SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY 2022

OPEC Misses Production Target over Nigeria, Others' Under-performance Producers pumped 620,000 barrels below target in December 2021 Nigeria’s compliance hits 239% Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The inability of Nigeria and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

to pump enough crude oil has resulted in the overall failure of the group to meet its target production for December 2021, according to a survey.

The 13-member countries

of OPEC and its allies led

by Russia pumped some 620,000 barrels of oil per day below their combined quota, the survey showed while a survey by S&P Global Platts

showed that OPEC’s overall compliance stood at 116.5 per cent for the month with Nigeria’s compliance at 239 per cent.

One of the secondary sources

stated that whereas the target for Nigeria was 1.67 million barrels per day for the month, it only produced 1.44 million barrels per day in December and 1.49 million barrels per

day in November.

The development widened the gap between the production quotas set by OPEC and its allies Continued on page 6

Lawan, Govs, Obaigbena, Others Pay Tributes as Komolafes Bury their Mum... Page 6 Sunday 16 January, 2022 Vol 26. No 9777

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President, Others Lay Wreaths to Honour Fallen Heroes Our Correspondents

HIGH AND MIGHTY STORM IGBARA-OKE… L-R: Former Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole; Chairman of THISDAY/ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena; The Ombudsman, THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Kayode Komolafe; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, during the funeral mass for Komolafe's mother, Mrs. Morenikeji Victoria Komolafe, at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Igbara-Oke, Ondo State...yesterday ABIODUN AJALA

The 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day was marked yesterday in Abuja with President Muhammadu Buhari presiding.

Also to commemorate the day, some governors, including Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Continued on page 10

2023: North Won’t Vote Based on Sentiments as Done to Buhari, Say Northern Elders Seek postponement of 2022 national tocensus not only the North but the John Shiklam in Kaduna

Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said the region will support only a presidential candidate who has the capacity to address the nation’s socio-economic and security problems irrespective of where the person comes from.

The elders say they will no longer vote for a candidate based on sentiments as they did for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, describing the incumbent as a disappointment

entire country.

NEF’s Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem BabaAhmed, said this yesterday in an interview with journalists during a meeting of Northern Leaders of Thought held in Kaduna.

The northern elders also advised the federal government to postpone the planned 2022 National Census because of the large numbers of displaced Nigerians and the nearness of the census to the 2023 elections.

Continued on page 8

Aspirants Oppose APC’s Consensus FALLEN HEROES STILL IN OUR HEARTS… Option for National Chairmanship... Page 5 President Muhammadu Buhari laying a wreath during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Abuja...yesterday

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CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENT… L-R: Mrs. Oluwakemi Abisola Oduntan; Celebrant, Mr. Folabi Kuti (SAN); his wife Yemi; Special Adviser on Chieftaincy Affairs to Governor Lagos State, Prince Bayo Osiyemi; and Mr. Banjo MUBO PETERS Abduilinazee at dinner party in honour of Kuti in Lagos...yesterday

My Meeting with Tinubu Not About Presidency, Fayemi Clarifies Denies dropping undeclared presidential ambition Makinde wishes ex-Lagos gov well, says he wants best for Nigeria Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has clarified that his recent meeting with the former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, offered an avenue to ruminate on the progress of the nation and not about any 2023 presidential ambition.

This is as Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, yesterday wished Tinubu well in his 2023 presidential ambition, adding that he would want the best for Nigeria.

Fayemi berated those he described as spin doctors, who claimed that he dropped his veiled presidential ambition at the meeting when nothing of such happened.

The two notable leaders had a closed-door meeting where undisclosed issues were discussed, which some had misinterpreted to mean strategy over the 2023 presidency, which the duo was said to be interested in.

But Fayemi, in a statement signed yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Yinka Oyebode, debunked the claim in some quarters that the 2023 presidency formed the crux of his discussion with Tinubu, saying he is free to meet with the APC leader anytime he wishes, being his political leader and tutor.

"It was a family meeting of minds. It is therefore disingenuous of the spin doctors who were nowhere near the venue of the meeting to begin to second guess discussions at the meeting.

"In a democratic setting like ours with so many issues begging for attention, discussions will go on daily among political leaders at various levels.

Political leadership plays an indispensable role in foisting great responsibilities on people, thus both formal and informal discourses cannot be wished away.

"Creating a fictional social media frenzy out of such meeting where issues of national discourse are discussed would

thus amount to an ill wind that blows no one any good.

"Asiwaju Tinubu is a former two-term governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, while Dr Fayemi, also a chieftain of the party, is the governor of Ekiti State and current Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

"Meeting between the two leaders, dates as far back as their days in exile, when they were both involved in the struggle to wrest the country away from military jackboots, and has since been a regular occurrence both within and outside the country's political space. So there should not be any big deal in seeing them meet, except someone has opted to create mischief out of it".

Fayemi stated that the details of their meeting remain undisclosed, saying that: “Seeing the two of them who are being rumoured as potential presidential aspirants from the South-west together may naturally give way to speculations that the 2023 presidential election could form part of their discussions.

"This may have been further fuelled by the fact that Asiwaju Tinubu said he had informed President Muhammadu Buhari that he would be coveting the presidential seat in 2023. Dr Fayemi on the other hand has yet to give any visible sign in that direction.

"However, both Asiwaju Tinubu’s declared ambition and Fayemi’s undeclared ambition have now been taken up and given verve by some spin doctors, particularly those who believe such could rev up their relevance in the eyes of either of the political leaders."

Fayemi accused rumour peddlers of surreptitiously scrambling for relevance by weaving, not half-truths, but blatant lies into the TinubuFayemi meeting, saying it signposted Fayemi surrendering his undeclared ambition to Asiwaju Tinubu’s declared one.

"Specifically, they have been dishing out barefaced and unsubstantiated lies that Dr Fayemi at the closed-door meeting ‘debunked the raging rumour of his 2023 presidential ambition and pledged support

for the national leader of APC Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

Fayemi said the story by the spin doctors stands logic in the head and stands not only disclaimed but condemned, saying it must have been sourced from the rumour mill, or as a beer parlour gist. At its best, it is a mere conjecture.

"If and when Dr Fayemi chooses to declare his interest in running for the 2023 presidential ticket, he would not be embarking on an ego trip that would warrant going into the unhealthy contest with Asiwaju Tinubu or anyone else.

"Fayemi sees Tinubu as his leader in politics and reserves respect for him as a national leader of his party. Neither will he run the race to use it to negotiate with anyone.

Rather he will run because he is convinced he should do so,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Makinde, has wished Tinubu, well in his 2023 presidential ambition, but added that he would want the best for Nigeria.

He said this when Tinubu

visited him over the demise of a former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo AlaoAkala, and two prominent traditional rulers – the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade III, and the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, Aje Ogunguniso I. A statement issued yesterday the Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa quoted the governor as saying that the National Leader of APC stood for politics without bitterness.

According to Makinde, politicians may fight, struggle for political positions, but power can only come from God. Makinde said: “I want to welcome you (Tinubu) to Oyo State. We are really grateful for this visit. This is the year political parties will elect their candidates towards the election that is coming next year. So, what this had demonstrated to us is, you stood for politics without bitterness.

“During this political season, you may have to question yourself on why you need

to come to the Government House because people might have another interpretation to it. But you sent a message to me and I was delighted to host you in Ibadan.

“We lost two traditional rulers almost in quick succession. First, it was Soun of Ogbomoso land, and we were planning for the burial when the Olubadan of Ibadanland also joined his ancestors. We were still in the middle of that when former Governor Akala also died. I can see that in Oyo State, we try to take politics out of what we call ‘omoluabi’.

“We may fight, struggle for political positions but we know power can only come from God and He gives it to whomever He will like to give it to at whatever time.

“We really thank you for this visit and want to let you know that we have taken proper notice that you have risen above politics and all that is going around here to come and share with us at this moment that we are grieving.

Continued on page 16

Aspirants Oppose APC’s Consensus Option for National Chairmanship Chuks Okocha in Abuja Efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to elect its National Chairman by consensus like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have suffered setbacks as former governors aspiring for the position have opted to test their popularity among the members of the party, THISDAY has learnt.

Investigations have also revealed that the alleged plan to hold the National Convention alongside the presidential primary as suggested by the Senate Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu would also not be feasible as too many stakeholders are opposed to it.

According to multiple sources who spoke to THISDAY, the various interventions by stakeholders to prune down the number of aspirants to one have hit the rocks due to the refusal

of many of them to step down for each other.

It was further gathered from the sources that the quest for the consensus option was to ease tension across board, following suspicion in certain quarters that it could result in what was witnessed in many states when state congresses were conducted last year.

Also, the need for the option became more pressing following comments by President Muhammadu Buhari that the APC might lose in 2023 if there is no compromise on the hard-line positions adopted by the various party stakeholders.

Currently, there are eight APC national chairmanship contenders, each holding a strong grip on their immediate constituencies, as rival contenders make an incursion into their areas of influence.

One of the sources told THISDAY that a number of the contenders are in firm control of their immediate states and environs and are not willing to step down.

Instead of stepping down, he said the aspirants all have intensified their bid for endorsement across the country.

“The party has been delaying the National Convention to explore opportunities for consensus because with the nature of the grievances arising from the state congresses, going into National Convention without reaching compromise will not be in the interest of the party. If members go into an election, the outcome will be more rancorous than the crises in the state chapters. But none of the aspirants, particularly the former governors, is ready to

shift ground,” the source explained.

The source explained that the National Caretaker Committee of the party might meet on Tuesday as part of the efforts to find a common ground among the various interest groups within the party.

THISDAY gathered that while the former Governor of Benue State and Minister of Special Duties, Senator George Akume, was in Plateau State last week to lobby APC stalwarts over his chairmanship bid, some chieftains of the Nasarawa State chapter of the party paid a solidarity visit to another aspirant from Kwara State, Mallam Saliu Mustapha in Abuja.

And to compound the challenges, another contender has joined the already crowded field.

He is Mr Sani Shinkafi, an aide

to Zamfara State Governor, Mr Bello Matawalle who is believed to be opposed to the aspiration of his predecessor, Mr Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari to become the next national chairman of the party.

The emergence of Shinkafi, it was learnt, is to whittle down the support base of Yari.

Younger elements in the party such as Mr Saliu Mustapha from Kwara State, Senator Sani Musa representing Niger East in the Senate, and Sunny Moniedafe from Adamawa State, are also in the race.

However, one of the sources told THISDAY that the president's meeting with the APC National Caretaker Committee led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, has been rescheduled for today and there is a likelihood that far-reaching decisions would be taken at the meeting.

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FOR FALLEN HEROES… L-R- Chairman, Nigeria Legion, Ogun State chapter, Master Warrant Officer Orukotan Olumuyiwa; Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; Commander, 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta, Brigadier-General Isa Abdullahi; and the Commandant, Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Commander Jacinta Asetubobe, during the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration at the Arcade Ground, Governor's Office, Abeokuta...yesterday

Lawan, Govs, Obaigbena, Others Pay Tributes as Komolafes Bury their Mum Fidelis David in Akure Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, led dignitaries from all walks of life, including governors, former governors and ministers to Igbara-Oke in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State yesterday to witness the burial of Mrs Morenikeji Komolafe, the mother of THISDAY Newspapers’ Ombudsman, Mr Kayode Komolafe and his younger brother, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe.

Governors Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); former Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), as well as the Chairman of THISDAY/ ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena were present at the event.

Other eminent Nigerians who graced the event were: Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Mr Uche Ogah; the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura (representing the Senate President); Senator Albert Bassey; Chairman of Southern Senators’ Forum, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele; Senator Ayo Akinyelure; and the pioneer Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Others were: a former Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar; Chairman of Editorial Board of THISDAY Newspaper, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi; Chief Olusola Oke; Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon. Bamidele Oleyelogun; Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi, Odundun II; the Olowa of Igabara-Oke Kingdom, Oba Francis Adefarakanmi Agbede Ilufemiloye (Ogidi III); and some captain of industries among, other well-meaning Nigerians.

The Ombudsman of THISDAY Newspapers and his younger brother, Gbenga, led the Komolafe dynasty, alongside their younger siblings, friends, well-wishers and colleagues to bid their mother, Madam Victoria Komolafe, a final farewell.

Madam Victoria Komolafe, a mother of seven, died at the age of 87 late last year.

She began her final journey home with a lying-in-state at St. Joseph's Catholic Church,

Igabara-Oke and was finally laid to rest at her family compound.

At the funeral mass, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ondo, Most Rev. Dr Jude Ayodeji Arogundade, described the deceased as a woman who contributed her quota to the development of the country.

"Today, we have come to testify that Mama Morenike Victoria Komolafe fulfilled her Christian obligation in her earthly journey and we have come to entrust her to the love and mercy of God. Death is not the end of life. It is the beginning of the new life of heaven. May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

"For us Christians, the question of life and death are answered and settled in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who follow him and live according to his teaching will inherit eternal life. This teaching is basic to our Christian faith and was at the centre of the life of Mama Morenike Victoria Komolafe.

It was her motivation as a mother, a community leader and a philanthropist. She joyfully, courageously and faithfully followed the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, the discipline of the Catholic faith and the ideals of the Yoruba's mantra of Omoluabi," the Bishop explained.

The Bishop said the deceased was a good woman and honest Christian, an embodiment of all that makes one noble and honourable, stressing that her deep sense of satisfaction played out in her desire for perfection, modelling Jesus' example in dealing with the joys, hopes and anxieties of the family life of today.

"The impact of her beautiful life on her family, on Igbara-Oke community and the church is the reason why people from all works of life, top government officials, friends and associates of her sons and daughters and even the Bishop are all here to celebrate her.

"The story about how Mama Victoria Komolafe distributed

food to people in this community, took care of the less-privileged and contributed to the needs of the church will not be forgotten in a hurry. This is because it is the expression of her Christian faith, and has become the story of the unity she sought for the people of Igbara-Oke and the story of all those who knew her - men and women of goodwill. The gospel passage presents the kindness and love we give to our neighbour as the condition for entering into the kingdom of heaven.

"Mama looked out for the welfare and wellbeing of everyone as her responsibility and many times taxed her children to provide the means to accomplish her passion for charity. In embracing the value of love, hard work and truth, she left for us the legacy that is worthy of this celebration. Her audacity of faith and her gut to hope and love selflessly is shaped by her Christian upbringing.

"Today is not just a day for Mama's funeral, it's also that of

celebrating her successful life.

A life with great and noble accomplishments that cannot be ignored or faulted because it impacted many and will continue to be an example for many people to follow for many years to come. This is the testimony of the people of Igbara-Oke and it is for us the pride of the Catholic family system.

“A few weeks before her passing away, her son Engineer Gbenga requested her to ask for whatever she wanted and mama asked him to increase her allowance so that she can do more charity to the needy.

This is a clear indication that her heart was always with those who needed her assistance and care.

"All of us who have risked travelling long distances to be here need to learn a big lesson from this funeral. And it is about the kind of legacy we will all live behind after our earthly lives. We have all come here to witness a grateful family of Komolafe celebrate the beautiful life of

their matriarch. Let everyone examine his or her conscience on how you treat your parents and senior members of your families," Bishop Arogundade added In his tribute, Mr Kayode Komolafe said his mum was a mother and friend to him, in the true sense of the word, noting that she was a brilliant woman with a terrific power of recall.

According to Komolafe, his mum was a solid rock and courageous woman who despite the travails of life, fought a good fight of faith till death, stressing that she had laid enviable foundations for all to follow.

"I am very thankful that my mother lived her life in such a way that as her son, I remain proud of her memory given the generous testimonies to which I have listened since she died.

"Mama, of course, related to all her children as a dutiful mother.

She could sacrifice anything for the well-being of her children,” he explained.

OPEC MISSES PRODUCTION TARGET OVER NIGERIA, OTHERS' UNDER-PERFORMANCE and their actual production.

Nigeria has been struggling to meet the quota allocated to it by OPEC but ageing infrastructure caused by years of under-investment in the upstream of the oil and gas sector has made it difficult for the country to achieve its target.

Sabotage caused by vandalism, technical issues, as well as difficulties with restarting oil wells the country shut down last year in the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, have worsened the challenges.

But despite the limitation, the largest individual increase in production was in West Africa, where Angola boosted output by 90,000 bpd to 1.2 million bpd. Although this was the highest monthly level in 2021, Angola was still 190,000 bpd below its December quota.

West Africa also saw the biggest individual decline last month, with Nigerian output tumbling and defying state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari's forecast that the country would reach its target by the end of last year.

The S&P data showed that OPEC's 13 countries pumped 28.04 million bpd of crude, up 190,000 bpd from November, while nine non-OPEC partners

pumped 13.98 million bpd, an increase of 120,000 bpd.

Fourteen out of the 18 members with quotas fell short of their targets, including even its largest producer Russia, whose compliance rose above 100 per cent for the first time since February 2021, when severe winter temperatures shut-in wells and reduced pipeline flows.

But gains by Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Angola far outstripped losses by Libya and Nigeria, making December the 10th straight month that OPEC+ output increased.

The 19 members, subject to production targets, pumped some 620,000 bpd below their combined caps, the survey showed.

The bloc has been hiking its quotas by a collective 400,000 bpd each month, which would put it on pace to restore production to pre-pandemic levels by late 2022.

But many countries are already maxing out their output levels or are close to it, lifting trader sentiment that was once quite bearish for the first quarter in anticipation of a major supply glut.

But despite its bullish outlook, Platts Analytics said it still expects the market to be oversupplied in the first quarter

but estimates OPEC+ sustainable spare production capacity will shrink to 800,000 bpd by June if it maintains its monthly quota rises, creating "an uncomfortably thin market buffer in the second half of the year."

The alliance is scheduled to next meet on February 2 to decide whether to proceed with another 400,000 bpd quota increase for March.

OPEC members such as Iran, Libya and Venezuela are exempt from quotas under the agreement, while non-OPEC Mexico quit the deal in July 2020 and thus was not included in the survey, though the country continues to send a representative to the group's meetings.

The survey stated that Iraq was also up 60,000 bpd in the month to 4.31 million bpd, continuing to exceed its quota, according to the survey, while non-OPEC Kazakhstan posted a 70,000 bpd gain to 1.68 million bpd, well above its quota.

Libyan output is expected to recover in short order to about 1.2 million bpd after authorities reached an agreement with the militia to reopen and lift force majeure on some oil terminals.

But Nigeria's prospects remain clouded, with deteriorating infrastructure that has seen all of its key export

grades, including Agbami, Bonny Light, Forcados and Qua Iboe face severe production issues throughout the last year.

OPEC has recently reassured the market that the group intends to unwind its cuts at a pace that ensures demand does not outstrip supply.

However, the measured supply to the market has ensured that oil prices continued their surge hitting a two-month high during the week, amid projections that a lack of production capacity and limited investment in the sector could lift crude between $90 and $100 a barrel this year.

A tight supply and easing concerns about the potential hit to demand from the Omicron coronavirus variant, combined to jack up prices as Brent sold for $85.04 a barrel on Thursday and the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up to $82.90.

Brent prices have not touched $90 and $100 since 2014 when they were retreating from a record high above $115 to as low as $57 by the end of the year.

Though the Omicron coronavirus variant has pushed COVID-19 cases far above peaks hit last year, it is expected that oil prices will be supported by the reluctance of many

governments to restore the strict restrictions that hammered the global economy when the pandemic took hold in 2020.

The news is both good and bad for Nigeria which should ordinarily earn more foreign exchange from the sale of crude but now has to deal with paying more subsidy since there’s a positive relationship between the international prices of the commodity and how much Nigerians get the product at the pump.

On December 22, the National Assembly approved a N17.126 trillion ($38 billion) budget for 2022, anchored on an oil price benchmark of $62 per barrel.

The approved oil price assumption was higher than the $57 per barrel price that President Muhammadu Buhari had proposed to the parliament on October 7 and also higher than the oil price benchmark of $40 per barrel adopted by the government for the 2021 budget.

In addition, Nigeria retained the oil production target of 1.88 million bpd, including condensate production of between 300,000-400,000 bpd, for its revenue calculation in 2022.

This is as compared to the output target of 1.86 million bpd the government had set for the 2021 fiscal year.

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In Deference to Sultan, Kukah, Others, ASUU Extends Strike Deadline to February Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Following the intervention of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said that it will wait till February for the outcome of the mediatory talks between the federal government and the religious body.

The 50-member NIREC, under the Co-chairmanship of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III; and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, is also backed by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Bishop Mathew Kukah, among other Christian and Muslim leaders.

ASUU had resolved to embark on industrial action to compel the federal government to meet its demands.

However, following the intervention of NIREC, ASUU had opted to go for more consultations and to give the government a few days within January 2022 to address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 Memorandum of Action (MoA).

But ASUU President, Prof.

Emmanuel Osodake, told THISDAY yesterday that the union had agreed to wait till February, adding that it has also submitted its position to NIREC which promised to help mediate and resolve the issues.

“ASUU leadership has agreed to wait till February to give NIREC and other stakeholders enough room to address the union's grievances," he said.

The decision of ASUU to suspend action till February is seen as bowing to pressure from prominent Nigerians and the leadership of NIREC comprising of the Sultan of Sokoto, the president of the CAN and other stakeholders.

Osodeke had disclosed that it took notice of efforts by many patriotic Nigerians both within and outside the

country to ensure an amicable resolution of the dispute.

He, however, vowed that the union would resist any attempt to blackmail it and derail its patriotic struggle for a productive university system "by official propaganda founded on tokenism and crumb-sharing".

Its earlier statement had summed up the decisions reached at the emergency National Executive Council (NEC) of the union held at its National Secretariat, University of Abuja.

The meeting was meant to review the level of government’s implementation

of the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) of December 23, 2020, and other related matters to decide on the way forward.

In deciding to stay action on strike, Osodake said: "NEC took full account of efforts by student union bodies, leading media organisations, traditional rulers, civil society organisations and other interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 MoA".

In particular, the ASUU president said the union took special cognisance of the pledges made by the NIREC to

make further consultations on the crisis in the coming days to find an amicable resolution.

He accused the government of reneging on its promise to set up an inter-ministerial committee to handle renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

One of the issues in contention is the delay in approving the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) developed

by ASUU. ASUU said it was fully prepared to address all the reports of the “integrity test” on UTAS raised by the Nigeria Information Technology

Development Agency (NITDA) to pave way for its deployment.

The statement read in part: "NEC was worried by the spirited efforts of government agents to reduce the demands of ASUU to a regime of intermittent payment of watered-down revitalisation fund and release of distorted and grossly devalued Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).

"NEC condemns, in strong terms, the surreptitious moves to pooh-pooh our demands on the review of the NUC’s Act to curb the proliferation of universities by state governments who are not funding the existing ones;

adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) with concurrent discontinuance of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel accumulated promotion arrears.

"NEC concluded that government has failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement and subsequent MoUs and MoAs. "However, considering the ongoing intervention and consultation efforts, NEC resolved to review the situation at a later date to decide on the next line of action."

REST ON… Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, laying wreath during the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Lagos…yesterday

2023: NORTH WON’T VOTE BASED ON SENTIMENTS AS DONE TO BUHARI, SAY NORTHERN ELDERS Baba-Ahmed said Nigerians, especially northerners would vote for the best candidate, whether he or she is from the northern or southern part of the country.

Baba-Ahmed dismissed calls by some groups that the presidency should be left for the South, describing such agitation as “command democracy.”

He said Nigerians, especially northerners did not bargain for the current economic and security challenges under Buhari’s administration, saying that the North’s support for Buhari in 2015 and 2019 was a mistake, which should not be repeated in 2023.

“Northerners were told that if Buhari becomes president, the country would be secured; he will fight corruption; the economy will improve, but now we are worst. This is not fiction.

“This is not propaganda, it is not fiction, it is a fact on the ground,” he added.

He pointed out that there are millions of Internally Displaced Peoples Camps (IDPs) in the North-west, where Buhari comes from as a result of deadly activities

of bandits and lamented that the government has refused to admit it.

“They are refusing to accommodate this view and consider the fact that we have internally displaced people.

“This is not the Nigeria that we voted for President Buhari; so, he is a disappointment and that is why we are calling on Nigerians, particularly, northerners to be very careful; don't repeat the same mistake.

“Choose a northerner if you want, but please make sure he is the best among those that are available including candidates from the South,” the NEF spokesman added.

He argued that presidential candidates should have a team to work with to be able to articulate their vision.

“Don't just come to us as Buhari did in 2015 and 2019. We want to vote for a team. We want a President who will have a team ready to transit with them to form a government.

“We don't want a President that will take six months thinking about who will run his government. We want to do things differently otherwise the North is doomed and

this country is doomed,” Baba-Ahmed said.

He said those who urged the political parties not to field northern candidates are not democrats.

“This is what they will call command democracy. It is a very primitive politics and retrogressive,” he said and urged those he described as “real politicians” from the Southern part of the country to enlighten those making such demands.

Speaking further, he said it would be wrong to tell a part of the country not to contest.

“You threatened that any political party that fields a northern candidate should not be voted for.

“There is nothing like that in the constitution. Sadly, some people will be speaking in this manner.

“What we said to them is that the democratic processes will not be restricted to satisfy them,” he added.

According to him, Nigerians should decide who they want.

“A northerner and a southerner have equal rights to contest.

“Northerners should be very

careful in choosing who they vote for.

“That is how we ended up with President Buhari.

We don't want to repeat the same mistake.

“It is not enough to be a northerner; you have to be better than other candidates; you have to be the best for the North and the best for the rest of Nigeria. We are looking for a Nigerian President,” Baba-Ahmed, said.

Also in his opening address at the event, the convener of NEF and former ViceChancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said the North has always been the kingmaker in Nigeria’s politics.

“I heard somebody boasting some few days ago that he was a kingmaker and now he wants to be king; well the North has always been the kingmaker politically in Nigeria and nobody else; it is not a matter of arrogance; that is the reality and it has not changed," Abdullahi said, apparently referring to the National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed who recently declared his

presidential ambition.

Abdullahi lamented that Nigeria is going through many challenges, saying that the NEF meeting will proffer practical solutions.

“They promised things will be different and that they will take over the challenges confronting us, not just in the country, but our region.

Things don’t seem to be getting better, rather things seem to be getting worst,” he said.

A communique issued at the end of the meeting decried the security situation in the North and urged President Buhari, governors and legislators to revisit and re-prioritise spending on security as well as address the scourge of poverty.

The communique signed by former Vice-Chancellor of Plateau State University, Prof.

Doknan Shenni, maintained that the fundamental rights of all political parties to field candidates of their choices, and the right of voters to freely exercise choices over who leads them should not be compromised.

The communique maintained that “northerners have equal rights to aspire

to all offices but they must raise competence, evidence of personal integrity and commitments to the rule of law above all other considerations.

The communique lamented that the desperate poor economic condition of most northerners poses additional threats to security and the democratic process and urged leaders to avoid pushing the population into deeper poverty and desperation amid challenging economic policies and a lack of empathy.

It advised the federal government to postpone the planned 2022 National Census because of the large numbers of displaced Nigerians and the closeness of the census to the 2023 elections.

It further called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act, as this will improve the quality of elections, starting from 2023.

The communique called on key Northern groups to engage their southern counterparts to improve understanding, lower tensions and contribute to the creation of an atmosphere that allows all Nigerian to live in peace with each other.

SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

NEWS

THEIR EMINENCE… L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan; and Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, at the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Abuja…yesterday

PRESIDENT, OTHERS LAY WREATHS TO HONOUR FALLEN HEROES Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, Aminu Masari of Katsina State, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, as well as former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and former President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, have called for peace and improved security across the country.

As the country continues to tackle security challenges ahead of the 2023 general election, the 36 state governors and the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold separate meetings this week on the state of the nation.

This is coming as the All Progressives Congress (APC) has admitted that the country's security challenges are daunting, stressing however that Buhari’s administration will overcome the prevailing security situation soon.

On its part, the main opposition, the PDP, saluted members of the Armed Forces for their courage, loyalty, sacrifice and resilience in defending the country.

Activities to commemorate the Armed Forces Remembrance Day had commenced on October 28, 2021, when the president launched the remembrance emblem at the State House, Abuja.

During yesterday’s ceremony, which took place at the National Arcade, opposite the Eagle Square in the Three Arms Zone, Buhari inspected a Guard of Honour mounted by detachments of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Nigerian Legion.

Prayers were said by Christian and Muslim clerics for the peaceful repose of the souls of the dead and the health of the nation.

Buhari laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a mark of last respect to the fallen heroes who paid the supreme price to keep global peace and the nation’s territorial integrity.

Top officials who also laid wreaths include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Justice

of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello represented by the Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, and his Defence counterpart, MajorGeneral Bashir Magashi (rtd).

Others are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, Service Chiefs, the Nigerian Legion, among others.

Twenty-one gun salutes were thereafter fired at the event followed by the signing of the Remembrance Day anniversary register by the president accompanied by the Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker, Chief Justice of the Federation, military chiefs and other top government officials.

President Buhari thereafter released white pigeons to indicate the harmony at the venue and the nation.

The president, who arrived at the venue at about 10.05 a.m. in a Black Limousine, was ushered into the arena by the Guards Parade led by Major M A Toriola.

On hand to receive President Buhari was the Commander of the Guards Brigade, MajorGeneral Apiti Usman alongside Vice President Osinbajo, Senate President, Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammad; Chief of Defence Staff, General Irabor; service chiefs and Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba.

Govs Seek Peace, Improved Security, to Meet on State of Nation Meanwhile, some governors who spoke at the occasion of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day in their respective states have called for improved security in the country.

Addressing journalists after laying a wreath to commemorate this year’s event in Benin City, Edo State Governor, Obaseki, urged Nigerians not to take the country’s unity, which was achieved on the blood of the nation’s fallen heroes, for granted.

Obaseki promised that the

government would integrate family members of the fallen heroes in the social empowerment schemes being implemented in the state.

“The unity of this country has been achieved on the blood of our fallen heroes and it is not something that we should take for granted or we should joke with. People are still sacrificing in the various arenas and battles in the country today and we shouldn't take it lightly,” he said.

“We are here today to remember the gallant Nigerian soldiers and members of the armed forces who lost their lives in the cause of defending our country. We are here today because people gave up their lives and have done so through the years. We should stop making unguided utterances about the unity of this country.

“People must understand that such careless talks caused the loss of lives and we should not lead ourselves where history will repeat itself in this country.”

On his part, Bayelsa State Governor, Diri, called on politicians to avoid actions that would lead to bloodletting in the 2023 elections.

Diri who made the call at the Peace Park in Yenagoa said the outcome of elections should be determined by the ballot box and not the strength of the gun.

He added that the ultimate power to enthrone leadership lies in the hands of God. The governor recalled the bloodletting that characterised the 2019 governorship campaigns in the Nembe community and cautioned that all political players should vow never to allow the killing of youths in the state because of elections despite their ambitions.

Similarly, Rivers State Governor, Wike has urged Buhari to stop the incessant killing of Nigerians by Boko Haram groups and bandits.

The governor said the president should redouble efforts in fulfilling his cardinal electoral promise of securing the country.

Wike made the call at the venue of the occasion held at the Isaac Adaka Boro Park, Port Harcourt.

He argued that Nigeria is at the crossroads with everyone

weary about the prolonged Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the country.

"We acknowledge that some progress has been made in the fight against the insurgents.

"However, the generality of Nigerians believes that the progress made cannot be good enough in so far as Boko Haram, its affiliates and the bandits are still active in the North-east, North-west and some other parts of the country killing, maiming and kidnapping helpless people, including school children, and destroying and displacing hapless communities.

"We, therefore, call on Mr President to redouble his efforts and fulfil his cardinal electoral promise to secure the country and ensure that Nigerians feel safe and remain safe and secure wherever they are in their own country,” Wike explained.

Also speaking yesterday at this year Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the Cenotaph, Uyo, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State stressed that those things that may heat upon the polity and strain the cords of unity must be avoided.

"We cannot afford another national conflict; we cannot afford to send our youths to fight over issues that could have been addressed peacefully in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust,” he stated.

Also addressing journalists on the occasion held at the Arcade Ground of the Governor's Office, Abeokuta, Ogun State Governor, Abiodun called on Nigerians to continue to ensure oneness and unity of the country, saying only one and the indivisible nation would ensure peace, progress and development.

He also called on the governments and well-meaning Nigerians to see to the welfare of the children and spouses left behind by the heroes who fought for the territorial integrity and unity of the nation.

"This country must remain a one and indivisible country; these are ways we can continue to ensure that the labours of these young men and women are not in vain," he stated.

Masari, who spoke in Katsina, said the relative peace being

enjoyed in the state was as a result of the untiring sacrifice of the Nigerian soldiers towards securing the lives and properties of the citizens in the state.

He further attributed the gradual returns of peace in the state to the dedication, professional competence, and discipline of the troops and other security agencies, whom he said, sacrificed their lives for peace and unity to thrive in the state.

Masari said: "It is also in recognition of these efforts that, I extend my profound appreciation on behalf of the government and people of Katsina State to the Commanders, officers, soldiers and airmen of 17 Brigade, Nigerian Army and 213 Nigerian Air Force Forward Operating Base for their untiring sacrifice towards securing lives and properties of the citizens of Katsina.”

The governor explained that the supreme sacrifice that some of the falling heroes paid towards securing the lives and properties of the citizens will never be forgotten and prayed for their souls to have eternal rest.

Kano State Governor, Ganduje, called on the Armed Forces to rise to the challenges of insecurity in the country and rid the nation of criminals.

He explained that with the regard given to the past heroes, the security operatives in Nigeria should take their responsibility diligently.

"There is no doubt this is a day we should be remembering every year. I congratulate the organisers for organising the event for the last seven days and everything is concluded today.”

The governor explained that "The importance of this day is to remember those who fought the Nigerian civil war to keep Nigeria one.

"There is no doubt we are benefitting from what they did in the past and therefore it is worthwhile to remember them."

Govs Meet on State of the Nation In a related development, two crucial meetings have been slated by the governors this

week. The first meeting is the meeting of the PDP governors expected to take place in Port Harcourt on Monday.

The second meeting is the meeting of all the 36 state governors scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the state of the nation.

Head of Media and Public Affairs of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said in a statement yesterday that the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has invited the 36 governors to a very crucial meeting where pressing national concerns will be discussed.

However, the details of the meeting were not disclosed.

The meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday, January 19, 2022.

The statement disclosed that an invitation issued by the Director-General of the forum, Mr Asishana Bayo Okauru, at the weekend and sent to all the respective governors, said the meeting, which would be the first in 2022 would be an in-person meeting as opposed to the regular virtual ones, to effectively convey the messages of the meeting which are all characterised under item 2 of the agenda titled matters arising.

According to Bello Bankindo, "the meeting which will commence at 8 p.m. will be at the NGF Secretariat in Abuja, where the NGF Chairman will thereafter, accompanied by all the 36 Governors, address a press conference.

Also, another meeting of the governors elected on the platform of the PDP is scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt where the party governors are expected to attend.

The meeting, which is the first in the year, would be attended by the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu and the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.

Atiku Hails Veterans, Says Nigeria Owes Continued on page 16

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EDITORIAL

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

PORTRAIT OF A NATION BESIEGED

The epidemic of violence calls for a review of the nation’s security system and legitimisation of state police

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n the past week, bandits have killed many dozens in Zamfara, raiding several villages in a state that is now almost in the hands of criminal gangs. But more disturbing is that at about the same time that these hoodlums are bombarding the Northwest with series of audacious attacks, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgents are upping the ante in the Northeast where they raided during the week a research institute of the Nigerian Army University named after and located in the village of the former Army Chief, Yusuf Tukur Buratai in Borno State. They ransacked the campus, killed some security men, recorded their atrocities, and posted it on social media. Meanwhile, Nasarawa and Niger States in the Northcentral are also increasingly coming under the grips of bandits who kill and maim innocent villagers at will.

Sadly, at a period most Nigerians are losing faith in the capacity of the state to restore law and order, President Muhammadu Buhari seems to have surrendered to fatalism.

He told the visiting head of the Tijjaniyya Islamic Movement World-Wide, Ali Bin Arabi, on Friday that what the situation required is prayers. “We have done our best and we will continue to do more by pursuing coherent and consistent policies to deal with terrorism. I hope God will listen to our prayers." Yet, the unrelenting assaults by sundry cartels of criminals that have awakened the primordial consciousness of several people in different regions of the country requires more than prayers. We need concrete action from the president.

We have stated on this page on several occasions that the policy put in place to defeat both

It is disturbing that 50 years after the civil war ended, our national political order has reverted to the pre-1966 atmosphere of geoethnic solidarity at the expense of a sense of panNigerian unity

Letters to the Editor

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the insurgency that has lasted more than a decade and the growing capacity of bandits has become ineffective. In the past year, these criminal groups have executed successful attacks, and in the process killed hundreds of civilians as well as military and security personnel. It is disturbing that 50 years after the civil war ended, our national political order has reverted to the pre-1966 atmosphere of geo-ethnic solidarity at the expense of a sense of pan-Nigerian unity.

However, the new trend also underlines the limitation of federally controlled police in securing a large and complex national space.

The long-standing clamour for state police is finding indirect expression in the outbreak and grassroots popularity of some zonal security formations. Although the president has dismissed the clamour for state police, but his premise is tenuous. That governors lord themselves over local government is not enough justification even when there is merit in his submission that “You cannot just give someone guns and ammunition, train him and refuse to pay him, you know what will eventually happen.” hile the Nigeria Police Force is constitutionally charged with the responsibility for internal security, the country has had to resort to the deployment of soldiers to restore law and order in majority of the states. Therefore, it ought to concern the authorities that confidence in the security agencies is declining at a time when public confidence is rapidly shifting to sectional and regional security arrangements. The immediate impulse that informed the birth of these outfits was the spate of killings, kidnappings, robberies and brigandage waged in the states by roving criminals. These unrelenting assaults had awakened the collective consciousness of the people of the region to a primordial sense of group self-preservation. The urgent imperative is for the president to realise that a government that cannot guarantee the security of life and property for citizens and residents in a country has failed.

The spate of violence across the country has prompted several critical stakeholders to call for an urgent review of the national security architecture. In the challenging times that we are in, all options should be on the table, especially as the nation quivers under threats of unknown colouration, with sundry mischief makers prancing forward to contribute whatever they can for reasons of their own. When a government cannot guarantee the security of life and property for citizens and residents in a country, anarchy beckons.

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN DEPUTY EDITORS FESTUS AKANBI, EJIOFOR ALIKE MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

NIGER, PLATEAU AND THE TEETH OF THE BARRACUDA

or Niger and Plateau States, and their beleaguered residents, the Giant of Africa is not doing enough to dissuade the barracudas who voraciously feast almost every week.

A people must now live in fear. In Nigeria`s Home of peace and tourism, terror tours communities day and night while in Nigeria`s Power State, the omnipresent powerlessness that insecurity sows frames the daily reality of residents. The situation has been dire for a while now and the fact that very little has been done to contain it indicts the entire security architecture of the Nigerian state.

In Niger State, bandits cut loose for the umpteenth time on 12th January 2021. In

the gruesome attacks which completely shredded the serenity of two communities – Nakuna and Wurukuchi - 34 persons were killed.

In a jarring demonstration of the audacity of atrocity, all the houses in Nakuna which had a population of about 200 were razed. Food barns were also razed as the criminals searched for vigilantes in what was reportedly a reprisal attack. The hands of some of the victims were also tied to their backs before they were killed.

The ballet of bloodletting soon moved to the besieged Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State where the Ncha community felt the fury of the terrorist non-state actors who at the moment seem to have too much for Nigeria`s

state actors. By the time the last gunshot was heard, 18 people lay dead including a three-month-old baby.

The questions persist and grow more pointed by the day: Who are those devasting communities in Plateau and Niger States and why have they continued to defy the otherwise paralyzing security machine of the Giant of Africa? Shall even three-month-old babies be slaughtered under the otherwise devastating gaze of the Giant of Africa?

Living in Nigeria these days is a real piece of work.

Many states in the Northeast and Northwest are unsafe for business and travel. While Nigerians remain in their homes contemplating a bleak future, criminals break down

doors, kill and abduct as many as they want. They do not also forget to raze houses as they saunter away with their victims. In essence, they scorch the earth and defy the Nigerian state to confront them.

The insecurity in Nigeria is exacerbated by a climate of fear and powerlessness. In the aftermath of the attack in Plateau State, troops of Operation Safe Haven mobilized to the affected community even as the Plateau State Governor Mr. Simon Lalong commiserated with the families of the victims while denouncing the attacks and demanding that the attackers be brought to justice at all costs.

These attacks on communities in Niger, Plateau and other states in Nigeria are not at all random. There is a pattern to them – a method to the madness - and following the pattern, one can

safely predict that already petrified communities will soon enough be visited with more terror. And soon. Unless something is done.

In the face of it all, the response from the Nigerian state has been far less forceful than what it can muster. The lines are very fine indeed but with courts of the land having declared as terrorists many of those who terrorize innocent communities, there is the sense that efforts to rein them in have just not been enough.

This is lamentable. If the firepower that Islamic terrorists and bandits possess is now superior to what the Nigerian state can muster, then let Nigerians know so they will be left in no doubt as to the precarity of their existence.

Until this is done, the limbo will remain a lethal one.

– Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@ gmail.com

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JANUARY 16, 2022

OPINION

TINUBU AND THE MONEY FACTOR

Alhassan Maliki writes that the former Lagos State governor is blessed with infinite ability of making money

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obel Laureate Wole Soyinka cannot be caught in a frivolous moment. He is always grave, and even in a moment of uproarious humour, the professor makes it sublime if others make it ridiculous.

While excoriating the fellow who claimed that the Nobel Laureate was going to campaign for the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he spiced it with humour about the fellow’s inability to distinguish between laureate and laurel, and the internet’s gallows humour in intimating that the same fellow who was planning to barnstorm for Tinubu was actually dead.

But there was another moment over a decade ago when Tinubu just left office when Professor Soyinka paid tribute to Tinubu. He was not joking that time, although he leavened it with his usual joke. It was in reference to the exile days in the tumultuous NADECO era when their lives were in danger and they had to look for ways to fund the onslaught on the illegitimacy of military junta. They would not leave office even after they had stolen a democratic mandate.

Soyinka noted that in those days Tinubu had approached him and wanted the Nobel Laureate to append his signature to a document for him to import rice from Taiwan.

According to the world-famous writer, Tinubu wanted his signature to give credibility to his (Tinubu’s) application to secure the commodity.

Soyinka said he obliged and, when he related the story, he said he wrote Nobel laureate under his signature. He said Nobel laureate with a dramatic and jocular drawl and that drew laughter from the audience. It was a telling revelation not only of the power of money in the fight against tyranny, it also showed how important it was to secure financing for them in the west to fight despotism here at home.

The major name that played this role for the movement was Alfred Rewane. He was slaughtered in cold blood by agents of the military because they knew he was a financial lifeblood of the agitation undermining the Abacha men. They got rid of him.

This underpinned the danger Tinubu had subjected himself to by throwing his entire being into the fight for democracy.

So those who wonder about Tinubu’s capacity to make money need to ponder about a man who had never had public

office other than a short stint as senator. He was able to fund the movement abroad. He, like Soyinka, was a target abroad as the secret forces of the Abacha regime were aware of this financial juggernaut and they hunted him without success both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The rice story shows a thing that was in the genius of the former governor of Lagos. He has a capacity to make money, and he was already a man of means because he was always investing. He is not like many who came to public office to make money. He was already wealthy. When The News magazine was in the throes of the struggle for June 12, he is on record as a financial backing for the fulminating magazine at that time. The editors have borne witness to this in public.

Tinubu also has said in public that he was always investing throughout his working career before he left the corporate world as the third in rank in Mobil. His story in Mobil also attests to his flair to turn financial adversity into prosperity when the international oil giant asked him to sort out the answer to its travail. These are all on record.

He also was able to set up a suite of petrol stations in the country from his capacity to make money. One of The News editors, Babafemi Ojudu, who now works as adviser in the office of the vice president, said at one of Tinubu’s birthdays that when people talked about NADECO abroad it was basically about Tinubu who mobilised his resources to keep the hope alive and ideological fire burning.

So, rather the quibble over how he is a wealthy man today, they should go back to his time before he became the topic of power play. They should have asked how he was able to fight for the de-

The rice story shows a thing that was in the genius of the former governor of Lagos. He has a capacity to make money, and he was already a man of means because he was always investing. He is not like many who came to public office to make money. He was already wealthy

mocracy some people are bastardising today. They should ask who played what role he played and how was it financed. He was not only a financial hero, he was also a fighter of courage.

It is just mischief when people only decide to select aspects of person’s life story and do not place them in context. Wealth draws envy and praise, but everyone covets wealth. Some fight against the rich when they cannot wield the power he exercises.

The bias turns into hate, and smear campaign. It comes with the territory. But most persons tend to be discerning and can cut through the malice.

When the EFCC fought with Tinubu when he was Lagos State governor, it was because Malam Nuhu Ribadu had not done his investigation. He referred to the ECONET investment in which some governors were under investigation. Malam Ribadu had threatened to clobber the governor of Lagos. But he was only rash. At the end of the day, he himself discovered that while other governors had put their hands in the cookie jar, the Lagos State governor had ballooned the coffers of the coastal state by cashing out for the state government a whopping N20 billion. The initial investment was less than four billion Naira.

What a pay day!

Rather than think of how to make this man a leader to help boost our fortunes, some are only out to play mischief.

Was it not that acumen that helped turn Lagos into the beacon of financial management across the country? When he took over as Lagos State governor, the internally generated revenue was less than a billion a month. The state could not pay salaries.

The wage bill was not the only problem. There were ghosts in the pay roll. He rode the storm of labour who did not want him to clear the roll of ghosts. When he completed the audit, the state started to ask those whose name were on the pay roll to come take their salaries. Ghosts did not turn into humans.

It was gradually he made the State into a big financial centre.

By the time he left office, the IGR had risen from less than a billion Naira to about N10 billion a month.

His successors have used his template, rising to many multiples of ten billion today. We should be sanguine like a Soyinka who appreciated a genius, he being one himself. t .BMJLJ B DPNQVUFS BOBMZTU XSPUF GSPN ;BSJB

RE: THE STAYING POWER OF MRS. JONATHAN Chidi Amuta's piece on the Jonathans is simplistic and unfortunate, argues Louis Achi

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emocracy would lose its defining egalitarianism if it foreclosed the free expression of viewpoints by its adherents - including often unreasoned perspectives by forces that seek to diminish and divide. Against this backdrop, public communicators who through discipline and intellectual honesty have achieved that delicate, firm balance between viewpoints that enlighten and lift society and contrived commentary that distorts, diminishes and stunts, should be appreciated.

Last week, in his respected weekly column ENGAGEMENTS, in THISDAY, Dr. Chidi Amuta turned his focus on former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan in an essay titled, “The Staying Power of Mrs. Jonathan.” Deploying his customary power of language and inimitable Tennyson-like imageries, Dr. Amuta, with unusual subliminal ruthlessness, put the former president and his spouse to the sword. If there was some afterthought of taking prisoners in this particular decapitating literary excursion, Amuta betrayed none.

A master of speech writing himself, Amuta wrote off Jonathan’s speeches while in office: “His speeches read more like apprentice campus seminar papers than lofty presidential pronouncements,” suggesting, “The consensus is that he had neither an agenda of power nor a mission in office.”

More like rhapsodizing over what he felt were the former president’s limitations, Amuta saw Jonathan as “A man who hardly found shoes to wear till rather suddenly found himself struggling to fit into the oversized shoes of Africa’s most powerful presidency.”

Further, according to the well-known academic and public communications guru, “Very few Nigerians remember any quotable utterances by former President Goodluck Jonathan.” Haba! Even Amuta’s existential situation could not have been the same under Jonathan the target - and currently.

Perhaps saving the unkindest cut for the former First Lady, Amuta dismissed her as unschooled in elegance and lacking cultural sophistication. Hear him: “But to the elite, she (Mrs. Jonathan) was a demeaning departure from the common run of schooled elegance and cultural sophistication.”

In what Amuta may have felt was a humorous ‘Nollywoodisation’ of the former First Lady’s tenancy of Aso Rock, he shredded her carriage, off-the-cuff speeches, street appeal, “unvarnished and unwashed witticism,” needlessly contrasting her style with the “delectable glamour of a Mrs. Aisha Buhari.”

Like a good sniper schooled in the deadly art of delivering sudden death, Amuta struck the former first spouses with high-calibre literary-political bullets meant to end a perceived new journey.

Unlike a skulking sniper who shoots from hiding, Amuta shot from the open space and a top-draw platform. But at a fundamental level, this puzzling hockery-pokery project is not suited to vintage Amuta, an idealistic academic of the Marxist bent fired by altruism - who has considerably positively impacted his milieu.

For many who may not know, Dr. Amuta is a foremost Nigerian journalist, author, internationally acclaimed intellectual and public communicator and former senior lecturer in literature and communications at the Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Port Harcourt. He was also visiting Fellow, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Boston, USA. A founding Editorial Board member of The Guardian, Group Editorial Adviser and Chairman Editorial Board of the Daily Times, Amuta is currently member of the Editorial Board of THISDAY. The depth and sweep of his contributions to social ferment bespeak the eloquence of old school restraint, commitment and panache. Unfortunately, these ingredients that define professionalism, for some reasons, are largely missing in current journalistic discourse. Has Amuta lost his chutzpah? Not many would contemplate this. Then what gives?

At a critical juncture in the convoluted socio-political evolution of the Nigerian state, what should be the focus of the nation’s intellectual class? Amidst contrived chaos, economic nightmare, unending bloodletting, human misery and extreme governance deficits that continue to define Nigeria’s democracy, many are wont to lose faith in the polity. This may be understandable. But history shows that mere loss of faith, a pathway to surrender is taking the easy course.

The path of courage is to interrogate the policies, concepts, leadership vision or visionlessness and socio-political triggers that generate regression using reasoned, temperate logic and candour. Next is to offer alternative vision of sustainable strategies to resolve extant human development and socio-economic challenges. This is the path Amuta should have kept to.

Contemptuously thrashing a former First Lady and her spouse and comparing her with the “delectable glamour of a Mrs. Aisha Buhari,” does not represent the best of Amuta or validate his hard-earned reputation. According to Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, incidentally, a former US First Lady, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan certainly believed and believes in the beauty of her dreams. She brought an earthy, folksy charm and total lack of affectation to her ‘tour of duty’.

This scenario throws up legitimate posers. In crafting his last

week’s column or better still - blitzkrieg - what was Amuta’s motive? Could it have been the Biblical voice of Jacob and hand of Esau scenario?

Amuta himself perhaps unwittingly supplies the smoking gun. Hear him: “A return to Goodluck Jonathan beyond the ritual of professional peace missionary or envoy of the incumbent president does not look like an object of much interest. It is a dream path littered with fields of mines and shrapnel.” Whether as a warning or free advisory, this adroitly veiled allegation essentially suggests that Dr. Jonathan is contemplating a return to active politics ahead of 2023 and some interested parties are already using some powerful pens to demonise him!

In the face of the trending narratives that former President Jonathan may succumb to the alleged courtship of the ruling Northern political intelligentsia to fly their party’s presidential ticket in 2023, several political calculations are being spawned.

Perhaps more potently, this scenario is understandably generating some fear in several political quarters.

At the time of this response, Jonathan, a scientist who has morphed into a respected national and international statesman has not given an indication of whether he will bite the alleged Northern bait. He has even formally debunked such course. But this has not calmed the jitters - understandably.

From Jonathan’s South-South region, several powerful Turks are eyeing the presidency and a successful enlistment of Jonathan, who would be constitutionally limited to a single four-year term, by the North, would effectively destroy such ambitions. Ditto for the South-East and South-West!

In the literary turf, Amuta has taken on bards of kindred plumage. He is the author of “Towards a Sociology of the African Novel” (1986) and “The Theory of African Literature” (1989). He used these works to adroitly take on intellectuals like Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie, Ihechukwu Madubuike, Charles Nnolim, Sunday Anozie and Wole Soyinka. Like a great boxer, a great writer should not have a glass jaw or he could be knocked out easily in the fray. But boxing in the political fray comes with collateral dangers - especially if it is anchored on jejune instead of genuine conviction.

After all, according to Dennis Brutus the South African protest poet, “Writers must not live a lie.”

"DIJ JT BO "CVKB CBTFE KPVSOBMJTU

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JANUARY 16, 2022

15

LETTERS

AVERTING ANOTHER LOOMING OPIOID CRISIS

I

magine a freshman college student, seated in his dormitory room.

Frozen, with sweat dripping and pouring down his body, his heart is racing with pinpoint pupils.

He is wondering if it is the effects of tramadol he had taken some minutes ago, or the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed at the fraternity party the night before. Or is it the Benylin syrup that contains codeine he took alongside the tramadol? Perhaps it is the cumulative effect of all these substances kicking in at the same time. At the center of all this uncertainty, one thing is clear: for years, he had fallen out with his family, dropped out of several classes since college started, cut ties with almost everyone he knew, overdosed on substance and lied continuously about being clean.

A few days ago, when

I read about the arrest of a certain skitmaker, De General by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for possession of bounteous amounts of tramadol and marijuana, and the furor that followed on social media, my mind was cast back to 2016 when I was in Nigeria on vacation. I walked into a pharmacy to purchase whey protein powder, when a construction worker also walked in asking for cough syrup with codeine without a prescription from a physician. Moments later, I saw a middle-aged woman walk into the same pharmacy and bought an intrauterine device (IUD). Just like that? I had innumerable thoughts on how easy it was to access just any medication in Nigerian pharmacies without a written or electronic prescription from a healthcare provider.

Today, Nigeria might be tilting towards a crippling and disastrous

opioid epidemic; one that has risen in the past where some young persons were battling with the struggle to wean themselves off marijuana and locally brewed methanol and ethanol to others involved in hard labor using codeine in the form of cough syrups and tramadol; a synthetic opioid and family member of other powerful prescription analgesics like morphine, fentanyl and oxycodone. The imaginary college freshman

earlier mentioned is one out of millions of Nigerians who is addicted to opioids.

This catastrophic epidemic was propelled by the easy and ready availability of these substances. On one hand, it was an international policy gap where manufacturers in Asia produce the drugs in unregulated quantities and it is imported to Nigeria from there. On the other hand it was and still is a local gap where everybody can walk into pharmacies and get whatever medication they want without necessarily having a clinician’s written prescription.

Circa 2018, while the Nigerian senate headed by Dr.Bukola Saraki, a physician himself, seemed to have come up with a quick-fix by announcing a ban on the production and importation of cough syrups containing codeine, this was bittersweet as there were people who genuinely needed the medication to improve their quality of life, but had to

ORTOM: RE-BONDING BENUE STATE MEDICAL STUDENTS

F

or a Benuephile bloke like me (do I have a choice here?

My mother and siblings are interred at Ipollo-Ugboju of the Otukpo local government administrative district), I have been sticking my neck out and hollering about the “ranch” thing ever since I penned a short opinion piece titled “The Fulani Menace” and sent this out to media houses, to the then senator representing my Benue South Senatorial District, who as President of the Senate should confirm from his archives that this is so, to Gov. Samuel Ortom’s predecessor, to the then Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, to the federal House of Representatives members from Benue State, to the Benue State delegation to the 2014 National Conference, and to sundry other outlets.

On whose original arguments was the then federal government of Goodluck Jonathan convinced to make funds available for a national cattle ranching scheme? Blowing any trumpet here? Non, je ne regret rien. I’d rather blow a trombone! Funds were released for a worthy idea and cause, why not consult with those from whose intellectual banks these ideas emanated? A few years down the line, “fund-receivers” are getting flaks from the Arewa Establishment and the EFCC, and hapless Tiv farmers are getting slaughtered in Nasarawa State for “killing cows.” How could “billionaire” ex-governors sleep easy in the midst of all this tribulation and adversity? What’s the use of all these “billions” if wayward Fulani killer gangs have fixed gunsights at the back of your head because you are “Tiv man?” If you feel you are secured as a Tiv ex-governor because you are sequestered in Abuja, the Arewaphile EFCC will harangue you until you give up a good

chunk of those “billions.”

(In all fairness, I should have been consulted on the cattle ranching scheme needed to quench the conflagration of the early episodes of the wrongly-designated “farmersheaders clash” for which my Benue folks were taking a beating when President Goodluck Jonathan approved the N200billion fund to immediately seek ways to stem this “farmers-headers clash” fireball. Ex-governor Gabriel Suswam wouldn’t deny my correspondences on the “cattle ranch” thing to his office, as I am sure ex-President of the Senate, David Mark, will corroborate that this was indeed so. Like I pointed out earlier, whilst helping myself to a line from Edith Piaf’s repertoire, I still hold that, “Non, je ne regret rien.” I was not just going to let the idea of a national cattle ranching project die off in ignominy when this APC government took over in 2015.

Circa 2019, I had prepared a full-bodied proposal document for a segmented national cattle ranching project, a win-win proposition to fix this “farmers-headers clash” and I contacted the business development arm of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the ABU Zaria Consult, to help “market” this idea at the federal level. Why chose the ABU Zaria Consult when I had just recently collaborated with my university’s consultancy outfit, the FUTMIN Ventures, in 2014 to do a novel ozone level pollution study at the major traffic stalling points of the Federal Capital City at Abuja for a contract sum of N50million? The ABU Zaria Consult appealed to me for a most sensible and practical reason. I had no doubt, by 2019, that the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was the “intellectual powerhouse” of this Muhammadu Buhari’s APC government whilst the Daily Trust media house was the “political-influence

machine” of the government, thus by routing my proposal through the ABU Zaria Consult, I’d hoped to be able to argue strongly that the ideas of my proposal needed to be the green light for implementation. After all, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the Daily Trust media house were still stuck in the “farmers-headers clash” point-of-view. I couldn’t pursue the ABU Zaria Consult “thing” any more when Northern Nigeria’s “security turd hit a swirling fan” with highway kidnapping incidents and all. Who wants to fall into the hands of Fulani kidnappers whilst the victim clutched contract-proposal documents that advocate for building sedentary ranching bases for these killer hordes?)

All this while, I’d assumed Gov. Samuel Ortom was having a raw deal at the hands of the Arewaphile, pro-Fulani federal government and he has been getting my sympathies. But Ayuba Wabba of the NLC just indicted Mr. Ortom and this national labour boss mentioned he’d given imprimatur for workers’ strike to “shut Benue down” or some sabre-rattling in that line. Again, we sense the “patapata public-opinion influence” of Professor Farooq Kperogi spurring a recalcitrant and an unwilling pampered Moggy on to spurt what sounded like barks for once in a very long while. I am dismayed that Gov. Ortom has allowed himself to be at the receiving end of the reluctant thrust of Ayuba Wabba’s spear; this could hurt, just so Mr. Wabba wants to make a point and get into Farooq’s “good books.”

The story out of Benue State by concerned stakeholders of that state is that, by annulling the monthly stipend-allowance that medical students enjoyed under ex-governor Gabriel Suswam, Mr. Ortom has inadvertently made it easy for medical graduates

of Benue State extraction to think “migration” to the West rather than stay back for the mandatory two-yearperiod of bond that their monthly stipends will have translated to. Gov. Ortom should know how wretched Benue State is in almost every human-development index other than the open-defecation practice. Thus, incentivising the “tarry-a-while” desirable for Benue State will go a long way to improve rural healthcare delivery, especially. I am saying this before I know a thing or two about the poverty of rural Benue State and I have been fantasising that I’d help my daughter build a rural clinic for quick-fix multipurpose life-threatening surgical needs when she graduates from the BSU post-ASUU strike to compel the federal government to implement our long-overdue salary structure.

I also have a “Plan B Fantasy,” which is, my ex-classmate and ex-roommate at the university, Peter Atselefun, over there at the state of New Jersey stateside should “keep my pikin for mind when she don graduate because she go need sound visa-application recommendations to come US.” Now, since my daughter is not “bonded” at the BSU by the Benue State government, the Plan B, not as a fantasy, appeals to me more. But this should not be so. I care for my rural folks, many of whom will be relieved to have massed-operation low-cost hernia surgeries performed on them for a mere token or not a dime at all for my hope is they’d be NGOs to help my daughter do some good for her people. More than ever before at this moment, Gov. Ortom has a duty to put his critics, the Lauretta Onochies and Garba Shehus, to shame by doing the “needful.”

– Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

suffer because another set of individuals had misused and abused it.

Today as unrestricted access to medications is still a popular fashion in Nigeria, some solutions around this problem come to mind. The first call for a bold public health strategy being a primary intervention, with the main aim of preventing drug abuse from occurring. This involves making sure that there are better policies regulating unrestricted access to controlled medications from pharmacies.

Such an intervention stands for the greater good of public health. Furthermore, efforts aimed at protecting an individual from becoming exposed and vulnerable to drug use should be

embraced. Activities at this level include reduction of environmental stressors and building people’s abilities to cope with life events that may make them particularly susceptible to opioid abuse.

If such interventions record success coupled with functioning rehabilitation services, people like the freshman college student can regain their lives and well-being and become optimally productive once again. A looming opioid crisis can finally be nipped in the bud in Africa’s most populous nation.

– Olawale Adeyemi, a physician and public health expert, Columbia University, New York

POLICE AND WITCHBLOODLETTING IN EBONYI

T

he case of Oke-

chukwu Nweke, accused of harmful magic and tortured to death in Ezza North in Ebonyi State, has once again demonstrated the incompetence and lack of diligence in the Nigeria police force. This sordid reality is once again manifesting itself. Mr. Nweke was last seen on August 28, 2021.

On this day, a lynch mob abducted him, dragged him to the village square where he was severely beaten. Nweke's was later thrown into the Akadoro river. His body has yet to be recovered. His alleged murderers went through his phone and transferred five million naira. The case was reported to the state police command in Abakiliki and a police investigative officer (IPO) was assigned to handle the matter. Unfortunately, almost six months since the alleged killing and disappearance of this young man, nothing has come out of the investigation. It has been one excuse after another. A source in Abakiliki told the Advocacy for Alleged Witches, that Nweke's family members 'mobilized' the police to go and carry out an arrest of the suspects.

But the police were unable to arrest the suspects.

The IPO claimed that the road that led to the village, Inyere, was impassable. So he, along with his team, had to turn back and return to their station in Abakiliki.

However, some locals who know the Inyere community very well said that this was not the case; that the police officers made this claim to kill the matter. Some community leaders were among the suspects and must have bribed the IPO and the police command in Abakiliki.

AfAW contacted the commissioner of police who pledged to look into the matter. After meeting with the CP, the IPO sent letters inviting the suspects for questioning, which was in December last year. The

IPO sent the letter through Mrs. Rose Nwankwo, who is the coordinator, Imoha Development Center, Ezza North. She is also from Inyere community and is also aware of the case of Mr. Nweke. Incidentally, none of the suspects has reported at the police station. Local sources have confirmed that the suspects received the letters because some of them had called relatives of Mr. Nweke asking to know who included their names in the list of suspects.

Some of the suspects and their allies have invited Nweke's relatives to the village for a meeting. But the relatives have declined to attend any meeting. At the moment, no measure is being taken to facilitate the arrest of these suspects.

There is no movement on the investigation of the alleged murder and disappearance of Mr. Nweke.

As in other cases of witch bloodletting, if the police refused to take further action, the matter would fizzle out. The alleged murder and disappearance of Nweke would not be accounted for.

The torture of Mr. Nweke did not happen in some dark corner in Ezza North.

It happened in the open, in the public, and was captured in a photo.

The state, zonal, and federal police commands should understand that they must ensure that the suspected killers of Mr. Nweke are arrested, investigated, and eventually prosecuted. The police should not allow the matter to die. They should stop giving flimsy excuses for delaying and compromising the investigation of this case.

The family of Mr. Nweke needs justice. They want to know what happened to their son and brother since he was last seen in August last year. They need answers and closure to many questions: Is he still alive? Is he dead? If he is dead, what killed him? Who killed him?

When? Where and how?

Police in Ebonyi, please do your duty!

– Leo Igwe, nskepticleo@yahoo.com

16

͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

NEWS

CONDOLENCE VISIT… National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu (left), and Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, during Tinubu's condolence visit to the governor over the death of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Olubadan of Ibadan and Soun of Ogbomoso at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan…yesterday

Finally, Ibadan Kingmakers Okay Balogun as Next Olubadan Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The controversy trailing the nomination of the next Olubadan of Ibadanland in the last two weeks was yesterday resolved after a closed-door meeting between the Olubadanin-Council and the Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde.

The meeting summoned by the governor over issue of the next Olubadan of Ibadan, was held at the State Government House, Agodi, Ibadan.

That tongues had been wagging as to who would succeed the late Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, who joined his ancestors on Sunday, January 2 at the age of 93.

The traditional ruler died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, during an illness.

Oba Adetunji died few weeks after the Soun of Ogbomoso and Asigangan of Igangan joined their ancestors.

The late Oba Adetunji, who was the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, ascended the throne of his forefathers on March 4, 2016.

Briefing journalists after the meeting presided over by the governor, the Osi Olubadan of Ibadan, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, who spoke on behalf of the council, said the perceived controversy surrounding ascension to the Olubadan stool had been amicably resolved.

“The governor has been magnanimous to have called this meeting because those of us that said we were not going to meet at all finally met and we have resolved all the matters.

“I can tell you that by next week there wouldn’t be any tension Ibadan again,” Ladoja, also a former Governor of Oyo State, said.

On the resolution of the meeting, Ladoja said the parties had resolved on how

PRESIDENT, OTHERS LAY WREATHS TO HONOUR FALLEN HEROES Them Debt of Gratitude As the nation commemorates this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said Nigeria's military veterans cannot be repaid for their supreme sacrifices, adding that their welfare should be treated as a priority by any government.

He said that laying down one's life in the defence of your country and fellow citizens is the highest sacrifice for the sake of patriotism.

“Soldiers lose life and limb in the course of serving their country," adding that "Nigeria owes them a debt of eternal gratitude for their immeasurable sacrifices."

The former vice president advised the people in government to always give priority to the payment of the pensions and other entitlements of our military veterans as at when due.

Saraki Tasks Next Administration on Insecurity In his solidarity message on the occasion, former President of the Senate, Saraki, stated that Nigeria’s next government

must revisit all reports of the various security summits and other such recommendations and harmonise them to quickly end the security crisis across the country.

Head of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu, quoted Saraki as saying in a statement yesterday that the implementation of the recommendations requires strong political will and transparency to ensure immediate success.

Saraki also commended the courage and patriotism of the members of the various security agencies who have continued to fight against enemies of the country within and outside while also seeking better motivation for them and their families while they are in service and after retirement.

“We already have enough recommendations from the various summits, dialogues, and special sessions on security organised by the executive, legislature, nongovernmental organisations, and development partners.

All a new government should do is harness the recommendations and demonstrate the strong will, determination, and urgency in translating them into operation,” Saraki said.

our collective peace and safety.

Nigeria Security Challenges Daunting, Says APC Meanwhile, the ruling APC has admitted that the country's security challenges are daunting, but promised that the Buhari’s administration would soon overcome the challenges.

The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John Akpanudoedehe stated this in a statement issued yesterday to commemorate 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day He commended the military for the focus, zeal and dedication displayed toward performing their constitutional roles.

"Our security challenges may seem daunting, but we assure Nigerians that the President Muhammadu Buhari government will overcome the prevailing insecurity situation soon," he said.

He said undoubtedly, Nigeria's Armed Forces have transformed to one of the most professional, dedicated and battle-ready outfits in the world, fighting terrorism and emerging crimes that threaten

PDP Demands More Attention to Welfare of Soldiers, Families On its part, PDP saluted members of the Armed Forces for their courage, loyalty, sacrifice and resilience in defending our dear nation, particularly in the face of resurged insecurity in the last six years.

The party said in a statement its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, acknowledged the bravery and patriotism of the gallant soldiers in the frontlines, who despite the daunting challenges, daily put their lives on the line, with many paying the supreme price for the unity and security of the country.

The PDP also demanded that the government takes steps to provide the military with adequate equipment as well as improve on the welfare of the troops to ensure effectiveness in their duty to the nation.

It said, "Our Party urges the government to ensure the wellbeing of the families of our fallen heroes who gave their lives for our nation. Their families and loved ones should not be allowed to continue to suffer."

to settle the pending cases in court.

He said none of the council members argued that the Otun Olubadan, Senator Lekan Balogun “is not the next Olubadan. All of us agreed on that one because that’s our hierarchy.

“I can tell you that Olubadan-in-Council is one and all is well; we are happy that the matter has been resolved and we are grateful to Governor Seyi Makinde.

On when to expect the announcement of next Olubadan, Ladoja said: “We have our procedure, now that everything has been resolved, the council will meet and present the candidate to the governor for assent.

“We thank all Ibadan indigenes and lovers of Ibadan

for their concerned.”

According to a statement issued by Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr.Taiwo Adisa, the meeting had in attendance the Otun Olubadan of Ibadan land, High Chief Lekan Balogun; Balogun of Ibadanland, High Chief Owolabi Olakuleyin; Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Rasidi Ladoja; Ashipa Olubadan of Ibadanland, Chief Eddy Oyewole; Ekerin Olubadan of Ibadanland, Chief Abiodun Kola Daisi; Ekarun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Chief Amidu Ajibade; Otun Balogun, Chief Tajudeen Ajibola; Osi Balogun of Ibadanland, Chief Lateef Gbadamosi Adebimpe; Ashipa Balogun, Chief Adewole Adegbola; and the Ekarun Balogun, Chief Dauda Azeez Agagugu.

MY MEETING WITH TINUBU NOT ABOUT PRESIDENCY, FAYEMI CLARIFIES We say thank you.

“Let me also use this opportunity to wish you well in your political quest to govern this nation. We want the best for this country and only the best is good enough at this particular time.”

The statement quoted Tinubu as saying that the reign of the two prominent traditional rulers was peaceful, adding that the duo contributed to the peaceful atmosphere of the state.

Tinubu was also quoted as stating that the late Governor Alao-Akala equally contributed immensely to the political development and the love radiating within the political arena in the state.

“I want to thank you, the governor. It was only last night that I thought of my coming here and we are here today.

Having lost a former governor of this state, the Olubadan of Ibadanland and Soun of Ogbomoso, it is just for us to

go back to the sense of value of people and their lives “With this situation, we share in your loss. You, as the governor on the saddle of power, take responsibility for the situation here. I want to say that we thank God Ibadan has been peaceful and not a den of violence but peaceful.

“Every other thing that has happened has taught us in the book of religion that we are just passing through and we will leave one day. But no matter how long, it is difficult to absorb the loss easily.

“Thank you for being accommodating. We gave you a short hour’s notice and you responded.

“That is a demonstration of a good character, which is rare. People get, sometimes, intoxicated with power and the arrogance of office can be overwhelming, but not with you. Thank you for receiving us so quickly.”

17

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

BUSINESS Again, Stamp Duty Act Amendment Ruffles Feathers

Editor: Festus Akanbi

08038588469 Email:festus.akanbi@thisdaylive.com

As criticisms begin to surface over several amendments to the Stamp Duty Act, as contained in the recently signed Finance Act 2020, analysts call for an amicable resolution of all the disputes as the current administration battles to restore conÀdence within the remaining few months it has to hand power over to a new government, writes Festus Akanbi

F

rom all indications, 2022 promises to be full of drama as the three tiers of government struggle to solidify their Ànancial positions in the wake of rising bills and lean resources.

On its part, the federal government, faced with a long list of activities that must be carried out before the 2023 general election, rolled out the Finance Act 2020, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Harvest of Amendments The Finance Act 2020 amends some important provisions of a few federal tax laws such as the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA), the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA), the Value-Added Tax VAT) Act, the Capital-Gains Tax Act (CGTA), Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act, Customs and (xcise TariͿ (Consolidation) Act, Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act, Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, Fiscal Responsibility Act, Public Procurement Act, the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act, Oil and the Gas Export Processing Free Zone Act and the Stamp Duty Act. The government’s spokespersons argued that one of the policy objectives of the Finance Act 2020 is to introduce counter-cyclical Àscal measures and policies aimed at counteracting the unpredictable impact of economic cycles.

An example of such measures includes the increase of expenditure or cutting of taxes to help stimulate economic recovery during a recession. Other policy objectives include the

funding of COVID- responses and Ànancial e΀ciencies on the part of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the leveraging of modern digital technologies to achieve Àscal and economic e΀ciency.

Stamp Duty Act Amendment As Nigerians continued to study the new Finance Act, one aspect that is already ru΁ing feathers is that of the Stamp Duty Act. The Finance Act 2019 (“the FA 2019”), particularly section 52, expanded the scope of the SDA to capture electronic transactions. The FA 2019 (in section 54 which amended section 89 of the SDA) also expressly introduced stamp duties on bank deposits and transfers. This has been replaced by an Electronic Money Transfer Levy (‘EMTL”) now contained in a new section 89A of the SDA (amended by section 48 of the Finance Act, 2020 (‘the FA 2020”).

The Act, amongst other things, imposes stamp duties on written or electronic instruments (agreements, contracts, receipts etc.).

Under the Act, stamp duties may be levied either at an ad valorem or Áat rate depending on the type or nature of the instrument. (Ad valorem is a Latin phrase that translates to “according to the value.”

The essential characteristic of ad valorem tax is that it is proportional to the value of the underlying asset, unlike a speciÀc tax, where the tax amount remains constant, irrespective of the underlying asset’s value.)

As a result, deposit money banks and other Ànancial institutions receiving cash deposits of N10,000 and above are required to charge a one-oͿ N50 levy. The levy is to

be accounted for by the person to whom the transfer or deposit is made.

THISDAY checks showed that the protest, which started in a hushed tone among o΀cials of various states government snowballed into what analysts described as a proxy war last week, when a tax consultant, Mr Uzoma Ubani wrote the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, faulting the 2021 Finance Act, which empowers the Minister of Finance to collect and administer Stamp Duties in the country.

The Controversies In his letter, Ubani argued that the provisions of Section 27 of the Finance Act, 2021, was aimed at or targeted at stamp duties accruable to the diͿerent states of the federation under Section 4 (2) of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended by Section 53 (b) of the Finance Act, 2019, and was therefore void to the extent that it purports to take over the administration and collection of stamp duties and EMTL under Section 4 (2) of the said Stamp Duties Act, in total disregard to the separation of powers enshrined in Section 4 of the SDA, and contrary to the provisions of Section 163 of the Constitution of the FRN, 1999, as amended.

Ubani argued further that even if the FIRS were to be the only competent authority to collect stamp duties and EMTL paid through the banks’ platform, such duties/levies collected are “not by law”, to be paid into the Federation Account as clearly stated in paragraph 7 of the said FIRS Press Release on Stamp Duties collections and remittances in Nigeria.

He submitted that all FIRS could do, according to the law, was toreturn net proceeds of such collection to the states of “derivation” after deduction of administration costs, as Àxed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, as amended, and the recent Senate resolution.

According to him, it appears that the solution and the only way out in the circumstance is for Deposit Money Banks and Financial Institutions to start forthwith, to remit stamp duties and EMTL collected from instruments initiated and executed or transactions initiated and carried out between persons or individuals under Section 4 (2) of the Stamp Duties Act, directly to the states of the federation in line with the Law and the arrears distributed according to derivation to each of the diͿerent states of the federation.

His position was corroborated by frontline tax consultant and Partner, Fiscal Policy and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Mr Taiwo Oyedele who insisted that all revenue from stamp duties belongs to states.

In an interview with our correspondent, the foremost tax consultant said, “Based on the clear and unambiguous provisions of theConstitution, all revenue from stamp duties in any shape or form belong to the states. The only amount that may be legally retained by the federal government, where the tax is collected at the centre, is the cost of collection. Anything above this is depriving the states of their revenue, plain and simple”.

A Long-drawn Battle The tax war between the federal government and some states took a twist sometime last year when the 36 states of the federation, through their Attorneys-General, dragged the federal government to the Supreme Court over alleged failure to remit funds generated from stamp duties into state accounts.

The states are contending that they are legally vested with the authority to administer and collect stamp duties on all transactions involving individuals and persons within their territories, and not the federal government.

SpeciÀcally, they are urging the apex court to determine; “Whether having regard to the provisions of Section 4(2) of the Stamp Duties Act Cap. S8 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria read in conjunction with the provisions of Section 163, items 58 and 59 of the Second Schedule part I and items 7 (a) and (b) of the second Schedule part II and other provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the defendant (the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami) could claim, retain, distribute or in any other manner deal with the monies or sums collected as stamp duties on person transactions within the respective states of the plaintiͿs without reference to, the concurrence of, input or agreement of the plaintiͿs" “Whether having regard to the mandatory provisions of Section 4(2) of the Stamp Duties Act Cap. S8 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), the plaintiͿs (all the state attorneys) are not the sole authority to administer and collect stamp duties on all transactions involving individuals/persons within their respective states" “To ascertain whether or not states are entitled to 85% of all stamp duties collected on electronic money transfer levy, on electronicreceipts or electronic transfer for money deposited in deposit money banks and Ànancial institutions, on any type of account to be accounted for and expressed to be received by the person to whom the transfer or deposit is made in the plaintiͿs’ respective states.”

As the new front of the taxation battle raged last year, an economist and former DirectorGeneral of LCCI, Dr Muda Yusuf, had said: “All arms and levels of government have a responsibility to uphold the constitution.

This is what they have all sworn to do.

“If the position of the constitution is that stamp duty should be remitted to the federation account, then so be it. Doing otherwise would amount to illegality.

“It is interesting that the sub nationals are getting bolder and more assertive. We are beginning to see some Áavour of federalism in governance. It is a good development.”

Economic aͿairs commentators that share Yusuf’s view said Nigerians should expect more disagreement over the distribution of income generated from various taxes and levies in the year.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

18

MARITIME found out the things that could have been done in the past, almost 10 years ago, to address the inadequacies of these ports and made them able to receive the cargoes that are all directed to Lagos.

“It is, therefore, important to address the issue from these viewpoints. What is not in doubt is that the gridlock in Apapa has adversely affected businesses. As usual some Nigerians have turned it into an illicit cash-cow, where all sorts of evils are perpetrated.

“These people have now turned themselves into cartel that are now protecting their ‘interests’ and ensuring that no solution proͿered solves the problem.

“The users of the port have struggled with many problems directly associated with the gridlock. From the high cost of doing business connected with corruption inherent in the system at the port and its immediate environment to the value time lost eͿorts of vehicles to manoveur the tra΀c.”

Lagos seaport

Ports of Pains, Delays and Costs As another year dawns, stakeholders in the Nigerian economy share their experience doing business in Nigerian ports in 2021, writes Dike Onwuamaeze

C

osts of doing business in Nigerian ports has become a painful experience for exporters, importers and clearing agents. Port users always have one tale of woe or more because of the delays and excessive charges they experience in the course of clearing their cargoes. Those in the pharmaceutical industrial sub-sector, who are involved in the importation of sensitive raw materials and Ànished products often discover to their own chagrin that the condition of goods might have been compromised due to temperature excursions.

Last week, the Chairman of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN), Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi, told THISDAY that what port users encountered at the port is like an equivalent of a war experience.

Adeniyi identiÀed the di΀culty at taken goods out of the port as one the major impediments to industrialisation in the country. “We call on the government to do everything possible to remove all of these impediments aͿecting ability do business in this country, like the issue around our ports. Even when you struggle to bring in materials, it is war at the port to get it out. The NCS is always like never wishing us to clear our goods at the time meant for it.”

Speaking in the same vein, the Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir, harped on the provision of adequate port facilities and removal of tra΀c gridlock around the ports.

Ajayi-Kadir noted that the poor state of Tin Can and Apapa Ports’ facilities in Lagos State and the menace of tra΀c gridlock in that axis constitute major impediments to manufacturing activities and trade facilitation and remained enormous cost in time and money for import and export.

He urged government to take immediate steps to remove this menace and suggested that representatives of the OPSN be included in the constitution of the members of the Taskforce on the Lagos Ports. “There should be a structured platform where stakeholders (public and private sectors) will be able to as-

sess the level of implementation, demand full compliance, provide vital information and evidence on the direct impact of this initiative. Clearly, this will engender more creativity in proferring solutions and ensure the buy-in of all major stakeholders,” AjayiKadir told THISDAY. The Chief Executive O΀cer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, stated recently that there is an urgent need to ease the cargo clearing processes at the country’s ports, which, he identiÀed, as a major component of ease of doing business that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has expressed commitment.

Yusuf suggested the reduction of the number of agencies involved in cargo clearing at our ports and the need to deploy technology to aid the customs clearing process, especially the use of scanner that is particularly very important.

He noted that “it is a sad commentary that the largest economy in Africa has been examining cargo and containers physically and manually for the past few years. The eͿect of this on the cost of import has been humongous. The interest payment on the import, demurrage charges arising from delays, the extra charges by shipping companies, the additional charges by the truck drivers, all of these have put a lot of burden on investors and citizens.

“We should expedite action on the single window system in order to minimise human interface at the ports.”

He also emphasised the urgent need to review the current call up system with a view to making it e΀cient and less vulnerable to corruption and extortion.

“We need to put a credible independent dispute resolution system in place in order to resolve dispute between the custom service and importers.

“The involvement of the police in the clearance of cargo should be discontinued.

We should compel shipping companies and terminal operators to increase e΀ciency in their processes and provide the needed

cargo handling equipment to expedite the clearance of cargo,” Yusuf said.

He told THISDAY that, “if the Apapa tra΀c gridlock continues, our international trade process stands the risk of being completely paralysed.

“The Apapa corridor accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of international merchandise trade-imports and exports.

Therefore, this portends disturbing signals for the outlook for Nigeria’s participation in the AFCFTA. It is impossible to undertake any meaningful trade without an e΀cient maritime logistics chain.”

The Director General of the Institute of Director (IoD) Nigeria, Mr. Dele Alimi, told THISDAY last year that the gridlock at Apapa seemed to be a problem that has deÀed all solutions proͿered by previous and current administrations.

Alani said that various attempts by government at both the federal and state levels have remained insu΀cient to resolve the problem.

“Incidentally, none of these seem to have remedied the situation. What this brings to fore is the need to actually identify the root cause of the problem and see if the solution would be deeper than just proͿering cosmetic solutions that are only addressing the symptoms.

“You will recall that the tra΀c gridlock started almost immediately after the privatisation of the facilities in the Apapa port area. The Àrst question that comes to mind is, ‘what happened to all the parking facilities that accommodated these vehicles before now?’ Did they just disappear? If they did not, why are they no longer available to accommodate these vehicles that have now resorted to parking on the road? That is one aspect of it.”

The second is the need to evolve a more comprehensive approach, which should address the concentration of port activities in Lagos, with other ports in Nigeria wasting away from low patronage or lack of patronage.

He pointed out that government should

NECA’s Perspective The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) told THISDAY in 2021 that it is worried over the the perpetual blockage of roads in Apapa.

The association observed that Apapa axis is one of the major avenues for revenue generation and economic growth for the country. Thus, it would have been expected that government would give it the attention it deserves. However, businesses and Nigerians constantly groan and are trapped in their eͿorts at carrying out business activities within the axis.

It said: “We recalled government’s eͿorts to address the gridlock in Apapa axis, its working with Nigeria Ports Authority on the e-call-up system, etc. This was greeted with excitement and huge expectations.

However, the gridlock appears to be worse by the day.

“The consequences of the Apapa tra΀c gridlock on businesses, especially those involved in the importation of sensitive raw materials and Ànished products, including pharmaceuticals, can only be imagined.”

“Another challenge is the increased freight costs from transporters due to the signiÀcant down time of their vehicles caused by the gridlock. This is a major cause of the rising cases of abandoned containers and imports at the ports.

“Though, we commended the on-going eͿorts by the government to clear the Apapa ports congestions, we call on government to take urgent steps to stem the dire economic hardships that companies are going through in the Apapa axis.

“Also, we urge government to consider train services within Apapa axis and from Apapa to other parts of the country. The positive economicm mimplication of the rail system will be enormous as it will enable the freighting of consumer goods and reÀned petroleum products via the rail track from the port to the hinterland and other parts of the country which will resolve the perennial gridlock caused by the craters on the road. There will also be a reduction in the sheer volume of articulated passenger and goods vehicles that ply the roads to/fro and within Apapa axis, thus leading to increased lifespan of the roads and a reduction in the loss of lives from accidents that occur on a regular basis.

“We urge government not to lack the political and economic will to tackle this national menace, which is aͿecting our developmental growth as a nation.”

Some of the identiÀed problems in cargo clearance are the presence of multiple government agencies in the ports, money transfer delay between Ànancial institutions, cargo discharge delay at port terminal and storage facilities, customs physical examination process and false declaration by importers.

The Comptroller-General of NCS, Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd), attributed delays in cargo inspection to the habits of importers and agents to make false declaration.

Ali said: “The problem we have is with noncompliant traders. That causes unnecessary delay at the point of examination.

“NCS o΀cials do not witch hunt; in no way do we feel that traders should be made to suͿer because we also are consumers in the market.

We expect importers, exporters and agents to be honest and transparent in their activities because it makes our jobs easier.

“The amount of time they spend in the ports by importers who are compliant is extremely short, from when assessment is done and payment is made, and goods moved to the customs zone.”

19

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

INDUSTRY

Piles of cement

7KH 8QFRQWUROODEOH &HPHQW 3ULFH ,QFUHDVH James Emejo writes that the federal government must urgently address the intractable rise in the price of cement in the interest of Nigerians and the economy

I

n the past two years, Nigerians have had to endure the persistent increase in the price of cement with the attendant hardship it brings to bear.

The retail price of the commodity has risen more than 177 per cent from N1,800 to N5,000 as currently witnessed in parts of the country.

In January last year when the commodity sold for about N3,800, the federal government while lamenting the rising prices, attributed the upward price movement to production challenges, adding that it was engaging stakeholders in the industry to address the issue.

Cement prices had since risen by over 50 per cent, despite the assurances by the government to arrest the situation, thereby raising concerns

by Nigerians.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Niyi Adebayo, had ,urged the public not to embark on panic buying and storage of the product as the current market price was temporary.

He said that discussion between the government and cement manufacturers was being ramped up to meet the increased demand for the commodity.

Nonetheless, the retail price of cement inAbuja and its environs is currently at over N5, 000.

The minister had blamed the hike in the price of cement on reduction in production volumes in the second and third quarters of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EndSARS protests as well as downtimes in some manufacturing plants.

Adebayo said the development aͿected the volume of stockpiles in the supply chain due to the reduction of cash Áow to major distributors as well as the high cost of transportation.

He further observed that there had been a massive build-up of demand from public works contractors as they strive to meet milestones and deadlines on projects across the country.

He further assured the public that government would continue to be on the alert to its responsibility of ensuring goods and services are available at reasonable prices. +RXVLQJ 'HÀFLW But one year on, amidst economic recovery and normalisation of business activities, the government is yet to assuage the concerns of Nigerians by Ànding a lasting solution to the

rising cement prices in the country.

Analysts believed the trend could hamper eͿorts to close the existing housing deÀcit as well as lead to the abandonment of ongoing construction projects by both public and private individuals because of the high cost of the commodity and associated building materials.

Already house rent has more than doubled within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a direct consequence of cement price hike, causing further economic hardship for Nigerians.

But many Nigerians do not make sense of the regular price increase as they described it as arbitrary, arising from the near-monopoly of the industry by a few operators.

Many are particularly not comfortable with the price increase given that the key raw material for cement production namely limestone is sourced in the country and is in abundance.

0DUNHW )RUFHV However, analysts believed the scenario represented a typical case of market forces at play to regulate demand and supply. Sources have attributed the increase in the price of the commodity to the di΀culty in accessing foreign exchange, the cost of production and infrastructural issues among others.

1HHG IRU *RYHUQPHQW ,QWHUYHQWLRQ However, some Nigerians believed government intervention remained critical to solving the problem while others also recommended a subsidy to help the ordinary Nigerian own a shelter as various many projects are currently being abandoned as a result of rising cement prices.

They argued that things could only become worse if prices are continuously determined by capitalists who are bent on taking advantage of price movements. &DOOV IRU ,QFUHDVHG &RPSHWLWLRQ Experts, however, believed that increasing the number of operators in local cement production could help stimulate healthier competition which would impact downward price movement.

In July 2021, Chairman of BUA Cement Plc, Alhaji Abdul-Samad Rabiu, harped on the need to boost cement production to tame the insatiable and sustained demand for the commodity which had led to exorbitant prices in recent times to detriment of builders and

potential homeowners.

The BUA chairman said more operators were needed in the cement industry, adding that the quantity of cement produced by BUA, Dangote and Nafaj could not meet the demand considering the country’s highm population.

He further stressed that currently, the three cement companies produced about 30 million tonnes per annum hence the need to have more players to reduce prices.

Rabiu said though more players would mean more competition for BUA, it was nonetheless in the best interest of the country. He emphasised the need for the federal government to encourage more investors into the sector to meet the cement demand of Nigerians.

According to him, “The high price of cement is of great concern for me, the price is high. We are 210 or 220 million people, 30 million tonnes of cement per annum is low for us.

“No one can control the price because it depends on demand and supply.

We are trying hard to ensure the price is not as high as it is now. “Nigeria is growing with a huge economy, we need more plants on stream to cater for the rising demand of cement in the country.

“Egypt produces 85 tones of cement per annum and the demand of cement in that country is just 50 million tones per annum and that is why the country sells one of the cheapest prices of cement on the continent.” $QDO\VWV· 3HUVSHFWLYHV Meanwhile, analysts who spoke with THISDAY over the development said addressing the concern would require the government to provide tax incentives to operators as well as create an enabling environment for new players to participate in the industry. They also called for the implementation of key sections of the National Housing Policy.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr Chijioke Ekechukwu, noted that the force of supply an demand would always determine prices of goods and services including cement in the country.

However, he said the government can use moral suasion to solicit for a stable price from the near-monopolies.

Ekechukwu, while providing reasons for the current price hike said: “Some years back,

Nigeria had many cement companies. This led to stiͿ competition and price wars.

“Today, we have a near-monopoly in the same sector where the price of cement is determined almost by one company who determines supply and price in the market.”

He said, “Cement however is not the only building material with a high price in the market.

All buildings materials have increased in their prices by almost double in the last two years.

“Government can use moral suasion to solicit for a stable price from the near-monopolies.

“I don’t expect any more subsidy in this area. Government should also create enabling environment for more cement companies to come in and oͿer them tax waivers for their Àrst Àve years.”

Also, Managing Director/Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr Idakolo Gbolade, said the rising prices of cement which is a major component of the building is alarming given that it has increased the cost of building constructions alongside other components like iron and sand to about 25 per cent.

This, he said, is presently aͿecting the prices of buildings initiated by both the government and private sector developers.

He said, “The housing plan to accommodate ordinary workers andm Nigerians alike has moved beyond the reach of this category of people who depend on the minimum wage to own a property.

“This development could be attributed to the government loss of control as regards major producers of cement ie Dangote Cement and BUA Cement who have taken advantage of government slackened policies to determine prices in conjunction with their major distributors to the detriment of the people.”

Gbolade urged the federal government to implement key sections of the housing policy to resolve rising cement prices and convene a meeting of major stakeholders to ensure that the deliberate and unwarranted increases in the commodity price are brought under control.

He said, “The government also needs to increase competition in the sector by ensuring other manufacturers are licensed to produce cement to force down the prices of the product.”

So far, the federal government has failed to rein in the rising prices of cement in the country, despite earlier assurances to helpless Nigerians.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

20

DEVELOPMENT

Abiodun

Dangote

Emefiele

Making Ogun Investors’ Haven The Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration in Ogun State is putting in place an avalanche of infrastructural projects that will make the state attract more industries from Lagos due to its proximity, James Sowole writes

T

he administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has been singled out for adulation by Nigeria’s number one industrialist, Mr. Aliko Dangote and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin EmeÀele. Both of them were interviewed as part of the commemoration of the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Ogun State and spoke glowingly of their various experiences interacting with the state and the Abiodun administration and the extensive work the governor was doing to make Ogun State an investor’s paradise.

During the widely-televised visit, President Buhari launched several important infrastructural projects that were carefully designed and implemented under the watch of the state governor.

Prince Abiodun’s vision of integrating the state into Nigeria’s infrastructure redevelopment drive, facilitating trade and commerce between adjoining states and positioning the state as the gateway to the country’s renewed industrialisation eͿort has remained relentless.

Some of these important infrastructural projects launched by the president include the 14-kilometre Ijebu Ode-Mojoda-Epe Road, a road that was previously a barely passable single-lane nightmare stretch of road which obstructed and entrapped important intrinsic value of trade and commerce that could be emancipated and harnessed between two neighbouring states. The passageway, which was a former nightmare to commuters, has now metamorphosed into an expansive dual carriageway of pure joy that juts into a 10-lane toll plaza built to ensure the road’s maintenance and longevity.

Observers have said that what is most commendable about the road is that it was built during the pendency of the negative eͿects of the Covid-19 pandemic and delivered even ahead of its scheduled completion period!

Also inaugurated by the president was the 42-kilometre Sagamu-Abeokuta Interchange which was itself once the stuͿ of legends.

What has now been transformed by the Prince Dapo Abiodun administration into a

42-kilometre long and 24.6 metres wide road, a major route of trade and commerce for many travellers from all over Nigeria, especially the South-eastern and Northern parts of the country was once full of copious tales of woes.

Thankfully, the intrinsic value trapped in that road has now been Ànally unlocked by the simple application of private-sector astuteness in governance with the coming of the Prince Dapo administration. Add to this an initiative known as ‘Let There Be Light’ wherein the Ogun State government cater for the travellers who ply the road by providing bright lights for safety and security reasons.

During the visit, President Buhari also launched other important infrastructure assets in the heart of the state capital, Abeokuta that includes ‘The Gateway City Gate Monument.’ The grand monument which stands at a major entry point to the state was rebuilt with a new allure to visitors who access the state from the Sagamu- Abeokuta interchange. In like manner, 527 units of low-cost housing at the Kobape Housing estate and 85 units of luxury houses for upscale and high-level executives managing their businesses in Ogun State at the Kings Court Estate were also inaugurated by the president. With this, the state government has built a total of 1,500 housing units in just over two and half years of its administration.

Speaking on the giant strides of Governor Abiodun, his governance style and his private-sector imprint on governance in Ogun State, Dangote, President and CEO of Dangote Industries, described the governor’s emergence as a breath of fresh air for so many investors currently invested in the state and described him as somebody to look out for in the future of governance in Nigeria. He insisted that no one needs solicitation to invest in Ogun State. With conÀdence in the governor’s style of leadership, he added that the governor is the best thing to have happened to Ogun State.

“Prince Dapo Abiodun is coming with a lot of private sector experience and we as industrialists in the state don’t even have to tell him what we need, he is one of us. He knows what we need and before you even ask him, he will take action. Let me give you a typical example, the road linking Ogun State from Lagos from the Epe side, that road has been abandoned for many years, and you can see how he quickly moved into action to Àx that road. We wanted to go and do the road on our own, but the Governor didn’t wait. He moved quickly to Àx the road and you can see all over the place he’s linking roads either from Ogun to other parts of Nigeria.

“I think having Prince Dapo Abiodun there as the Governor of Ogun State is attracting a lot of investors to Ogun State and any serious investor doesn’t have

Prince Dapo Abiodun is coming with a lot of private sector experience and we as industrialists in the state don’t even have to tell him what we need, he is one of us. He knows what we need and before you even ask him, he will take action

to think about it, they should just move there and invest. Having Abiodun there with his leadership style is the best thing that has ever happened to Ogun State.”

Also speaking on Prince Dapo Abiodun’s achievements, the CBN Governor, EmeÀele, noted that upon his assumption of o΀ce, Prince Abiodun approached the CBN with his development blueprint for Ogun State which would encourage more and more manufacturing companies to come to Ogun State to establish their businesses.

According to him, “Upon assumption of o΀ce, Prince Abiodun approached the CBN with his development blueprint for Ogun State which straddled agriculture, infrastructure, improving the ease of doing business in Ogun State that would encourage more and more manufacturing companies to come to Ogun State to establish their businesses.

“I must say he has done an excellent job, beginning with the very impressive IGR growth that stands out from most across the country; this is primarily because he has been able to attract more investors to establish in Ogun State and I would like to congratulate him and congratulate the people of Ogun State on having someone like Prince Dapo Abiodun as their Governor and I think what this does is it gives more and more people in the private sector, the tonic to want to come into governance.”

The Prince Abiodun-led administration upon assumption of o΀ce launched an ambitious development programme to refocus and repurpose Ogun State for growth and development. The programme launched under Àve pillars of implementation is termed ISEYA, an acronym for the Infrastructure, Social Development, Education, Youth Development and Agriculture. Incidentally, Iseya in Yoruba expression simply means ‘it is time to work.’

With the extensive actions and projects in the full glare of the people, the governor seems to be showing the world that indeed, the time for work is truly at hand.

It is hoped his eͿorts and experience will encourage more successful private sector operators to venture into governance and improve the overall levels of service delivery to the beneÀt of the people.

21

͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 13Jan-2022, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.81% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.38 3.45 -4.36% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 7.31% Anchoria Equity Fund 139.56 141.31 0.16% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.16 1.16 1.36% info@anchoriaam.com ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 20.42 21.04 0.69% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 457.55 471.35 1.42% ARM Ethical Fund 39.37 40.56 1.07% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.07 1.07 -0.91% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.01 1.02 -0.09% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.50% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 108.21 108.21 0.25% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,071.43 1,071.43 0.35% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund (Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.66% Paramount Equity Fund 16.95 17.26 0.74% Women's Investment Fund 139.80 141.40 0.54% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.32% Cordros Milestone Fund 133.96 134.82 1.33% 110.63 110.63 0.17% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 7.38% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 7.81% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,151.44 1,152.26 -1.65% EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.74% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.05 1.05 2.91% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.12 1.12 0.55% Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 104.71 104.71 0.10% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1,398.49 11.33% FBN Balanced Fund 176.67 0.11% FBN Halal Fund 116.00 9.35% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 9.16% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Legacy Money Market Fund Legacy Debt Fund Legacy Equity Fund Legacy USD Bond Fund FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

122.42 149.94

122.42 3.82% 151.68 -0.10% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com

Bid Price N/A N/A N/A N/A

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price N/A N/A N/A

Offer Price N/A N/A N/A

Yield / T-Rtn N/A N/A N/A

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.37% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.87 2.93 0.52% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 142.14 142.19 -8.66% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.28 1.33 1.83% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 5.02% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.54 1.56 1.97% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,166.59 1,166.59 0.44% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 11.85 11.95 0.58% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 10.25% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) N/A N/A N/A Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 129.00 131.42 5.85% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.08 1.08 10.03% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,424.49 3,459.26 -0.58% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 236.03 236.03 0.13% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.27 1.29 -1.54% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 313.87 313.87 0.17% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 239.07 242.69 -1.24% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.34% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,950.56 11,105.29 -1.42% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.29 1.29 0.13% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 117.08 117.08 0.09% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 106.74 106.74 UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 0.93 0.96 0.68% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.36 1.38 -0.39% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.10 1.11 0.89% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.08 1.08 0.30% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.96 1.96 0.24% United Capital Eurobond Fund 122.56 122.56 0.18% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.94% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.21 13.33 0.15% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 14.77 14.93 1.09% Zenith Income Fund 24.93 24.93 0.18% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.14% REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 54.65

10.62% 8.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.82 129.94 103.28 18.45 21.67

13.92 133.19 105.55 18.55 21.77

-1.03% -1.27% -0.33% 0.00% 0.00%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund MERGROWTH ETF MERVALUE ETF

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.06 5.53 17.87 1.00 20.97 158.70

4.16 5.63 18.07 1.00 21.17 160.70

7.94% 8.50% 4.00% 8.43% 8.09% 0.58%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.28

10.80%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

22

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

DISCOURSE

Consistency in Public Intellectual Advocacy: Akin Osuntokun’s Role in Nigeria’s Ideas Industry Reuben Abati

I

want to thank the organisers of this 60th birthday anniversary event in honour of Balogun Akin Osuntokun for inviting me to say a few words about the themes of consistency, in relation to public intellectual advocacy and to focus on a Nigerian Case Study. In doing so, I join others in congratulating the celebrant and subject on his attainment of the diamond jubilee. I cannot think of another case study as the departure point for my commentary than Akin Osuntokun himself, although an inquiry into the natureoftheideasindustryinNigeriawithspecific emphasis on public intellectual advocacy would be incomplete without additional illustrations of the role of others in that nexus between culture, politics and society which is the province of the operation of the public intellectual as opposed to the strict academic intellectual and writer, who is burdened by the demands of specificity and disciplinarity. I make no clear cut distinction in this regard, however, and the reason for this will be clear in a moment. Ahead of this particular occasion,IhadwrittenatributetoAkinOsuntokun in my weekly back page column in the ThisDay newspaper(see“AkinOsuntokunat60”byReuben Abati, December 14, 2021) which is a reflection of my knowledge of him as a person and a portrait of his life as I know it. The present commentary can be taken as a further reading of the subject, but within the specific context of his exertions in the public domain. I seek to raise questions and navigate the subject.

The literature on the subject of public intellectualism suggests that there is no clear, single definition of who a public intellectual is, might be or become, in the same sense for example in which we talk about a carpenter or a tailor.

This absence of specificity speaks to a certain diversity and plurality, with regard to context, range, and the central figures that have featured intheideasindustryindifferentpartsoftheglobe.

Every public intellectual is to be understood in the context of the role that he or she plays or the theatre of his or her engagement. Hence, Edward W. Said, the Palestinian-American scholar wrote that “the definition of who or what a writer and intellectual is has become more confusing and difficult to pin down.” What does it mean for example to be “public”? Does that suggest the idea of a private intellectual?” The public is an open space. What part of the public? And who is an intellectual? In many political and cultural contexts, the word “intellectual” indeed attracts a negative connotation, if not adversarial revulsion.

It is not a job, except perhaps you are an academic intellectual working in a research environment, andyetitispossibletobeacademicandnotpublic, and to be a public intellectual and be academic, or provide ample primary material for academic work. Thus,therearemanyusesoftheword“intellectual”andattitudestowardsit.EdwardSaidsees the intellectual as a “critical outsider”. Jean Paul Sartre considers him “a person of action”. Michael Waltzer, the American political theorist sees him as a “caring insider.” Akin Osuntokun fits easily into each of these definitions, an indication of the scope of his engagements in the public space.

Whereas definitions of meanings and labels may seem academic, there seems to be very little confusion with regard to the role that the public intellectual plays in society, beginning with the production of ideas, and the creation of what AmitaiEtzionicalls“communitiesofassumptions”, that is assumptions about how society should be organized in a more utilitarian and beneficial manner. The contribution of the public intellectual is to question received assumptions, create new ones, by asking questions again and again, about public policy and cultural constructions. Public intellectuals provoke debates through books, essays, and commentaries. They do not speak to a narrow audience, not to an expert audience that understands only technocratic jargon, but to a larger community of men and women who are interested in moving society to a higher level.

The public intellectual’s tool is thus therefore, disruptive thinking. He is an agent provocateur, an advocateandatthesametime,anactivist,holding a magnifying glass unto society. The trajectory of human society, its growth and character, owes largely to this form of intervention and disrup-

L-R: Guest lecturer, Dr Reuben Abati; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Chairman of occasion/Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; the celebrant, Akin Osuntokun and former Minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi and Prof Jide Osuntokun during the public lecture commemorating Akin Osuntokun’s 60th birthday in Lagos …recently

tion encapsulated in Wole Soyinka’s affirmation that “the man dies in all who keeps silent in the face of tyranny” or Nelson Mandela’s example.

In more contemporary times, the face of the public intellectual has changed significantly.

The democratization of the information space and the rise of the age of convergence simply means that unlike the public intellectual of past centuries, today’s public intellectual can engage through a multiplicity of platforms – books, the pulpit, lectures, speech-making, television, radio or even internet blogs. This means an expansion of influence and reach. Today’s public intellectual is an authority, but this in itself generates conflicts with established authority figures, whose attempts at weaponizing power and position are unmaskedbymenandwomenofideas.Manypublic intellectuals are brands and celebrities as well.

But how do public intellectuals establish their authority,spreadtheirideasandinfluencetheway we think and act? The topic for this presentation as sent to me already provides a clue: “consistency” and a clear indication that this must be in the arena of “advocacy”. But why should consistency be important? Being consistent is about commitment, courage, and a sense of being human, devoted, and ready to make necessary sacrifices. The classical definition of this would seem exemplified by the totality of Nelson Mandela’s symbolism encapsulated in his famous declaration: “For my own part, I have made my own choice. I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won.

The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.” (June 26, 1961). Consistency in public intellectual advocacy confers brand, identity and authenticity. But it is not every public intellectual that lives to the end of their days. Seeking to challenge orthodoxies through struggle, direct action, ideas and insider participation comes with risks. Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator and philosopher had his tongue freed from his body. His head was severed for speaking truth to power and for having the temerity to challenge “constituted authority.”

Thedilemmaofpublicintellectualisminvariably defines its scope and relevance: more liberal societies tend to be more appreciative of ideas and those who produce them. Closed societies, under the grips of conquerors, dictators, “constituted authorities”, and tyrants naturally suppress the people’s free will and those who claim to be intellectuals. In January 2016, I wrote an essay in The Guardian (Nigeria) titled “Where are the Public Intellectuals?” My theme was what I referred to as “the decline of public intellectualism”. Permit me to quote a little from that essay. I wrote: “Somethingsadhashappenedandishappening andishappeninginoursociety:thedeclineofpublic intellectualism. And so I ask: where are the public intellectuals? Once upon a time in this country, the public arena was dominated by a ferment of ideas, ideas that pushed boundaries, destroyed illusions, questioned orthodoxies and enable societal progress. Those were the days when intellectuals exerted great influence on public policy,andtheirinputintothegovernance process

could not be ignored. Ideas are strong elements of nation-building, and even where interests are at play, you know the quality of a country by the manner in which a taste for good thinking propels the leadership process. Public intellectuals are at the centre of this phenomenon: they include academicswhogobeyondtheirnarrowspecializations and university-based scholarship to take a keen interest in public affairs and who use their expertise and exposure to shed light on a broad range of issues. They also include journalists, writers and other professionals who question society’s direction and offer alternative ideas.

The beauty of public intellectualism is that the intellectual at work is a disinterested party, he is interested in ideas not for his own benefit but for the overall good of society and he does not assume that his opinions are the best or that he alone understands the best way to run society and its organs. The product of this attitude is that discourse, a culture of debate, is encouraged and in the cross-pollination of ideas, a good current of thought is created, truth is spoken to power.”

I have had cause to take a second look at those words. When I said “once upon a time”, I was somewhat nostalgic and was probably referring to a period in Nigerian history that could be regarded as “the best of times” in the public space, but even that would be correct in only strictly relative terms and as a measurement of how as of 2016, Nigeria had gradually become a dangerous place to express an opinion or project oneself as a public intellectual. There was a uniformity of thought,asubmissiontoauthority,groupthinking and the hijack of instruments of expression by a monied, political elite that was frightening. The seeds of the present tension may well be traced to those early beginnings. “The once upon a time” , in my reckoning, was to a season of ferment when the university campuses bubbled with ideas and the Nigerian Left provided thought leadership. The universities were a melting pot for ideas as the gown fulfilled its own idea (to borrow John Henry Newman’s contextual usage of that phrase) by showing interest in the town and how the fortunes of both town and gown could transform or derail society.

Across the country, many Nigerian scholars and others went beyond disciplinarity to test research ideas in the field of action. In Ahmadu Bello University, we had Bala Usman and Patrick Wilmot,inUniversityofLagos:ProfessorAyodele Awojobi, Ebenezer Babatope.. at the University of Ibadan: Peter Ekeh, Bolaji Akinyemi, Bade Onimode, Comrade Ola Oni, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, Bode Sowande. At the University of Calabar: Eskor Toyo, Ingrid Obot-Essien, Herbert Ekwe Ekwe, Edwin and Bene Madunagu. At the University of Ife: Wole Soyinka, Biodun Jeyifo, Ropo Sekoni, Uzodinnma Nwala, Godwin Godini Darah, Segun Osoba, Kole Omotoso, at the University of Port Harcourt: Claude Ake, Chidi Amuta. University of Benin: Festus Iyayi, Tunde Fatunde…

Civil society was no less vibrant from the labour movement to the creative industry and civil society organizations: Mokwugo Okoye, Wahab Goodluck, Hassan Sunmonu, Gani Fawe-

hinmi, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Arthur Nwankwo, Rear Admiral Ndubusi Kanu, Alao Aka-Bashorun, Olisa Agbakoba, Clement Nwankwo, Commodore Dan Suleiman… And in the media: Sad Sam Amuka Pemu, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Stanley Macebuh, Odia Ofeimun, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, Essien Effiong, Godwin Sogolo, Dapo Olorunyomi, Nosa Igiebor, Onome Ovie-Whiskey,DareBabarinsa,KunleAjibade,Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed, Olatunji Dare, Chinweizu, Niran Malaolu.. I left out the clergy: Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi, Rev. Adetunji Adebiyi, Rev Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, Fr. George Ehusani, Fr. John Uba Ofei, Archbishop OlubunmiOkogie,JohnCardinalOnaiyekan.Before the more contemporary examples, Nigeria’s colonial and early post-colonial history was littered with examples of men and women who were either thought leaders or public intellectuals, and whose contributions made significant difference. The academic distinction between thought leadership and public intellectualism does not need to detain us, here. As we can see, society is moved forward by a combination of influencers and public-spirited figures from diverse backgrounds, playing a mixture of roles.

I raised the question in 2016, because it was the moment when the decline of public intellectualism in Nigeria was most apparent, in my view, although much earlier in 2006, Jimanze Ego-Alowes had written a book titled “How Intellectuals Underdeveloped Nigeria and Other Essays.” In 2010, Rudolf Okonkwo wrote an article titled “The Comedy of Our Public Intellectuals.”

I went further: “In addition to other reasons, it may well be that our intellectuals are tired of engaging Nigeria.

Having tried over the years to engage the governance elite with ideas and to show that only goodideasshouldgovernsocietyandhavingbeen spurned by the politicians, Nigeria’s intellectual elite seems to have become so frustrated, it has retired largely into a state of indifference and inertia. What is the point knocking one’s head against a wall? But intellectuals in society cannot takesuchastand.Thatwillamounttoanabdication of responsibility: when intellectuals do no more than make righteous noises, the harvest in the long run, is counter-productive.”

I gave some other reasons including the existence of a climate of fear and the hypocrisy of the power elite and the seeming disappearance of a culture of reason, opinion and debate. It may be necessary to define, even if preliminarily, what may be responsible for the oscillation between active advocacy and reticence, between action and fatigue in the social structure of public intellectualism in Nigeria. Our first concern is how Nigeriacontinuestoconsumeitsownintellectuals.

Once upon a time in this country, that familiar phrase,again,universityteachersweresackedand there was a so-called environmental sanitation exercise the system targeted at those lecturers who allegedly “were busy using government time and resources to teach what they were not paid to teach!” The Nigerian system never recovered from that campus cleansing by the military.

Over the years, the Nigerian public space has

23

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

DISCOURSE Consistency in Public Intellectual Advocacy: Akin Osuntokun’s Role in Nigeria’s Ideas Industry been driven by a culture of anti-intellectualism, tightly knit into the fabric of every public process.

Admittedly, there were times when the military and the civilian authorities tried to embrace and co-optpublicintellectualsintothepublicprocess.

There have been success stories in that regard.

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and Professors George Obiozor, Joy Ogwu and Bola Akinterinwa did well leading the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), but there were also many ugly stories of public intellectuals being brought into government seemingly to demystify them. General later, President, Ibrahim Babangida made a good show ofdecoratinghisadministrationwithhigh-profile public intellectuals but in the end, did he listen to them? The only other Nigerian Presidents who gave public intellectuals, substantial space in the running of government were Presidents OlusegunObasanjoandGoodluckEbeleJonathan, but even then what has been the impact of the presence of intellectuals in government? The Nigerian public service system is rigged to fail.

It must be noted nonetheless that there was at a point a discussion by Nigerian public intellectuals to move from the arena of advocacy into governance in the mould of Sartre’s “man of action” or Waltzer’s “caring insider.” Many public intellectuals including journalists who find ready role models in their own profession eitherlatertookgovernmentpositionsorjumped into the arena of politics. Their experience has been varied. Akin Osuntokun, for example once tried to obtain a form to run as a candidate for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

With all his education and exposure in both the public and private sectors, he was disqualified on the grounds that the screening panel doubted his primary school leaving certificate. Doubt?

Or they had proof? Or they just made it up? A far less qualified person was given the ticket.

The man won the election but he practically played possum throughout his tenure in the NationalAssembly.TherewasnowayOsuntokun would have gone to the National Assembly of Nigeria to sleep, a forum that has now become a sleeping room for retired and tired bones.

The Osuntokun experience was the experience of many others who thought that as change agents they could make a difference from within as “caring insiders”. Perhaps the more instructive example in this axis would be the experience of Professor Pat Utomi in the last general elections. Professor Utomi is without doubt one of Nigeria’s leading public intellectuals. He has tried to be President of Nigeria on the platform of a lesser known party. He was in fact the founder of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and he ran for President in 2011. He lost. In the lead up to the 2015 general elections, he was part of the process and group that formed the All Progressive Congress (APC), a major opposition party, a special purpose vehicle, and an amalgam of strange bedfellows who eventually won the 2015 Presidential election. In 2019, Utomi tried to be Governor of his home state, Delta State, in the South South of Nigeria. For decades, Utomi had articulated his vision of governance, politics, entrepreneurship, and policy in books, essays, public lectures, television programmes, and consultancies. His attempt to become Governor of Delta State in 2019 took him to a new level of understandingaboutthedepravityoftheNigerian and of Nigerian politics itself. His experience, agonyandfrustrationiswell-capturedinhisbook.

“Why Not?: Citizenship, State Capture, Creeping Fascism and Criminal Hijack of Politics in Nigeria (2019). Why Not? Indeed. It is a question many Nigerianpublicintellectualswhoseektopromote change from within the system often ask.

It may also be the case that the public intellectual class in Nigeria is a victim of its own expectations. The territory comes with a celebrity status, an acquired brand, and for some, Solomonic intimations of being special and wiser than the average man. It is not just established authority figures, many of who rise to positions of importance by sheer default, even the people themselveswhosecommongoodthepublicintellectual defends are suspicious of intellectuals.

Nigeria lost its moral compass even before the military took over power at the centre in the 60s and the situation has worsened with the return to democratic governance. Military dictatorship has been replaced by civilian intolerance. Access to prominent office is now equated with intellectualism as Nigeria recruits into high office, persons without morals, depth, or purpose. The people themselves are not looking for morals or purpose. The electoral process has become a

Osuntokun

money-makingprocessdominatedbymoneybags ofdubiouscredentials.Thepeopledonotcare.For them, leadership is a scam. Nigeria has produced a generation of citizens whose alienation from state and society does not accommodate the kind of idealistic, certainly not abstract values, that public intellectuals push. The more urgent worry is how the Nigerian public elite, a class that is expected to be above board, has also become embroiled in the politics of religion, geography and ethnicity, creating such terrible mongrels as an Igbo public intellectual or a Yoruba public intellectual.

My third argument in this regard is the effect of the internet on public intellectualism. In North America and Europe, certain public intellectuals explore the possibilities of the blogosphere and social media to advance public causes in a constructive manner. The intellectual elite that led the Nigerian struggle in the 70s and early 90s has grown into a dinosaur class that thinks that the social media is a playground for children. I have not done any empirical research to provide statistical, social science support for this, but a broad, anthropological investigation would confirm that the more informed public intellectuals are suspicious of the social media space or they do not know how it works and hence, the space has been abdicated for its inevitable seizure by 140-word influencers, and citizen photographers andreportersandinturn,thismayhaveinfluenced the objection to the social media by authority figures, and their agents. The social media space in Nigeria can become far more influential the moment the Nigerian public intellectual begins to embrace technology as a tool of the revolution. Any attempt tp constrict the space for free expression and interaction would be an express violation of the 1999 Constitution.

The question may be asked: who reads? The production of ideas must or should be complemented by a learning and reading culture and ecosystem. The audience of the Nigerian public intellectual has shrunk badly in the face of a continuing neglect of the education sector. In 2021 alone, more than 500 schools were shut down in the northern parts of the country, due to cases of kidnapping, and terrorism. The number could be higher. Schools in the South report the proliferation of a culture of cultism and violence in schools. Both the states and the FederalGovernmentpromisehigherinvestments in education, but the promise looms larger than the actual effort.

It is the worst of times, simply put, for Nigerian public intellectuals and scholars. As for the latter, majorityofwhoteachinuniversitiesandresearch institutions, their salaries are not paid regularly, they are perpetually on strike and their so-called dialogue with government representatives is best regarded as a conversation between the deaf and the dumb. It is the worst of times, again because no zone, no square metre, no constituency is spared. A culture of intolerance seeks to impose a culture of fear and silence on the land. A noteworthy example in this regard would be the plight of Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church of Nigeria

and former Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat in Lagos. Kukah would fall under the category of Said’s “critical outsider”, and also as a person of action” as defined by Sartre, and he probably has been one of the luckiest public intellectualsatatimewithaccesstothecorridors of power. But because this is “the worst of times”, hehaslostthataccess. Itisameasureofthetimes we live in that when Kukah spoke in the past, he got some attention as a cleric with a history of commitment and consistency. These days he gets a knock on the head literally. In February 2020, when he criticized the security situation in the country during a Homily at the Funeral Mass of a seminarian who was killed by kidnappers, Kukah was almost expelled from Sokoto. He stood his ground. He refused to be intimidated.

In January 2021, he repeated the offence and he has done so again and again at every possible forum.Couldthisbewhattheorganizersoftoday’s public conversation mean about consistency in public intellectual advocacy? Or are some public intellectuals more privileged than others?

In broad terms, this is the terrain in which Akin Osuntokun operates, and the challenges that he faces and the community of assumptions to which he belongs. Public intellectualism is not a job. It is a choice, a mission. For more than 30 years, Akin Osuntokun has been involved in virtually every sphere of engagement as an intellectual in society, helping to re-imagine society. The hallmark of his involvement is his consistency, his capacity to adapt and his unflinching embrace of the culture of ideas and creative thinking about the demands of society.

My first son and I once spent two nights with him in his house in Abuja and in the course of that visit, he took me to the garden at the back of the building where he had started a small farm: snail farming - and he was excited telling me about how to farm snails. There was also a fish pond: cat fish swimming inside water rather luxuriantly. I also got some lecture about fish farming. Osuntokun also disclosed that he actually also had a bigger farm somewhere. I looked forward to a free meal of snail and catfish whenever I visited him. But that didn’t happen. About a year later, Osuntokun himselfcomplainedtomethathisfarmingproject did not work. The only thought in my head was resentment at the people who ate or stole all the fish and how I never got the chance to have a taste. Osuntokun may have not been able to build a consistent profile in farming, but he has in the course of his career and efforts done much better in the field of public intellectualism. His background, education and experience would seem to have propelled him inexorably in the direction of the public sphere. Public intellectuals are cultural and social products, determined by factors that require closer interrogation in order to understand that striking dialectics between publics and intellectuals.

In my earlier commentary, I highlighted background and genetics as a factor in Akin Osuntokun’sevolutionasakeyplayerinNigeria’spublic space. He comes from a family of intellectuals: his great grandfather was a community thought leader, a warrior in many battles in Yorubaland:

Kiriji, Ekitiparapo and Jalumi wars. His father, the late Hon. Joseph Oduola Osuntokun was a product of the famous Fourah Bay College in SierraLeone;hewasalsoaleadingschoolprincipal and a prominent member of the Action Group in Western Nigeria until he and others parted ways with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, part-genesis of the crisis in the Western Region at the time.

The elder Osuntokun was also a writer. A few years ago, Akin Osuntokun published his father’s autobiography, titled My View of The Coin.

Two of his uncles have also been prominent in Nigerian History: Professor Oluwakayode Osuntokun, Gold Medallist in Medicine and one of the leading scientists in the world. There is also Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, Emeritus ProfessorofHistory,author,newspapercolumnist and former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany.

Psychoanalysis is a useful tool in the reading of writers and public intellectuals: the meta-textual context provides a clue to the author’s visions and ideals contrary to the unsuccessful “death of the author” propounded by Roland Barthes and other structuralists and post-structuralists.

The meaning in Akin Osuntokun’s writings and his consistent public intellectualism advocacy can be found within the author’s own sociological sphere. The scion of a warrior, in pursuit of an ideal vision of society, Osutokun also sees the public space as an arena for war, a struggle to be won between binary ideological and moral choices: what is wrong and what is right, what is good as opposed to what is bad. This probably explains the argumentative nature of his writings and the specificity of his choices. The other part of this warisadeterminationtosustainafamilytradition: in politics, culture and the intellectual space.

Culture and tradition also both feature prominently in Osuntokun’s choices as a public intellectual. Osuntokun is a student of politics and social theory and in this regard two strands of influence are projected in his public work: his commitment to tradition and his exploration of the values of African traditional thought. He has over the years been involved in Yoruba traditional processes, he identifies himself affirmatively, without any ambiguity. He has served in community capacities as the Basorun of Okemesi, his home town in Ekiti State. He is currently the Balogun of the same community. He is also the co-ordinator of the Ooni caucus, a socio-cultural interventionistgroupforthepromotionofYoruba interests and culure, founded by the present Ooni of Ife, HRM Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. But whereas Osuntokun explores culture and tradition as basis for understanding social theory, his main model is Max Weber, author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which is considered one of the most important books on sociological inquiry in the 20th Century.

Echoes of Weberian thought inform Osuntokun’s writings, the commitment to social action and understanding.Oneofhismostrecentwritings,yet to be published, a research essay written during his one-year stint as a Fellow at the University of Oxford, is a study of the linkages between the thoughts of Max Weber and the tropes of the Ifa eschatology in Africa.

Akin Osuntokun has worked in government; he has been active in politics, and journalism. But his example raises a question: should the public intellectual be partisan? Is the purpose and relevance of the public intellectual mitigated by his membership of a political party? In the public arena, in more than 30 years, Akin Osuntokun has never hidden his political affiliations, and whereas he cultivates and projects the habits of the contemplative class, he remains unapologetic about his political, cultural and intellectual affiliations.

At 60, his work in the public space is still developing and crystallizing, but the form is established in his many interventions as a modern time intellectual. His kind of example should provoke further thoughts about the interface between state and society, the kingdom of ideas and the arena of power and therelevanceofpublicopinionandintellectualism in a society such as ours that is in urgent need of good reason, common sense and a reconsideration of the leadership recruitment process. More so as Nigeria faces a new phase of transition, economic and political with implications for long-term stability.

Being a presentation by Dr, Abati at Akin Osuntokun’s 60th birthday anniversary at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Lagos recently.

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SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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WEEKLY PULL-OUT

16.1.2021

The Eternal Charm of Ojy Okpe The beautiful and charming Ojy Okpe, a model of international acclaim, TV anchor and filmmaker shares her day with Vanessa Obioha in a conversation that traverses her talk show career at ARISE NEWS Channel’s Morning Show and the special bond she shares with her children.

ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/victoria.olaode@thisdaylive.com.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JANUARY 16, 2022

COVER

I am Nothing without My Children

Okpe

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ad timing. I had arrived just when Ojy Okpe was about to go on air for her segment ‘What’s Trending with Ojy Okpe’ on The Morning Show on ARISE NEWS Channel. It was difficult to get her full attention as she carried out last-minute checks before waltzing into the studio in an emerald green dress and gold heeled shoes. Yet, she managed to offer a handshake and a smile when we were briefly introduced.

Thirty minutes later, Okpe walked out of the studio exuberant like a young girl who just had her first singing audition. She crouched in front of a colleague and asked with the innocence of a child “Did you watch the show? How did it go?”

She would later turn to me with her captivating smile. “Yes, now I can really talk to you.” We reintroduced ourselves.

There was something about her smile that reassured me that we were going to have an engaging conversation. It was charming and calming. By now, she had kicked off her shoes and tucked them into one of her bags. They were replaced by comfortable sandals which in no way detracted from her graceful gait.

Not a routine lady, Okpe who was born Ojinika (a woman of substance) found herself settling into the daily rigours of preparing for

her show. There are tonnes of news stories to sift through, fact-checking them, editing her segment before uploading it on YouTube, and then, of course, her wardrobe. On this particular sunny Tuesday afternoon, she decided to go shopping after editing, even though it was not her favourite pastime.

Just before we drove off to The Clan fashion store at Ajose Adeogun in Victoria Island, I caught a glimpse of her caring nature. First, she noticed a mark on her driver’s face.

“What happened to you? Did you fight?”

While the driver was yet to respond, she noticed a lint on the collar of my dress and brushed it aside. For the rest of the trip to the store, she served as our assistant Google Map guide, directing the driver on where to navigate. Her Yoruba pronunciations, I noticed and commented on, were terrible.

She didn’t object.

“I know. When I pronounce Yoruba names, I panic,” said Okpe who is from Ukwuani in Delta State.

She attempted to pronounce Makoko, one of the slums in Lagos. It didn’t come out right. We ended up laughing at her efforts.

Having returned to Lagos a few years ago, Okpe’s exploration of the city is limited, mainly because of her busy

schedule. There was a time she enjoyed the social life but nowadays, her image of Lagos, she admitted, is beach scenery.

“What I really like is the beach atmosphere. I like to take a boat to go out to Ilashe, and just relax there. And I think it’s such a beautiful city when you look at it from that angle and see how much money we can make through tourism if it’s properly developed.”

Makoko is one of the places she would love to visit, mainly because of the human interest stories that have emanated from the lagoon slum.

Okpe, it turned out, is drawn to human interest stories which in a way is what her segment strives for.

“I like the fact that I’m able to impact change in certain stories that I tell. I enjoy that I’m able to connect with people in that type of manner where people are even reaching out to me to discuss this or that because it’s so important to them. It’s like a system where we are just trying to create change.”

With the pandemic necessitating different lifestyle changes, the model believes it had little impact on the way we tell our stories. According to her, the attention given to the pandemic relegated other real stories affecting us. Her understanding of what makes news in the world today is profound.

“People use opinions to direct change. What else is news if Donald Trump for example did not instigate the insurrection? It was his opinion, what he thought, what he said, it was just one man’s opinion that shaped that whole narrative and people now understand what America is and how democracy should never be trampled on. I think that’s news.”

Many years after, Okpe still has the modelling body that caught the eye of a talent scout Jan Malan who encouraged her to enter the Mnet’s Face of Africa competition when she was 17. A sixfooter and a perfect 10, she moves with graceful strides and exudes an innocence that is so beguiling one wonders if she truly has aged over the years.

“I think I’m still so young at heart.

Sometimes I don’t even believe how old I am. I don’t know if I have really changed. I have matured a lot in terms of how I perceive life because of some of the experiences that I’ve had. But I think I’m the same person as the 17-year-old girl who’s just been a go-getter. I visualise my future and I don’t take no for an answer.”

Born to a retired Nigerian Commissioner of Police Matthew Egwuenu and his wife Philomena, Okpe was drawn into the world of fashion at a young age. Her mother was into tailoring and had a fashion house. Okpe, fascinated by fashion, often spent time poring over her mother’s fashion catalogues, admiring models like Naomi Campbell spread on the glossy pages. She often drifted away to an imaginary world, picturing herself walking the runway and hearing the cheers of the audience.

“There’s no excitement that can compare to that feeling and passion, the adrenaline when you’re on the runway and you have people cheering,” she enthused.

Last year, she walked the ARISE Fashion Week runway for designers Hudayya and Yutee Rone, bringing the one-day show to commemorate Nigeria’s Day in the World Expo 2020 in Dubai to a close.

Modelling at her age could be scary for some people. She argued that most people have the misconception that they cannot model when they get to a certain age.

“It’s just a certain group of models that can really achieve that. You have to really have that demand, be marketable, build your client base and have the drive to continue because it can be very tasking when you get to a certain age and designers just want to use younger models. It’s hard if that’s all you have going for you because you will be getting jobs that are just limited to older people, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not as much as when you’re younger.”

One of the fashion icons Okpe holds dearly to her heart is the late Princess of Wales, Diana. Her love for the deceased

is still so strong that you could feel it in her punctuation.

“My mother used to make clothes like Diana so I got to know what fashion meant through her. So in my room, I had pictures and posters of Diana.”

The news of her death, she said, was a devastating blow as she recalled her mood that particular day in 1997.

“I remember the first time I heard that she was in that car accident. She hadn’t been pronounced dead at that point. But the news came and I was literally crying. When she was pronounced dead later, it was devastating. It was the worst day. We were preparing to go to church that day.”

Her voice assumed a higher pitch as she proceeded to describe what she wore that fateful day.

“I will never forget what I was wearing. A red dress, just like the type of dress Princess Diana would wear; and I had my black pantyhose and red shoes. And I had my black hat. I made a little scarf around just the way she would, going to church that Sunday morning when we heard that she passed. And I sat down in front of the mirror in my room I would never forget. I just thought about what it meant losing a woman that I admired so much.”

She still channels Diana in her everyday look.

“I only wish I could have the courage to wear her hair the way she did. Maybe when I turn 50 I will have my hair done in that signature look that she wore so gracefully.”

Okpe is not a fan of extravagant styles, particularly now she is on TV. Her style is minimalist or as she puts it, streamlined and simple. Therefore when we arrived at our destination, still all smiles, she opted for simple but classy outfits. She tried on a forest green top and pants that accentuated her beauty. Some adjustments were taken. For the next few minutes, she and Tiwa, one of the brains behind the brand deliberate on styles and colours. Not done, she feasted her eyes on the array of lovely earrings displayed. Her favourite accessories, she said, are earrings.

As we left the store, Okpe couldn’t help admiring the resilience of Tiwa and her sisters who are the daughters of fashion designer Deola Sagoe.

“I’m so proud of you girls,” she told her excitedly.

We ended up having lunch in a cosy restaurant in Victoria Island where we discussed her film career and family.

Okpe knew that she wanted to be a filmmaker right from childhood. Therefore after studying Mass Communication in college, she attended St John’s University, New York between 2003 and 2006 and graduated with a degree in Film Production. She had worked on several Hollywood productions including the 2009 American romantic comedy ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’. To bridge the gap between Nollywood and Hollywood, she floated a film production company Third Mainland but has now been changed to Africa Shape.

“It’s really just about trying to shape the narrative of Africa. So I’m looking at stories like Queen Amina,” she explained.

Her lifetime heroes include the late South African President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

When asked about a living legend in Nigeria that she would love to make a biopic on, the closest her mind could pick was the literary icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka. I pressed on to see if a political figure would crop up.

“Can you see how tough it is? Because when you think of political figures, you see mostly the struggles and you wonder what exactly they have done.”

After a few minutes, she added: “I don’t know if anyone has really done the Ojukwu story. They’ve done the Biafra story but not Ojukwu. That is someone I would love to explore; why he chose the struggle. He will make an interesting subject.”

Although she is known today as a model, a TV anchor and filmmaker, the title however she would love to be recognised as is “a great mommy.”

For the mother of two who has a special bond with her children, motherhood is a blessing.

“I can’t believe I have these children.

They are amazing children. I’m so lucky with them because sometimes I’m like, what is it that I did that made Him (God) give me such good children? The way that I have envisioned my life, I could never think of it in any way without my two children. I feel like I’m nothing without them.”

SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JANUARY 16, 2022

GLITZ ENTERTAINMENT

‘Osamede’ Explores the True Essence of Leadership

Scene from Osamede stage drama’

Stories by Vanessa Obioha For three days, theatre enthusiasts thronged the MUSON Centre to feast their eyes on the stage play ‘Osamede’, a rich cultural performance set in the ancient Benin Kingdom. Sponsored by the MTN Nigeria Foundation, the ‘Osamede’ storyline is woven by the hands of time, marrying antiquity with modernity.

It begins with a narrative about a powerful woman in the ancient kingdom Aguabon who escaped captivity from enemies through her magical power ‘Ase’.

The narrative leaps forward to many years later to find the King of Aguabon, caught between his materialistic and power-drunk wife Efe who is keen on using the ‘Ase’ for selfish reasons, and palace chiefs whose advice is by no means selfless. Though humble and

compassionate, the King played by Olarenwaju Dele-Abrahams often plays into the hands of the palace chiefs. This would later cost him.

Aguabon is a developed kingdom, attracting neighbouring villages and western countries to its rich abode through its main export, a healing substance known as Psychotech, mined by a minority clan.

The heroine Osamede (Rolake Adesina) is an orphan from this minor group and sets herself apart with her thirst for knowledge. Where others think of marriage and all sorts, Osamede is occupied with the sciences, consuming every piece of knowledge she finds. But beyond her quest for knowledge, she is concerned about the plight of her people who are subjected to the harsh conditions of the mine, often leading to deaths. Attempts

New Kenyan Series ‘Single-ish’ Set for Debut A 13-part drama series ‘Singleish’ adapted from the popular South African series, ‘Unmarried’ is set to debut this month.

‘Single-ish’ follows the lives of three women in Nairobi; Sintamei (Gathoni Metua), Mariah (Minne Kariuki) and Rebecca (Faith Kibathi), as they deal with the challenges that marriage, relationships, and their careers throw at them. It also explores the strong bond of friendship that these women share, knowing that even when the world crumbles around them, they will always have each other.

Sintamie is an overachieving career-focused brilliant lawyer who seems to have the life any woman would dream of.

Then, there is Mariah, the sassy one with a taste of the

finer things in life, who uses her looks to get what she wants. Of the three, Rebecca is the humble and down-toearth housewife, and mother of two who has lived with her high school sweetheart for nine years despite not being officially married. The TV series carefully presents these women with their unique challenges.

‘Single-ish’ also stars Brian Abajah, Michael Munyoki, Lucarelli Onyango, Mburu Kimani, Lenana Kariba, Dora Nyaboke and Jacky Kaboi. Produced by Insignia Productions, with Philippe Bresson and Grace Kahaki codirecting alongside Robby Bresson, it is the second original series from Showmax and will debut on January 20, 2022.

to get the King of Aguabon to look into their dire situations are unsuccessful, even with Osamede’s uncle serving in the palace.

However, Osamede, urged by her uncle, would marry the king, but the forces of envy and greed halt her mission, resulting in a power tussle and sacrifice for love and country.

Although multi-layered with themes that address love and friendship, at the heart of Osamede is a message dipped in the true essence of leadership. While projecting the titular character Osamede as a powerful female leader, deconstructing gender bias towards political leadership, it provides a lens through which social injustices and ills can be dealt with.

But more importantly, it projects the ancient kingdom in a futuristic light through psychotech while still retaining the excessive royalty of the time with the set design and costume.

The film perfectly balances the old and new, even with the cast that includes veterans like Nobert Young, Patrick Doyle and Soibifaa Dokubo who played the villain Uzama Uso. For Lilian Olubi, the executive producer of the play, Osamede is her first foray into the art scene. An equally brilliant mind with over 20 years of Capital Markets experience, ‘Osamede’ is her way of addressing crucial topics of human rights and women’s role in social change.

Her play was among the three theatre productions sponsored by the MTN Foundation. The others are ‘Ufok Ibaan’ and ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’. Throwing its weight behind Olubi’s debut play speak volumes of MTN Nigeria Foundation’s commitment to reviving the cultural and arts space in Nigeria.

In the past few years, the foundation has made it a tradition to sponsor theatre productions across the country during the festive season which is often dominated by music concerts.

This has resulted not only in a vibrant art scene but helped in empowering and promoting young and new creative talents whose passion lies in theatre productions in retelling Nigerian stories that celebrate our diverse culture as aptly depicted by ‘Osamede’. The play was produced and directed by Ayo Ajayi.

Obi Cubana’s Wealth Still Under Scrutiny The recent arrest of bigwig socialite Obi Iyiegbu better known as Obi Cubana by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is an indication that his source of wealth is still under scrutiny.

Cubana who was known to a few persons in the social scene became the talk of the town last year when he threw a lavish funeral for his late mother in his hometown Oba in Anambra State. The ceremony pooled celebrities from different sectors where an obscene contest of riches was gleefully displayed. Naira notes were stacked, trampled upon, thrown around in such a manner that many began to wish the fresh mints would have wings and locate their pockets. With about 400 cows donated, the funeral turned into an idolatrous display of money.

Ever since the soiree, Cubana who runs nightclubs and other businesses has become a person of interest. Last November, he was detained for three days

Obi Cubana

by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as part of investigations into alleged money laundering, tax fraud and other financial crimes.

The latest net he found himself in is the NDLEA who reportedly grilled him last Thursday for alleged drug links. He was released on bail and is expected to return for further investigation.

At this rate of interrogations, one wonders if Cubana would ever enjoy the peace of mind he had when he maintained a low profile again.

First Tube Awards Holds This Year

Cast of Single-ish

The television industry is about to get the spotlight as preparations for the firstever Tube Awards gather steam. From all indications, the awards solely dedicated to the TV industry in Nigeria, and Africa at large may have its maiden edition this year.

Already, an unveiling is scheduled for February 13, 2022, at Eko Hotels and Suites where stakeholders and practitioners in the sight and sound medium will be intimated on the peculiarities of the award. The Board of Trustees of the award will also be revealed at the private event.

Tube Awards, named after the historical term of television, has been in the making for over two years. It is a collective product of like-minded individuals with a keen interest in revolutionising the TV industry through a reputable reward system.

According to veteran filmmaker Fidelis Duker, Tube Awards seeks to reward

excellence in television.

“We found out that one industry that has not been properly positioned in terms of rewarding excellence on the continent is television. Most national and continental awards have just one category for television.

We felt there was a need to create an authentic continental award for television.”

The awards is poised to become the Emmys of Africa, recognising and rewarding artistic and technical skills in the TV industry. With the evolution of TV viewing, the awards will recognise both cable, digital and terrestrial television works.

Each submitted work will be critically assessed by seasoned judges with a rounded understanding of the art and business of television productions.

Although no official date has been revealed, the Awards is likely to be held in the last quarter of 2022.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16 , 2022

INTERNATIONAL Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s Cow Diplomacy: Rationes Decidendi and Implications for True Federalism

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f there is anyone truly struggling for a true federal system in Nigeria of today, it is undoubtedly Arakunrin Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, the Executive Governor of the Sunshine State, Ondo.

He reportedly, on Monday, January 10, 2022, advised the Southwest to stop eating beef, which is meat from cattle, because the region is losing about N2.5 bn to the consumption of beef.

TheadvicewasgiventhroughhisSpecialAdviseronAgriculture, Mr. Akin Olotu, during a meeting with some stakeholders in Akure. As explained by Mr. Olotu,‘the President said grow what you eat and eat what you grow. I have been a serious advocate and I am re-emphasizing it, please let us use chicken for our ceremonies.’More important, Mr. has it that‘there is a N2.5bn beef market in the southwest every day. It means every day in the southwest, we send the sum of N2.5bn out of the Southwest. That is the bedrock of poverty in the region.’ And perhaps most significantly, Mr. Olotu warned that ‘we have a region that is not retaining money. Don’t let any politician tell you any abracadabra, if we don’t reverse that trend, we will continue to remain on the same spot.’

From the foregoing, there are five apparent reasons for the advice.

The Ondo Governor has considered that the logic of eating what you grow as espoused by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), was not only good, but should also be applicable in the Southwest region, and particularly in Ondo State.

This is the first rationale. Secondly, Governor Akeredolu believes that eating white meat, broilers, is quite healthier than eating cattle meat. Put differently, emphasis is placed on living a healthier life.The third reason is the economic consideration: how to retain the N2.5 bn that is being exported outside of the region on daily basis. Fourthly, there is the need to avoid staying on the same spot, living in poverty for no good reasons. Fifthly, not eating cattle beef has the potential to enhance increased productivity in chicken farming.

Without any whiff of doubt, Governor Akeredolu could not have been more correct. The policy is economically poverty alleviating in conception, politically self-protecting in design, strategically patriotic in the quest for true federalism, and very thought-provoking in outcome. Consequently, contrary to the belief of Dr. Reuben Abati that only‘non-serious’people can support the policy (vide the Arise News TV Morning Show of last Monday 10th January), I do support the policy and from a perspective of seriousness of purpose, I posit that the policy has the potential to help enthrone true federalism in Nigeria, and by so doing, also sustaining national unity.Thus, Governor Akeredolu is another true federalism activist, using the tool of cow diplomacy to achieve it.

Akeredolu

Understanding the Rationes Decidendi Rationes Decidendi, a Latin word, is a resultant from ratiocination which is an act of or process of reasoning. Ratione (or ratio) decidendi is simple the reason for taking a decision. Interrogatively put, what informedtheadviceonpromotingchickenfarminginthesouthwestern region of Nigeria to the detriment of importation of cattle beef? Let us ratiocinate a bit here and the see the great extent to which Governor Akeredolu’s cow diplomacy can solve the many problems of national insecurity, galloping corruption and enthroning a vibrant economy.

First, Akeredolu’s advice is an indirect, if not a direct, response to PMB’s alleged agenda of Fulanisation and Islamisation. From various perspectives, PMB has not shown much interest in addressing the concerns of people who complain about the criminal mistreatment of farmers whose farms and produce are destroyed by the Fulani herders and their cattle. Law enforcement agents are always reported to be fearful of arresting or prosecuting any erring Fulani herders who reportedly rape, maim and even kill their victims.

In this regard, it is important to note that the Ondo State government is not opposed to cattle rearing or to Fulani herdsmen per se. Its position is that Fulani herdsmen need not live in the forests where it is rightly believed to be a terra cognita for kidnapping and other anti-society activities. The sponsors of the herdsmen argue that forests, bushes, etc., belong to the Federal Government, and therefore to all people of Nigeria. In other words, they believe that there is terra nullius (land not belonging to anyone) in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

And true enough, PMB has not helped matters in any good way.

He came up with different policy directives that divide, rather than uniting.The May 2019 Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) Settlement policy is one case in point. As told by Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to PMB on Media and Publicity, the policy is‘to curb open grazing of animals that continue to pose security threats to farmers and herders. The overall benefit to the nation includes a drastic reduction in conflicts between herders and farmers, a boost in animal protection complete with a value chain that will increase the quality and hygiene of livestock in terms of beef and milk production, increased quality of feeding and access

to animal care and private sector participation in commercial pasture production by way of investments.

Other gains are job creation, access to credit facilities, security for pastoral families and curtailment of cattle rustling.’

For this purpose, the Federal Government gazetted lands in all the 36 States of the country. Some States, 12, accepted to give land for the purpose.The Federal Government is reportedly thinking of establishing cattle markets, have animal farmers and cattle herders live in the RUGA settlements, which are to have adequate basic amenities (schools, hospitals, road networks, vet clinics, markets, and manufacturing entities), 2000 jobs are to be provided. However, some states, particularly the southern States, kicked against it, believing that the policy implies the forceful acquisition of state land for private businesses.

In the words of Rotimi Akeredolu, for example,‘a lot of our land is already earmarked for forest reserves.The Federal Government must understand why we need to be strategic in our decision making.

We implore the Federal Government to revisit the proposal based on feedback from the different States and act accordingly.’Governor Akeredolu is the Chairman of the Southern Nigeria Governors’Forum.

When the RUGA agenda appears to be strongly resisted in the south of the country, PMB came up with another strategy of the colonial grazing routes, which has been overtaken by the 1978 Land Use Act. This fresh attempt also generated another heated controversy.

In the eyes of the public, the whole exercise is nothing more than to grab land for the Fulani who are believed, rightly or wrongly, not to own land.

They came to settle in Nigeria where all lands were already titled.

Indeed, many opponents truly saw the RUGA policy as an instrument of Fulanisation, but PMB’s response to the opposition was very political and subjective as evidenced in the evaluation of government’s arguments of the opponents of the policy: ‘mostly, these are state leaders that have no explanation to offer their people for continued non-payment of workers’salaries.’Why should the non- payment of salaries be raised by PMB when the state governments are complaining about the brutalities of the Fulani herdsmen?

When the southern Governors decided not to concede any land

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Thirdly, Akeredolu’s cow diplomacy lays a foundation for true federalism. Southwest Nigeria initially considers true federalism to mean power shift from the centre or making the centre weak and the constituent States strong. This requires political restructuring. For the Southeast, true federalism is putting an end to politico-economic marginalization of the Igbo people who complain about the lopsidedness in the allocation of national resources and their non-integration in the country’s mainstream politics since 1970, a consideration that has prompted the establishment of anti-Nigeria movements. As for the South-south region, true federalism is about resource control.

It is argued that every constitutive State of Nigeria has the absolute right of control over its resources and the responsibility of paying taxes to fund federal development projects. Whether the North believes in true federalism is arguable. What is evident is that it does not currently support it. It supports the principles of Federal Character, the Quota System in political governance as a way of balancing the conflicting interests. Thus, the suggestion of Dr. Dele Babalola of the Baze University, Abuja, that ‘Nigeria’s fiscal federalism should emphasize revenue generation rather than revenue distribution, as this would ensure fiscal viability of the States’ is apt. Akeredolu’s cow diplomacy is about revenue generation aimed at fiscal viability and therefore cannot be rightly faulted.

based on the subsisting Land Use Act and federalism, the issue became a south versus north problem.The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El Rufai, said in a press interview that Governor Akeredolu made a law that he would not be able to implement and that he was only politicizing the question of open grazing for nothing. Governor Akeredolu responded that it was not politics but a policy of not allowing the destruction of his people and their farmlands. He made it clear that enforcement of the law on non-open grazing was already a thing of the past and that whoever dares to destroy any farmland would be appropriately dealt with, made to pay fine. And if another offence is committed thereafter, the offender would go to jail.

The North-South controversy over cattle open-grazing became complex with the revelation by Governor El Rufai that he would be constructing a mega ranch at a cost of about N10bn and that N7.5 bn of the amount would be provided by the CBN as assistance. The response of Governor Akeredolu was swift: good development. But he asked: how many States have that opportunity of assistance?This raises the general suspicion of favouring some people to the neglect of others. Governor Akeredolu’s insistence was and still is the need for fairness, equity, and justice as basis of political governance and national unity. In this regard, he suggested the need to fund development projects from the Sovereign Wealth Fund rather than from the NNPC which is the making of the Federal Government and over which the Federal Government has enormous influence.

The essence of the foregoing is the allegation of a Fulanisation agenda by the PMB.This allegation has been made by many notable Nigerian leaders, including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria. GeneralTheophilus Danjuma accused the Nigerian military of aiding and abetting the insurgents. PMB himself is on record to have asked foreigners residing in Nigeria illegally to regularize their stay within six months. The expectation of the people of Nigeria is sanction. The people’s belief is to enable the inflow of Fulanis from the West and Central Africa regions into Nigeria.

Apart from the issue of Fulanisation, there is the problematic of federalism and non-negotiability and indissolubility of Nigeria within the framework of Islamisation. The frequent sermon of PMB is that national unity is not negotiable because the 1999 Constitution as amended so provides.The opponents of the Constitution argue that the Constitution is, at best, a fraud, saying that it is nothing more than a military constitution. But true enough, PMB is not on record to be doing anything concrete and convincing about nation-building and unity. In fact, his mantra by way of action, is promotion of nepotism.

He promotes it flagrantly without regrets, thus strengthening the people’s belief in a Fulanisation agenda.

More disturbingly is the belief in the belief in an Islamisation agenda.

Muammar Gaddafi of Libya made it crystal clear before he was killed that there would not be peace and enduring security in Nigeria unless Nigeria is partitioned into Muslim North and Christian South.The PMB administration only complained about the suggestion, invited the Libyan plenipotentiary to Nigeria to clarify, but Government has not made any attempt to investigate why such suggestion was made.

Implications forTrue Federalism Against the foregoing ratio decidendi, the need for any constitutive State of Nigeria to seek self- survival, selfprojection, self-confidence, and seek economic vibrancy cannot but be natural. It is a desideratum and should be commended considering the country’s apparent system of injustice, unfairness, inequity and conscious nepotistic PMB administration. Akeredolu’s cow diplomacy is necessary to serve as a catalytic agent of self-improvement, employment creation and increased revenue generation, but the strategy also has its implications, especially for the source of the cattle beef, the North.

The quest for true federalism became more pronounced in 1996 with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s intervention (vide Bola A. Akinterinwa, ed., Bola AhmedTinubu and the Struggle forTrue Federalism, Ibadan, Vantage Publishers, 2000, 320 pp.), and particularly as from 1999, when the country returned to civilian rule. When most African countries acceded to national and international sovereignty in the 1960s, they adopted federalism in their national Constitutions, but later began to dismantle their federal systems, contrary to Lord Acton who has argued that federalism is the most efficacious and congenial of all checks on democracy.

As explained by Professor Ben Nwabueze, a leading constitutional lawyer, a true federal system cannot be well operated because of four factors: African rulers’ambition for centralized and personalized power; victimization and oppression of political opponents; alleged undermining effect of federalism on national unity and development; and structural defects (vide his Constitutional Democracy in Africa, Volume 4, Ibadan, Spectrum Books Ltd., 2004, p. 218). In this regard, Nigeria is not an exception. This is one major rationale for the struggle for true federalism, especially following the end of Nigeria’s 1967- 1970 war. Additionally, with the oppression of political opponents and peaceful protesters, yet to be thrown into the garbage of history, there is no way every effort at fighting for the enthronement of a true federal system will not be made. It is in this context that Governor Akeredolu’s cow diplomacy should be explained and understood, and that the implications should also be investigated.

By cow diplomacy, we simply mean the use of diplomatic tact to contain, on the one hand, the RUGA-driven Fulanisation agenda, as well as contain the nepotism-driven Islamisation dream in reaction to Libya’s suggestion of a needed partitioning of Nigeria as the solution for enduring peace in Nigeria, on the other. Cow diplomacy therefore has the potential to compel an alternative thinking at the level of not only the herders, but also their sponsors.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JANUARY 16 2022

HighLife

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Tajudeen Fola Adeola: One of the Pillars of Modern Banking Hits 68 There are a few figures in Nigeria that have managed to graft their names onto the tree of legendary corporate history. As one of the cofounders of Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC, it is only natural for Tajudeen Fola Adeola to have his name made into a branch on the aforementioned tree. This branch continues to get thicker as years roll by, which is very obvious now that Adeola has clocked 68.

Contrary to popular opinions about ageing, Adeola’s momentum is no less grand at 68 than at 50. The man’s vision has not grown dim, nor have his fingers that are used to stroking his chin in a way that only progressive thinkers can understand grown slacker. At 68, it can only be said of Adeola that he shoots and he scores; he sets out and he soars; he plans and he expands.

Adeola’s figure can be seen on the marble foundations that are representative of modern banking in Nigeria. Although this sculpture began

to take shape as early as the late ’80s, it was not until a few years later that it came to mirror the confident person of Adeola.

His genius flashed in the limelight when he joined hands with Tayo Aderinokun to build the pillars of what came to be GTBank. For the first 12 years, Adeola served as the bank’s MD/ CEO, helping to extend the bank’s area of operation to several other African countries.

When he retired from the position in 2002, he was ready to shake the corporate world. And indeed, he has. Too many private agencies and public organisations bear witness to Adeola’s extensive grasp of the business world. The awards to this effect are more in number than some people in the same sphere of life can dare to dream of.

Indeed, at 68, Adeola still cuts the image of a man of progress, a man of business, and a man of the banking hall.

50 is the Charm: Top Politicians and Socialites Mingle with Pleasure as Lagos Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, Throws Birthday Bash in Lagos Dabiri-Erewa

Inspiring Mileage of Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa There is too much to say about Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa. To this effect, she blends right in with the female warriors of old, all of whom share a fearlessness no less startling like that of lionesses, and intelligence no less awe-inducing than that of the old philosophers. At a time when others are complaining that Nigeria is falling behind on every front, Dabiri-Erewa continues to take long strides in the pursuit of her dreams.

When Dabiri-Erewa rose to power as the Chairman/CEO of Nigeria in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), she made a few promises. She stated that she would pour her resources into more than protecting Nigerians in the diaspora from the unfairness characteristic of living in a foreign land. She promised to improve the financial conditions of these Nigerians abroad, the ones at home, as well as the economic situation of the country as a whole. A few days ago, Dabiri-Erewa showed herself to be a person of her word.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of a private sector investment window for Nigerians abroad. With this investment option called the Nigerian Diaspora Investment Trust Fund, these Nigerians will be able to directly participate in the growth of the Nigerian economy by investing in the many opportunities back home.

As President Buhari noted, this opportunity is a big deal since it allows Nigerians home and abroad to grow the economy together. Thanks to DabiriErewa and her NiDCOM, distance will no longer be a barrier for Nigerians in the diaspora who are worried for their homeland. Moreover, the more the nation’s economy improves, the better its global ranking. In the same way, those in the diaspora will be treated much better.

Of course, all of this is because Dabiri-Erewa is a person of progressive thought. Since she arrived at NiDCOM, it has been one good news after another.

Even though she has only spent three years at the agency, few people remember NiDCOM without the fierceness and quick responsiveness of Dabiri-Erewa.

This is inspiring indeed. As DabiriErewa has made a practice of outdoing herself every time, hers is a tale better told with numbers and graphs.

Muri-Okunola

A person who dares to leap into the sea of stars has neither fear nor veneration for the tenets of gravity and flight. When such people are women, their flight is drawn out, a feast for the mind and imagination, and a fuel for ambition.

This is exactly what is happening now that Aisha Ahmad, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has climbed even higher on the steps of self-improvement and service.

A few days ago, Ahmad was announced as one of three individuals to serve the country as Directors of the Nigeria Commodities Exchange (NCX) Plc. Apart from Ahmad, the stakeholders of the NCX also appointed Mr. Yusuf Yila and Dr. Angela Sere-Ejembi. Over these two, Ahmad was appointed as the Chairman of the board.

Those who have adherently followed the news would recall that the NCX was heavily featured in the news early last year due to rumours of restructuring. It seemed as if CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele had higher expectations for the agency. And this restructuring worked, as some analysts have insisted. Even so, Ahmad’s

There are people and there are people.

There are those whose march of progress is punctuated by devious schemes from jealous peers and rivals. Then there are those like Hakeem Muri-Okunola (HMO) who seem to have a magical handbook about Reaching the Top Amidst the Cheers of Friends and Foes.

This point was made all the more obvious a few days ago as HMO celebrated his 50th birthday.

For some high-ranking people that clock 50 in Lagos, half of the ups-and-ups of the society celebrated whereas the other half shake their heads derisively. The same is true for the masses. But in the case of HMO, there was significantly more excitement at the golden age of the bespectacled Head of Service than any subtle gesture of disrespect.

And observant folks can see why.

To avoid a repetition of the quiet celebration of his 49th birthday, the relatives and friends of HMO elected to have

Woman at the Top: Encomiums as Aisha Ahmad Becomes Chairman Commodities Exchange

Ahmad

Adeola

something relatively louder on his 50th. As HMO’s birthday (January 7) happened to fall on the weekend, the bash was pushed to Saturday to allow more people to fly in from different parts of the country.

The event was eventually held at the Lagos Polo Club, Ikoyi. Unsurprisingly, the guest list was flooded with ‘ordinary’ people accompanying the crème de la crème of Nigeria’s society. The latter category included high-ranking government officials like Lagos State’s number one person, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as well as traditional leaders like Oba Saheed Elegushi.

For someone with such an extraordinary network of friends, HMO is unvaryingly humble. Even with his impressive educational and career profile, the bespectacled man still carries himself as a young man at ease with himself and his situation. This is why the odd rumour of his fixing an eye on the Lagos State governorship was thrown out the window without a second glance.

At 50, HMO is the perfect anything. He remains the Mr. Fix-It for the Lagos State government and one of the most superstars of public office for those younger than him.

chairmanship is likely the best thing to happen to the agency since it was first incorporated as a Stock Exchange in 1998.

To be NCX Chairman is no small deal.

However, this ought to be a walk in the park for someone of Ahmad’s status. For the last three years, Ahmad has drawn on her 20plus years of experience at the corporate corridor to make a name for herself at CBN. Her distinction at the post is further polished by how she has continued to succeed at the workplace since her time at Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, and many others with their logos on the wall of awards in her home.

Ahmad’s label as a corporate executive and finance expert is uncontested, and her educational qualifications are always up there with her job descriptions.

All in all, the NCX is the latest place with markings of brilliance, thanks to Ahmad. It truly is the start of something new for the agency.

Dr. Babatunde Okewale: The Man Who Tamed the Odds, Adds Another Year Nigeria is blessed. There are so many geniuses and people of historic distinction that have popped out of the country, so it is difficult to stand out in any endeavour. But Babatunde Okewale, the man who straddles the medical field, the media, the social field, and the humanitarian field, has no problem being notable. As he added another year a few days ago, people were once again reminded that Nigeria has much to offer to the rest of the world.

The relatives and friends of Okewale took time out to celebrate him on his birthday, January 8.

Amidst the celebratory cheers, news channels and blogs all over the country joined the train. It was a special day that was inadvertently dedicated to a special man. Of course, this was not altogether surprising. Okewale has spent a considerable amount of his life attempting to improve the lives of other people. It is only natural that others recognise this and return the gesture.

When one mentions Okewale, what comes to mind is fertility and women’s health. This is because

of Okewale’s occupation as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. However, the fiery reputation that Okewale has earned among both noble and common people comes from his dedication to a vision: to see women able to conceive, bear, and take care of their children.

Following this dream, Okewale established St. Ives Clinic sometime in 1996. The clinic has long become something of a holy land for conception, thanks to Okewale’s many years of hard work. The records of his accomplishment on this front are enough to fill the Pacific, with the births of ‘miraculous’ babies numbering in their thousands.

Apart from his collared job, Okewale has also made a name for himself as the founder of WFM 91.7, the first radio station for women and families in Nigeria. Then there is his book, The Art of Making Babies, which continues to be a healthy read for many people. There is also his foundation through which he has shown himself to be a

Okewale

man of deep emotions, with compassion and empathy at the top of the list.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JANUARY 16 2022

HIGHLIFE American poet Langston Hughes asked, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet?” After many decades, very few people have been able to answer these questions.

Even so, everybody knows what happens to a dream when the dreamer dies—the dream dies with them. Gone with former Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Alao-Akala, are his dreams.

A few days ago, the hearts of prominent Nigerians everywhere shook on account of the news of Alao-Akala’s demise. People scampered here and there to verify the news, many certain that it was an ugly rumour that ought to be quenched by legal action. Alas, a few hours later, it was confirmed and the heart of the Oyo people broke.

According to reports from insiders, the late Alao-Akala had not been in good health for quite some time. Nevertheless, very few people were aware of his ailment, which is

Alao-Akala Unsuccessful Dreams?

Late Alao-Akala.

why it was so difficult to believe that he had passed on. Although he was 71 when he died, many people still think that he had much to offer the All Progressives Congress (APC), his native Oyo State, and Nigeria in general.

In truth, these people are not wrong.

Not too long ago, it was reported that AlaoAkala was training his son, Olamiju, to follow in his footsteps. The now-late former Oyo Governor allegedly wanted Olamiju to begin serving Oyo State as a member of the House of Representatives. Furthermore, because of Olamiju’s business acumen, onlookers believed that he stood a chance at actualizing his father’s dream. Has all that gone to smoke? Only time will tell.

So, to Hughes’s question, we do not know what happens to a dream deferred.

But Alao-Akala’s dream is forever broken because of his death.

New Twist Between Oyetola and Aregbesola There are pairs in this world that are known for remarkable things: Wilbur and Orville Wright for their work on powered aircraft; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar for solidifying the foundations of democratic elections in Nigeria; and Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola and his predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for their constant—but largely unspoken—feud. Recently, someone with the clout to bring an end to their quarrel was reported to have washed his hands off.

This is the reason for the renewed interest in the Oyetola-Aregbesola fiasco.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the person rumoured to have washed his hands off the duo of Oyetola and Aregbesola.

Whether it is because of the 2023 presidential race or because he has simply grown tired, the story is that Tinubu will no longer host any reconciliatory meeting.

The consequences of this rumour, should it be true, are vague but serious.

For those who have followed the story of Oyetola and Aregbesola, nothing should come as a surprise anymore. Before Oyetola became

Osun State’s number one citizen in 2018, he was Aregbesola’s highly respected Chief of Staff.

While in this position, no report ever stated that Aregbesola and Oyetola exchanged words in disagreement. They were perfect friends, happy peoplewithasharedworldviewofserviceandsituation.

Then Aregbesola handed over his mantle to Oyetola,andthingstookaturnfortheworse.

Many analysts have attempted to theorise the cause of their feud. Some say that Aregbesola was too forceful after Oyetola took over; that he attempted to make his son, Kabiru, Oyetola’s Chief of Staff, and the new governor would have none of that. Others say that it was Oyetola that started raising his shoulders, a gesture towards which Aregbesola held no affection. Whatever the case, the issue has grown from sideways glances to reported attempts to political careers.

Now that Tinubu has reportedly removed himself from the equation, what will happen next? 2022 is around the corner, so will Oyetola bend the knee to Aregbesola to win his support?

Will Aregbesola insist on Oyetola getting out of the governorship position after only one term?

Time will tell.

Saraki

Aregbesola

Who is After Senator Olamilekan Adeola?

Adeola

Adeola

When one considers the amount of damage that the media can wreak on a person’s image, one thinks long and hard before becoming a public person, celebrity, or whatever else sits within the limelight of the paparazzi. This is a lesson that Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (better known as Yayi) has learnt the hard way. Others started 2022 with contracts awaiting their signatures. Yayi had a scandal thrown at him.

Excluding the case of Desmond Elliot who became a politician after a good run acting in home movies, it is not very often that the two lines—politics and Nollywood—cross. Recently, however, Yayi has been forced into the rare role of a politician who has become bedfellows with a Nollywood actress. And the

consequences are nothing to laugh at.

Reacting against these rumours, many people close to the Senator have declared the reports as false. According to them, such reports are coming from defeated rivals of Yayi who have nothing better to do but cook up unsavoury tales. Despite the denials, many people have gleefully begun to run with the tale, probably because of something they don’t like about Yayi or the actress in question.

That is another interesting aspect of the story—the actress.

All in all, there is something very fishy about the whole narrative. It looks as if someone is hiding in the background and throwing dry sticks at Yayi’s flames.

Otunba Timehin Adelegbe: Lawmaker with a Difference

The heart of a true legislator is always with the people. This is the observation that many analysts have made about the lawmaker representing Owo/Ose Federal Constituency in Ondo State, the cheerful personality that is Otunba Timehin Adelegbe.

Since rising to the call of the people, Adelegbe has not once drawn bad press to himself. Instead, every time his name is mentioned in the papers, there is a new project or empowerment programme that he has managed to commandeer all by himself.

Ondo State is special in many ways.

However, the presence of people like Otunba Adelegbe, people who would surrender their time and strength for their constituents, distinguish the state even further. With Adelegbe still pushing to raise the standards of life and living in Owo/Ose alone, it is only a matter of time before the winds of progress reach the other ends of the State, bringing with them the bounty that is the Adelegbe-in charge and charity.

Given the task to chart Adelegbe’s contributions, since he began representing

Adelegbe

Owo/Ose Federal Constituency, any analyst would have to request the assistance of their associates. This is because Adelegbe’s could be described in two words—onerously endless.

Credible news sites and blogs are already replete with the results of Adelegbe’s work.

However, a few ones are too recent to have been captured in this vast catalogue. One of these projects is the newly built Ifon Town Event Hall. This is a project that stood out in Adelegbe’s list of campaign promises. Upon completion, an indigene of Ifon town was reported as declaring that it will be a lasting legacy that many will try to outdo but fail.

There is also the Ogbese/Okeluse Bridge that has been abandoned for donkey’s years.

However, after one properly compiled report on the project was delivered to Adelegbe’s table and the bridge is now on its way to completion. What about the six-block classroom project in Okeluse Grammar School that Adelegbe also set in motion? In a few weeks, it will also be completed and be recorded as another milestone for Adelegbe and his happy people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised the heads of Nigerians everywhere with an appointment. According to WHO’s notes following the appointment, the person in the limelight, the wife of former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Toyin, is deserving of all such accolades.

Some days ago, WHO appointed Toyin as the WHO Foundation Ambassador for Global Health.

This appointment was the global organisation’s recognition of Toyin’s determined and unstinting work in the area of health and empowerment of African women and children.

According to Anil Soni, CEO of WHO Foundation, the effects of Toyin’s decades of work cannot be overlooked. So, in line with the maxim that the best reward for good work is more work, WHO decided to give Toyin a larger platform to do her work. So, as she steps into the position of the WHO Foundation Ambassador for Global Health, it seems as if she was made for this.

There is an old story about a young child who wanted to outrun his peers in a marathon.

While practising, he saw an old man who told him, “Keep at it. Stay true to yourself and pursue your dreams. In time, you will succeed.” It is as if that young chap was Toyin, although she seems to have personally dragged out wisdom and understanding about success from her experiences and those of others. Considering her many endeavours and accomplishments in the area of women and adolescent health, this is as it should be.

For donkey’s years, Toyin has committed her time and efforts to the pursuit of health. Even before this appointment, she was hailed as the number one global health advocate in Nigeria.

Furthermore, with the platform she founded and presides over, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Toyin has proved time and again that she is worthy of this title.

Now that WHO, the number one advocate for global health in the world, has recognized her worth, what else is there to say?

This is truly the apex of honours for Toyin. Then again, it is fitting.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾JANUARY 16 2022

LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

Ernest Shonekan: Came in Peace, Left in Peace

Late Shonekan

AHMED BOLA TINUBU: MR. PRESIDENT, I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT It has been reported that ‘our’ candidate has gone to the President to inform him of his intention to vie for the position of President of our Federal Republic. This has been the worse kept secret in the land.

The other day, I was with one of his main men eating Afang at the sweet Senator Ita Giwa’s Restaurant and in between Afang and some sweet snails, I dropped the question, ‘Bro, what is the situation with your principal’s ambition?

He dropped the morsel of Fufu and looked at me squarely in the eye and said, ‘We are coming out and we are very confident we will win it’. I say, ‘My brother swallow your ‘okele’ before the thing choke you. Na simple question I ask so I no understand this red eye o.’

Lord Tinubu has received some flak from a lot of quarters for going to tell the president of this his ambition. Me, I do not see anything wrong in that o.

For those of you, who are cute students of history, you will remember that IBB statement, ‘We do not know those who will replace us but we certainly know those who will not.’.So, you now see why Baba had to enter night bus, wear his Sunday best, brush his teeth and go

Tinubu

The news of his passing was quite shocking. Sadly, this was one statesman that I never got to meet. The closest was me going for a written test at their UAC in Lagos and failing the thing woefully. But as I no dey gree, I wrote him a passionate letter explaining why I failed and telling him that their refusal to employ me as a result of this ‘yeye’ aptitude test was their loss.

Mbok, somehow the chief saw the letter and got UAC to send for me and took me to their guest house in Ikoyi and for five days, they tutored me and coached me to retake the test. My people so much confidence was placed on me by Chief Shonekan, they gave me food, transport fare and all of that. Finally, I failed again.

This time, I just accepted my fate and ‘carry my wahala go back to Shomolu’.

Not far from then, he was announced

‘something’ of the Interim Government. He looked and felt like fish out of water. For he wasn’t cut for the throat and treacherous minefield that was military politics. Throwing such a distinguished and accomplished man into the murky waters that Abacha, IBB and Gado Nasko were swimming was really terrible.

He was not comfortable. From my black and white TV, I will be watching him giving speeches without his soul being there. He will be doing like he is looking behind his back, hoping that the googled one will not just strangle him.

I pitied him. He did his best under the circumstances. He was a man of dignity, passionate about this country and for a fleeting moment there, must have thought that these Draculas in

uniform would at least allow the nation be.

‘Whosai’, the court verdict came and Abacha did the inevitable and threw the country into an abyss of terror, corruption and a reign of perfidy.

Chief came back to Lagos to a quiet life. A sweet life of restitution and rest.

At least the vampires did not take his life or throw him into jail like they had done to those like him in the past.

Today, we have lost him physically, but his legacy remains intact and Nigeria will continue to cherish the quiet man who came in quietly and left quietly.

To his son my friend, Yinka, let me send a huge Duke of Shomolu consolation to you. Help send to the rest of the family. You guys truly gave Nigeria a great one. Well-done.

to Aso Rock to tell the skinny one of his ambitions before we start to see another June 12.

Well, I love excitement. I love drama and I love a good fight. We are getting there. Asiwaju has finally thrown his hat into the ring. Oya, let the games begin. I wish him luck and Godspeed in this journey. God will protect him and most of all, ‘like they have said in the Bible, in Revelation 20 vs 25,26 and 28 – if thou ownest Nigeria, thou will surely getteth it. Thank you.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI: I LIKE YOU Me I like you. Don’t mind that I used to yab you and say all sort of terrible things about you. The truth is that I really like the way you look unruffled despite all that is going on.

The other day one person from the EFCC called me and asked me to report in their office. My Lord, I lost weight o. I didn’t get an erection for the period. Fear enveloped me. I called the whole world to please go ahead and beg them before I reach there. If you see me, you will know that something was the matter with me.

But you, you are a cool cucumber. The whole place can go to blazes, you will still be calm and unruffled. Baba, you need to take us on a Masterclass in keeping calm in turbulence.

That is how, I was watching your recent TV Interview with two ‘small’ journalists from Channels TV. That Seun, me I don’t like him o. He was

just doing any how like he was the one that sent you to primary school, talk less of the secondary school that we are still looking for the certificate.

He sat there in his cheap suit and afro hair and he was asking questions like he is the only one that is paying tax?

How much tax is he paying sef that he will be asking you that kind questions and be doing face like ‘monkey’ when you did not answer well.

Did he fight civil war? Was he there in 1978 when how many billions miss? How many elections has he lost? Has Tinubu come to wake him at 4a.m. to tell him about one yeye presidential ambition?

After now they will all be shouting, ‘Buhari is not a democrat.’ Can he sit down like that and cross his leg and be asking Governor Udom of Akwa Ibom question like that without being on his knees? Doesn’t he know that in Akwa Ibom you cannot even wear red tie, because the Governor as a Zenith Bank Alumnus is always in Red? Lord, I liked your composure. The fact that I wasn’t understanding some of your responses didn’t matter, but your freshness and that slippers got me. You know I am a sucker for slippers.

You looked quite handsome, almost like them put lipstick on your lips. Kai, don’t come near my side chick o baba Buhari.

I will miss you when you finally leave.

You have tried for Nigeria. Since 1963.

He don do. You truly deserve rest.

ALAO AKALA: TRULY THE END OF AN ERA You know I told you guys last week that I have a strong affinity with Oyo State especially Ibadan. So, things concern me in that area.

The news of the passing of former Governor on the same day 16 years later after he took power from Ladoja was striking.

He was different. Brash and confident maybe from his police background, he took on opponents’ by the horn and didn’t ‘send.’

He remained relevant till the end and even tried some comeback at some point. Anyways, that has gone now. We will continue to cherish his contributions. He was truly an enigmatic personality. Sleep well my Lord.

Buhari

Late Alao-Akala

Obasanjo

OBASANJO, I STAND WITH CLARK My Lord had made the statement which although legally correct came out without tact and insensitive especially if you consider the delicate situation of the country viz a viz the fight for restructuring.

My brother Ken Etete had called me immediately and screamed over the phone, ‘Edgar, did you just hear what Obasanjo just said? I am not coming for the retreat again. I said, ‘aghhhhhh’. What did he say o.

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LOUD WHISPERS I rushed to go and read the statement and saw that Chief Obasanjo had said that no ethnic grouping had control of the resources but everything was domiciled with the federal government.

My brother, I weak. Na the one wey concern me we will look na. This is me organising a retreat where over 60 emerging Leaders have all accepted to spend a weekend with the very influential Statesman and see what he just said.

Not surprisingly, one or two people from the Niger Delta pulled back in protest asking for a refund – that one I say they will have to involve EFCC, DSS, NIA and Interpol because I will never do that one. We will be in court till my great grandchild’s naming ceremony. Lol Anyway, Chief Clark came out firing and Chief Adebanjo also jumped in and with spittle everywhere dropped the gauntlet.

For me, it is not every time you just say the truth just like that not especially when I am doing something like this retreat. Chief Obasanjo by now should know about timing. It is not every time, you will just say your mind na. This baba want to kill me na.

You should be asking, who it will affect, is there anybody doing a project that this statement will affect?

Get someone to call me and ask if there is any play or something coming up and then you will now choose your words and talk very gently.

Baba please don’t bankrupt me o.

You know I have done your play and people are seeing me as your close paddy and I cannot be the grass in any elephant fight.

You know I am going to Warri to do a play on the Itsekiri nation next easter, don’t go and use your own to do my own.

Please Chief Clark, the oil on your land is your own. Go and take it, nothing will happen. Even all the Afang in Akwa Ibom is our own.

What is federal government, mbok what is even a federation? Please go and take your oil o make we rest.

ORJI KALU: IN PERSON AND IN POCKET This was a phrase credited to Chief Orji Kalu in response to Tinubu’s declaration. In pushing his own position, he was said to have said that he will fight for the Presidency against Tinubu’s candidacy in person and in pocket. Whatever that means.

Let me state it here very categorically.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but me I am personally tired of this Chief Kalu. His politics are not in sync, his outlook not synergistic with the new Nigeria that we are trying to build and his understanding of the sensitivity of the Nigerian state as presently configured, is suspicious.

Throwing the ethnic card in his statement, that the South-east was ripe fell flat. Yes, the South-east is ripe and I am in very strong support of this position but not with your type of ‘jangrova’ candidacy. He is old, fermented and dried out with really nothing to offer.

We are looking for freshness. Not perfection, but freshness. Youth, a different angle in approach and a pan Nigerian candidate that will galvanise the forces brimming for true and responsive change.

Where Kalu is appearing in this description, I am not seeing. Bro, go and concentrate on the EFCC matter that in my estimation, should be your concern and not this distraction that you are trying to throw in.

Igbo Nation ‘whereforthe’ are thy

TOKE MAKINWA: LOOK NO FURTHER They have reported that this beauty’s 2022 new year resolution includes amongst others to be found by someone’s son for a lot of sex.

Please Ms. Makinwa, you have found me. I can be found around Shomolu infact on Bajulaiye road near the canal. Check on top of the page and you will see my number.

You don’t have to call me, just flash and I’ll come running to you. Forget that at 52, you will be thinking that I am not at my best. I am an afang eating-porn loving - Akwa Ibom man according to my oga -Ayo Aderinwale who described me like that.

I have years of cognate experience, where I have worked and

displayed uncommon skills in these things. I am tireless and jobless so I will be at your beck and call.

Mbok adiagha, look no further for I will cancel all my shows and plays and everything just to serve you and carry your bags.

You people laughing at me have not seen this girl that is why. When she interviewed me at Rhythm FM, I was just staring at the girl o. She fine pass doll baby and I hear she has even gone to do something to increase her butt. Please call meeeee ooooo.

I will cancel election o.

Don’t frustrate me o, I will seize all the covid vaccine o.

Tokeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

a Makinw

candidate. Not this one. This no be candidate, this na okrika bale. I am ready for a Pan Nigerian Presidency arrow headed by an Igbo Candidate.

No be Kalu oooooooo, no kill me.

OLU OF WARRI: I AM COMING As I watched the coronation, I was transfixed by its opulence. It was grand and the continuous use of deep red in the attires and paraphernalia caught my attention. For the days the whole ceremony lasted, I followed it with passion and true involvement.

The fact that the new Olu was physically handsome and modern and with a beautiful wife in tow further held my attention. The part I liked the best was the part where he was asked to choose a sword from where his name will come out and he chose a sword. I developed goose pimples.

Then the regatta, the songs, the dance, the close affinity to the water, the deep history and the stories all mesmerised my mind.

I am all for our stories. Our people, our tradition and I felt it was time to go to Warri. We had done Isale Eko, we had gone to Bini for Emotan, Uyo for Ufok Ibaan, Abeokuta for Aremu and will be doing Abuja for Emir Sanusi and I felt it was ripe to hit

Warri for ‘Ogiame Erejuwa II.’ This epic will be written and directed by theatrical genius William Benson and I am working with my brother Evans Jakpa-Johns to deliver this fresh and sizzling.

Itsekiri Nation rise, the Duke of Shomolu is on his way.

KOLA ABIOLA: I AM HEARING SOMETHING He has been very quiet for a bit.

He has not really been involved in anything of nationalistic fervour and that is why observers have been taken aback by the silent but ever-increasing murmur of his presidential ambitions.

If you ask me, I would say he lost the momentum. Long ago, the platform was strong, with goodwill and popular support. But somehow, he let all that go to the point that his sisters were now better known for the struggle.

But anyhow, I have heard severally of his intentions and during the week, I heard it again but this time from a very close associate of Mr. Abiola.

So, what are my thoughts? My mind is open and will not fire until I get more information. I have asked for a meeting and I am sure by the end of the week, I will get it and in between some sweet bowls of

Afang we will talk.

If he impresses me, I will pay for the food and if it is otherwise as expected he will pay. I will send you guys’ pictures on WhatsApp. We dey wait.

BUBA MARWA: ACCEPT MY CONDOLENCES Let me send my heartfelt condolences to my brother and big Uncle General Buba Marwa on the recent loss of his lovely wife Zainab.

On behalf of all of us here in Shomolu, we send our prayers and condolences.

It can never be easy to lose a wife.

In fact, it can never be easy to lose anybody, but a lovely wife like Zainab, it must be terribly hard.

Allah, will give you and the rest of the family the strength to bare this huge loss. Be strong my brother. Be strong.

DONALD ONUOHA: FIRM HANDS ON THE SADDLE My brother Donald has just been appointed acting Managing Director at Fidelity Pensions. He is taking over from very brilliant Amaka Azike who was a classmate with me at the Lagos Business School.

Donald comes to the job with years of corporate experience spanning so many Investment and commercial banking franchises. His job, I must say, has been made easy with the wonderful structures Amaka had berthed and bequeathed to this young but equally powerfully brilliant young man.

I once had an engagement with him on the pension industry and its continued relevance in the system especially as you see that returns on the PFA accounts are not doing very well when compared to the rate of inflation.

He calmed me down. He took me down a cursory discuss on investment management, strength of regulation which ensures safety which is very critical in pensions management. He ended it with his strong belief that the industry which is already playing in infrastructural development and the rest will continue to play its role as a strong engine of national economic growth.

I say, it’s ok. Na me find trouble that is why you want kill me with talk.

Let me use this opportunity to wish him well at his new job. Congrats bro.

ELVINA IBRU IS PHENOMENALLY TALENTED I say let me just hail this beauty this Sunday morning. Don’t mind me, I am trying to bribe her. I want her in my Itsekiri play. Her carriage is naturally regal. If you saw her in Emotan, you will climb fence.

Her height, her voice quality and her delivery made Emotan the massive play it was. But Elvina is not easy to get and work with o. Na Queen.

Edgar, the food is not ok and I don’t like the way the young girls are being treated. Why are you giving them water and not wine, she will lament?

She is a mother at rehearsals and will rather walk away than see any of the younger ones suffer and what I like most about her is that after sometime she will start to bring her own food thereby saving me a lot of money.

You see why, Elvina must be in this Itsekiri Play. Please anybody that has her number or attends her church or knows her gate man or knows Obuks or knows her doctor or knows her cook, please lets put pressure, after all this thing is for all of us na. I cannot be begging alone.

Elvia Ibru, let’s do this fine woman. I will send Afang to you, you hear. Oya na.

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Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

SOCIETY WATCH

Olu Okeowo Zainab Gobir’s Rewards for Brilliance Builds New (GLÀFH Without a doubt, Dr. Zainab Gobir epitomises beauty and brains! She is highly recognised for her expertise in Information Communication Technology (ICT) which has seen her take up enviable positions in a number of internationally recognised establishments.

In spite of her numerous achievements and intimidating educational resume, she loathes unnecessary media attention; rather she loves to allow her good works speak for her.

Like the proverbial goldfish that has no hiding place, her brilliance has kept throwing her into the public consciousness.

She is one of the few women who are trying to redefine the stereotype narratives built around successful women in the country.

While she served as the e-Services and Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council Coordinator at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2020, she was called to Head the Initiative and Integration support desk and also serve as Coordinator for PEBEC at FIRS. Within a short time, she carved pragmatic ways to further deepen the income of FIRS by using her knowledge in finance and economics to rake in billions of Naira in terms of tax revenue generated from corporate and private individuals.

For this feat, she was specially recognised by the Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad

Okeowo

By all standards, Sir Olu Okeowo is one of the successful businessmen around today.

Interestingly, one of the oftrepeated tales about him is his uncommon acts of philanthropy and conscious dedication to God’s works whenever he finds himself and wherever the opportunity arises without creating unnecessary attention around it.

It is on the record that he has contributed and built churches more than any individual.

For this and more, he has bagged several awards and earned great recognitions at home and abroad.

In furtherance of his absolute commitment to the growth of the church, Society Watch gathered that the Chairman of Gibraltar has just completed a place of worship in his Palacios De Okeowo, Lagos.

The 500-capacity architectural masterpiece that is dedicated to the service of God is named ‘Solomon Chapel of Faith.’

A source revealed that the chapel witnessed guests on January 1, 2022 for the year thanksgiving organised by Okeowo.

Some of the guests at the event include former Ogun state governor, Olusegun Osoba; Lagos State ex-deputy governor, Femi Pedro: Billionaire businessmen, Razak Okoya and Chief Samuel Adedoyin, among others.

Top music stars such as Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, Yinka Ayefele, Vintage and Sugar Band serenaded the gaily dressed guests.

Trust Okeowo, he showcased his sense of hospitality as there were more than enough to eat and drink. The official launch of the chapel, according to our source, comes up later this year.

It was popular TV star Oprah Winfrey who said that “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Perhaps, this is the motivating factor behind the success story of Bukola Bello Jayesinmi.

While growing up, she had developed a passion for encouraging and assisting women.

In fact, countless numbers of women have benefitted from her magnanimity through her foundation, African women foundation for nation building, WINBAFRICA, which is also now in Ghana, Gambia, South Africa and Ethiopia.

The PR expert and the Chief Strategist of Irachy PR established this foundation with a mandate to transform the African society by supporting women to play significant roles in nation-building as well as creating avenues for identifying, raising and supporting women leaders to come together to brainstorm on issues affecting their well-being and generating practical and achievable solutions.

WINB AFRICA holds the belief that collaboration is the key to unlocking the opportunities of the new normal and beyond.

At the moment, the foundation runs about five different projects, including education fair series and orphanage challenge.

It also harnesses a lot of opportunities and

Gobir

Mamman Nami in March 2021, with a letter of commendation in appreciation for the uplift of the agency.

Interestingly, Gobir, a PhD holder in Forensic Accounting and Audit from Charisma University, was recently appointed and

PR Expert, Bukola Bello Jayesinmi’s Love for Humanity

Jayesimi

partnership from multinationals to bring food, clothing items and comfort to these children.

inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority as Executive Director, Economic Regulations and Strategic Planning, alongside Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing, Francis Ogaree; Executive Director, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Mustapha Lamorde; Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund; Mansur Kuliya and Executive Director, Corporate Services and Administration, Bashir Sadiq.

A source once said, “Her appointment was long overdue. Zainab’s appointment is not coming as a surprise to us. She still has some hidden talents that need to be tapped for our own good. She is a round peg in a round hole.

She will perform excellently well in the role she is being appointed to take charge. She has done it in the past and she will do it again”.

Gobir, who hails from Kwara State, is honorary Mayor-President of Burton Rough, Louisiana, USA; she is also a Fellow of International Institute of Certified Forensic & Investigation Professional; Fellow of Chartered Institute of Risk and Loan management; Member of the International Federation of Accountant (IFA), Member of Association for Computer and Machinery (ACM) (2017).

Her humanitarian gestures have not gone unnoticed, even beyond the shores of this continent.

In November 2021, she received an award as the FIN Women Best Woman NGO leader in Dubai in the presence of notable women leaders across the globe.

The Kogi State born PhD holder is also a fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management UK; Chartered Public Relations Practitioner; an alumnus of Queens School of Business Ontario Canada; London School of Business and Finance; Chartered Institute of Public Relations UK and CGUI Boston, USA, amongst others. The dark-skinned and beautiful entrepreneur is a public speaker/ life coach and pan Africanist.

She had taught workplace ethics and cultural diversity awareness in schools and corporate organisations in North East Scotland, United Kingdom.

Jayesinmi, who has also worked on strategy for political and economic campaigns on various projects across West Africa, was recently appointed a Board member of Alliance Francais, Lagos, Nigeria.

Ahmed Mazloum, the Glamorous Oil Merchant Like the goldfish, Ahmed Mazloum cannot walk into a hall (let alone a room) and go unnoticed.

There are so many striking features about him that not only set him apart but leave onlookers awestruck.

From his height, his characteristic full beards, his swag and most of all, his impeccable sense of dressing, a meeting with him unfurls a persona cloaked in warmth. With these qualities, it is understandable why he is a darling to newshounds-a fascinating subject in the Nigerian media space.

On social media, especially the more glamorous Instagram, Mazloum has become a sort of influencer, with thousands of followers, some of whom are the biggest entertainers in Nigeria.

His message when it comes to glamour is clear-cut on his Instagram page: Dress like you own the bank; not like you’re looking for a loan!

It is working for him and everyone seems impressed about it. At every gathering where Mazloum goes, he steps out in style, wearing choice apparels that accentuate his mission.

So, who is this man charming his way to the

centre of Nigeria’s glamour-ville? He prefers to describe himself as a Lebanese-Nigerian.

Whichever comes first does not matter to him because he has been part of the two nations intrinsically. He had his primary education at Warri, Nigeria’s oil-producing city with enormous potential in entertainment.

After his primary education, he moved to Lebanon for secondary education, but would return to Nigeria for an aborted tertiary education at the Delta State University.

Like Bill Gates and a few other IT geeks flaunting technology dollars at Silicon Valley, Mazloum wanted to test his hands on entrepreneurship.

He invested in three companies and currently sits as the managing director of two companies. If there are two things such a venture has availed him, it will be money and guts. For him, threading uncharted territories has become an obsession, as he is ever ready to try new things in spite of the inherent risks.

A testimony to this is his adventure in 2015. He had taken the bull by the horns by hiking the famous Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, situated in Tanzania.

Without recourse to unnecessary hyperbole, Ladi Adebutu, a former member of the House of Representatives, is one politician who has stayed true to his vow.

He has continued to stand with his people and refused to jettison his political promises, even in the face of challenges that would shake any lily-livered politician.

Unknown to many, the son of billionaire business mogul, Chief Kessington Adebutu, has remained unshaken in his quest to be the number one citizen of Ogun state.

It will be recalled that at the last governorship election in the state, he took his campaign to the nooks and crannies of the state and also expended so much money towards

Ogun Governorship Hopeful, Ladi Adebutu’s Herculean Task realising his life-long ambition.

In fact, if money was the yardstick, he would have gotten unhindered access to the Ogun State Government House.

Though he got the PDP ticket, the power play between him and the late Senator Buruji Kashamu was one of the major factors that cost him the victory.

The disagreement would later metamorphose into a full-scale bitter political war, while the party structure was greatly

Mazloum

The fact is that the love for him transcends beyond Tanzania or the oil sector. On the Internet, the warmth he exudes can be seen in some of the comments and reactions by celebrities.

All these point to the fact that Ahmed Mazloum exudes the charm deserving of a true prince. upset.

Many in the state claimed that, though the Adebutu faction was more recognised by the national body of the party and also more popular with larger members, there was a bitter acrimony over the control of the structure of the party in the state.

The rancour and hostility in PDP cost him his ambition and it was a smooth ride for Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In spite of this, the former federal lawmaker has not entombed his dream of ruling the state.

In fact, Society Watch gathered that he had set the ball rolling once again to realise his agelong ambition with more zeal.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ JUNE 24 2012

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

16.1.2022

Fakile during the session on NFTs

An interactive session on NFTs

IN THE ALLURING WORLD OF NFTS, THERE’S SOMETHING FOR THE ARTIST AND THE COLLECTOR NFTs can, besides enhancing the artist’s visibility and huge potentials for bigger revenue streams, help preserve his works in a decentralised space and protect them from possible deterioration, Adesola Fakile tells Okechukwu Uwaezuoke

A

desola Fakile oͿered new vistas of potential for The Artist Ladder Konnect (TALK) residency participants when he delivered his talk about NFTs that Thursday, December 9, 2021. This was soon after he was introduced

by Blessing “Bee” Azubike, the cultural producer and arts consultant, who was behind the residency programme.

It was Day Four of the Àve-day programme and all eyes and attention trailed him as he paced around the well-furnished foyer of the Sangotedo, Lekki-based Love Portion Art Hub, which was the venue of the residency programme.

The bearded, ebony-complexioned self-described multipontentialite ² whose resump also proclaims a maverick designer, creative technologist, solutions architect, digital novelist, and poet ² dressed the part in black sweatshirt and black denim trousers, looking every inch the techie. Also, his bio-data a΀rms that he “creates and proͿers design and technological solutions through critical needs analysis, leading to the materialisation of cutting-edge aesthetics and interactive works, based on user, data, and product centricity as well as digital operational excellence.”

Hence, no one seemed better suited to lead the discussion on NFTs that sun-drenched morning than this gifted adept of digital arts, science, technology, and anything in-between”. Besides, it helped that his credentials glistened with experience working for such high-proÀle brands as the telecommunications company MTN, Heritage Bank, Lagos Momentum, British-American Tobacco, Total Nigeria, Total Ascent, ICAN-UK, Goldberg, Malta Guinness, NISER, Lagos# 50 digital art collection for the Lagos State Government as well as his recognition as a digital technology resource fellow for the Nigerian Army, Navy and Empretech Nigeria, among others.

This two-decade experience in design and digital technology culminated in

Fakile explaining a point to some of the TALK art residency participants his founding of Udesign, Nigeria s Àrst Do-It-Yourself Platform. This, in addition to preparing him to become the Lagos International Poetry Festival s lead designer and technologist, a Àve-star digital author on Envato s Graphicriver, and the founder and CEO of Megaheadz, a high-end design tech company.

Back to NFT. It is an abbreviation for Non-Fungible Token, as virtually everyone in the foyer already knew. So-called because, according to Fakile, it is “a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, >which is@ a form of digital ledger.” In other words, the uniqueness and irreplaceability of the data unit render it “nonfungible” unlike bitcoins, which because they can be traded for another, are fungible.

As a result, it s not unexpected that a lot of the hype is around how it may be used to beneÀt visual artists. “NFTs can be associated with reproducible digital Àles such as images (jpg, gif, png, 3D formats), videos, and audio,” Fakile explained. “Because the blockchain cannot be manipulated and NFTs

are stored there; they carry a CertiÀcate of Authenticity or Proof of Ownership. The lack of interchangeability is what diͿerentiates NFTs from other cryptocurrencies. They are unique and even though they can be copied and shared because the copies do not carry the cryptographic hash ID of the original one.”

NFTs can, in fact, be used to sell anything digital, including drawings, music, and literary works. However, the current emphasis appears to be on using technology to redeÀne ownership in digital space. Most NFTs, which store extra information that allows them to function diͿerently than Ethereum coins like bitcoin or dogecoin, are supported by the Ethereum blockchain.

So, how does the artist stand to beneÀt from all this? Besides enhancing his visibility and huge potentials for bigger revenue streams, his works are also appropriately preserved in a decentralised space, where they cannot deteriorate. Therefore, NFTs ² designed to produce works that can’t be copied even when the artist still retains the ownership of

the work (the copyright and reproduction rights, just like with physical artwork) ² confers an enduring quality on artworks.

Also, NFTs have a feature, which the artist can enable to pay him a percentage every time the NFT is sold or transferred. Thus, he is assured of reaping some of the beneÀts of his work becomes extremely popular and skyrockets in value. The collector, on the other hand, who is concerned about his ownership of an artwork s original version is not taken advantage of in the process. This is because he not only gains the bragging rights of owning an artwork with a blockchain entry to back it up, but he also gains some basic usage rights, such as the ability to post an image of an artwork online or set it as his proÀle picture.

Meanwhile, NFTs, like any other speculative asset, can be purchased with the expectation that their value will rise over time and that they will be resold for a proÀt.

Fakile, who described the artist as “a vessel of endless ideas and expressions, >who is@ always in motion, seeking new channels and mediums, through which these artistic notions can be made manifest and thus their uniqueness felt” recommends such NFT marketplaces as opensea.io that help artists extend the reach of their creativity.

As for the art dealer, the beneÀt accrues from the simple extension of the representation of his or her favoured artists and their artworks on the NFT marketplaces. “The basic rules of business will still apply in this case; a clear agreement on duties, responsibilities, and revenue share. Lastly, the art dealer does not entirely need a physical gallery or exhibition to get potential buyers to experience and patronise new works.”

Interestingly, people have developed online communities based on NFTs, whose communal activities depend on unique peculiarities. Hence, as the visual arts sub-sector embarks on a journey of self-preservation ² which includes the preservation of its history in rich media and 3D formats on all blockchains ² a new ecosystem led by collaborative eͿorts of brilliant minds oͿers new vistas of possibilities.

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

ARTS & REVIEW\\EXHIBITION

CHIKE OBEAGU’S NOTIONS OF THE URBAN SCAPE Agwu Enekwachi

A

mong the 2021 Lagos art season’s important shows was Chike Obeagu’s Cogitations. Held at KÓ Art Space, Ikoyi Lagos, the exhibition wryly painted the nuances of living in contemporary

Nigeria.

The body of work in the show comprises the artist’s signature cartoon style and other experimented materiality of his adopted paper medium.

Cleverly composed paper cut-outs (collage), is predominant, while there were other inventive usages of paper between the colourful magazines and newsprints. The unifying forms in Chike Obeagu’s “paintings” are the exaggerated facial features of the eyes and mouths, which for me insinuates the idea of sights and sounds as the undercurrents of modern-day culture. The eyes take in moments just like digital devices of today’s society capture images into the virtual world where they come together as content. But it becomes more interesting when such materials are at the disposal of an inventive artist of Chike’s virtuosity. The results are the tempered texts, images and “sounds” of his paintings speaking vociferously, both individually and collectively while presenting to the viewer what appears like extracted stills from a 21st-century reel of the Nigerian society.

Chike Obeagu, a painting lecturer at the Federal University, LaÀa, Nasarawa State, had his formal art training in two of Nigeria’s prominent tertiary institutions: University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he had his BA and an MFA in painting between the late 1990s and early 2000s and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained a doctorate in Fine Art with a specialisation in painting.

Cogitations, the title of his current exhibition, is also a direct reference to Obeagu’s abiding predilection for deep contemplation as a fulcrum of his studio practice. From his years in art school, he had cultivated the art of measured temperament, often weighing the impact of how his message is delivered. In bringing this sensibility to bear on the expression of his messages, works soaked in social commentaries emerge, wrapped in humour and clean canvases in a way that lighten their seriousness. This makes for ease in connecting

Chike Obeagu, Peaceful Demonstration, mixed-media collage, 201 x 293cm, 2021 with his audiences of diverse inclinations.

An example of the artist’s skilfully-veiled allusions is his work titled “Private View”. This is a work about art aÀcionados engaging in the elitist past-time of art appreciation in an art gallery, but in a deeper context, “Private View” is about audience segregation which has become a normalised practice among art galleries in Nigeria. The entrenchment of private viewing during art exhibitions, in contrast to the open viewing experience, is a metaphor which the artist has employed to speak about the layers of structured segregation that exist in the various strata of society such as economic, religious, and even in cultural spaces like museums and galleries.

He views this type of institutional privilege as part of the bane of human existence.

In another work titled “Peaceful Demonstration”, the artist uses his trademark visual pun, as the scene before the viewer is anything but peaceful. A crowd of men clutching dangerous weapons like clubs, half-broken bottles and knives are engaged in a free-for-all Àght. This work may be alluding to the EndSARS protest,

which rocked Nigeria to a standstill in October 2020. While the most perceptible aspect of that protest for most people is the violent nature of police and military engagement with the unarmed protesters, Chike’s work instead captures the bizarre scene of factional protesters locking horns without the police in the picture. In recent years this scenario has become common during most anti-establishment protests. Except for the slight suggestion of a military boot stepping on a fallen protester, there is, strangely, no sign of law-enforcement. “Peaceful Demonstration” reechoes how it is that the tragedy of oppression turns the oppressed against each other.

Other works featured in the exhibition include “We Are Still Waiting” (mixed-media drawing, 72x123cm, 2021), “Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow” (mixed-media drawing, 92x123cm, 2021), “Action and Reaction,” (diptych, paper and fabric oͿcuts on canvas, panel 1: 122x122cm, panel 2: 122x128cm, 2016), “Urinate Here by Order” (mixed-media drawing 122x122cm, 2018). While the works “We Are Still Waiting” and “Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow,” are among

BOOKS

BREAKING BARRIERS WITH BREAKTHROUGH-THEMED BOOKS Yinka Olatunbosun

O

ur world is replete with examples of people who have huge potentials but are unable to accomplish their goals in life and careers due to varying circumstances. Loss of a caregiver, wrong choice of friends or marital mate, Ànancial di΀culty, poor physical or mental health, economic and political instability are some of the leading factors that can limit an individual’s breakthrough in life.

It is against this backdrop that Pastor Amos Adesola has launched a series of books that are products of his years of experience in full-time ministry. Titled Overcoming AntiBreakthrough Forces and Practical Steps to Aborting Evil Dreams, the author expressed the view that in spite of an individual’s brilliant eͿort towards a particular goal, some forces still work against their dreams

to crush them.

Titi Adegbile, a pastor, lawyer and book reviewer for Overcoming Anti-Breakthrough Forces remarked that the book is unique in its stride to rescue ailing, proͿering bible-based solutions.

“Adesola takes us through teachings which show how the spirit world inÁuences our physical habitat. He examines the nature of antibreakthrough forces, their goals and their modus operandi. In a never-say-fail approach which this author is known for, he highlights what to do as well as how to pray one’s way out of a spiritual quagmire,’’ she observed.

The reviewer also examined the content of Practical Steps to Aborting Evil Dreams and highlighted the issues raised by the author in the book.

“In terms of providing a contribution to knowledge, the book under review provides practical steps to neutralising the eͿects of negative dreams as well an analysis of dreams that should not be ignored. Finally, it oͿers meanings to some dreams and highlights spiritual weapons required to combat the contrary implications of negative dreams,” she said.

Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow, mixed media drawing, 92x123cm, 2021.jpg some of Obeagu’s direct social commentaries, he talks about the crisis of ‘awaiting trial’ in the Nigerian correctional facilities, and the failure of leaders to deliver on their unending promises, at the same time obfuscating or obliterating extant laws as succinctly captured in the work “Urinate Here by Order”. The work “Action and Reaction” is about how commentaries depending on its temperament elicit equal response in the complex and sometimes tense sociocultural and socio-political sphere in Nigeria.

Through his exploration of everyday experiences under the themes of family, religion, society, family, kinship and power play, the artist will no doubt continue to push the boundaries of his creativity especially in how he portrays the objective realities around him. This, in addition to the materiality and formal style of his genre, will keep giving him an edge a unique voice, even beyond Nigeria, earning him well-deserved accolades.

(QHNZDFKL ZULWHV IURP $EXMD

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

CICERO

Editor: Ejiofor Alike SMS: 08066066268 email:ejiofor.alike@thisdaylive.com

IN THE ARENA

Caging Oil Thieves in Niger Delta Over a month after a Federal High Court in Abuja declared bandits as terrorists, the federal government last week gave life to the judgment by gazetting the order, sparking hope of a conclusive offensive and ending speculations of alleged hidden agenda, Louis Achi writes

W

hile geology granted almost 50 per cent of the earth’s proven crude oil reserves to Saudi Arabia and four of her neighbours, it handed Nigeria 2.2 per cent of the same strategic product that powers human civilisation. Africa accounts for 7.6 per cent.

It remains instructive that despite this almost embarrassing surfeit of hydrocarbon largesse, one-time Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (19621986), Sheikh Zaki Yamani still observed that, “The Stone Age did not end for lack of stones and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”

While Yamani, that stubborn, consummate Arab strategist and lawyer who proclaimed this visionary position three decades ago certainly had his point, in Nigeria, crude oil thieves are apparently working in overdrive to extract the last golden drop before Yamani’s prediction kicks in. Figures paint a more gripping big picture of Nigeria’s dilemma.

In the nation’s 2021 budget, a daily production of 1.86 million oil barrels was projected but Nigeria recorded a huge deficit of almost 200 million barrels in the first 11 months of 2021. This was attributable due to spiralling crude oil theft, ageing infrastructure, challenges associated with host communities, under investment, and poor security in the waterways.

Significantly, figures from the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Petroleum Commission (NURPC) indicated that while the country was expected to pump approximately 635 million barrels of oil by November last year, it struggled to produce only 441 million barrels within the period.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many oil companies are reporting big losses. Scandalously, sometimes up to 80 per cent of the output is lost in the pipelines. An oil industry expert disclosed that “when they pump through the pipelines, they only get about 20 per cent of product and the rest is lost to pipeline

Sylva

breaches and organised theft. The 20 per cent hardly covers cost of production.”

Extreme insecurity has been identified by the oil companies as a core issue as product losses through the pipelines are now so massive that it is impacting their bottomline. The country’s revenue projection from crude oil export is not exempted. Huge quantities of products are daily stolen by individuals and organised cartels of criminals.

The Navy and other security agencies that are supposed to protect the waterways and the companies’ operations are allegedly either looking the other way, or conniving with syndicates of oil criminals to steal this strategic national resource. It is now a huge and thriving business at the expense of the country.

If the Nigerian security agencies are involved with spiralling oil theft in the Niger Delta region as being serially alleged, it simply means that their top command echelons are compromised. This has intrinsic dangers to the very survival democracy that the ruling political authority is charged to protect.

This criminal oil leakage in the sector is significantly consonant with the report from the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) released last year that Nigeria loses 138,400 barrels of crude per day, representing about 7% of its total production, to oil theft, and spills.

According to the NEITI report, the loss is “neither hypothetical nor episodic. It is real and endemic.”

Worse, with huge funds at their disposal, the criminal cartels involved purchase illicit sophisticated arms and ammunition, a scenario which considerably upscales the nation’s insecurity woes. A clearly weak political will to sternly sanitise these festering dens of marine thieves is compounding the existential dilemma. Strangely, many security operatives reportedly lobby for postings to Niger Delta region because of anticipated windfalls from illegal oil business.

Another dimension to this economic quandary is the lack of transparency in nation’s strategic oil industry. This is hardly helped

by the fact that government depends heavily on sector operators to furnish it with data but without any independent verification.

According to The London Economist’s observation in 2016, “…oil is also being stolen at a record rate and traders’ figures show output at well below the government’s figures. Information about Africa’s biggest oil industry is an opaque myriad of numbers.

No one knows which ones are accurate; no one knows how much oil Nigeria produces.

If there were an authoritative figure, the truly horrifying scope of corruption would be exposed.”

Against the background of this crude oil heists, a strategy suggested by NEITI to counter and scientifically track stolen crude was that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) put molecular markers into products. This would allow the authorities to trace where such supplies go. Is DPR listening? Big question.

When the state agencies - security and otherwise - charged with the mandate of stopping oil theft are not genuinely committed to stopping the thievery, it simply means they are part and parcel of the criminality.

Beyond the alleged collusion of security agencies in crude oil theft, another dimension to this brisk, dollar-denominated business is the indigenous locals. Many Niger Delta youths are reportedly involved in the oily heist and do not consider their activities as theft or crime.

They justify their own oil theft because they believe they cannot be pilloried for stealing what belongs to them. They strongly believe what they are doing is being replicated in the gold mines in Zamfara and Ilesa to bitumen in Ondo.

Despite impressive inroads by renewable energy, crude oil remains one of the most precious commodities that power modern civilisation. It is also rated as the most traded commodity in the world. More, the sector gives Nigeria critical infusions of funding she needs to give meaning to her socioeconomic transformation.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

The Unstrategic Declaration!

Tinubu

Everything seemed wrong with Senator Bola Tinubu’s recent hint at his presidential bid, when he informed President Muhammadu Buhari, about his aspiration, which he described as a “lifelong ambition”. From the timing of his “introductory declaration” to its optics and incoherent submissions, while speaking to State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, it was evidently driven more by his ever-constant poverty of ambition.

First, the timing was ill-conceived, because he had proven that he needlessly put himself under pressure, even when he knew some of the extrapolations weren’t looking good.Then, a supposed strategist, who knew why he was going to see the president, would have made it a “statement visit”, accompanied by a quality few that would have surrounded him during the short media interaction.

The number and faces of such people would have

sent some subliminal messages.

But sitting like a loner, seemingly abandoned even by his innermost caucus, had sent some concerning signals. However, that the visit was poorly coordinated, was again exposed during the media engagement. His answers were incoherent, inane and lacking sound projections. For a man, believed to have sweeping credibility questions, he ought to have prepared for the worst.

In fact, were he to have sound handlers on hand, the questions could have been predetermined, using some of their own guys amongst the correspondents, and of course, the answers to such questions would have been rehearsed. But a people that couldn’t plan a simple visit wanted to change Nigeria? What an irony!

Unfortunately, all that his people had since done was grandstand through their collective

indiscretion, gallivanting round town and defending the curious ambition of their blighted candidate.

Even worse,Tinubu’s supporters had also gone to town demonising every other potential candidate from the South-west.This, of course, has further exposed their limitations and crass intolerance for healthy competitions.

For a people, who had over the years promoted the dictum that, “power is not served a la carte”, seeing how they desperately want the presidency to drop on the lapse ofTinubu, gave away their hypocrisy and the fact that all they ever wanted was to extend their power-grabbing culture to Abuja. Clearly slowed down by age and ill health, a push forTinubu is no love for the country but a perpetuation of the Darwinian Lagos politics.

Again, no one can rule out the fact that, it is his right to run.Very constitutional, in fact!

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

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BRIEFINGNOTES

As Tinubu Clears All Doubts After years of widespread speculations about the political future of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos State governor has formally thrown his hat into the ring for the 2023 presidential election, Ejiofor Alike reports

A

fter keeping his supporters in suspense for several years, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, last week revealed his ‘lifelong’ ambition to be the President of Nigeria. The former Lagos State governor cleared all doubts about his political future when he told State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari last Monday that he had informed the president of his ambition to succeed him in 2023.

“I have informed the president of my intention, but I have not informed Nigerians yet. I am still consulting. And I have no problem consulting. I have not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people I will consult.

“You will soon hear. All you want to hear is the categorical declaration. You’ve gotten that truth from me that I have informed Mr. President of my ambition, and you don’t expect more answers than that,” Tinubu reportedly told journalists.

Before his formal declaration, speculations were rife that the former Lagos State governor wanted to succeed Buhari. At the early stages of Buhari’s administration, it was rumoured that the president had promised to hand over to him after the completion of his second term. The rumour was fuelled by his invaluable contributions to the victory of the APC in the 2015 presidential election. Before APC won the election, Buhari had contested three times in 2003, 2007 and 2011, but lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was believed that Buhari’s alliance with Tinubu’s South-west earned APC the victory at the 2015 presidential poll. Tinubu’s role in the victory of the ruling party was highly emphasised by a former Governor of Osun State and ex-interim Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, in his controversial autobiography, ‘My Participations’ launched late last year in Lagos, where had narrated how Buhari had promised to pick Tinubu as his running mate in the 2015 election.

Akande, however, disclosed that Buhari later reneged on the agreement.

However, those who described themselves as ‘Buhari boys’ had debunked the claim in interviews with THISDAY, insisting that the president had only promised to partner and work with the former Lagos State governor, in the context of a partnership between the South-west and North-west.

But nobody can deny Tinubu’s contributions to the alliance, which produced the APC that dislodged the then ruling PDP. It took the merger of Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the then ruling PDP to be dislodged.

Before the advent of democracy in 1999, Tinubu had identified with the National

Tinubu Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and other pro-democracy coalitions to fight for the return of the military to the barracks.

Though he became governor of Lagos State in 1999, his journey to national politics actually began in 2003. Then, he played what could be described as ‘smart politics’ and became the only AD governor in the six AD-controlled states in the South-west that survived former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s onslaught against the AD states.

Tinubu took credit for defeating the PDP in the 2003 governorship election in Lagos State, but Obasanjo’s then deputy, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had revealed that he was the one who actually saved the National Leader of the APC from the humiliation of losing his governorship seat to PDP. Atiku had during his campaign as a presidential aspirant in September 2018 told members of the main opposition party in Lagos that his former boss, Obasanjo, had before the 2003 elections, directed him to deliver the six South-west states then governed by the AD to the PDP. Atiku said that he delivered all the states to PDP, except Lagos.

The former vice president said that he deliberately did not do much to win Lagos because of his relationship with Tinubu.

He apologised to the PDP members

for what he called his mistake, saying that Lagos would have been better off, if he had delivered it to the PDP then.

After retaining his seat as Lagos State governor, Tinubu became the face of opposition in the country, galvanising all other opposition elements until PDP was ousted in 2015.

Shortly after the victory of the APC at the 2015 poll, Tinubu was touted as a potential presidential hopeful, with some of his supporters claiming that Buhari had promised to hand over to him as an appreciation for his role in the president’s victory.

However, the perceived dishonourable treatment meted out to him by the Aso Rock during Buhari’s first term did not support the claim that he would be the president’s anointed successor.

Before Tinubu, better known as the Jagaban, Yoruba leader, APC national leader, the de facto governor of Lagos State, Enfant Terrible of Nigeria’s politics, and most endearingly, the Asiwaju, threw his hat in the ring, many support groups had emerged to promote his undeclared ambition. As he has cleared all doubts over his political future, Nigerians are eagerly waiting for him to also clear the air on issues surrounding his stewardship as Lagos State governor, his alleged stupendous wealth and godfather role in the state.

His supporters had claimed that the state, under his watch, had prospered from generating N600 million monthly as internal revenue when he took over to generating over N7 billion monthly when he handed over to his successor in 2007.

But his critics had alleged that a large chunk of this revenue goes to his private company that serves as revenue consultant to the state. To clear the air, the former Lagos State governor will have to explain his perceived stupendous wealth.

Many of his critics had also disputed his age, insisting that he is much older than he claims.

Apart from this controversy, many who are clamouring for the younger generation to take over in 2023 are also not comfortable with his declared age. By 2023, he will be 71 years and if he realises his ‘lifelong’ ambition, he becomes another old man who will rule Nigeria. Many are also dissatisfied with his godfather role in Lagos State where it is believed that he anoints all the candidates for elective positions, including governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, and even councillors and local government chairmen.

That his wife is a senator, his daughter in charge of the markets and his son allegedly in charge of billboards and signage in the state, had also raised eyebrows. Equity, justice and fairness did also not favour his ambition as South-east is laying claim to the presidency in 2023. Since the return of democracy in 1999, the South-west has produced president from 1999 to 2007 and vice president from 2015 to 2023, while the South-south produced the president from 2010 to 2015, leaving the South-east as the only geopolitical zone in the South that has not produced the president or the vice president.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, through its spokesman, Chief Alex Ogbonnia had reportedly described Tinubu’s declaration to contest the presidency in 2023 as against the rules of natural justice.

Before he declared his interest to contest, a founding member of APC and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Chief Osita Okechukwu had urged him to shelve his ambition and instead unite the APC and maintain his role as kingmaker.

Okechukwu had also advised him to back a younger candidate from the South-east in line with the zoning convention.

Reacting to whether it wouldn’t be ideal for him to remain a kingmaker instead of becoming a king himself, Tinubu had insisted that: “And I have never seen where it is written in the rulebook anywhere in any country that a kingmaker cannot be a king, unless you commit murder.”

For the former Lagos State governor to transform from a kingmaker to the king, he has to navigate through these challenges in the coming months.

NOTES FOR FILE

Okada Riders Take over Lagos Airport

FAAN MD, Hamisu Rabiu Yadudu

Nigeria is just a funny place to live in.

Warnings by security agencies, federal and state governments and other agencies are not always taken seriously.

A few years ago, in a bid to curb robbery and other criminal activities at the Lagos airport, the Airport Command of the Nigeria Police Force, banned commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada, from operating within the vicinity of the Murtala Muhammed Airport.

Despite this order, there is no part of the airport where these okada operators do not operate currently.

A lot of times, they are even seen everywhere riding against the traffic and constituting a nuisance to the environment.

What is most annoying is that daily, before the very eyes of these policemen, okada men move around unchallenged.

Perhaps they are waiting for when a very serious security breach will happen at the airport before they begin to run helter-skelter to issue another directive.

Rumours have it that these okada operators pay the police a huge amount of money for them to look the other way

while they ply their trade.

Where in the world would such category of people, who in most cases, indulge in criminal activities be allowed to constantly have access to the airport if not only in Nigeria where laws, rules and regulations are not obeyed.

Even the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which is in charge of managing the airports in the country is turning a blind eye to the activities of these commercial motorcycle operators, until there is a major security breach and they begin to apportion blame.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

CICERO/INTERVIEW

Abdulrazaq Govt Has Only Excelled in Making False Claims Former Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking and Other Financial Institutions in the 8th Senate and chieftainofthePeoplesDemocraticPartyinKwaraState,SenatorRafiuAdebayoIbrahim,recentlyspoke with Hammed Shittu on the state of affairs in the state, 2023 and other sundry issues. Excerpts

T

ourempowermentprogrammeslegitimatelyput moneyintheirpocketsthroughpatronageoftheir goodsandservices.Thosewhowantustostagea comebackarethepeoplewhoarefamiliarwithhow duringtheperiodwewereincontrol,theopposition intheStateHouseofAssemblyhadtheirsayand themajorityhadtheirway.Nobodyprevented oppositionlegislatorsfromcomingintotheHouse andcriticisingthegovernment.Lookattheshow ofshametheyareputtingupinthestateHouseof Assemblybycrudelysuppressing,oppressingand antagonisingtheonlyPDPmember,Hon.Raheem Agboola.Thesearethereasonswewanttostage acomebacktoputthingsright.Thosewhoare incensedwiththenameofSarakiandwhobelieve theirdayisnotmadeexcepttheyinvokethename ofSarakitomakeexcusefortheirfailurearethe onesshoutingaboutSaraki’scomeback.Iamsure thisisthenewmantradevelopedforthembytheir politicalstrategistsandspindoctorsfor2023.Tell themitisafailednarrative.Itcan’twork.

he 2023 general election is just about 13 months away, how prepared is your party, the PDP? Wearepreparingandourpeople areworkingveryhard.Thelevelof mobilisationthatisgoingon-from pollingunits,wards,LGAs,senatorialzones,andacrossthestate is unprecedented.Thismaybebecauseourpeople havenowcomparedgovernmentsunderourpoliticalplatformandthepresentoneandtheyhave seenthemarkeddifference.Theyhaveseenthat thestandardofliving,qualityofgovernance,the competenceofpersonnel,andthereachofthose ingovernmenttodayarealotworseandlower thanwhatwehadbefore.ThePDPisreadyforthe electiontomorrow.Wehaveacohesiveandunited partyledbyexperiencedandmaturepeopleand ourmembersarewillinglyworkingfortheparty eventhoughwearenotingovernment.Thepeople wantgenuineimprovementanddevelopment.Not deception,lies,falsehood,anddivision.ThePDPis preparingforthe2023electionsandwithmore timestillonourhands,wewillnotrelentonour mobilisation,strategising,andgeneralpreparation.

The PDP is the main opposition party in Kwara State.Will you say the party has played the role effectively?

Youwillnotethatimmediatelyafterthe electionresultswereannouncedinMarch2019, ourleader,Dr.AbubakarBukolaSaraki,onour behalf,congratulatedthewinnerandwishedthem success.Asafollow-up,heurgedthatweshould allowthenewgovernmenttosettledownand focusongovernance.Weallagreedwithhimand complied.Itwaslaterwhenitbecameobviousthat thegovernmenthadnointentionofchannelling itsenergyandresourcestofulfillingitsnumerous promisestothepeoplebutdistractingitselfwith score-settling,pettyrivalry,andmarketingempty propagandatothepeople,thatwedecidedtochallengeitandredirectitsattentiontoitspromises.

SincethenPDPhasbeenveryvibrant,vigorous, andupanddoinginpointingoutthelies,faults,inadequacies,andomissionsofthegovernment.We havebeenverycriticalandconstructive. Governor AbdulRahmanAbdulRazaqinhisso-calledonly publishedinterviewever,alsoadmittedthathehas learnedalotfromourcriticisms,eventhoughthe learningisdonedubiouslyandtheapplicationof thelessonslearnedisinfurtherbreach.Ibelieveif thePDPhasnotbeenconstructivelycriticalofthe AbdulrazaqgovernmentinKwara,thingswould havebeenworse.

Talking about criticism of the Governor Abdulrasaq government, what do you think the government is not doing well?

Generally,thegovernmentfromtheleadership totheothercadreslacksthecompetence,capacityandexperiencetoprovidegoodgovernance.

Also,whenthepartythatformedthegovernment wascampaigningbeforethelastelection,all theircampaignpromiseswerepremisedonlies, fabricatedfigures,andcharacterassassination.

Theydidnotseektogetnecessarystatistics, relevantdataandconcretefactsuponwhichto maketheircalculations.Tomakemattersworst, theyneverplannedanything.Itishaphazard governmentmicro-managedlikeitsleaderwhen yourunagovernmentthroughWhatsApp.No executivecouncilrobustdebatesanddueprocess arebypassed.Thegovernorwilljustdecideon impulseanditisexecutedsimilarly.Thatiswhyan overheadflyoverisbeingconstructedwithout properEnvironmentalImpactAssessmentsimply becausetheGovernoralsowantstobecredited withconstructingthefirstflyoverinthestate.

Sometimes,theinferioritycomplexwhichthe governorandgovernmentsufferimpactseriously ongovernanceandgovernmentdecisions.Idon’t knowinwhatareaIwillscorethegovernment highexceptintwoareas.Intheareasoftelling liesandintheareaofelevatingpettinessasan artofgovernance.Alltheirclaimsarelies.Almost

Ibrahim threeyearsingovernmentandnosinglelandmark project,programme,orpolicy.Comparedtoother governmentswhichcameonboardbefore2019, theAbdulrazaqgovernmenthasonlyexcelledin makingfalseclaims.

Does it mean your assessment of the government is low? Is this correct?

Iamcorrect.InMay,thisgovernmentwould havecompletedthreeyears.Inwhichareascan theyclaimtohavemadeagoodimpact?Thisisa governmentthathasthebenefitofenhancedIGR madepossiblebytheimmediatepastadministration.Italsogotalotofinterventionfundsdueto COVID-19pandemicsandothers.Yet,themoneyis beingwasted.Theyawardedcontractstorenovate schoolsatacostthatisalothigherthanthecost ofbuildingnewschoolsinotherstateswithworse terrain.Goandcheckalltheclaims.Areourcivil servantsbeingpaidthenewminimumwage?The governmentclaimedtohaverepairedtheoxygen gasstationprojectinitiatedbytheSarakiadministrationbuthowcomethatthepriceofoxygengas initshospitalisalmostdoubletheamountpaidfor thesameproductintheUniversityofIlorinTeaching Hospital.Theytalkedaboutemployingnurses, howmanyofthenursesarestillinservice?Very soon,itwillbetimetodebatetheso-calledclaims andachievementsofthepresentadministration inKwaraStateandwewillbereadyforthem.The debatewillnotbeaboutmuck-rakingagainstthe pastgovernments.Itwillbeaboutthepresentation andcritiquingofthescorecards The APC, particularly the faction loyal to the government of Abdulrazaq believes all these criticisms by your party is to enable Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki to stage a comeback in Kwara State.What is your response to that?

ImmediatepastSenatePresident,Dr.Abubakar BukolaSaraki,comebacktowhat?WhatisBukola SarakicomingbacktoKwarathattheAPCistalking about?Theyarejustlookingforawaytofurther distractthepeoplefromtheissuesoftheirmisrule.

SarakicanneverbecomegovernorinKwaraState again.Heisconstitutionallybarred.Iamnotsurehe isinterestedincontestinganyelectionsinKwara Stateagain.HeisamanwhoAllahhassoblessed thatwiththeofficeshehasoccupied,theachievementshehasrecorded,andthecontactshehas made,heisrespectednationallyandinternationally.

Sincethelastelections,isthereanyimportant forumoroccasionthattopleadersinthiscountry havegatheredthathewasnotinvitedtoand thatheattendedandhewasnotdulyrecognised

andregarded?No.Since2019,hashislevelof philanthropyreduced?No.Now,itisclearthatthose bloodyliarswhoclaimthatitisKwaramoneythat hewasspending,orthathewascollectingN2bn fromKwaraStateallocationhavesinceseenthe collapseoftheiremptyandpettyfalsehood.The truthhascaughtupwithandexposedtheirnaked lies.TheonewhoAllahSWThasblessed,nobody candisgrace.ThatisthestoryofDr.Saraki.Now, talkingofwhowantstostageacomeback.Iwant tostageacomeback.Thoseofuswhobelievethat wehaveprovidedbetterrepresentationtoour peopleandhigherqualityofgovernancetothe stateandstillhavegenuineintentiontodobetter thatwanttostageacomeback.Withintheambitof theconstitution,manyofuscanstillrepresentthe stateinmanycapacities.Wearetheonesyoucan betalkingaboutstagingacomeback.SaySenator RafiuIbrahimwantstocomeback.Youareright.My recordinthe8thSenateandthequalityrepresentationIprovidedourpeopleinKwaraSouthare theretojustifywhyIwanttostageacomeback.If yousayBolajiAbdullahiwantstostageacomeback, youwillberight.Checkhisroleascommissioner, minister,APCNationalPublicitySecretaryand youwillunderstandwhyheneedstocomeback.

IfyousayDr.AlliAhmedwantstocomeback,you willbecorrect.Hewasacommissioner,federal representatives,andSpeaker.Hisrecordspeaks foritself.Aslawyerssay:ResIpsaLoquitur.Ifyou say,ZakariMohammed,RasakAtunwa,Ahmad Pategiandotherswanttocomeback,webelieve constitutionallyandwithourrecords,ourenergy, experience,andcompetence,westillhavethe constitutionalpermissiontoserveourstate.Those whowantustostageacomebackarethenumerous womenandyouthswhobenefittedfromvarious empowermentprogrammessponsoredbypolitical officeholdersinthepastgovernments.Now,politicalofficeholdersaresofarawayfromthepeople thatpeopledonotenjoyanybenefitfromthem.Our peoplenowshout‘EnuGbe’(NoMoney).Thepeople whowantustocomebackaretheroyalfatherswho weredulyconsultedonkeygovernmentpolicies andprogrammesandgottheirduerespectunder thepastgovernmentsbutarenowbeingtreated withdisdainbythepresentgovernment.Those whowantustostageacomebackarethestudents whoduringourtimeingovernmentwereprovided withsupport,personalscholarshipandtherestof them.Now,theyareleftwithoutbeingcaredfor.The peoplewhowantustocomebackarethemarket menandwomen,transportunionsandoperators inthegarageswhowitnessedthedevelopment wemadeinthemarketsandgaragesandhow

What are the issues that you think will determine the outcome of the next elections in Kwara State in 2023?

ThenextelectionsinKwarawillbeareferendum abouttheperformanceofthepresentgovernment inthestate.Itwillbeaboutthefact-checksonall theirliesandclaims.Itwillbeaboutourpeople answeringthemselveswhethertheirstandardof livingandqualityoflifehasimprovedorgottenbetterthanitusedtobe.Ourpeoplewillusetheelection toanswerthequestionofwhetherthepresent governmentismorecompetentthantheprevious governmentsandwhichofthecandidatesisthe best.Itwillbeanelectioninwhichlies,sentiments, andmanipulationwillhavenorole.Wewillensure theelectionmeetsallthestandardsofagoodpoll.

Candidateswillhaveafruitfulandusefuldebate.

Questionswillbeaskedandansweredwillbe demanded.Thosewhoseektoalwaysavoiddebate andrunawayfromscrutinywillhavenoexcuse.We willnotallowpeoplewhocanstayinoneroom,filled withtheirconstituents,for10daysandrefusedto talkorgiveaccounttoindulgethemselves.Ifyou cannotwithstandtheheat,stayawayfromthe kitchen.

What informed the early zoning of the 2023 PDP gubernatorial ticket to Kwara North Senatorial District and how will this help the party?

Itisborneoutofsincerity.Itisaproductofa viableopinionpoll.Itisbasedonequity,justiceand equality.Theleadershipofthepartyhasaggregated opinionsofmembersandseesthatthemajority favouredthat.Itisalsojustandequitabletogiveall sectionsofthestatesenseofbelonging.Thedecisiontosettletheissueofwherethegubernatorial candidatewillcomefrombeforetheendof2021is basedontheneedtoresolvealldifficultissuesearly enoughandstart focussing on further mobilising new and old members as well as give a solid sense of direction to all the people aspiring to various positions in the state. Now, we all know where we are going and that sets a good standard on how to zone other positions to get solid, capable, and visionary candidates across the board.

What post do you want to contest for in 2023?

I believe that I served my people in Kwara South very well in the 8th Senate. My records in the National Assembly are there for anybody to check. Two of my bills were signed into law and they helped the country to tremendously improve its rating in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business. My constituency projects and otherformsofdividendsofdemocracywhich Iattractedtomyconstituency,aswellasthe qualityrepresentationsIgavetoourpeopleare attestationstothefactthatwedidverywellboth aslawmakerandpeople’srepresentatives.Itismy aimandaspiration,subjecttotheconsentofAllah, theownerofallpowers,andthevotesofthepeople ofKwaraSouth,thatIreturntotheSenatetooffer furtherservicetomymakerandmypeople.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

CICERO/REPORT

Ayade

Bassey

Imoke

Onor

Cross River’s Political Bigwigs on Warpath over Zoning of Governorship As the controversy over the zoning of governorship ticket among the three senatorial zones in Cross River State in 2023 rages on, Chuks Okocha writes that political tension has gripped the state

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s the 2023 governorship election approaches, tension and apprehension appear to have engulfed Cross River State, as contestants slug it out.

The battle is not just about running for governorship race, but also which senatorial district takes the shot.

The governorship position having gone round the three senatorial districts, controversy is over which senatorial district will produce the governor in the fresh rotation.

Another troubling issue is the denial of the existence of zoning in the state since 1999 by some political gladiators in the state.

This seems to be the most daunting puzzle in the governorship race as 2023 beckons. In view of the impending crisis, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, and a former National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of the party, Mr. Venatius Ikem said the party was not in a hurry to take a definite stand on zoning.

Ikem in a message to party supporters argued that it would be a self-inflicted damage on the PDP if the party act on zoning based on what he described as the political antics of Governor Ben Ayade.

Ikem hinted that “whenever I decide to do what Ayade is doing, accept that the party under me has failed.”

He urged PDP supporters to be “sceptical of whatever Ayade does because he doesn’t do anything for goodwill, but a self-serving motivation.”

With the governorship slot starting with Mr. Donald Duke from the southern senatorial district in 1999 - 2007; Senator Liyel Imoke from the Central in 2007-2015; and Ayade emerging in 2015-2023, many had argued that the governorship should return to the South smoothly. But the senator representing Cross River Central Senatorial District, Prof. Sandy Onor had debunked any knowledge of zoning in the state.

According to him, the governorship of the state has been hotly contested without any preferential treatment for any contestants from any senatorial district at any political dispensation.

Among the visible and likely governorship aspirants are Senator Gershom Bassey, Hon. Daniel Asuquo, Arthur Jarvis Archibong, and Ben Akak, Bassey Ndem, all of the PDP from the southern senatorial district.

Onor is likely the only PDP candidate outside the southern senatorial district.

He is from Etung Local Government Area

in the central senatorial district. In the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ayade appeared to have drawn the battle line with other APC chieftains who have gubernatorial ambition.

At the moment, speculations are rife that Ayade may choose any of his commissioners as successor, particularly the Commissioner of Finance, Asuquo Ekpenyong; Commissioner for Rural Transformation, Okonkon Effiom, or former Senator Bassey Otu, and all from the southern senatorial district.

Also, only Senator John Owan Enoh, who like Onor is also from Etung is believed to be running from outside the southern senatorial zone, even as the next step of a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani remains uncertain.

Strategically, Ayade had made it clear that he would support a candidate from the South. At a recent briefing, the governor explained that “in 2015, I went round to campaign and in the process, I told the people to vote for me that in 2023 power will return to the south. The governorship slot started in the south; it moved to the central and then moved to the north; it’s fair that power returns to south again for equity and fairness,” Ayade had reportedly said.

But former governor Donald Duke was said to have debunked any existence of zoning in Cross River State during a New Year visit by Onor to him. He had narrated how he fought with giants like former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN) to realise his governorship ambition. “There was never zoning in this state; there was never zoning; I fought a titanic battle with Kanu Agabi - it was David and Goliath; I make no pretensions,” Duke had declared to a cheering gathering.

But many had countered Duke’s position, insisting that Duke’s emergence was due to a protest vote against the decision by powerful forces in the then All Peoples Party (APP) to annul the Ogoja-Calabar accord, and also deny Dr. Eyo Etim Eyong the governorship ticket. Some also argued that with the just return of democracy in 1999, it was obvious that the clamour for zoning was not going to be strong given that no one was sure of what the military would do. Others also maintained that, when Duke left office in 2007, no candidate from the South ran for the office, paving the way for the

central to produce the governor. Also, with the emergence of Imoke, the zoning principle enshrined in PDP’s Constitution was further strengthened, such that in 2015, no candidate from the southern or central senatorial district ran for the office, as it was clearly the turn of the north. Those with this view stressed that Duke was no longer in PDP and was even non-partisan, and only returned to politics later to run for president under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2019.

Despite the opposition from the proponents of zoning, Onor had declared his ambition to run for the governorship of the state at St. Charles Catholic Church in Calabar. His declaration came after strategic consultations in the 18 local government areas of the state.

Onor’s move was not well received by some critical stakeholders within the PDP and APC in the state. At a parley with journalists in Calabar, Onor faulted supporters of zoning. He stated that “that those who are promoting and spreading the message of zoning are either cowards who do not have what it takes to contest the party’s ticket under a free and fair process, or are ethnic jingoists who are only interested in misleading our people in pursuit of their very personal and selfish interests.”

The senator also stressed that “nobody or group of persons should divide our state and its people in the name of zoning. We are a people who share commonalities with deep historical roots and it would be thoroughly unfair for anybody to fan the embers of geo-ethnicity, just to satisfy their selfish ambition. In the course of the consultative visits, leaders of our party were united in their resolution that the contest is open for anybody who thinks he has what it takes to contest, no matter what part of the state the person comes from. The leaders were firm on this, as reflected in the communiqué they issued,” Onor explained.

But Bassey, had in a statement, laid down the conditions and circumstances upon which zoning was embedded in Cross River politics. According to him, many of the opponents of zoning were not privy to all the agreement reached by the PDP on zoning, specifically in 2015.

He stressed that, it was based on zoning that “the South did not present a candidate in 2015. They supported the North.

There were potential candidates from the South who could have created a contest

in the field in 2015, but the people of the South decided to go with the zoning principle and supported the North on grounds of equity and fairness. In 2023, we believe that now is the turn of the South, under the same rotation principle,” Bassey said.

He argued that “as the incumbent Senator representing the Southern Senatorial District, I currently hold the mandate to speak for the people of the South. My constituents in the Southern Senatorial District categorically and without equivocation, expect that power will come to the south in 2023, based on the rotation principle. In my party specifically, the PDP, we expect that the governorship will be zoned to the South in 2023”.

“The reason for this is very clear. In 2015, when my brother, Donald Duke, was not in the party, there was a caucus meeting which zoned this governorship to the Northern Senatorial District, with the understanding that after the North, rotation would continue with the South,” he added.

While Duke, Ayade, Bassey and other political heavyweights have gone into the trenches, firing political missiles against perceived political opponents, Imoke has remained silent, working and strategising behind the scene. With Ayade’s defection to APC, Imoke was fast to reorganise the party, bringing together the three senators, Bassey, Onor and Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, representing Cross River Northern Senatorial District to the PDP fold.

At his annual political gathering on January 1, 2022, in Itigidi, his home town, Imoke was believed to have reset the 2023 governorship race, to pave the way for a more equitable politics. Many see Imoke’s silence on the issue as more strategic than weakness. With one of his close ally, former House of Representatives member, Hon. Bassey Eko Ewa warning politicians from the central senatorial district to stay away from the 2023 governorship race, it is reasoned, Imoke is pushing for a southern candidate in the PDP, to ensure political stability in the state.

Also, a coalition of civil society and indigenous groups led by Cross River State People’s Forum and the New Democrat Initiatives met in Abuja to reprimand politicians who wanted to derail the smooth transition and equitable distribution of power in the state. The two groups both led by Stafford Bisong and Paul Obi, had cautioned to the APC and the PDP against going against the zoning formula well established in the state.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

GAVEL

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Editor: Ejiofor Alike SMS: 08066066268 email:ejiofor.alike@thisdaylive.com

Issues Before National Assembly as 2022 Legislative Session Begins Udora Orizu writes that daunting tasks await members of the National Assembly as they resume plenary on January 18 after their Christmas break

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embers of the National Assembly who have been on Christmas and new year holidays will resume on Tuesday, January 18th to commence the 2022 legislative activities. While the lawmakers were able to pass landmark legislations such as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Climate Change Act, and so on, however there are several key legislations and unÀnished business which Nigerians expect them to prioritise as another legislative year commences.

Amendment to 2022 Budget The lawmakers had on December 21, 2021 passed the sum of N17.127 trillion budget for 2022 Àscal year, against the sum of N16.391 trillion proposed in the budget estimates submitted to them by President Muhammadu Buhari in October. The Appropriation Bill which was eventually signed into law by the President in December, was rocked with insinuations of budget padding following complaints by him. The President had, while signing the 2022 Appropriation Bill and the 2021 Finance Bill into law expressed strong reservations on what he described as “worrisome changes” made by the National Assembly to the budget estimate.

Buhari lamented the reduction in the provisions for many strategic capital projects to introduce empowerment projects. He accused the National Assembly of reducing provisions for about 10,733 projects and introducing 6,576 new projects, which increased the budget from N16.39 trillion

by N735.85 billion to N17.13 trillion.

He also expressed concerns on the inclusion of new provisions totalling N36.59 billion for National Assembly projects in the Service Wide Vote, which negates the principles of separation of powers and Ànancial autonomy of the legislative arm of government. The president explained that he signed the budget to enable its implementation from January 1, announcing that he would send a supplementary budget to the lawmakers to amend the alterations.

Worsening Insecurity Following the rate at which insurgency has spread in the three northern zones, with increasing frequency of killings, kidnapping of innocent citizens by terrorists, escalation of herders/farmers conÁicts, armed robbery in various parts of the country, Concern about insecurity bedeviling the country will be one of the major issues that will dominate discussions on the Áoor of the House in 2022. In the past year, security issues have been the crux of discussion at plenary. In response to various security breaches which led to the loss of lives and properties of citizens, the lawmakers reviewed security related laws and enacted legislations.As a matter of fact, no plenary day goes by without a security-related motion or bill being passed by the lawmakers.

Some of the notable legislations include, the Armed Forces Bill which seeks to establish the Armed Forces of Nigeria Trust Fund, to provide special Ànancial support for the Armed Forces, makes provision for regular training for personnel and the provision of security/defence equipment for eͿective defence of Nigeria’s territories and the Àght against insurgency, and the Police Service Commission Reform Bill to aid the ongoing total police reform, to ensure eͿective policing.

Aside bills and motions, the House last year held a two-day National Security Legislative Reform retreat where participants were expected to review seven bills with overlapping mandates on security, intelligence and the related agencies.

The Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila had while declaring the retreat open noted that the initiative was part of the commitment of the Lawmakers to doing what is required to ensure the country overcomes the serious national security challenges.

Lawan

Gbajabiamila The bills include the Armed Forces Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; Police Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; National Security and Civil Defence Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; Customs and Excise Management Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; ECOWAS Convention on SmallArms and Light Weapons, The Ammunition and Other Related Materials (RatiÀcation and Enforcement) Bill, 2021; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related OͿences Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The House also in May 2021 held security summit, and presented the report to President Muhammadu Buhari in July for possible implementation of its recommendations. Despite all these eͿorts nothing much has come out of it. On resumption, as expected several security-related motions and bills are will pop up, however the lawmakers should aggressively lead the discussion on how to quickly end the spate of security crisis.

Rejected Electoral Act Amendment Bill The long awaited Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which is believed to transform the country’s electoral system for good, was in December rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari, who cited issues with direct primaries provisions in the Bill.

Despite the resolve and threat by many senators to overrule President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto, the senate however backed down from its resolve. Before embarking on Christmas break, in place of the move, which had seen the collection of signatures for the proposition, the upper chamber resolved to liaise with the House of Representatives on how best to handle the president’s rejection of the electoral reform bill. The senate also agreed to involve their constituents in the consultation process during the Christmas break before taking a Ànal decision by January.

In a recent interview, President Buhari assured that he will assent to the Bill if the National Assembly removes the clause indicating that political parties election primaries should be only conducted directly.

His words, “Personally I don’t support direct primaries, because I want people to be given a choice, you can’t give them one option and think you are being democratic.

Let them be given the three options which are direct, indirect and consensus. If you could recall, ACN, APGA, ANPP, CPC and another party we came together. PDP was over conÀdent and thought they will rule Nigeria to the end of time. But the opposition we came together and overthrew them. We didn’t overthrow PDP because of direct primaries but because of the opposition coming together and Àghting the PDP. We must not insist that it has to be direct primary, it should be consensus and indirect. Once that’s done I will sign the electoral bill. There should be options, you can’t dictate to people and you say you’re doing democracy.Allow them to have options to make a choice.”

As the lawmakers resume plenary, Nigerians expect them to prioritise reworking the Bill and send it back to the President for assent or overrule the President’s veto.

Probe Audit Queries by Auditor General Aside the investigations carried out by various committees of the House, one which the lawmakers are expected to give utmost priority as soon as they resume is the audit report submitted to the National Assembly by the O΀ce of the Auditor General of the Federation.

ReferencedAuGF/AR.2019/02, the report dated 15th September 2021 and signed by the Auditor General of the Federation,Adolphus Aghughu, indicted several MDAs and as well the National Assembly.

The AuGF indicted the management of the National Assembly and the National AssemblyServiceCommissionofembarking on an unexplained expenditure amounting

to N9.424 billion in the 2019 Ànancial year. He also among others, disclosed that about 178,459 diͿerent types of arms and ammunition got missing from the police armory in 2019 without any trace or formal report on their whereabouts.

On resumption, the Public Accounts Committee of the both the Senate and House of Representatives are expected to grill the aͿected agencies or persons mentioned in the report, in a bid to recover the missing funds, others.

Constitution Review Assuming o΀ce in 2019, the lawmakers in their legislative agenda assured Nigerians to review the 1999 constitution. Last year, as both chambers held zonal public hearings nationwide on the review of the 1999 Constitution, during which clamour for creation of state police, restructuring and Àscal federalism dominated presentations made by stakeholders.

However, amid push from most quarters in the country to decentralize policing, President Muhammadu Buhari in a recent interview restated his opposition to state governments having their own police. He alluded to the propensity for governors to abuse their powers as his argument against state police.

“State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local government and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Let the people in local government tell you the truth about the Àght between local governments and the governors,” he said.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his closing remarks shortly after the end of plenary in December, declared that the National Assembly would commence work on the report of the Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution once the lawmakers resumed from the Christmas break in January.

As proponents of federalism argues that in a true federal structure, states should control their own security agencies to complement that of the federal government, Nigerians are anxiously waiting to see the decision of the lawmakers in that regard.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER JANUARY 16, 2022

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with ChidiAmuta e-mail:chidi.amuta@gmail.com

ENGAGEMENTS

Whose Oil is It, Anyway?

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ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief E.K Clark are unrepentant but useful fossils.

Both suffer a common affliction: they like to hear their own voices.

In their constant refrains on major national issues, they never tire of tormenting us with ancient interpretations of the country we all know. Both men share a common expired conception of Nigeria. While citizens see a good country rendered unhappy for individual fulfillment by a succession of gang rulers, these men see an amalgamation of clashing regions, tribes, factions and zones.

In their worldview, each region is the home of specific resources with which they come to the national arena to negotiate political supremacy with other regions and factions. For them and their acolytes, exclusive regional and sectional resource ownership seems to be a common currency of political exchange.

Their most recent encounter is on the matter of who really owns Nigeria’s strategic oil and gas resources. Obasanjo angered Clark by repeating the worn out line that the oil and gas resources located in the Niger Delta belong primarily to the federal government as the constitution states. Predictably, an enraged Clark rose in defense of his region, countering the Ota farmer with a more assertive ownership claim on these resources by his Niger Delta kith and kin. Between the constitutional state and the patrimonial heritage state, a line is drawn. Clark needs to enter this battle most energetically; otherwise his residual political relevance will evaporate.

Not to be left out of this familiar regional scramble for ownership of national wealth and resources, spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Mr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed joined issues with both men. Let us have some ‘Federal Character’! Mr. Baba-Ahmed entered the adolescent contention that all the food eaten by Nigerians is produced in and belongs to the North. In his curious logic, Nigeria needs to show gratitude to the custodians of the nation’s food basket.

Furthermore, Baba-Ahmed contends that the whole of Abuja belongs to the North which has magnanimously yielded it to the Federal government as part of its benevolent endowment to the idea of Nigeria. He then laments how most of the Abuja real estate space now belongs to ‘Southerners’.

In this politics of regional resource compartmentalization and ownership tussles, political leaders have found a convenient berthing foothold for their many combats. In the process, they have deepened our divisions and widened our misconceptions. Politicians have a right to mine fault lines in an effort to advance their interests. But to proceed therefrom to reduce the nation to a collection of extractive colonies is intellectual fraud. It is also an insult to ordinary Nigerians who seek no more than a respectable country they can call home. To this extent, Obasanjo, Clark and Ahmed are political dinosaurs from the ancestral depths of a better forgotten version of Nigeria. Their level of discourse cannot advance democratic debate. Their relapse into an ancient political discourse of regional ownership and supremacist muscle flexing cannot lead us to a free and truly democratic Nigeria. It has nothing to do with the right of Nigerians as individual citizens to produce and distribute goods and service throughout a national common market driven by supply and demand across the nation space.

These positions demonstrate once again the lingering attachment of Nigeria’s political leaders to a partition template. The nation becomes a collection of extractive enclaves, territories and extractive colonies, fenced off from each other by walls of political protectionism and even hate. We are held together by a political elite who have made it their life business to remind us of the resources each region is bringing to the national sharing table. Political contest among the rival elite becomes first a vicious contest over control of these resources through control of federal power. Justice and fairness in the nation is now defined in terms of which faction is getting the most benefits from its hegemonic control of power and resources. Political discourse and language becomes a clashing rhetoric of “my region is more important than yours”! “See, we have oil

Obasanjo and you don’t! We have cattle and you don’t!.

We sell spare parts and pharmaceuticals and you don’t! We just found gold in my backyard; where is yours?” etc The international dollar price of whatever lies beneath your soil or grows in your backyard becomes a measure of your region’s political importance in the national order of precedence. Unconsciously, our politics has become a perennial contest over which region or zone hosts or brings the most strategic resources to the national equation.

This is how oil and gas were alienated from resources for the improvement of people’s lives into objects of vicious political football.

Communities in oil bearing areas have been weaponized against an unjust state and its military presence. Whole communities have been razed in these vicious encounters.Thousands of innocent lives have been lost. Livelihoods have been erased. Limited undeclared wars have been fought just as whole armed movements have risen with militias armed with frightening weapons of war. These have been recognized as permanent features of our armed landscape. The category ‘militant’ has emerged as a distinct class of citizens who have earned the right to be heard by their ability to aim and shoot agents of the state and other innocent citizens. “I shoot, therefore, I am” has emerged as the defining dictum of this new dangerous type of Nigerian citizen.

Elsewhere, the politics of resource nationalismhasproducedanotherunfortunateversion of the Nigerian citizen. In an attempt to elevate cattle into a strategic national resource with a political meaning, the armed herdsman and his variants of bandit, insurgent and terrorist has shaken Nigeria’s sense of security to its core. Violent trouble making has graduated into an occupation and lucrative business.

The gunman (known and unknown) has come into the fore as a fact of daily life, redefining reality as we have come to know it. The elevation of senseless blood letting and violence into creeds of social existence is one of the clearest markers of the ascendancy of the type of resource politics that Mr. Muhammadu Buhari has authored. The daily news as a casualty headcount is the journalistic legacy of this season of anomie. In the process, the already hard to shock Nigerians

have become inured to blood letting and a daily industrial scale loss of human lives. The rest of the world gets shocked each time they feel that too many Nigerians have died in one day. An entire school population can be carted off by transactional zealots and sectarian slave dealers in one night only for government secueity to arrive half a day later in ‘hot pursuit’.

Obasanjo’s position is a rehash of the standard old constitutionalist argument.

It simply states that by the various constitutional provisions, all mineral resources that lie under the surface of the earth belong to the federal government. The individual only has rights to property on the surface of the earth.

If the state finds oil under your farmland or hut, too bad. You have to move your miserable belongings as well as the gravesites of your ancestors and the shrines that make your life meaningful. Compensation will be paid you!

The federal government collects all the oil, gas and royalties in addition to those on other minerals under the earth. In turn, it redistributes all such national revenue to the various tiers of government in line with the applicable revenue allocation formula.

Implicit in this arrangement are certain standard assumptions that go along with the classic theories of national sovereignty and the social contract between the citizen and the Leviathan.The barrage of obligations and responsibilities are familiar. Government has the responsibility to protect lives, to protect people from the environmental impacts of mineral prospecting and extraction, to provide means of livelihood for those who may be adversely affected by mineral extraction and prospection etc.

Underlying these basic assumptions is an abstract supposition that government is bound to be just to all citizens in the provision of essential amenities; that it will protect all citizens from the possible environmental and occupational hazards of mineral exploitation and extraction. Add all the other fancy rhetorical guarantees that define the obligations of the nation state to its citizens.

Over time, these assumptions have turned out utopian and deceptive. People in oil and gas communities have gotten poorer, pushed to the precarious edges of the existential precipice. They live in a supposedly rich

country but mostly as spectators of the train of modernization and development in centres far away from the brackish backwaters of nasty resource exploitation. The political power brokers have in the past been embarrassed by the failure of this constitutional absolutism. They have tended to amend the rules. The revenue allocation formula has been tinkered with several times. Oil and gas producing states have been allowed an additional 13% revenue share. Intervention agencies like OMPADEC and NDDC have been quickly established. We have even established a separate Ministry of the Niger Delta to focus attention on the direct needs of the Niger Delta region.

The net effect of these arrangements and interventions has been to funnel a huge quantum of resources and cash to the region.

Regrettably, very little has changed in he lives and circumstances of the people. The mood of restiveness and agitation has persisted, hence the venom in the Obasanjo/Clark exchange.

The politics of resource agitation has become even more weaponised and fiery.

One offshoot of the political jostling for oil and gas resource control is the rise of the community as an active stakeholder. Both politicians and governments in power have of late come to accommodate community leaders as convenient middlemen in engagements with the people. In advancement of this angle, a coterie of community leaders consisting of chiefs, kings, dodgy intellectuals and diverse business men of no particular nomenclature has risen. The umbrella of ‘community leaders’ has been expanded to embrace all those who cannot fit comfortably as partisan political actors, militants or rights activists find shelter as community leaders. It is the collective of communities rather than the states in which they live that are asserting the strongest ownership stake of oil and gas resources. The federal state is therefore compelled by the grassroots origins of the resource control agitation to recognize and deal with community leaders as legitimate stakeholders.

This situation poses the legal burden of establishing the legal status of communities in the property rights relationship between the federal government and individual owners of the land underneath which oil and gas exploitation takes place. We must quickly concede that the community makes cultural sense mostly in understanding the national identity of indigenous peoples. In many parts of the country, land still belongs to communities without prejudice to the provisions of the Land Use Decree and other relevant laws of the state.

Therefore, the community may have a residual cultural right to press its claims on behalf of its members when ancestral land is threatened.

But in a strict definition of citizenship in a constitutional democracy, the community hardly exists as a legal entity. In the context of the democratic bond between the citizen and the state, the community has tangential relevance. The social contract that binds every Nigerian citizen to the federal Leviathan is the essence of the Nigerian nation state. Neither ethnic group, region, zone nor community has a place in that social contract. Traditional rulers may have a cosmetic constitutional role but they must leave their communities outside the gates of power. Therefore, fairness, equity and justice in the context of the Nigerian nation state can only be defined and measured in terms of how well the state treats each citizen.

Strictly speaking, communities have no bloc voting rights at election time. The community has no international passport, drivers license, biometric identification or voters card. Only individual citizens meet these requirements.

To that extent, therefore, the oil that is under a man’s hut or farmland should belong to him as an individual with the state collecting taxes from both the land owner and the oil and gas prospecting company in proportions that may be stipulated by law and recognized by the constitution. Therefore, the persistence of injustice in the mineral producing areas especially oil and gas in the Niger Delta is the result of the failure of the state to recognize and respect individual property rights as the basis of resource appropriation.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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B AC K PAG E C O N T I N UAT I O N IS NIGERIA DUE FOR ANOTHER ELECTORAL UPSET? This combination necessarily puts the fringe parties and their candidates at a disadvantage.

There is a place for name recognition, antecedents, credibility and messaging in electoral politics, but a national platform trumps all these in the permutation for victory in our presidential system. These other factors can only reinforce the primary of platforms, not replace it. Even when you take account of occasional manipulations and abuse of incumbency powers, a review of the nine presidential elections held between 1979 and 2019 indicates that the parties with existing presence and spread outperform others.

One good explanation for this trend is that Nigeria is a huge and diverse country whose size is amplified by infrastructural deficits and whose complexity is not fully captured by the caricature favoured by national and international media. Getting through and securing the required number/spread of votes privilege the parties that have the structures already or have the goodwill that will allow them to tap in existing structures in many localities across the country. In this game, structure is key, and it is easier for the big parties to build and sustain their own structures or to easily, based on prior history and social capital, plug into the structures of others.

The second factor against imminent disruption is that we now effectively have a two-party system. Even though we have 18 registered parties, the political space is dominated by APC and PDP. At the moment, APC has 22 governors, PDP has 13 governors and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has the remaining one governor. Between them, the two leading parties have 97% of the states in their palms, a pattern reflected at the National Assembly, and likely to be slightly more at the subnational level, based on the maximalist nature of our politics. In theory we have a multi-party democracy, but in practice what we have is a supposed multiparty system with one or two dominant parties, a situation some political scientists call feckless pluralism.

This has implications for electoral fortunes of the parties and their candidates. The parties in power at the federal, state and LGA levels not only have unfair access to state resources

Inevitably, most will choose between one big party and the other.

The last point is that neither the fringe parties nor the aspirants seeking to fly their flags have presented themselves as viable replacements of the status quo in terms of building formidable structures that can deliver the quantum of votes needed to win the presidency. People cannot simply disappear after one general election and reappear a few months to another election and think it will be a cakewalk into the presidency of Nigeria. I am aware of the efforts of certain aspirants and of some parties and groups to create an alternative to the ‘damaged Siamese twins’ but I don’t think they have demonstrated the heft needed to dislodge the two entrenched parties that presently control 97% of elected positions and all that goes with that. It will be easier for these smaller parties that collectively hold about 3% of elected positions in the country to make a dent on elections that do not require the scale of effort to win the presidency in Nigeria.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu and instruments, but they also have enhanced capacity to attract additional resources in cash and in kind from their elected and appointed officials, the individuals and entities that they have dispensed or promised to dispense patronage to and from their members and sympathisers. We have a party system that provides implicit incentives for the big to get bigger and the small to get smaller.

The big parties are better positioned to shoulder the heavy financial burden of running an effective campaign (a small hint: if a party earmarks N10, 000 for feeding and transportation of polling agents in the 176, 846 polling units on election day, that is N1.7b alone, and this is one of the lowest cost centres of presidential campaigns. How many of the smaller parties can muster such and prevent their agents from being compromised?) The big parties have the capacity not just to undertake the expensive, time-consuming and huge logistics endeavour of campaigning all over

the country, but they also have foot-soldiers who can knock on doors after the song and dance of campaigns, and get the voters out on election day, to wait patiently in defiance of the elements, and stay behind religiously to protect their votes.

The third point is that our voters are largely risk averse: they place their bets not on hope but on who they think stands a good chance of winning. Yes, there are those who will vote on the basis of passion and ideology. And there are also those who engage in what is called negative voting: anybody but Candidate X, any party but Party Y. I am not sure this category of voters is in the majority. Most Nigerian voters (including those not induced and those doing negative voting) are not inclined to vote just to prove a point, or as they say, be willing ‘to waste their votes.’ Most voters weigh the flawed options put before them and make snap calls about those they think stand a good chance of being elected.

THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA that flows therefrom. Some are blank when you discuss development with them. They think you are speaking Greek.

From the outset, the leader — as the project manager — must have clearly defined goals, complete with timelines and deadlines, picking the right core team, setting performance baseline for them, guiding them efficiently, appraising them regularly, and dropping the deadwoods to keep the team healthy, motivated and productive. No matter how many geniuses are in a president’s team, the buck does not stop with them. It stops at the president’s desk. Therefore, it is not enough to appoint good hands — there must be regular guidance, monitoring, appraisal and rejigging. Appointees should not be made to feel performance is inconsequential. Pray, is that too much to ask?

On team selection, Nigeria is just a funny country. The president traditionally nominates ministers without listing their portfolios. Our dear senate will then screen them excitedly without knowing what ministries they will be assigned. Standing in front of them is an economist who may be made minister of women affairs but they will be asking the nominee questions on inflation, ease of doing business and fiscal policies. What a joke. Why can’t the senate insist on knowing their portfolios so that the nominees can be screened accordingly and meaningfully?

What a shame. If we cannot get the simple things done, how can we get the major things accomplished? Is this too much to ask?

What do I mean when I suggest that the president must pick the right “core team”? I accept that every appointment is important but, in reality, no president can focus on 40 areas of development with equal passion, energy and resources. In any case, some ministries are mostly on autopilot mainly because they operate in a highly privatised environment. They only do routine jobs or play intermediate roles. This is different from the ministries driving the critical policies that shape a development agenda. That is why I consider some appointments as “core” from which other things flow. The choice of core appointees is, thus, of crucial importance to a development-focused leader.

For instance, the minister of finance is a core appointee. It has to be someone who is very sound in economic policy and must have an

evidently rich pedigree. I will always go for an economist to fill this position because of the broad, cross-sectoral thinking required. Another core appointee is the attorney-general, who must be intelligent and sound in legal matters.

It must not be a wheeler-dealer interested only in accumulating obscene wealth, sharing legal fees and commissions with lawyers and colluding with litigators to rip off the country.

A corrupt attorney-general, as someone said, can bankrupt a nation. This portfolio is highly important in every democratic order.

The inspector-general is another core appointee in a democracy. Unless we modernise policing, Nigerians will never have faith in the system. We have had all kinds of IGPs but we cannot honestly say policing is getting better. Human right abuses, such as extrajudicial killings and torture, are still rampant, and this is to say nothing about the corruption and political hijack. The president must understand that the current policing system only serves the rich and the powerful. Since democracy thrives on law and order and is supposed to work for the people, we need an AGF who is versed in the rule of law and an IGP whose passion is protecting lives and property. Is this too much to ask?

There are other core appointments that the project manager must give the best shots: education and health. Although Nigeria runs a federal system under which education and health are shared responsibilities with states and local governments, some major policies are driven from the centre and they can improve our collective experience if well thought-out. Also, federal government can ensure that its own schools and hospitals are well-equipped and well-run. We can use some positive competition there between the federating units. I know the list of core appointees can be longer, but any competent and patriotic manager of the Nigerian project will not joke with these ones.

In addition to team formation, the president must be someone who pauses once in a while to review the administration’s policies. Are they working well? Should they be improved upon or jettisoned? The lack of policy impact assessment is a major failing in Nigeria.

Advanced societies engage intellectuals to study the progress of policies. In Nigeria, it is none of our business. For instance, is

the 6-3-3-4 school system better than the old 6-5-4? Has UMTE produced better outcomes than A’Levels? Has the TSA helped or hurt Nigeria’s economic progress? Are pre-departure and post-arrival COVID tests still necessary?

Regular policy appraisal is one of the secrets of development.

My expectations of the next president that I have listed so far are not complicated: a competent and patriotic candidate with a clear development agenda; one who will be passionate for country above sectional and selfish interests; one who will assemble a core team to implement the development agenda; and one who will assess policies regularly to keep them fit for purpose. With these basics sorted, the president can choose whether to do a one-point agenda or 30-point agenda.

No matter the slogans, any president that will lead Nigeria aright must have security of lives and property, rule of law, value reorientation and national unity at the centre of the development agenda.

The project manager, or next president if you will, must understand that for the development agenda to work, some reforms are inevitable.

Some are low-hanging fruits but some come with discomfort. For example, port reforms are low-hanging. The result-oriented president will put the right people in charge of customs and the ports and implement an automated system so that the demons can be exorcised convincingly. The damage our ports do to international trade every year cannot be less than N1 trillion in monetary terms. It is not just as a result of the vile corruption but also the pervading gross inefficiency. No economy can function optimally under this system.

Until our leaders understand that development is a project to be conceived, planned, executed, monitored and pursued to a logical conclusion — with a clear transition and succession plan — we will keep falling off the ladder. It will be like a game of snake and ladder, with the snakes outnumbering the ladders by 2:1. We will be taking one step forward and two backward as we have been doing for decades. Therefore, our leaders at all levels — national, state and local — must understand that development is deliberate. It won’t happen by accident.

To exit underdevelopment, competent and patriotic leaders must constantly drive the process. Is that too much to ask?

And Four Other Things…

SO LONG, SHONEKAN Chief Ernest Shonekan died on Tuesday at 85. The former head of the interim national government (ING) ruled Nigeria for 83 days in 1993. Word in town then was that Gen Olusegun Obasanjo came up with the idea of ING to be headed by himself. The nation had been engrossed in crisis after the annulment of the June 12 poll won by MKO Abiola. Obasanjo went around saying Abiola was not the messiah. But while Gen Ibrahim Babangida bought the ING idea, he did not make the Obasanjo the head. He instead picked Shonekan, an Egbaman like Obasanjo and Abiola. Shonekan was soon swept out by Gen Sani Abacha. Sadly, Shonekan never told his story. My condolences to the family. Adieu.

DECLARATIONS GALORE You can tell it is political season again. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally divulged the worst-kept secret in sub-Saharan Africa — that he wants to run for the office of the president in 2023. Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state has also declared his interest. It is believed that other APC big guns such as Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi, the minister of transportation, will also throw their hats in the ring. In the PDP, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim has announced his bid. Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar is expected to launch another attempt, 30 years after his first bid. This is the “festive season” for politics and it will last for 14 months. Enjoy.

BETTER OR WORSE? President Buhari said on Friday that Nigerians need to be fair in assessing his government’s efforts at tackling insecurity, that he has made good progress since he came to power in 2015. Hmmm. As he was speaking, bandits and terrorists were operating in Niger, Taraba and Nasarawa states, killing dozens of people. These states were safer in 2015. Boko Haram also attacked police and military installations in Borno state same day. While I appreciate the efforts of his government and the gallantry displayed by the security agencies, what Nigerians want is result, not just effort. They are hoping and praying that their country will be safe and secure soon. But it is not yet uhuru. Fact.

DJO-COVID DRAMA World’s top tennis player, Novan Djokovic, has been the centre of a global drama following his face-off with the Australian authorities over his vaccine status. The Serbian (who, by the way, is my favourite player), seems to be an anti-vaccination champion, which is within his rights. However, he should have boycotted Australia Open because of the vaccination requirement. He further complicated matters by saying he got an exemption because he had been infected a few weeks ago — which means he still has some immunity — but a cursory forensic audit left more sour taste in the mouth. His bid to become the player with the most Gram Slam titles is now in disarray. Shame.

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NEWS

News Editor: Gboyega Akinsanmi E-mail: gboyega.akinsanmi@thisdaylive.com,08152359253

Fresh Crisis Hits Ekiti PDP as Oni, Olujimi Reject Congress Accuse NWC committee of compromise C’ttee denies working in support of Fayose Victor Ogunje in AdoEkiti

Fresh crisis yesterday hit the People’s Democratic Party in Ekiti State over the election of delegates that would elect its candidate for the governorship election scheduled to hold on June 18.

As a result, a former Ekiti State Governor, Chief Segun Oni and a Senator representing Ekiti South, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi,

among others, rejected the ward congress conducted by the National Working Committee (NWC) in the state yesterday.

Other party chieftains, who rejected the outcome of the ward congress, include a former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Prof. Kolapo Eleka; Mr. Lateef Ajijola and Wale Aribisala, both of whom are governorship aspirants.

In unanimity, therefore, the

Monye Unveils Presidential Aspiration, Pledges National Rebirth Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba A renowned social innovator and multinational management consultant, Mr Chukwuka Monye yesterday declared interest in taking up the leadership of the federation in 2023, explaining that he had compelling reasons to join the presidential race.

Monye made the public declaration at his country home of Onicha-Ugbo in Aniocha North Local Government Area (LGA), Delta State amid loud shouts of approval by thousands of supporters, mostly youths from across the federation.

In an emotion-laden presentation typical of the late American human rights activist, MartinLuther King Jnr, Monye said his campaign would be anchored

on the slogan, “Our Future Is Now.” Monye noted that any action to arrest the long years of national drift could no longer wait or be postponed.

He revealed three cardinal programmes of his government comprising security; institutional reforms and jobs, saying the three-pronged assault on the critical challenges bedeviling the country would radically precipitate the desired national rebirth.

Describing himself as “a bridge-builder”, he vowed to mobilise millions of Nigerian youths across the country’s social, geopolitical as and cultural divides to successfully midwife the process towards the realisation of his presidential ambition in 2023.

Engage FG to Release Kanu, Mumuni Tells Kalu Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Amb. Nurain Mumuni has asked a former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu to desist from attacking the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Rather than attacking Tinubu, Mumuni enjoined Kalu and other politicians in the Southeast region to engage the federal government to free the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, instead of blaming politicians

like Tinubu.

He gave this advice yesterday in a statement he personally signed, asking to stop attacking the APC national leader for Tinubu had last Monday visited President Muhammadu Buhari and told him of his ambition to contest the presidential election on the platform of the APC come 2023.

Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate, had said the ruling APC did not belong to Tinubu. He had claimed that he did not snub the president by not going to inform him about his presidential bid at the Aso Rock Villa like other aspirants like Tinubu.

Don’t Sell Central Hospital, Library Complexes, Agbomhere Tells Obaseki Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

A former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Blessing Agbomhere, has asked Governor Godwin Obaseki to halt sale of Benin Central hospital and Edo State Library complexes.

Agbomhere made this call in an open letter to Obaseki at the weekend, explaining why the governor should halt sale of the health facility.

Both buildings located along the Benin-Sapele road have been pulled down. The state government had said it planned to build a motor park at the site of the hospital built in 1920 and shopping mall at the premises where the library used to be located.

In his letter dated January 14, Agbomhere noted that the Central Hospital provided affordable medical care to the people of Edo State and the Edo State Library served as a reservoir of knowledge to thousands of Edo sons and daughters.

According to him, students and researchers visit the library for intellectual-mechanical panelbeating, mental overhauling, academic and educational growth cum advancement.

He said there were plethora of unoccupied lands in underdeveloped areas which the State Government could takeover for the purpose of erecting various structures, thereby opening and building a new Benin Metropolis to decongest an already jampacked city.

party chieftains accused the accused a committee of the NWC under the chairmanship of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Emmanuel Udom of working in support of the state’s former governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

The claims stoked tension yesterday at the Koltotel Hotel located at GRA, Ado Ekiti, where the committee members from Abuja resided as party chieftains and members besieged the venue to raise observations about the process of the adhoc ward congress.

While operatives of the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) surrounded the entire venue, anti-riot policemen to GRA section of Ado Ekiti where Koltotel was located, The ward congress was organised to to elect three adhoc delegates across the 177 wards to partake in the January 26 governorship primary of the party in the state Expressing regret that the materials sent to the 177 wards

were allegedly hijacked, Oni, flanked by other governorship aspirants, described the situation as disturbing and worrisome.

Expressing disappointment at the conduct of the ward congress, Oni noted that he never expected such an act to be happening in the PDP. Oni said: “What you have seen today is laughable. This is the standard we still are as a country.

It is very unfortunate. There is nothing we can do other than to complain formally.

“We went upstairs and also

told the acting Chairman of the Ward Congress Panel. I believe we cannot have democracy by hijack. If anybody is a muscle man, he should apply the muscle to winning people for the party.

“We will believe the party will take a look at what has happened. At least, all spoke on our honour. If they want us to say more, they can contact us.

Each of us is a known face to even the people in Abuja. This is very unfortunate. But we hope the party will find a way out of it.

GREETINGS FROM SOUTHERN SENATORS… L-R: Ogun State Governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun; President Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman, Southern Senators’ Forum, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, during the president’s one-day working visit to Ogun State... recently

Fresh Farmers, Herders Clash Claims Five in Ogun James Sowole in Abeokuta No fewer than five persons were killed and many others injured in another fresh crisis between farmers and herdsmen at in Ogun State.

The clash also led the burning of many houses, maize bans, motorcycles and other valuables.

The crisis, THISDAY learnt, broke out when some Ohori farmers in Aworo Community in

Yewa North Local Government, engaged Fulani herdsmen, who led cows to graze on their farmlands at subsequently destroyed their crops.

The farmers, it was alleged, chased the herders from their villages to Idofa in Imeko Afon Local Government and during which they killed three herders and their cows.

Aworo people had accused the Fulanis of destroying their farms and water sources through

open grazing of cows; a practice the Ogun State Government had banned.

A community leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that after the Aworo people killed the three herdsmen in Idofa, there was a reprisal attack on Thursday, leading to the death of two Yorubas, one of whom was burnt beyond recognition.

He said: “The Aworo people chased the herdsmen from Yewa

North to Idofa in Imeko. They killed three of them there and killed their cows.

“On Thursday, the Fulani herdsmen returned in the dead of the night to launch an attack. They killed two persons, set houses and other properties on fire.

“One of those killed was burnt in a house beyond recognition.

It took the intervention of the police and the Amotekun corps to calm the situation

WHO Recommends Two New Drugs to Treat COVID-19 Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended two new drugs for COVID-19, providing yet more options for treating the disease.

The WHO, in a statement posted on its website, said the extent to which these medicines would save lives depended on how widely available and affordable they would be.

The statement reads in part: “The first drug, baricitinib, is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19. It is part of a class of drugs called Janus kinase inhibitors that suppress the overstimulation of the immune system. WHO recommends that it is given with corticosteroids.

“Baricitinib is an oral drug, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It provides

an alternative to other arthritis drugs called Interleukin-6 receptor blockers, recommended by WHO in July 2021.”

WHO also conditionally recommended the use of a monoclonal antibody drug, sotrovimab, for treating mild or moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation.

“This includes patients who are older, immune-compromised, having underlying conditions

like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, and those unvaccinated.

“Sotrovimab is an alternative to casirivimab-imdevimab, a monoclonal antibody cocktail recommended by WHO in September 2021. Studies are ongoing on the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies against Omicron but early laboratory studies show that sotrovimab retains its activity,” the statement said.

Gunmen Invade Police Station in Imo, Kill Two Operatives Amby Uneze in Owerri Gunmen Friday night attacked Mgbidi Divisional Police Headquarters in Imo State, killing an inspector and leaving another policeman with injuries.

According to eyewitnesses, the attack caused panic in the area as the hoodlums who came in a vehicle and police operatives engaged in a firefight.

THISDAY gathered that the

gunmen had on arrival, opened fire but the policemen on duty responded swiftly to repel the attack.

The invaders were said to have arrived around 9:00 p.m. on Friday and met stiff opposition by policemen who engaged them in a shootout, which resulted in the death of the police officer.

Confirming the incident yesterday, the spokesperson for the police in the state, Mr. Micheal

Abattam said that the attackers were repelled by the officers on duty.

He, however, confirmed that one inspector was killed while another sustained minor injury during the attack.

Abattam said: “On January 14, at about 20:45 hours, the command’s tactical teams at Mgbidi Police Station repelled an attack by some hoodlums who came in a white Hilux vehicle shooting sporadically,

attempted to gain entrance into the station but were repelled by the ever gallant command’s tactical teams and the police operatives of the division who positioned themselves professionally “They engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel. In the process, the attackers were suppressed almost immediately, having suffered a huge defeat, with a number of them sustaining various degrees of bullet wounds.”

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NEWSXTRA Gowon: Shonekan Chose to Tread Where Many Would Not Dare Gboyega Akinsanmi Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has paid glowing tribute to the late former Head of Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan, saying the former Nigerian leader chose to tread where many would not dare.

Shonekan, who served as the nation’s ninth Head of State, died last Tuesday at the age of 84.

The deceased had succeeded military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) as Head of ING in the wake of the crisis generated by

the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, Shonekan’s kinsman from Ogun State.

According to Gowon, Shonekan’s death “is a great personal loss to me, my wife, Victoria, and our family.”

In a letter to the Shonekan family, titled: ‘We mourn our dear friend, His Excellency, Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan, GCFR’, Gowon said: “The passing of our friend, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Nigeria’s ninth Head of State, on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, is a great personal loss to me, my

wife Victoria, and our family.”

Gowon declared that Nigeria would surely miss Shonekan, who was called to serve his country at the height of the political crisis in Nigeria in 1993.

He noted that in accepting to head the ING, Shonekan had chosen to tread where many would not dare.

The former Head of State said Shonekan’s robust contributions to debates at National Council of States meetings were worthy of commendation, stressing that he truly put the national interest ahead of any secondary considerations.

“For several years, we interacted at deeply personal levels, not just between ourselves but with members of our respective families. Our official public service relationship was also borne out of a deep mutual respect.

“Chief was a true captain of industry who actively supported the drive of successive governments for the economic development of Nigeria. He achieved global renown on account of his achievements in business. His extensive contribution to the growth of the nation’s economy on the

Osinbajo’s Supporters Begin Presidential Campaign in Kano Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano Thousands of Nigerians campaigning for Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo’s presidential aspiration yesterday converged on Kano where they unveiled a new support group called New Nigerian Tribe.

The unveiling was organised

by One Tribe Osibanjo Group held at Meena Event Center and attended by various ethnics groups and politicians across the federation.

Addressing the crowds, National Coordinator of New Tribe, Mr Anwar Hamza said the vice president would naturally succeed his principal, President

Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Hamza explained that the track record of the vice president made him the most qualified for the plum job.

He said the vice president “is the most qualified for the top job. There will be no need for handing over notes. He has been there. He understands the terrain more than anyone.”

The national coordinator explained that Osinbajo’s currency “is competence, character, capacity, knowledge, and integrity. He will do a good job.”

In his address to the crowd, a former Chief Whip of the Senate, Prof. Olusola Adeyeye said Osinbajo is the perfect fit for

Nigeria’s next president in 2023.

“At this moment, choosing the president is very easy for Nigerians because we have Osinbajo, the man of the moment. At this point in time, we need a man like Osinbajo who is intellectual, versatile and very suited for the throne.

“He is a leader with vision and mission that transcends all tribal sentiments and considers our common humanity”.

“He has good character, which is the best quality of leadership and displays keen intellects with noble intention that if elected he will inspire millions of Nigerians because he is a man of his words. For

me, it is an easy choice to make.

“For millions of Nigerians, given a chance, it should equally be an easy choice to make except that many are mired in pessimism that arose from wanton betrayal by governments.

For the New Tribe here gathered plus millions of our cohorts all over Nigeria, our choice is clear and simple!

“The moment has chosen for us a man that providence has prepared for the task. The moment speaks to choosing a man who transcends all tribes, an embodiment of the New Tribe defined not by the cacophony of dialects but the symphony of our common humanity.

platform of his chairmanship of the United African Company of Nigeria (UACN), one of Africa’s largest conglomerates, remains a watershed in enterprise management.

“Chief Shonekan was a patriot, albeit a deeply misunderstood one. At the height of the political crisis in Nigeria in 1993, he was

called upon to serve his country.

In accepting to head the Interim National Government, he knew he had chosen to tread where many would not dare. He gave his best to the office for the good of his Fatherland. Though he paid a heavy personal price for his selfless decision, I hope that history will be kind to him.

KTN Global Alliance Africa Launches Innovation Exchange for Sustainable Waste Management As part of efforts to promote sustainable waste management and circular economy in Africa, KTN Global Alliance Africa has launched a call for entries for start-ups based in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya aimed at connecting them with innovators who are already working on waste management solutions.

KTN Global Alliance Africa is a six-year project funded by UK Aid through Innovate UK (GCRF) and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The Innovation Exchange will leverage inclusive partnerships to mobilise support to help in the scaling up of innovative solutions for sustainable waste management by matching real industry challenges from large businesses or societal challenges from governments, to companies and innovators already working on potential solutions.

Under this initiative, the most

innovative solution providers will pitch their ideas to the companies and will each receive £25,000 ($34,000 equivalent) to fund the start-up of their prototype or pilot concept, with additional support from KTN Global Alliance Africa.

Across these three African countries, the project aims to promote sustainable waste management through a complete cycle where products and materials are recycled, repaired, refurbished or reused, so that a by-product or waste from one economic process becomes an input for another.

Similarly, KTN Global Alliance Africa will be intervening in solving AgriFood challenges. Specifically, the Alliance will be supporting Flamingo Horticulture, a horticultural business with a worldwide footprint that covers the farming, production, sales and marketing of fresh produce and flowers, to find innovative solutions to False Codling Moth Control in Fresh Chillies.

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NEWSXTRA Illegal Refinery: NSCDC Disbands Rivers Anti-Vandal Unit, Probes Operations Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ahmed Audi has disbanded the anti-vandal unit of Rivers State Command following allegation that the unit was aiding and abetting of vandals and illegal bunkers to carry out their nefarious activities.

This was revealed in a statement by the spokesman of

the Corps, Olusola Odumosu yesterday.

As indicated in the statement, the commandant-general said he received with shock and dismay the allegations levelled against the anti vandal unit of the command by Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike that the unit aiding and abetting vandals and illegal bunkers to carry out criminal activities.

He said: “Worried by this

disappointing development, the CG has ordered the suspension of head of the anti vandal team and the disbandment of the unit with immediate effect, pending the outcome of an independent enquiry set up to look into the weighty allegations levelled against the unit.”

He said the extant rules and regulations guiding the NSCDC operations and the general ethics of the service requires complete display of total discipline, integrity, incor-

ruptibility, transparency and accountability on the part of every Corps personnel, hence, the reason for this immediate action.

Audi further directed the acting DCG in charge of investigation and intelligence to summon all the personnel involved to the National Headquarters, Abuja for further investigation to determine the level of involvement and/or culpability with a view to dispensing justice appropriately.

He decried the allegations as not being in tandem with his vision for the Corps, stressing that he will not condone any criminal act or act of compromise by any personnel.

He emphasised that a thorough investigation would be conducted to ascertain the veracity of the allegation and roles played by the individuals involved and whoever is found guilty would face necessary disciplinary actions and punishment.

He, however, assured Wike of getting to the root of the matter without delay, promising more synergy with the state government towards discharging more effective service delivery to the good people of Rivers state.

He reiterated further that his administration “has come with a renewed vigour to reposition the service in line with global best practices and will not condone any act of sabotage by any personnel no matter how highly or lowly placed.

Nigeria Lost over N10tn to Twitter Ban, LCCI Claims Segun James

Nigerian businesses lost N10.72 trillion ($26.1billion) within 222 days President Muhammadu Buhari shut down Twitter operations across Nigeria, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has estimated.

This was contained in a statement by the Director-General of LCCI, Chinyere Almona Friday.

In business terms, according to Almona, the cost of the sevenmonth shutdown of Twitter operations in Nigeria is estimated to be N10.72 trillion ($26.1 billion) according to Netblock’s Cost of Shutdown Tool.

Buhari regime had banned Twitter operations in Nigeria on June 5, 2021. After months

of sustained pressure, the Buhari administration eventually lifted the prolonged suspension Wednesday.

Chairman, Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, Kashifu Abdullahi had, in a statement said the suspension followed a memo President Buhari wrote to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.

“In the Memo, the minister updates and requests the president’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.”

Almona, however, explained that Twitter was a viable tool for businesses in Nigeria, said the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria was “wellreceived and commendable.”

New Edo Refinery, Energy Park for Inauguration in March Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City Duport Midstream Company Limited (DMCL) and First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited have revealed that the ongoing construction of Energy Park located in Egbokor, Orhionmwon Local Government Area (LGA), Edo State would be ready for inauguration by the end of March.

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Dr. Akintoye Akindele revealed this during an inspection of the facility, being financed by FCMB and owned by Duport Midstream, a private company.

The energy park, situated at Egbokor, Orhionmwon LGA, is made up of a modular refinery, gas plant, power plant and a data centre After assessing the project, ther

chief executive of the refinery explained that by the end of March, the park would be ready for inauguration.

He, however, added that the inauguration “is at the behest of the government which will happen at different levels.”

Akindele explained that the regulator “should come and ensure that all we are ready.

We must test for a while, we will start testing in the next 30 to 45 days for the government to confirm and commission.

“When it come on stream, the facility would leverage on infrastructure to deliver energy to the country, reduce dependence on importation of petroleum products, create jobs and ensure optimal utilisation of the nation’s assets.”

Lafarge Supports 130 Cross Rivers’ Schools Ayodeji Ake

Lafarge Africa Plc has reaffirmed its commitment to host communities in Cross Rivers State with the inauguration of several development projects to mark its annual community day celebration.

The company’s Production Manager, Mfamosing Plant, Cross Rivers, Mrs. Idara Uyok at the 2021 stakeholder engagement recently, saying the initiative was part of efforts to strengthen the relationship between Lafarge, its host communities and the Cross Rivers State Government.

In fact, the production manager explained that

Lafarge supported more than 130 secondary and tertiary institutions in 2021, as part of corporate social responsibility in host communities in the state.

Uyok remarked: “This initiative is to further demonstrate our commitment to supporting community development in line with our sustainability strategy, one of which focuses on people and our communities.”

She said the forum did not only provide an opportunity for Lafarge to interact with its various stakeholders but also to share its CSR scorecard for 2021 and other footprints within the communities.

IN HONOUR OF A MATRIARCH… Chairman, Ekulo Group, Chief Emma Bishop Okonkwo (left), and Chairman/CEO Atlas Oranto Petroleum, Chief Arthur Eze, at the funeral mass for Mrs. Uchenna Cecilia Okonkwo at St James’ Anglican Church, Ichi, Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Anambra State…yesterday

Kalu, Emenike Absent at APC Reconciliation Meeting Sunday Ehigiator

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Chief Ikechi Emenike were absent at the party’s stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Chairman of APC National Reconciliation Committee, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

While Kalu’s group was reported to have attended the reconciliation meeting that took place in Abuja Friday, Emenike sent a written response, explaining that his group should be allowed to face the consequences of its actions after the conduct of the congresses.

In a letter dated January 11 and titled “Interactive Session With Abia State APC Stakehold-

ers,” Emenike acknowledged receipt of Adamu’s letter with Ref No.: APC/NRC/SEC/21/06.

He, however, said he elected to respond to the petition against his group through letter representation instead of appearing before the reconciliation committee for some good reasons.

He said: “Going through the so-called petition, you can see that the document is not really

a petition but a vicious voyage to attack anybody who refused to be compromised, particularly my humble self. There is no single expression of interest by the sponsors of the said memo towards reconciliation.

“It is curious and unacceptable that you will invite me to come and sit across the table to barter words with my estranged aides and their sponsors.”

Linking Me with Drugs Repulsive, Says Obi Cubana Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

A popular club owner and philanthropist, Mr. Obi Iyiegbu (a.k.a Obi Cubana) yesterday said it was repulsive for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to link him with illegal narcotic business.

Iyiegbu, a Nigerian entrepreneur and businessman, stated this yesterday during an Instagram live interview with

media personality, Daddy Freeze.

Reacting to his recent encounter with the NDLEA for alleged involvement in illegal drug deals, Iyiegbu lamented that it was repulsive for the agency to link with drugs.

TThe club owner, who is the Chairman of Cubana Group of companies, was on Thursday grilled for about five hours at the Abuja headquarters of the NDLEA.

He was granted bail and asked to return at a future date, following alleged suspicious payments made into Cubana’s account by a suspected drug dealer.

Narrating his experience with the agency, the club owner noted that he felt so low to be linked to drugs “I was in detention for four days and three nights. I did not feel bad because I knew the

agency would do a thorough job and if I am cleared, I’d be let go “There was no witch-hunting.

Nobody was after me. But to link me to drugs, it is repulsive.

I have never felt so low. To me, it’s repulsive.”

According to Obi Cubana, he had made a covenant with God that he would never support, invest, or be a part of any drug business.

Four Months After, Masari Re-opens Cattle Markets, Filling Stations Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari yesterday approved for the immediate reopening of all filling stations and cattle markets earlier closed down on account of cattle rustling and banditry in the state after four months.

Masari, in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha

Muhammad Inuwa, warned that the state government would not hesitate to re-enact the closure where a resurgence of any dubious activity is noticed.

Masari had in a security containment order he personally signed on August 31, 2021, suspended transaction activities at livestock markets and fuelling stations in the frontline local governments as well as banning transportation

of livestock to and fro in the state.

He also shut down some major Katsina highways to tame activities of the terrorists and other crimes in the state. The highways shut down include Jibia-Gurbin Baure road and KankaraSheme roads linking to Zamfara State.

While exercising the powers conferred on him by section 176

subsection (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, Masari advised travellers plying the roads to use the Funtua road.

In his statement yesterday, Masari instructed the two emirate councils in the state to admonish district and village heads of the affected areas to be vigilant and ensure that no act of connivance by “Sarakunan Fawa” and others is allowed.

71

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JANUARY 16, 2022

SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by: Duro Ikhazuagbe email:Duro.Ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

Super Eagles Cruise into Knockout Phase with Defeat of Sudan Duro Ikhazuagbe

S

uperEaglesdefeatedSudan3-1yesterday toqualifyfortheRoundof16ofthe33rd Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Goals from Samuel Chukwueze, Taiwo Awoniyi and Moses Simon lifted thethree-timeAfricanchampionsover Sudan’s Falcons of Jediane at the Stade Roumdé Adjia in the northern Cameroonian town of Garoua.

On a day many Nigerian football fans were looking forward to the roasting of the Falcons given how Super Eagles fared against Egypt and their star forward , Mohamed Salah, in the opening Group D match, Augustine Eguavoen and his wards gave good accounts of themselves.

Eagles started with that air of superiority as former U17 World Cup winner Chukwueze rolled the ball elegantly past goalkeeper Ali Abdalla Aboeshren in the second minute to record the fastest goal of the competition so far.

The Sudanese did not bow their heads in self-pity, and instead showed some delightful passing game, possession football, competence in launching fast counter-attacks and also hinting at some ambition.

With hindsight, Eagles knew an early ticket to the Round of 16 was at hand.They rolled the ball easily on the natural grass and for large swathes of the evening bossed the game, with right back Olaoluwa Aina characteristically joining the attack when it appeared safe andWilfred Ndidi and Joe Aribo working hard to keep things moving in the middle.

MosesSimon,KelechiIheanacho,TaiwoAwoniyiand Samuel Chukwueze were always cooking up a ploy.

BeforeAwoniyifoundthenetforNigeria’ssecondgoal in the 45th minute, Nigerians thought their team had scored a second in the 36th minute when Chukwueze and Iheanacho combined on the right side of the field

Super Eagles celebrating Samuel Chukwueze’s opening goal in the 3-1 defeat of Sudan at the ongoing 33rd Africa Cup of Nations in Garoua, Cameroon... yesterday

and got the ball past Aboeshren, only for the ball to miraculously head out of the net in a hazy melee.

Simon, who dazzled to no end against the Pharaohs butwassomewhatcurtailedinthefirstperiod,switched to a higher gear at the beginning of the second half and was assisted by Awoniyi, who chested down a short lob to free the France-based forward for a close encounter

withAboeshrenthatthegoalkeeperemergedtheloser, as he had to pick the ball from his net.

Sixminuteslater,Awoniyifluffedagoodopportunity to make it four, wasting a split second before making contact with the ball from a counter attack.

In the 70th minute, South African referee Victor Miguel Gomes judged that Aina had tripped a Suda-

nese defender in the Nigerian penalty area during a corner, and awarded a penalty to the Falcons, which was converted by substitute Mohamed Hussein.

OnWednesday at the same venue, the Super Eagles will take on theWild Dogs of Guinea Bissau, debutants at Africa’s flagship football competition, in their last match of Group D.

Moses Simon Dedicates Mo Salah Revives Egypt’s Campaign Award toTeammates with Win against E’Guinea Super Eagles’man-of-the-moment at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Moses Simon, has dedicated his Man-of-theMatch award in Nigeria’s 3-1 win against Sudan yesterday to his international teammates.

“I’m happy to win this award, it’s nice to be named the best player on the night,”Simon said after he was presented with his award last night.

“The award is not for me alone, it’s for the entire team. The most important thing is that we won and I’m happy about it.”

The Nantes of France power player Simon scored one goal and bagged an assist as Eagles raced to a second Group D victory and a ticket to the knock out phase.

It was Simon who teed up Samuel Chukwueze for Nigeria’s opening goal in the third minute.

Mohamed Salah scored the only goal against Guinea-Bissau to kick-start Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

But the Pharaohs rode their luck as Mama Balde had a stunning late equaliser for the Djurtus ruled out after a video assistant referee review.

Record seven-time winners Egypt, who lost their Group D opener 1-0 against Nigeria, struck the woodwork three times in a game they largely dominated. Salah volleyed in with 21 minutes left to secure a crucial victory in Garoua.

The Liverpool forward netted a first-time left-footed effort from the edge of the six-yard box which flew past the outstretched hand of GuineaBissau keeper Jonas Mendes.

In the 82nd minute, Balde cut in from the left and curled a shot just inside the right-hand upright, but the forward was adjudged to have fouled Egypt defender Omar Kamal in the build-up.

GROUP D Team.

P. W D L GF GA GD PTS

Nigeria Egypt

2. 1. 0. 1. 1. 1. 0. 3

G’Bissau Mo Salah

Egypt keeper Mohamed El Shenawy had to punch away a half-volley from Moreto Cassama in injury time to secure a result which moves the North Africans up to second in the Group D table, three points behind Nigeria but two points ahead of Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.

2. 2. 0. 0. 4. 1. 3. 6

Sudan

2. 0. 1. 1. 0. 1. -1 1 2. 0. 1. 1. 1. 3. -2. 1

RESULTS Nigeria

3-1

Sudan

G’Bissau

0-1

Egypt

(SUN Jan 16) Gambia v Mali (2pm)

PREMIER LEAGUE

De Bruyne Lifts Man City 13 Points Clear at the Top Kevin de Bruyne produced a moment of world-class quality to tighten Manchester City’s stranglehold on the Premier League title race with victory over Chelsea at Etihad Stadium yesterday.

The former Chelsea player broke the deadlock in a tight game with a superb curling drive past keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with 20 minutes left to extend City’s lead at the top of the table to an imposing 13 points.

Chelsea had their chances, the best coming when Ederson saved from Romelu Lukaku in the second half but De Bruyne made the difference and City now also have a 14-point advantage over Liverpool, who have two games in hand.

City deserved the win for their greater urgency and possession, Kepa keeping out Jack Grealish with a first-half save, and this represents another significant stride in their quest to retain the Premier League crown.

Elsewhere, Manchester United blew a two-goal lead as Philippe Coutinho scored a late equaliser on his Aston Villa debut as Steven Gerrard’s side drew a pulsating Premier League duel with Manchester United 2-2 at Villa Park.

Coutinho was just about to be introduced by Villa boss Gerrard midway through the second half when Bruno Fernandes slammed home his second goal of the game off the underside of the bar.

Ivory Coast v S’Leone

(5pm)

Tunisia v Mauritania

(5pm)

Algeria v E’Guinea

(8pm)

(Mon Jan 17) B’Faso v Ethiopia

(5pm)

C’Verde v Cameroon

(5pm)

PREMIER LEAGUE

City Boss, Pep Guardiola embracing Kevin de Bruyne after he was substituted against Chelsea... yesterday.

PHOTO: AP

Man City 1-0 Chelsea Newcastle 1-1 Watford Norwich 2-1 Everton Wolves 3-1 South’pton Aston Villa 2-2 Man Utd Burnley v Leicester (PP)

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SIMONKOLAWOLE The Next President of Nigeria SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

P

ardon me: I used the title of this article as a bait. Sensationalism is not in my character, pardon me again, but discussing who should be the next president always excites us in Nigeria. We were created for elections and permutations. I decided to trick you by making it look like I wanted to appraise the aspirants in the 2023 presidential election, after which you would expect me to sing the praises of one of them as the Moses to lead Nigerians out of Egypt. We have been doing the permutation business for decades but what have we achieved with it? Most Nigerians are still as poor as the ancient church rat and the Federal Republic of Nigeria is still importing petrol and engine oil.

If you are like me, you would be less excited about electioneering in Nigeria. Seasonally, our hopes are raised with promises of heaven and earth. Our eardrums always boom with campaign rhetoric. The posters are ever so beautiful. The violence on Twitter is always next to none. Campaign grounds always brim with crowds, sparking off my-Mercedesis-bigger-than-yours competition between opposing supporters — though we all know that many Nigerians attend political rallies as a poverty-alleviation tactic. That means they will go to as many as possible — even if

Buhari organised by different candidates and different parties — hoping to go home with wads of naira and loaves of bread.

I would not be as cynical as suggesting that nearly 23 years of democracy has done us no good. I do not belong to that school

of negativity. From the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan to Muhammadu Buhari, we have definitely recorded some important strides: reforms in banking, pensions, telecoms, oil and gas, power, agriculture and identity management, as well as some improvements in public infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports and classrooms. But we are still fundamentally stuck in underdevelopment. It is clear to all and sundry that Nigeria can — and should — be far, far, far better than this. But it is what it is.

My interest in the presidential election today is not in the permutations. The focus is on my basic expectations of whoever would be president. I am aware there is still this nagging question of where the president should come from: north or south? My opinion, which I often express, is that the next president should come from the south in the interest of national unity. It should be common sense that in a fragile, underdeveloped polity like ours, satisfying political emotions is important for stability. But deep down my heart, I do not really care where the president comes from — all I want is someone who will lead us aright. And I know I speak the mind of millions of Nigerians.

As for the requisite qualifications, I will

stick to my central theory that the political leaders that will help transform Nigeria must have these two key qualities: competence and patriotism. We also talk about “capacity” but I naturally subsume that under competence: that is, having the essential, proven skillset and experience vital to public administration.

Capacity is part of the competence package.

As a composite, patriotism — which I define as “putting Nigeria above sectional bias and personal gain” — will drive the leaders’ policies and actions, including hiring and firing. I am definitely not looking for angels: just competent and patriotic leaders. Is that too much to ask?

Having listed the major qualities I believe our political leaders should have, I will now narrow down on my idea of the right candidate for the office of the president. I will try to be as realistic as possible — I don’t want to be accused of Utopianism. First of all, the president must have the mindset of a project manager. The project, in this case, is an economic and human development agenda for Nigeria. Many jump into politics without understanding what governance requires. From what we can see, most are only motivated by the perks of power and the easy wealth Continued on page 67

WAZIRIADIO GUEST COLUMNIST

Is Nigeria Due for Another Electoral Upset?

T

he last, and only, time an electoral upset occurred at the national level in Nigeria was in 2015 when an incumbent president was defeated.

However, there will be no incumbent on the presidential ballot next year. This will make it the second time—the first being 2007—when such will be happening in what by 2023 would be the seventh consecutive electoral cycle and 24 years of uninterrupted democratic rule, Nigeria’s longest democratic experience by more than a mile.

Even when there will be no incumbent to defeat and the next general election is still more than a year away, the possibility or, more specifically, the hope of an electoral upset is playing feverishly high in not a few minds.

Or to put in the language of the times: an electoral disruption is thought to be in the offing. Some facts and assumptions support this disruption hypothesis: not having an incumbent on the ballot makes the presidential race a more open one; and the current president is unlikely to press the coercive apparatus of the state to checkmate those he doesn’t want or to impose his anointed as was brazenly done in 2007.

Other developments can be touted in favour of possible disruption. The ruling party, the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), will be bereft

of the cult following of the vote talisman who all by himself literally carries 12 million votes in his breast pocket but the party will also ironically struggle with the baggage of being in office for eight years. The leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has yet to fully recover from being ousted from power after 16 years at the helm, has not used its time in the wilderness to reinvent and reposition itself and is indeed rent by internal divisions. Despite strident protestations

by APC and PDP, the two parties have been cast in popular imagination as two damaged peas in a pod. A majority of the voters are mostly disillusioned, technology-empowered and agency-conscious young people who are desirous of a new order.

The vulnerability of the two leading political parties and the widespread angst against them ordinarily should brighten the chances of those who can project themselves as a clean break from the prevailing order. But having a bright chance is one thing, actualising it is another. For the status quo to be upturned, you need more than just hope. In fact, it can be argued that hope is not a strategy. You need a formidable political machine or movement capable of taking advantage of the obvious weakness of the established order, capitalising on the widespread discontent, and matching

the status quo in grit and wiles for votes in the nooks and crannies of the country. I may be a bit rusty politically, but I am yet to figure out such a force or machine on the scene about a year to the next elections.

A legitimate counter to this submission is the story of the current ruling party. Another is the inspirational story of how Barack Obama emerged as the president of the US in 2008. These examples however confirm my point. By the time that APC unseated an incumbent in 2015, the party had 16 sitting governors in its fold (drawn from five legacy parties, including the nPDP) and had as its flagbearer a former head of state and a fourtime presidential candidate with a mythical following. On his part, Obama ran for the presidency as a sitting US senator and was the flagbearer of the Democratic Party, one of the two parties that have been alternating power in the US for centuries, not from one of those fringe parties of ideas such as the Green Party, the Labour Party or the Peace and Freedom Party. It is almost a trite point in electoral politics that strong and viable platforms will always be critical.

To be sure, a day—not to talk of a year—is a long time in politics. Many things can still change. But my sense is that the prophesied electoral upset of the existing political order

may yet happen sometime in the future, but not in next year’s presidential polls. If there will be an upset at the presidential level in 2023, it is most likely that PDP will upstage APC or that both parties will lose to a fringe (if you like, burner) party taken over by droves of disenchanted members of the two leading parties and with one of them with an existing national network as the candidate. If this happens, it will still be the APC/PDP folks with new masks, and not necessarily the fresh faces that some people pine for.

In my reckoning, the reported overthrow of the APC and PDP is a bit exaggerated as the odds still privilege the current duopoly.

They do for some reasons. For a start, the presidential system, which we adopted in 1979, favours parties with existing footprints or networks across the country. To emerge as the president, candidates stand for votes all over the country, not just in one state or in one parliamentary constituency or by being the leader of the party with a majority of seats in parliament. The winning candidate must secure not just the highest number of votes across the country but must also fulfil the spread requirement: earn at least a quarter of the total votes in two-thirds of the states.

Continued on page 67

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