referred to as bandits, have seemed to confound Nigeria's security forces. The frightening number of casualties recorded in the process will appear to daily test the brawns and resolve of Nigerian soldiers to the limits. In August 2019, highly influential The Wall Street Journal had alleged that, on the eve of Buhari’s visit to Borno State, over 1,000 soldiers massacred by insurgents were secretly interred at a secret cemetery in Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri. They were suspected bodies of soldiers killed in a then recent attack on the Melete barracks. The journal quoted military sources, some of whom said, “They moved the bodies from the morgue into the unmarked graves under cover of darkness… We could see the headlamps and the torches of the engineering division digging the graves.” While the Nigerian Army flatly denied this allegation, many families who were secretly contacted were said to have exploded in cries and anguish.

In the last few years, it has been the lot of Nigerian soldiers to ceaselessly tackle violent, deadly herder-farmer crisis in the north central. This includes a 13-year old interminable insurgency waged against the Islamist groups of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northwest. Added to all these is the spate of general insecurity in the southwest and the blood-baiting nuisance of Unknown Gunmen in the southeast.

As the menace of insecurity has become a common security decimal in Nigeria, it stands to reason that Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) must naturally elude Nigeria. In a report by the Punch newspaper last week, at least 77 percent of both North-Central and North-West states are today struggling with low revenue, poor foreign investments and huge debt profiles occasioned by incidences of banditry. The states are Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Sokoto and Kaduna. The paucity IGR in those states has resulted in their entering the unenviable foyer of states that can seldom survive without federal allocations, said Punch. In the last two years, the states had borrowed over 12 times more than they earned. As no investor takes their wealth to volatile places, the report’s finding was that “at least 60 percent of both North-Central and North-West states did not attract any foreign investments in two years due to the rising cases of banditry.”

With the above as backcloth, it was anticipated that President Bola Tinubu, while nominating his cabinet ministers, would properly factor into the nomination the prime place of a secure Nigeria. The connect between security and investment has been said to be immeasurable. Those who would man Nigerian state security architecture were thought to be men who would be above the vagaries of politics. But Muhammed Badaru and Bello Matawalle were all we got as Ministers of Defence nominees.

While many an appointee has perforated the thesis of pure professionalism as answer to the drudgery and underperformance in public office, no one has been able to render redundant the place of experience in public office performance. It reminds me of the Tapa tribe and its estimation of the potency of unorthodox medicine. The Nupe, traditionally known as the Nupawa by Hausa and Tapa by the Yoruba due to an ancestry they both share (this was where the legendary Oba Sango’s mother reportedly hailed from) are an ethnic group dominant in Niger and Kwara states. When a local herbal medical practitioner flaunts the efficacy and healing powers of their phial in the presence of a Tapa, they ask if the practitioner had suffered from the ailment they profess to heal and, was it the same medicine that let them off the hook? It is a medicinal philosophy that harps on practice.

Badaru’s Jigawa, as governor, was one of the most volatile states in the northwest. Same is Matawalle’s Zamfara. Like most of the states in the region, both states convulsed under attacks by gunmen, known locally as bandits. Bandits’ subjects of attacks in those states were mainly rural communities and travelers. Thousands of people were killed while abduction was one of the notorious manifestations of the absence of authority in the states. Zamfara, for instance, faced one of the worst kidnap-for-ransom syndicates in the history of Nigeria under Matawalle, resulting in the kidnap of 29 phone repairers last year. Under him, Zamfara was a lawless haven for bandits where life was a replica of the Hobbesian brutish, nasty and short life. So, how did the duo of Badaru and Matawalle, the physicians who could not satisfy a Tapa’s practical quest for self-healing, by healing themselves, heal Nigeria’s insecurity?

Between the two countries of Nigeria and Niger Republic, they lost over 50 soldiers to attackers last week. While the governmental and military elites of the two countries see figures in those fallen soldiers, their families see breadwinners, fathers and children whose lives were cut in their prime. In the homes of those fallen soldiers, melancholy must have been an unwelcomed guest which forced itself in at dinner time. Many of the children of the fallen soldiers may never be the same again, with several destinies forced to make u-turns and emergency fatal landings.

Decision-makers should not make death the peremptory afomo that clings to patriotic and gallant soldiers at will. Doing this will necessitate adequately equipping soldiers to confront enemies of the people, as well as making wars only last resorts. Nigeria has fought so many wars in Africa and beyond and came out garlanded. In Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Somalia, Darfur and many other wars, Nigerian soldiers emerged with garlands and encomiums. To now imagine that same soldiers are now expendable in the hands of poorly trained local bandits and insurgents is a matter for concern. As Gabkwet said, indeed soldiering involves counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations and soldiers, by that very fact, will always record incidences of fatalities, mishaps and crashes that will cling to them like afomo. However, casualties can be minimized and soldiering should not necessarily be a death sentence.

Each time a soldier falls, I imagine the cataclysm that befalls their homes. I have witnessed it and speak from experience. When ECOWAS flexed muscles about the D-Day for Niger war on Friday, I wonder how many of those leaders’ children will lead the battalions of fighters. It is an avoidable war and for the sake of all mothers, just as they do in recitation of incantations, let us all chant to ask that ECOWAS leaders, as afomo mercifully embraces all trees of the forest, have mercy on mothers of soldiers in those West African countries as ti’gi t’ope ni s’anu afomo. The alternative is to have Bola Tinubu, Faure Gnassingbé, Nana Akufo-Addo and other West African leaders’ children lead the platoons to war. If the leaders do this, they will feel the pinches, the midnight sleeplessness, the worries, the nightmares that mothers of soldiers at war go through. And eventually, the indescribable pain families feel each time their sons are plucked in their infancies. This is not to talk of the eternal latex - the oje – that oozes out of their body stems each time mothers get bereaved of their gallant soldier children.

EMEFIELE AND THE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION SCAM. || Rotimi Johnson Ojasope

The trial of Mr. Godwin Emefiele took a more dramatic turn on Tuesday 25th July 2023 when men of both the Correctional Services and Department of State Security fought shamelessly in the public for the custody of the former CBN Governor; in a seriocomic thought, it was like they were fighting over who should afflict the else while tormentor of Nigerians.

While many were looking at the altercation between the security agencies, I found the appearance of Mr. Godwin Emefiele rather amusing; the branding was not only suggestive as very sober and now religious but targeted to draw pity from both the Muslims and Christians folks alike. Though that was not the first time Mr. Emefiele was appearing in Jalabia in Court since his Media and Court trial started, Bro Godwin has now shown up in court carrying what many people believed to be Bible. Off course, it's only the religious book he could be allowed to carry like that.

This man that was once "above the law" had been refused freedom after the court granted him bail and many Nigerians (including myself) have rebuked the DSS publicly for this lawlessness and gross disobedience of court order but on deeper thoughts, you can't help but to conclude Mr. Godwin Emefiele is reaping what he sowed; he disobeyed many court orders as CBN Governor and even ignored the Supreme court judgment against redesign of the Naira despite untold hardship to Nigerians. The same man, through his younger brother, is now calling the Government different names because of disobedience of court orders. As much as I don't believe two or many wrongs can make a right, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, his lawyers, or siblings should just enjoy the suffering while it lasts because we have precedence of his disregard for the rule of law too. His case was so bad then that the President had to publicly dissociate himself from the lawlessness before Emefiele reverted to the status quo.

Having stated the above, seeing this man that was the epitome of wickedness and suffering by a public officer in Nigeria coming to court in Jalabia and holding a KJV bible firmly under his arm is nothing but a scam. In social media profile security, there is what is called "two-factor authentication": using two different means to confirm profile access to prevent hackers and any nefarious activities on your profile or timeline. I was discussing the travail of Mr. Godwin Emefiele with my sister when she described his appearance in court as two-factor authentication and I swiftly added scam; his performance in his last few months in office has left nothing desirable or associative to any of the two religions he is desperately trying to brand himself with. Yes God knows who truly serves him but this branding is entirely born out of trial and it is meant to scam the undiscerning members of the public.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele was a very powerful Nigerian; the Governor of CBN reports directly to the Presidency, doesn't have budget approval and Emefiele presided over the National treasury for seven years. He was so powerful in the Nigerian context that he could disregard court orders and even supreme court judgments too (impunity). While he was the Governor, he never appeared in public in Jalabia or was known to be that religious but has suddenly become a member of Chrislam. Off course Jalabia is just a dress and anyone can carry a bible as a folder but the crypto-message is very clear; sympathy for his Northern friends from the beginning of his trials and holding on to the Southeasteners too. He is making frantic efforts to make his affliction look political but the truth is that it is political although he first afflicted Nigerians too politically by making policies that would favor some politicians and against others which unfortunately for him failed to hinder his target politicians from getting to office after making many innocent people suffer.

Mr. Emefiele, we have heard your crypto-message but we are very sorry that the same way you exercised the power of your office to make Nigerians suffer unconstitutionally, it's immoral to complain of facing the consequences of your decisions in office though they are meted out to you unconstitutionally.

The personal reservation I have on Emefiele's travail is that his persecutors too are not doing so because they believe so much in Justice but out of vengeance; if he had done those things in their favor and against their opponents, he would have remained the CBN Governor or be nominated as the Minister of finance. I must reiterate that what the DSS is doing in the Emefiele case is not only unconstitutional, it contravenes the Act that formed the agency and they are now having instances of encroaching into the duties of Nigeria Police.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE: "In this world, there is a law of cause and effect: You reap what you sow. Then the energy you put out does come back to you.”- Michael Imperioli.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Hon Rotimi Johnson Ojasope.

Mmesoma’s wrong was being Igbo. || Festus Adedayo

If you diligently analyze social media’s initial reactions to the allegation that Mmesoma Ejikeme forged her Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination result, it would be difficult not to conclude that her race was her wrong. That she was wrong to have been born Igbo at a critical time like this. Or that the politics of her race was her albatross. Ejikeme has attracted so odious comments to herself, similar to one who willfully pelted on herself a mound of excrement. Only on Friday, an Anambra state committee of enquiry revealed that she indeed faked the result.

Kaduna state-born senator, Shehu Sani, on Saturday, put the issue in its starkest perspective when he wrote on his Twitter handle: “The girl forged UTME result. The commentaries for and against her are more of the fallout of the 2023 election than just forgery. For most people talking, their tongues are about the forgery, but their hearts are politics. The girl committed an offence at a time when people are looking for a reason to keep the flames of verbal war alight. The girl flew a helicopter between the Border of Ukraine and Russia… Most Nigerians are now wearing ethnoreligious and political sunglasses; everything is viewed from the perspective of that lens. We are likely going to live like this for a very long time”.

Mmesoma’s first audacity, it will seem, was living and writing the JAMB examination in Anambra state. Didn’t she realise that that was the state of origin of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate? It looked every inch an anathema. Her second infraction, from social media comments on the forgery, it seemed, was that she shared, even if tangentially, ethnicity with Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, LP’s Lagos gubernatorial candidate. Rhodes-Vivour’s mother is said to be Igbo.

Igbo had always received the Mmesoma pushback from the rest of Nigeria. While the north superintended over the terror pushback angle against the Igbo (recall the 1966 pogrom; the killing of scores of Igbo on allegation of defiling the Quran, like Godwin Akaluka; the civil war; a governmental terrorist attack that ‘tiny dot in a circle’ represents, etc) Yoruba’s confrontation with the Igbo has always been intellectual. It comes in the form of disdain for the Igbo’s claim to ethnic superiority. Another is the belief that Igbo leadership preferences and prejudices own ethnicity in what were supposed to be purely federal appointments.

The survival politics of the First Republic that Chief S. L. Akintola found himself in dictated that he allied with Hausa-Fulani. It was also what was responsible for his disdain for the Igbo. It was at a time when Nnamdi Azikiwe’s West African Pilot was accused of always unfairly projecting his Igbo stock, as against seeking the balance that journalism required. Some publications in the Pilot were perceived to have authenticated this charge. For example, the Pilot’s edition of December 30, 1938, on its front page, had as its lead story, ‘Two Ibo students pass doctorate exam. The paper also placed the photographs of these Ibos, R. M. Ojike and J. P. C. E. Okala, on its front page as well as that of Green Mbadiwe who it said was “a Nigerian millionaire and patron of higher education” and that of M. C. Okechuku whose “maternal nephew is proceeding to America to study medicine”.

Another case in point was the lead story of the newspaper for July 18, 1941, with the screaming title, ‘Ibibio student passes B. Sc (Agriculture) in U. S. A. The story had the photograph of the new graduate, Bassey U. A. Attah, who passed out from the College of Agriculture, Tuskegee in Alabama. Zik also had the speeches of these “Ibo achievers” published in the Pilot’s Inside Stuff column as messages home from abroad. Hardly did the Pilot have any positive report on such advancement among the Yoruba. On occasions when it did, the identity of the achiever was buried with the tag of an “African” given to the recipient of the higher degree. An example of this was the lead story of the Pilot for November 1, 1941. It was entitled, ‘African qualifies as a fellow of British Optical Association. The African in question was Olatunde Balogun.

While many claimed that Igbo’s quarrel with the Yoruba emanated from the failure of Azikiwe to clinch the region’s Premiership in 1952, it is said that the region’s disagreement with the Igbo began due to alleged favouritism and expansionism of the race. This led to the Chairman of the Nigerian Railways, Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, being given the Mmesioma treatment in the Western Region. Apart from campaign ground statements which Akintola made against Igbo, the Premier twisted the name of Ikejiani to a Yoruba adaptation so as to suit his pillory of the race. Akintola, reputed orator and very deep in Yoruba morphology, was wont to ask his audience, “The first (Igboman) would have, the second (Igboman) would have; what have you got?” This he deployed to underscore the nepotist character of not only Dr. Ikejiani, but the Igbo man, the typecast that conveniently suited the political conjuration of the Akintola NNDP of the time. The other famed quotation of this famous Yoruba language rich argot-dispenser was in the crisis of who became the vice chancellor of the University of Lagos between Professors Sabiru Biobaku and Eni Njoku. They were Yoruba and Igbo respectively. Playing on both professors’ names, Akintola was said to have told an audience that “we said we would give you a man who would not die (Yoruba translation of Biobaku), yet you insisted that it is the man who eats the dead (Yoruba literal translation of Eni Njoku) that you want!”

In support of the Akintola government’s bid to typecast the Igbo as nepotist and not worthy to partner with in the alliance that was then afoot, the battle became visible in the Sketch newspaper owned by the Akintola-led government. Exactly six days into its existence, on April 6, 1964, Sketch published a letter from one Odafe Othihiwa in its Our Readers’ View column entitled ‘£11,000 for Ikejiani alone?’ It was the beginning of a long-lasting structuring regime in the Sketch against both Ikejiani and his Ibo Union. The letter thus went further to state: “It is strange to observe that while we cry over unemployment in this country, people like Dr Ikejiani are holding at least five different posts on an alleged total salary of £11,000… I also call on the Prime Minister to probe the activities of Dr Ikejiani and his right-wingers in the Railway Corporation. It is no political bias”.

The newspaper, in the same edition, followed this up with a feature on its back page edition of April 6, 1964, entitled ‘Staggering situation in rail’ where it alleged that a “very serious tribal warfare” was going on in the railway corporation and that when the corporation’s 50,000 workers resumed, they would “break into two camps – the Yorubas and the Ibos”. It accused Dr. Ikejiani, who is “by nature very loquacious” of employing a medical doctor who earned an annual salary of £2,600 and yet had no job because the hospital earmarked for him by Dr. Ikejiani was not going to be ready in the next 18 months. It ended the piece by attaching an appeal to the president of the Egbe Omo Olofin, Chief H. O. Davies, by the secretary, on account of Ikejiani’s sack of the deputy assistant general manager of the corporation, Mr F. M. Alade, which it said “was deteriorating”.

In the same edition, the Sketch carried a rather sarcastic story on its front page with the title, ‘Yoruba nru, Ikejiani nsanra‘ meaning that while the Yoruba race was going lean, Ikejiani (and invariably, his stock) were getting fatter. The newspaper was however forced to publish a full-page advertorial by the Ikejiani railway corporation on the staff strength, designation, tribal origin and position of workers in the corporation with the title ‘Nigerian Railway Corporation: Facts you must know about staff position’, maintaining that the accusation of tribalism was made to “inflame inter-tribal hatred in an attempt to gain political advantages to the detriment of our young country’s advancement”. But in the same edition, the Sketch published an editorial entitled, ‘What is official?’ (Daily Sketch, April 10, 1964). Therein, it accused Ikejiani of running the corporation like “secret societies, cabals or tribal cults where anything goes” and urged him to “publish staff lists, monthly or annual returns, bulletins, railway assets and liabilities. His own salary and allowances, as well as those of his top aids (sic) and underdogs, workers and labourers alike, must be public property.” The Akintola government later released a White Paper that detailed allegations of nepotism against Ikejiani. It alleged that out of a grand total of 431 names on the staff list of the corporation, 270 were Igbo and 161 of other ethnic groups; of the 57 direct senior appointments made by the corporation, 27 were Igbo, eight were from other tribes and eight others were expatriates.

I went into the archive to bring out the above historical narrative so as to be able to explain that what we see today as acrimonious Yoruba/Igbo relations didn’t start today. In spite of the fact that the two races have a lot in common, politics and race for ascension into elective and appointive political offices have torn them asunder; so much that, like the words of Obierika to the white man in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, he “has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”. It is so bad that Hausa/Fulani who allegedly killed Igbo people in thousands through the pogrom are not as resented by the Igbo as they do the Yoruba. The ethnic fissures are indeed becoming very frightening.

Some leaders attempted to kill the ghost of this ethnic division. Bola Tinubu in Lagos and Chimaroke Nnamani in Enugu’s appointments of Igbo and Yoruba into their cabinets began to redraw this acrimonious graph and to re-contextualise the disunity. Today, the relationship has become worse and is back on a cliff edge. When Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu state recently appointed a renowned broadcast journalist, Ladi Akeredolu-Ale, to head his state’s broadcasting service, an otherwise knowledgeable senior journalist went to town to denounce this. As I read his doggerel, Bob Marley’s evergreen track, “they don’t want to see us unite… all they want us to do is, keep on fussing and fighting…” sieved into my head. Why are people’s hearts filled with bottomless hatred for the other man as this?

To be candid, the 2023 elections have further put a wedge in tribal relations between the two ethnicities. When you read the quantum of bile exchanged between Yoruba and Igbo on social media, you will be pessimistic about a future for the two races together. Unfortunately, for both, they have been so mutually enfolded into each other that it is in their individual interest to live in amity.

Yesterday, I read an interview granted the Vanguard newspaper by the president general of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. “We don’t have security problems in the southeast. We have said ‘release Nnamdi’ because the young people are supporters of Nnamdi Kanu, which is an excuse that they give. When we look at it seriously, we have not seen any offence committed by Kanu. In fact, the court has said he should be released. As Igbo leaders, we do not see the reason he is being kept in detention. These people are giving it as an excuse for their sit-at-home. We believe that keeping Nnamdi Kanu in prison is an effort to collaborate with some elements who want to destroy the economy of states in the southeast,” he said.

To me, Iwuanyanwu was not sincere with himself or the Igbo race in that interview. If the truth must be told, Igbo’s reaction to Muhammadu Buhari’s bigotry was extreme. No sane government would condone the vile, sadistic commentaries from Nnamdi Kanu before his arrest or the unleashing of terror on the Nigerian state by felons loyal to him called ‘Unknown Gunmen’. What were Igbo elders like Iwuanyanwu doing while Kanu constituted himself into such unmitigated outlawry? What were they doing while he forcefully blocked the economic windpipe of the race by declaring a sit-at-home?

Even ex-governors of the zone during the garrulous gangsterism of Kanu appeared so complicit and cowed by the roar of the uncouth lion that Kanu was. How has sitting at home on Mondays by the very entrepreneurial southeastern people, calculated to have set its economy backwards by billions, helped in advancing the cause of Kanu’s release or the injustices that have been forced down the throat of the race by successive Nigerian governments? Did the weekly economic injuries which the Igbo inflicted on themselves by that act of calculated indolence, in any way, affect Buhari or wake him up from his eight years of perpetual somnambulist governance?

At the risk of immodesty, I am one of the few non-Igbo who can speak the truth to the race. This is because I have spoken variously about the depth of love I encountered when I lived among the people. Igbo are one of the most beautiful races in the world. When then-Governor Chimaroke Nnamani brought me to Enugu in 2003, he opened the water trough of the beauty, serenity and calmness of Igboland for me to gulp in abundance. Ever since, my fate seems intertwined with the land’s. Whenever I cross the Niger River, I feel at home.

However, let us tell ourselves the truth: Igbo’s sheepish conformity with the illogicality of Sit At Home appears to the rest of the world a benign version of the suicide bomber mentality. To put it mildly, it is crazy. While the suicide bomber extinguishes themselves to destroy others, in sitting at home, Igbo destroy themselves while assuming they are taking a pound of flesh from Nigeria. The inability of the elders of the race to stop the crimson-red dent on Igboland by unknown gunmen and the impression they created that violence is inextricably woven into the Igbo race, is fatal to the perception of the globe of an Igbo man.

Igbo’s immediate rash reaction to Mmesoma Ejikeme’s forged result is the same uncritical stand it took about Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration. It was a ‘We and Them’ response. Almost immediately, former minister of education, Oby Ezekweseli, called for further investigation into the allegation against the Igbo girl. I thought the first thing to do was to condemn the act, not necessarily the young girl and then ask for a probe. Innoson Motors, an Igbo-owned company, also immediately promised a N3 million scholarship for the young girl. Asari Dokubo, the south-south violence-baiting man then threw into the ring his known hatred for the Igbo. Mmesoma must be older than 19 because – wait for it – his own daughter was 15 when she sat for the same examination! What a puerile logic.

The Yoruba’s reaction to the Mmesoma conundrum was also a continuation of the age-long tiff between it and its Igbo “enemy”; which should not be. Ethnicity should not have any role to play in ethical considerations. Whether Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba, wrong should have no binary name. It was this same ethnocentric position we all took in the choice of who to mount political offices in the last general elections.

I think Igbo should extinguish the ghost of the incorrigible sit-at-home and unknown gunmen violence first before embarking on diplomatic shuttles for Kanu’s release. Those two issues are staining the white garment of this beautiful race.

The United States versus Donald J. Trump: The wheels of justice need grease.

Based on the time between the alleged offences and the issuance of an indictment, the case of the United States versus Donald J. Trump in the federal court in Miami seems to be an anomaly. On a comparative basis, many consider the interval in this instance to have been relatively short. To my mind, it was much lengthier than it should have been.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2021 the National Archives asked Trump to return missing documents that were believed to be in his possession. Some six months later, 15 boxes containing 197 documents with “classification markings” were sent back from Mar-a-Lago. Five months after that, presumably after further communications, Trump returned an additional 38 classified documents. The highly publicized search of the estate, authorized by a search warrant, happened on August 8, 2022 — more than a year after the Archive’s initial request. The search uncovered an additional 103 classified documents, 31 confidential documents, 54 secret documents, and 18 top secret documents. It’s incomprehensible to me why it should have taken this long to secure these records.

Trump’s noncompliance with the law should have been obvious for all to see after, what? — a month, maybe two, but waiting for a year to follow up on Trump’s intransigence is beyond the pale. Well before the time the Justice Department sought the search warrant, the department knew — or at least had substantial reason to believe — that Trump had violated the law by unlawfully taking and keeping government documents, lying to federal agents, and, in all likelihood, meeting the definition of obstructing justice and also possibly violating the espionage act, as well.

Again, all that was known as of August 2022. Here we are in June of 2023, and the indictment has just come to fruition. I fully appreciate that any effort to bring charges against an individual should require prosecutors to have a high confidence that they would be able to win a conviction, but the timeline for doing so seems to me to be well beyond what should be necessary — or tolerated, for that matter — particularly in a case with such significant national ramifications.

What, exactly, is the problem? What takes so long? Is the Justice Department constrained by having too little in the way of resources? I just don’t get it. Admittedly, the Department faces a host of challenges in bringing this case and others to trial, but a good many of those challenges would seem to relate to the practicalities of trying the case in the courtroom — concerns that aren’t going to be mitigated by extending the time frame prior to the trial (i.e., selecting a jury, dealing with trial motions, etc.).

Formulating charges and gathering the relevant evidence would seem to be processes that can and should be performed within shorter time frames than what we are currently experiencing. Somewhere, somehow, those responsible for seeing that justice is appropriately dispensed need to accelerate the process by which these efforts proceed.

My frustration with the Miami indictment is nothing compared to that which I have for the two other critical cases involving Trump. Starting with the January 6 investigation currently being managed under the authority of Special Counsel Jack Smith, let’s remember that the assault on the Capitol happened January 6, 2020. The Congressional hearings commenced in June, with a final report issued in December of 2021. It was November of 2022 — a full 11 months after the Congressional hearing issued its final report — that Jack Smith was appointed.

Smith is reportedly moving toward the end of his investigation, but I ask again, what’s taking so long? I’m not a lawyer, but I am a taxpayer. It certainly seems to me that the Justice Department has had sufficient incriminating evidence to proceed with an indictment long ago. Their failure to bring this trial to a head has allowed disparate versions of truth as to our nation’s history to go unaddressed for too long.

The Georgia case against Trump may be even more egregious in terms of the length of any pre-trial machinations. Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s election results were made transparent with the release of the tape of the conversation he had with Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find” an additional 11,780 votes. This conversation was uncovered and reported upon on January 3, 2021, and still no indictment two-and-a-half years later. Two-and-a-half years! Why should it take that long? The issues in this case simply are not that complex.

While I’m complaining, I have a particular beef with those who can’t accept the determinations of the relevant authorities after due process has been extended and instead set out to investigate the investigators. Critically, not all due process has to culminate in a trial and conviction. But whenever an investigation of wrongdoing commences by a duly authorized entity, every American should stand back and allow those with investigatory authority to do their work and make their determinations. Those determinations should be accepted gracefully, as opposed to condemning any outcome that counters any preconceived notions as being illegitimate or rigged. Doing otherwise is a fascistic technique that has no place in America.

The charge that, somehow, our system of justice has been “weaponized” to go after Republicans ignores the various investigations of Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Hunter Biden, and Joe Biden.

Bill Clinton was impeached for God’s sake! Hilary and Hunter both endured multi-year investigations — Hilary for her responsibilities in connection with the attack on the Benghazi compound as well as her use of a private email server. These issues were well aired and, in both cases, those with authority determined that a conviction wasn’t likely to result if charges were brought. That should have been the end of both stories. Do the critics of these decisions believe a prosecution should have been initiated anyway? That’s certainly not the way I want my tax dollars spent.

With respect to Hunter Biden, after investigating for five long years and counting, the biggest crime they can concoct is a misdemeanor tax offense — despite the delinquent taxes having been repaid. Too many Republicans can’t abide this outcome. They’d rather further exacerbate the political divides in this country and destroy whatever remaining confidence the American people may have in our justice system than agree to accepting the authority of the institutions that are critical to the normal functioning of a civil society.

And let’s not forget the much-touted Congressional investigation of the Biden “crime family.” If the Republicans find anything in the way of wrongdoing, it should be done in a way that allows Biden to confront his accusers — and the sooner the better. If there’s reason to prosecute, let’s do it and have it done with. The never-ending death by innuendo is a dangerous ploy that does none of us any good. It’s time to put up or shut up.

Derivatives Litigation Services assists legal teams with litigation when derivative contracts play a role in disputed transactions. The firm offers advice and counsel on a best efforts basis but bears no responsibility for outcomes dictated by mediation or court judgments.

Culled FX Street Analysis| 06/22/2023 16:29:18 GMT

CRM FELICITATES GOVERNOR SEYI MAKINDE ON COMMENCEMENT OF OMI TUNTUN 2.0

A Sociopolitical movement responsible for entrenchment of good leadership, egalitarian society and sponsoring of credible and patriotic candidates; Commonwealth Restoration Movement has felicitated Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde and his Deputy, Barr Bayo Lawal on the successful inauguration of the second term in office which signifies the commencement of the Omi Tuntun 2.0

In a statement released on behalf of the Board of Trustees by the Acting General Secretary; the Movement welcomes the new tenure and congratulates the amiable Governor of the people on this great feat. 

The people of Oyo State have spoken with their votes that; a good term of Omi Tuntun 1.0 deserves another Omi Tuntun 2.0 and by implication, the expectations are higher than in the first term. It is a well deserved second term which God has made possible in the interest of the people of Oyo State. 

In his words; "Almighty God has made this possible through the good people of Oyo State and He will grant you the wisdom, grace and strength to surpass our expectations in this second term"  

As a sociopolitical Movement with members across the State, we shall continue to pray for your success and work tirelessly for the actualisation of the OMI Tuntun 2.0 agenda in our capacity of Office of the Citizen.

Signed

Apostle John A. Mabunmi

Ag. General Secretary 

O HUN TO NTAN NI ODUN EGUN (NOTHING LAST FOREVER). || HON AJANI ADENIYI-POSSIBLE

‘O hun to ntan ni odun egun, Iyawo alagbaa yo ra Akara muko’ is a Yoruba adage that literally and creatively described how temporal and seasonal is Egun or Egungun festival in Yoruba Land. This could be contemporarily interpreted as “Nothing last forever”. 

The adage is meant to advise and reawaken whoever is in the position of opportunities like Egungun that, (1) Time is of essence. (2) Use your time to benefit humanity and (3) opportunity comes but once and whatever legacy you can establish, better do it now so that posterity can be kind to you.

For the benefit of readers not from Yoruba land, Egun or Egungun in Yoruba is the same as a masquerade in English. They mostly conduct their ritual festival annually, while some biannually and others might be every 3 – 5 years.

The festival always comes within a period, usually a week or two. This period is dedicated to the Egungun to showcase their best, pay homages and collect gifts and royalties. They usually prepare well, with the egungun coming out with pomp and pageantry. They displayed their best acrobatic dance with ovation and applause from the audience. The audience sometimes gives gifts to them. It is the time to register their creativity in the memory of the audience. It is a time full of colours and ovation is usually very loud. Once the season is over, the egungun go back to their heavenly father and are never allowed to come out again until another season. This describes their temporariness.

Egungun festival can be likened to any political term of office. The political term of office in Nigeria is every four years and if you are lucky and have performed satisfactorily to the delight of your constituents, you might get another four years for the executives (the President & Governor) while for Legislators (Senate, House of Representatives & House of Assembly) can be repeated until their constituencies are tired of them. Once the term elapsed, most of the players return to their constituencies.

Most often during their terms, most of them forget the essence of the time, like Egungun they get carried away with superfluity, they forget where they are coming from, their sources, the promises they made, the support they had, the sacrifices of selflessness and emotion made on their behalf, the risk taken on their behalf, the love even shared with them. The new level brings out their real self that has hitherto been humbled by poverty and lack, greed overwhelmed them, they surrounded themselves with sycophants, their meanness emerges and they forget their terms. “Ohun to ntan ni egungun Odun”.

Their term ends, the reality dawn on them, their eyes open, egos are deflated but the hands of the clock cannot be reversed. The sycophants departed them, of course, they will go to the next place of food supply. ‘Awon arije nibi mo daru’ (Profiteers of rift and confusion). 

But one good thing about time is that it provides an opportunity for posterity to smile on us through our legacy. Yes, the legacy during your term speaks for you. As a politician, the number of your projects and types, the completeness or incompleteness of your projects, the quality (standard and substandard) of projects and the number of lives you affected, the people you alleviated from poverty to wealth both facilitated and personally, all will speak for you.

People cannot be foul forever, your kindness, openness, fairness, corniness, how accommodating you are and your leadership attribute will be appraised by your people as your legacy. If you like engage all media houses for propaganda. This age has gone beyond that. Our eyes are opened. . . . “Ohun to nta ni egungun odun”.

I wish all my political friends and associates ending their terms, a happy end of term, and my prayer is that may their legacies speak for them and to those returning or coming afresh, always remember “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Ohun to ntan ni egungun Odun 

Written by,

Hon. Ajani Adeniyi

(Niyi Possible)

Makinde immortalisation of Ajimobi is timely and honourable | Aderemi Ladigbolu

In the final paragraph of a July 2020 article, entitled: Ajimobi, Makinde and the Beauty of Intellectual Prudence, this writer wrote ”Finally, in spite of the avoidable brouhaha over Ajimobi’s burial site, I am sure the former governor is truly resting in peace, knowing that the people of his beloved Oyo State are in good hands, and also knowing that his legacies are intact, and actually being built upon. What remains for Makinde to do is to appropriately immortalise the memory of this great man”.

With the announcement by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on March 31, at the second convocation ceremony of the state government-owned First Technical University, Ibadan that the institution had been renamed Abiola Ajimobi First Technical University, in honour of his late predecessor, the governor had indeed immortalised the memory of Senator Ajimobi in the best way possible.

This article, however, is neither about the unique achievements of the late Ajimobi, among which was the establishment of another premier university in Ibadan, which now bears his name, nor is it about the visionary leadership of the first two-term governor of the pacesetter state, that rightly earned him the indisputable sobriquet of Koseleri, which literally translates to a jinx breaker. Rather, the main interest of this writer is to examine the political phenomenon that Makinde is steadily evolving into through the prism of that historic announcement and what this portends for the future democratic governance in Nigeria.

To be clear, Makinde from the get go had demonstrated that he is not your typical Nigerian politician. In the build-up to his first electoral success in 2019, his campaign was devoid of exaggerated or unrealistic promises. He also shunned the usual desperation and the win-at-all-cost attitude of the average politician. Also, as I observed in the 2020 article, Makinde is the only politician in my memory to have openly and unequivocally acknowledged the achievements of his predecessor, despite belonging to an opposition political party

The relevant part of the article under reference further reads: “For me, the most striking part of that message (referring to Makinde’s condolence message to the family of his predecessor) is where Makinde, in a manner most uncharacteristic of politicians, said the following about the late Ajimobi, ‘Surely, he will be remembered for leaving a blueprint for some of the activities that our administration is now undertaking’.”

“What manner of politician openly acknowledges the inherent benefits of projects started by his main opponent and constantly restates his commitment to completing them all, even to point of admitting that he has adopted part of his developmental blueprint? It can only be a politician who puts the welfare of the people over and above politics in every regard,” the article had further observed.

And did he walk his talk? A good answer to this will be the current state of the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency, which was established in 2016 by the Ajimobi administration with a vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage and access to affordable and quality health care for all residents of the state regardless of their economic status. When Makindeassumed office, he immediately demonstrated his readiness to sustain this worthy legacy of his predecessor by resisting the predictable political pressure to remove the Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Olusola Akande, who was appointed by Ajimobi. Today, the number of enrollees on the scheme has increased from 45,000 in 2019 to over 300,000, while Akande still remains in office.

On how much the Makinde administration has done to sustain the agency, Akande has this to say in a report by Newspeak, dated April 17, 2023. “When the present governor came in, he promised not to cancel anything good that the former administration put in place and he showed fidelity to that promise.Oyo State Health Insurance continues to progress under the present government and expansion has become wider, service delivery has become deeper and coverage has become enlarged.”

This particular uncommon virtue is what Governor Makinde had once again demonstrated by his timing of the announcement of the renaming of the hitherto First Technical University. A decent and principled politician that he is, he resisted the apparent temptation to make this predictably popular and a potentially game changing announcement during his re-election campaign, despite facing a highly uncertain fate and in dire need of every ounce of political capital he could muster.

Faced with a formidable opposition, which had been further buoyed and emboldened by the victory of its candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the presidential election, as well as the rumoured decision of some ofhis major coalition partners to abandon him at the last minute, yet Makinde refused to be a political opportunist by announcing the renaming of the university before the election. Rather, he chose to do it at the most appropriate and auspicious moment and clearly not for sheer political gain.

Same goes for his principled stance on the issue of a southern presidency, which saw him brazenly opposing the presidential candidate of his own political party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the risk of enormous personal and political jeopardy. By ignoring the dictates of political expediency and wittingly putting his political future on the line in the fight for equity and justice, Makinde has proven beyond every shade of doubt that he is a politician hewn out of a wood completely different from what we have become accustomed to.

Makinde’s record of achievements speaks for itself. But that is also not part of the purpose of this article. Nevertheless, it is no longer news that the 2023 governorship election in Oyo State, which renewed his mandate for another four-year term by a wide margin, was adjudged to be among the most peaceful and credible in the country. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that he won the election primarily on the strength of his performance.

Having fulfilled over 70 percent of his campaign promises in his first term, what Makinde must do next is not rest on his oars as most second-term governors are wont to do. This is the time for him to ensure the completion of all the legacy projectsstarted by him or his predecessors. Most importantamong these is the first phase (32km East End Wing)of the 110km economically super–strategic Senator Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road, Ibadan, which successive administrations have failed to completesince former Governor Ladoja, after whom it is named, conceived the idea during his tenure between 2003 and 2007.

Others, which are equally important, include theproposed Dry Port at Moniya, close to Chief Obafemi Awolowo Train Station, for which his administration has already acquired the needed land and paid compensation to all the landowners; the expansive Government Reservation Areas being developed at all exits points along the Circular Road and in various other locations in Ibadan, and in thefour zones of the state, including Oke-Ogun,Ogbomosho, Oyo and Ibarapa. Also of importanceare the abandoned Silos project in Oyo town, which will enable farmers in Oyo and Oke Ogun axis storeand preserve their grains for large scale industrial use and exportation, and the Shell Gas Plant located on the Ibadan-Lagos Expressway, which will power the government’s industrialisation initiatives, as well asits Independent Power Projects.

The governor must also develop initiatives for tackling the solid waste management problem that has bedevilled the state capital for ages, while also ensuring the completion of the various channelisation projects embarked on by the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP), especially the ongoing Agodi River and Ona River Channelisation in Ibadan, as a means of finding a permanent solution to the often devastating perennial flooding beingexperienced in the capital city. Another laudable initiative, which must not be abandoned, is the ‘Light Up Oyo’ project, which seeks to provide night-time lighting in all public spaces in the state, starting with identified black spots.

In addition, Omituntun 2.0, as Makinde has christened his administration’s second termdevelopmental blueprint, must incorporate the timelycompletion of the multiple road reconstruction and rehabilitation projects spread across the length and breadth of the state. Priority must also be given to the very strategic ones among them, including the 76.7km Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road, which connects Oke-Ogun and Ogbomoso zones; the 45.3km Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho Road, which connects Saki West, Saki East and Oorelope Local Government Areas; the 37.41km Beere-Olorunsogo-Amuloko-Akanran-Dagbolu Road; the 34.85km Oyo-Iseyin Road, which connects Oyo and Oke-Ogun Zones and also serves as the main artery for accessing the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub; the 37.41km Beere-Olorunsogo-Amuloko-Akanran-Dagbolu Road; as well as the 35.53 km Ibadan-Iwo-Osogbo Road.

Finally, in the governor’s words on what the Oyo State people should expect from the second term of his administration: “Oyo State Roadmap to Sustainable Development 2023-2027 represents our covenant with the good people of Oyo State. The fulfilled promises stand as a surety for these added promises we are making. If we could fulfil over 70percent of our promises made in our first term, then you can rest assured that now that we have been there for our first tenure and fully understand the exigencies of governance, we will do even more. Yes, if we have done it before, we can do it again and do even more. Omituntun 2.0 promises to be an upgrade. We have heard people say that when politicians are given a second term in government, they often underperform. We can only speak for ourselves and say; we have laid the right foundations, and each promise made in this roadmap is well thought out and based on strategies that we know will work.”

Oyo State people, e kú ojú lọ́nà.

Ladigbolu is a Lagos-based journalist