Opinion
Placing “Place Holders” Placeless
BY Chief Mike A. A. Ozekhome
Introduction
The APC political contraption never ceases to amaze and confound me. It intrigues me to no end. This is a party ( is it really one, going by the text book definition of a politcal in political Science ?) that rose from its often predicted imminent disintegration into smithereens, like a phoenix from its ashes, in a groggy, fumbling, wobbling, dawdling and near crumbling manner, to holding its first ever National Convention in March, 2022. At this swordy Convention, daggers were drawn and former two time PDP Governor and Senator, Abdullahi Adamu, was virtually crudely shoved down the already parched throats of majority of the APC members who had preferred former Nassarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura as National Chairman. It was simply a triumph of a powerful minority cabal over a silent helpless majority. I had predicted this when I vigorously kicked against consensus as a substitute for direct primaries in the new Electoral Act of 2022.
The Tinubu Abracadabra
The APC unsurprisingly harvested a turbulent National Primaries Convention on 9th June, 2022, where Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu valiantly shrugged off sustained attempts to muzzle him out of the presidential race through unorthodox means by a cabal believed to be working for President Muhammadu Buhari. Indeed, the “palace coup” executed by this faceless cabal headed by newly selected Adamu (they called it “election by consensus”), had told the whole world that the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, had been anointed as the “consensus candidate”.
Tinubu, a political maestro, reached for his talismanic bag of “politricks”, fished out an abracadabra magical charm in a deft political move that led to some presidential aspirants stepping down for him right at the very venue of the Convention.
This was after the Northern APC Governors had unanimously and roundly rejected Adamu’s flown kite of “consensus” for Lawan. The NWC of the APC later completed the rejection of the Lawan farce. Tinubu later trounced Ahmed Lawan who garnered a miserable 152 votes (coming 4th position) with 1,271 winning votes. Tinubu also dusted Rotimi Amaechi (316 votes) to second position; while cerebral lawyer, Prof Yemi Osibanjo (whom many had thought taciturn and inscrutinable president Buhari would naturally hand over to, having served him with total loyalty and fidelity for 7 years), came sprawling on his belly to the third position, with a miserly 235 votes. In Nigeria, politics is politricks. It defies logic and sense.
“Place Holder” Zooms in
So, APC continues to taunt us. From high-falutin and unfulfilled promises of 2015 and 2019 (robust economy; defeating boko haram and insecurity; killing corruption), the APC has now drawn us into a new era where it has introduced a new political terminology into our political lexicon and vocabulary. It is called “place holder”. Editor of Thisday Lawyer pages, daringly courageous, fecund, cerebral and intellectually-grounded writer, social critic and upscale layer, Onikepo Braithwaite (her mother is chief (Mrs) Priscilia Kuye, former NBA President; a fruit does not fall far away from the mother tree), provided us with a most apt title: “RUNNING MATE; DUMMY MATE!! This is one of the best titles I have ever seen as a journalist and writer myself. Thank you, Onikepo, for standing firm and nationalistic.
What is Place Holder?
The Free Dictionary defines “placeholder” as “One who holds an office or place, especially as a deputy, proxy, or appointed government official”.
Princeton’s Word Net sees placeholder “As a proxy, procurator; a person authorized to act for another.
Dictionary.com defines it as “something that makes or temporarily fills a place”.
A “Dummy candidate”, says Wikipedia, on the other hand (another terminology for placeholder), is a candidate who stands for election, usually with no intention or realistic chance of winning. Wikipedia is more exhaustive. It says
“a dummy candidate can serve any of the following purposes:
“In instant-runoff voting, a dummy candidate may direct preferences to other candidates in order to increase the serious candidate’s share of the vote.
“A dummy candidate may be used by a serious candidate to overcome limits on advertising or campaign financing. In India, for example there have been cases of serious candidates fielding multiple dummy candidates to distribute their poll expenses. The expenses are directed towards the campaign of the serious candidate, but shown to the election commission under the dummy candidates’ names.
“Dummy candidates with names similar to that of a more established candidate may be fielded by political parties to confuse the voters, and cut that candidate’s vote share. The dummy candidate’s name also may be deceptively similar to that of a retiring incumbent”.
The President and VP as Siamese Twins
The office of the President is an office that demands two good heads, having regard to the premium placed on the office. The Vice-President is not a substitute for the president: he is an ever-present partner, help and associate. While a person cannot occupy the office of the President in perpetuity, the office of the president remains perpetual. Every President must have a Vice-Present. The relation is like that of Siamese twins, tied together by the same umbilical cord. This is why some people have erroneously regarded a VP as a “spare tyre”. No, he is not! Can a “place holder” substitute for this?
The relationship between the President and the VP actually starts before the conduct of any election. As a matter of fact, Section 142 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) (1999 Constitution) provides that:
“… a candidate for an election to the office of President shall not be deemed to be validly nominated unless he nominates another candidate as his associate from the same political party for his running for the office of President, who is to occupy the office of Vice-President and that candidate shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the office of Vice-President if the candidate for election to the office of President who nominated him as such associate is duly elected as president. …”
There are at least five principles embedded in the provision above. First, every President must have a VP. Second, the validity of the nomination of a candidate for the office of the President is predicated solely on him nominating another candidate who shall serve as the VP. Third, if the nomination of a candidate to the office of the VP is provisional, the nomination of a candidate for the office of the President is provisional as well. Fourth, anything that invalidates the nomination of a candidate to the office of the VP, equally affects the candidate for the office of the President. Fifth, the candidate for the office of the President nominates the candidate for the office of the VP and is deemed to have acquiesced and agreed to be bound by any danger inherent his nominee. Sixth, the nominee and the nominator must belong to the same political party.
The nomination of a candidate for the office of the President and that of the VP is therefore joint. If the nomination of the candidate for the office of the VP is provisional, that of the President is equally provisional. It is inchoate. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. This is the first legal implication of taking a dangerous step such as this.
The intermediate court dilated on this relationship in quite an extensive manner in Atiku Abubakar v. Attorney-General, Fed. (2007) 3 NWLR (Pt 1022) 601 at 642. The Court held, Per Abdullahi, PCA, as follows:
“The President and the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are jointly elected at a general election and the relationship between them is not that of a master and servant. In other words, the vice president is not an employee of the President or of the political party on whose platform they are both elected. In the instant case, the plaintiff not being an employee of the President or the political party on whose platform he was elected, he cannot be impliedly or constructively removed by either of them. “The Vice president, not being an employee cannot be impliedly or constructively removed. Assuming he qualifies as an employee, without, for a moment so deciding, his employer would most manifestly be the people of Nigeria, who elected him to the office, acting through their representatives in the national assembly but certainly not the President of the Federal republic of Nigeria nor the sponsoring political party. This assumption is based on the cliche that the power to hire is the power to fire embedded in Section 11 of the Interpretation Act. See Longe v. First Bank of Nigeria Plc (2005) ALL FWLR (Pt. 260) 65. In other words, this matter is a matter that falls squarely within the contemplation of Section 143 of the Constitution which expressly provides for the removal of the President and Vice President from office.”
The legal implications of Placing a Place Holder
At this stage, it is important, I clarify that a “candidate” for an election is different from the holder of the office of a VP. Section 152 of the Electoral Act, 2022, defines a candidate as a person who has secured the nomination of a political party to contest an election for any elective office. It is only the winning of an election that changes or translates a candidate to a VP. However, one need not be a candidate for an election before he can become a VP. This is because a VP is automatically selected as a running mate by a presidential candidate.
A political party bears the consequences of not submitting at all, or submitting an invalid candidate for an election. This is because by section 131(c) of the Constitution, a candidate for an election to the office of President must be sponsored by a political party. Section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, states that a political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections shall organise primaries for the aspirants under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act mandates every political party to submit to INEC, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for the general election, the candidates it is sponsoring in that general election. The submission of candidate to INEC constitutes a definite and unambiguous statement of the intent of the political party to have that candidate only as its representatives in the election. The nomination of a candidate and submission of his name by that political party to INEC therefore seals the sponsorship of a candidate for an election. Once the window of nomination closes, all parties become functus officio.
Can There be a Surrogate Running Mate?
Who then is a placeholder in relation to a candidate? A placeholder is not a candidate for an election. He is an unknown person who has the seal of a political party to occupy the position of an unknown person; a mere faceless surrogate. His position creates uncertainty in a political party as his presence can mar or invalidate the nomination of his principal. This person is clearly unknown to law and the political party that submits such an unknown person to INEC is deemed to be aware of its wrongdoing and must ready to face the consequences of its gamble.
The APC Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, had nominated Ibrahim Masari, a Katsina politician, as the party’s place holder or dummy candidate, for his yet to be named running mate, so as to beat the INEC deadline.
Masari had served the APC as its National Welfare Secretary under the Adams Oshiomhole – led, National Working Committee (NWC). It is believed that the issue of Tinubu having a Muslim-Muslim ticket (Prof Babangida Zulum of Borno State is said to be the preferred one) is tearing the party apart. Can they repeat the Abiola-Babagana “Hope 93” successful Muslim-Muslim joint ticket with the present state of the nation where religion is tearing apart? Only time will tell.
Similarly, the Labour party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is reported to have also opted to submit the name of his campaign Director General, Doyin Okupe, as his dummy/ place holding running mate.
Whereas section 29(1) of the 2022 Electoral Act, as amended, provides that political parties shall submit names of their candidates, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for the general election, Section 31 of the Act also gives the political parties an opportunity to withdraw and substitute their candidates, not later than 90 days before the election
Section 31 states that “A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by the candidate to the political party that nominated him for such election and the political party shall covey such withdrawal to the Commission not later than 90 days to the election”.
The Commission had as part of its administrative arrangements given up till 6pm of Friday June 17, 2022, as deadline for the submission of names of candidates for the Presidential and National Assembly election; and 15th July, 2022, for the Governors and State Assembly candidates.
In fulfillment of Section 31 of the Electoral Act, the Commission gave July 15, 2022, as last day for withdrawal by candidates and replacement of withdrawn candidates by the political parties.
Similarly, the Commission also gave the parties up to August 12 for the withdrawal and replacement of withdrawn candidates by the political parties.
This means that the parties who are still facing crises over the choice of running mates still have until the July 15, 2022, to substitute the names being forwarded at the moment, with respect to the Presidential candidates.
Section 31 of the Electoral Act provides that a candidate may withdraw his or her candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered personally by that candidate to the political party that nominated him for the election and the Political party shall convey the withdrawal to INEC not later than 90 days before the election. “Candidate” under the Electoral Act, 2022, has a fixed meaning. The law did not say a candidate “includes”. It says it means. The question that calls for dispassionate determination is whether a placeholder qualifies as a candidate who has secured the nomination of his political party to contest an election? The answer can only be answered in the negative. Its identity speaks for itself. If a placeholder is not a candidate, then he is not a person known to law and envisaged by the law. Its nomination and the subsequent submission of this non-existent being to INEC is not a misnormal that can be remedied by replacement or withdrawal under Section 31. Its nomination and submission to INEC seals the fate of the political party that submitted its name.
Any Escape Root?
The political parties have already submitted names of candidates. Section 142(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(the Constitution) clearly provides that the a Presidential candidate must nominate his running mate from the same political party. While Chapter VIII of the PDP Constitution provides for the nomination of candidates for election into public office; Article 20 of the APC Constitution provides for elections into elective positions and appointments. These are clear enough.
Having established that the existence of a placeholder is unknown to law, can this non-existent entity be replaced or substituted by a candidate? Some principles of law might be of help to us here. In the case of ANEGE & ORS v. ALANEME & ORS (2020) LPELR-50445(CA), Per Muhammed Lawal Shuaibu, JCA, considered at pages 19 – 22 whether the court can grant an amendment for the substitution of a non juristic person with a juristic person. He held thus:
“… I have right from the onset stated that after filing the notice of preliminary objection by the defendant at the lower Court, the claimants thereafter filed a motion on notice to substitute the unregistered “Ideato Welfare Association” with “The Registered Trustees of Ideato Cultural and Welfare Association, Calabar” or to amend the status of the 1st and 3rd defendants to show that they are principal officers of the Registered Trustees of Ideato Cultural and Welfare Association, Calabar. A misnomer when associated with issues of juristic personality and mis-description of names of parties simply means the “wrong use of a name or a mistake in naming a person, place or thing, especially in a legal instrument which should ordinarily not lead to a nullification of the proceedings. In other word, a misnomer in the context of litigation occurs where the entity suing or intended to be sued exists, but a wrong name is used to describe that entity…………. The Supreme Court had recently restated the legal position in APGA Vs Ubah & Ors (2019) LPELR – 48132 (SC) held that if the entity intended to be sued exist but a wrong name is used to describe it, that is a misnomer………. The Supreme Court has inter alia held that naming a non-juristic person as a party is not a misnomer and amending same to substitute a juristic person is out of it. This is so because there cannot be a valid amendment of the title of a suit since there never was a legal person who was brought before the Court by the action. And since to be competent a suit must be instituted between legally juristic persons, failing which it is incompetent and a juristic party cannot subsequently be amended to take the place of a non-juristic party originally sued. The correction made by the lower Court by replacing a non-juristic person with one with legal capacity was done without jurisdiction….”
Was a shadowing, ghost and non recognized “placeholder” or “dummy mate” ever contemplated by the Electoral Act of 2022, as a juristic person? I think not. Mr Sheriff Machina has already introduced this dangerous step through his “Deus ex Machina”, by bluntly refusing to step down for Senate President, Ahmed Lawan. Supposing Kabiru Masari, Ahmed Tinubu’s “dummy mate” proves stubborn and refuses to kowtow? What happens? Assuming Dr Doyin Okupe, Peter Obi’s D-G and place holder refuses to yield? What is INEC’s position on these? I see some legal fireworks in the offing in the next few days and weeks ahead. Politrics and Politricians!!!
Opinion
The Hypocrisy of Power Game Between The North and South: The Time To Talk Is Now
The leadership of the Yoruba Council Worldwide (Igbimo Apapo Yoruba Lagbaye); the apex umbrella body for all Yoruba indigenous people globally is highly concerned about the recent devastating effects of the Northern quests and aggressive desperation for power ahead of 2027 or through any other irrational means before the ripe of time.
We are seriously concerned to witness all manners of unprecedented barrage of fireworks of incendiary rhetoric issued from different Northern elites as emanated from Prof Ango Abdullahi of the Northern Elders Forum seeking to call for an end of Nigeria based on the 100 years expiration of 1914 treaty after 10 years which lapsed in 2014.
To Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankanso’s crudity, unverified lies and tale of discords against the South: “Lagos colonising the North”, was his biased statements!
Hence, we must expressly express our dismay and disappointed on such insensitive rhetoric and by that laconically detest such an unflattering statement from chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, for intentionally misinforming and misleading Nigerians about President Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bills before the National Assembly.
Sadly enough, Alhaji Kwankwaso’s comments while addressing students of Skyline University during their convocation in Kano recently, demonstrated either a lack of understanding of the tax reforms or a deliberate attempt to politicize President Tinubu’s positive visionary and Renewed Hope initiative.
It is evident that Senator Kwankwaso is still grappling with the fallout from his abysmal performance in the 2023 presidential elections. This lingering disappointment seems to have influenced his repeated reliance on divisive rhetoric and unfounded accusations against the administration of President Tinubu.
While the 19 Northern States Emirs and Governors provokingly demanded their Senators and Reps to reject, end and fight the present Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tax reforms bill to a halt, in which one of the arrowheads: Senator Ali Ndume said the “TAX REFORM Bill is Dead on Arrival.”
Rather than engaging in constructive national dialogue or offering meaningful contributions to national development, Kwankwaso, Ali Ndume and other co-travellers appears to have chosen a path aimed at inciting division between the North and the South, and casting aspersions on initiatives being painstakingly designed to benefit all Nigerians.
Such actions are not only unhelpful but also risk undermining the unity and progress of the country at a critical time when inclusive leadership and national cohesion are paramount to stability, progress and prosperity of our dear nation.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tax reforms are a necessary steps toward addressing the economic challenges facing the country and ensuring equitable development for all Nigerians, including those in the north especially the President’s initiative to tackle the disproportionate distribution of revenues from the Value Added Tax to all 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
In strongest term we are not oblivion of the ongoing despicable threats bothering on excessive interference and high powered conspiracies to disrupt and hijack power from the South with the systemic and surreptitious renewed onslaught recruitment of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo as one of centrifugal forces being radically committed through his offensive and disparaging statements being deliberately orchid in running the current Administration down by all means possible.
Moreso, as reflective of his self styled selfish act and hatred for Constituted authority, his megalomaniac inclination and inordinate ambitions against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led government, especially having lost power through his proxy kid Peter Obi via the ballot in 2023 Presidential election.
We hereby warn former President Olusegun Obasanjo to refrain from making statements that is capable of undermining Nigeria’s unity, peace and progress.
While we reiterate and assert our absolute confidence, that the country is functioning effectively under President Bola Tinubu led Federal Government, though with some surmountable challenges, still as they postulated, peace is what matters and not a all manner of provocative statements within the polity, because there will be light at the end of the tunnel, God’s willing.
To set the record straight, hence, it is necessary to respond and react appropriately to Chief Obasanjo’s recent keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in Connecticut, USA.
Wherein in his address, Baba Obasanjo criticised Nigeria’s leadership, describing the country as being a failed state of “state capture” and urging Nigerians to prioritise credible leadership for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure electoral integrity.
Regrettably, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s language of the war on peace time is a disaster and unpatriotic move in calling for anarchy, which is quite an anathema to the status of an elder statesman in his referential eldership.
The vituperation of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s lecture or better defined as tantrums Talk show, as the Chief harbinger of our worsening state of hunger and hardship was full of energy to condemn the current Administration with utter hatred of his avowed “do or die” mentality that has been infamously reputed to be offensive disappointing and disgusting as the only salvo that can be fired from a despotic and totalitarian personality only found to be hypocritically and deceitfully projected himself as a true democrat.
It was in record how he levelled the land of Odi with deadly precision and mortality even without any Justice till date, he removed Dariye and Fayose through illegitimate means of declaration of state of emergency all because he lacked the receptive mind for criticism and tolerance.
Now we must reiterate and state emphatically in admonishing the Northern elites to think twice on their incendiary staments and spiral bombardment of attacks through sponsored protests, media adverts or careless statements as well as the links such as: the #EndBadGovernance which started by some Northern youths, that was latter aggravated further and taken over by the #DayofRage led by thier proxies.
Unfortunately, this furtive and clandestine motivated underwater currents are largely engendered and orchestrated towards a obvious suspected Northern quest and desperation for power by all means ahead of 2027 Presidential elections.
How do we rate a situation wherein throughout the 8 years tenure of the former President Muhammadu Buhari, the entire Northern elites do not consider ending Nigeria treaty of 1914 only to wake up at the 99th hour of a Southwest Presidency to rage all manners of brimstone?
Hence, we warn in strongest term that this premeditated plan and well marshalled evil agendas to cause disunity, mayhem and strive among the citizens must be stopped once and for all for the betterment of our dear nation.
We vehemently frowned at the spurious and unverified lies, especially devastating propaganda actions targeted at the minds of their Northern kinsmen and women to hate and wish the President dead, this we unequivocally resist and condemned in its entirety.
This hypocrisy must stop now, wherein we lost lots of our brave minds to unbearable brazing manipulations and desperation in the past; Chief Obafemi Awolowo and MKO Abiola are proven records of similar antecedents of Northern hypocrisy and Power mongering.
It is hightime we talk truth to ourselves at a National Confab after each regional dialogue on the way forward, for if the North continuously hold the cliché of the “North are born to rule” ideology at the expense of the South, that means the rest of us are meant to be treated as their “slaves”, that are not safe in this country.
Have we for ones queried why the Northern Nigeria has more political advantages compared to their Southern counterparts: More state Governors and State House of Assembly members and Speakers, local government Chairmen and counsellors, Senators and House of Representatives members and more Federal institutions and employment opportunities and placements to mention a few.
This was why the Northern elites are eager to shut the tax reform bill down through their Northern Senators if the bill is brought for deliberation without having a concise dialogue with the rest of us.
If the Southern tax regime money is good to construct good roads and railway line to Maradi Republic of Niger, why now that the tax reform which is the best for the country is being campaigned against brutally, using legitimate means to commit illegality.
It is high time we are all captured into the ongoing comprehensive tax system, wherein both the citizens in the Northern and Southern parts are taxed eqaully , while the need to undermine this great efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is highly condemned.
We are bold to say that the need and quests for power must be done with absolute decorum and human face.
2027 election should not end in Ethnic wars and civil strives, we can discuss No Holdbar on all issues of our Nationality without hurting ourselves.
In conclusion, we would not tolerate any capture of Power through coup or any other means of manipulations, or whatsoever in causing instability.
We use this medium to commiserate with the families of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, while as a matter of necessity we call for a detailed investigation into his cause of death and other surrounding circumstances, which calls for concern having witnessed recent threats of coup.
We implore President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remain steadfastly committed and focused on ensuring good governance to the greatest benefits of greatest numbers.
We have emphatically and unapologetically spoken!
Signed:
Prince Isaac Aderemi Ajibola,National Publicity Secretary, Yoruba Council Worldwide.
Opinion
Day Mamman Vatsa welcomed Ken Saro-Wiwa to his Abuja Village
By Tunde Olusunle
He reincarnated in the form of a cream coloured, two-storey building in the bosom of the boulder-braided, writers’ commune, in the rocky delight of Abuja’s Mpape district. His happy host, like him an erstwhile member of the tribe of wordmongers was despatched over a phantom putsch one decade before him. But he rolled out a carpet of dry laterite with the steady onset of northerly harmattan, to receive his new guest and kindred spirit. The air was sedate, the biosphere alluring and serene as his name echoed from the signage hoisted in front of the structure. This, henceforth, will be the haven of scribblers from across the globe desiring genuine solitude to commune with their muses in the very intricate venture of creative expression. Not too many of the young writers who enthusiastically witnessed the recent commissioning of the *Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency* in Abuja, however, knew enough about the martyr who was so canonised, nor the nexus between Ken Saro-Wiwa and his figurative “host,” Mamman Jiya Vatsa.
As part of the activities commemorating the 43rd International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA), which held between Thursday October 31 and Saturday November 2, 2024, a newly built edifice christened after Saro-Wiwa, was scheduled for inauguration. Ken Saro-Wiwa remains one of Nigeria’s most multitasking and most productive writers of all time. He lived for only 54 years but left behind an authorial legacy which continues to challenge the prolificity of successor writers. Saro-Wiwa was a compelling novelist, an engaging essayist, a consummate poet, an arresting dramatist, and a fearless public scholar.
Regarded as Africa’s very first purpose-built writers village, the expansive hilltop project in Mpape, Abuja, was named after Vatsa, an army General who was a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), under the regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Less than seven months into the Babangida milieu in March 5, 1986, Vatsa was executed by firing squad for alleged “treason associated with an abortive coup.” He was 45 at the time. I had the privilege of meeting Vatsa’s only surviving biological child, Aisha, at the “World Poetry Day 2024,” hosted in honour of her father in March 2024, at the same writers’ village. Vatsa was a writer who reportedly published about 20 anthologies of poetry. These include: *Verses for Nigerian State Capitals,* (1972); *Back Again at Wargate,* (1982); *Reach for the Skies,* (1984), and *Tori for Geti Bow leg and other Pidgin Poems,* (1985).
The renowned literary scholar, critic, polemicist and Emeritus Professor, Biodun Jeyifo, was perhaps the first notable intellectual to engage authoritatively with Vatsa’s works in the primordial *Guardian Literary Series, (GLS),* published by *The Guardian* newspapers of old, in the 1980s. The essay is published in *Perspectives on Nigerian Literature, (Volume 2, 1988),* edited by Yemi Ogunbiyi. Vatsa as FCT helmsman, it was, who allocated the generous swathes of hitherto pristine land with scenic views upon which the writers village is sited today. The complex is deservedly named after him in eternal gratitude by the writers fraternity.
Ken Saro-Wiwa was the fourth President of ANA. He succeeded the renowned dramatist and Emeritus Professor of theatre arts, Femi Osofisan, in 1990, and was a very energetic personality, famous for the tobacco pipe which was permanently seated on his lip, drawing parity with that of Ousmane Sembene, the famous Senegalese frontline African novelist and filmmaker. Saro-Wiwa had a multitasking career which saw him as a university lecturer in his earlier years; an administrator and public servant, and an environmental activist, at various times. He was leader of the *Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People,* (MOSOP), which prosecuted a nonviolent campaign for the protection of Ogoni land and water resources from devastation by oil multinationals.
He backed up this enterprise with regular interventions in the public space as a writer and columnist for a number of authoritative newspapers. He consistently drew attention to the despoliation of the natural resources of his people and wrote regularly for *Vanguard* and *Sunday Times,* among other publications. He was a regular, long-staying guest of the gulags of successive military governments, through the administrations of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. In 1994, he was arrested and charged with instigating the murders of four Ogoni leaders, May 4, 1994, on a day he was indeed barred from accessing Ogoniland. Saro-Wiwa and his eight “accomplices” were executed by hanging at the Port Harcourt prison where they were held and convicted, on November 10, 1995, exactly one month after his 54th birthday on October 10, 1995.
By some uncanny calendrical coincidence, the *Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency,* was inaugurated early November 2024, the very same month he was despatched 29 years ago in 1995. Global outrage trailed the killing of Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots, with the Commonwealth suspending Nigeria for three years, among other sanctions. The death of Sani Abacha in June 1998, the subsequent acceleration of processes which returned Nigeria to civilian rule by Abacha’s successor, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and the enthronement of the Fourth Republic in 1999, gradually tempered the world’s coldness towards Nigeria.
At least three dozen book titles are credited to Ken Saro-Wiwa’s name. These include novels, novellas, anthologies of poetry, plays for radio and television, memoirs and diaries, and so on. His works have received some international attention and have been translated into German, Dutch and French. His authorial oeuvre includes: *Tambari,* (a novel, 1973); *Tambari in Dukana,* (a sequel to *Tambari,* 1986); *A Bride for Mr B,* (a novella, 1983), and *Songs in a Time of War,* (poetry, 1985). Ken Saro-Wiwa also wrote *Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English,* (1985); *A Forest of Flowers,* (1986, short stories); *Prisoners of Jebs,* (a novel, 1988) and *Pita Dumbrok’s Prison,* (1991), which like the former is very biting political satire.
*On a Darkling Plain: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War,* (memoirs, 1989), a war which he witnessed firsthand, is also one of his very gripping works of prose. Saro-Wiwa’s public engagements are aggregated in several volumes of essays notably *Nigeria: The Brink of Disaster,* (1991); *Similia: Essays on Anomic Nigeria,* (1991) and *Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy,* (1992). Even in his final days, weeks and months of his sojourn on this side of the divide, Saro-Wiwa “remained incredibly productive.” Posthumously, his family, foreign concerns and nongovernmental organisations continued to call-up manuscripts from his personal library to publish new works by him. A personal diary he kept while he was in incarceration before his eventual annihilation was published with the title *A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary,* in 1995. Over 20 years after his demise, some of his essays were assembled as *Silence would be Treason: Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa,* and published by Daraja Press in Ottawa, Canada, in 2018.
The *Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency* is one of the first major physical projects delivered by the leadership of Usman Oladipo Akanbi. Fortuitously, Akanbi’s deputy, Obari Gomba, winner of the 2023 *NLNG Prize for Drama,* is from Saro-Wiwa’s Ogoni country. He must have felt gratified by the honour done his *countryman,* whose trajectory he followed as a much younger writer. The eventual breaking of the ice, the decisive commencement of the physical development of the hitherto forlorn and controversial expansive hectarage of ANA property was consummated under the leadership of Denja Abdullahi in 2017. Obi Asika, Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, (NCAC), commissioned the *Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency.*
The ceremony was witnessed by an impressive array of writers, headlined by Emeritus Professors Osofisan and Olu Obafemi, both former Presidents of ANA, as well as Nuhu Yaqub, OFR. Yaqub holds the distinction of being the only Nigerian scholar thus far to have served as Vice Chancellor in two federal universities, those of Abuja and Sokoto. Other literary greats at the event and the main Convention included: Professors Shamshudeen Amali, OFR, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin; Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo; May Ifeoma Nwoye and Sunnie Ododo, all Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, (FNAL) and the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA).
There were also Professors Joe Ushie, a Member of ANA Board of Trustees; Emeka Aniagolu; Udenta Udenta; Maria Ajima; Al Bishak; Mabel Evwierhoma; Razinat Mohammed; Vicky Sylvester Molemodile and Mahfouz Adedimeji. Immediate past ANA President, Camillus Ukah, Emeritus diplomat and writer Ambassador Albert Omotayo, featured at the Convention. Canada-based writer, scholar and Professor, Nduka Otiono who served as General Secretary of the association under the leadership of Olu Obafemi, was admitted into the College of Fellows of the body. Chairman of the *Abuja Chapter of ANA,* Arc Chukwudi Eze, was the resident host with compelling responsibility to stay through all events.
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja
Opinion
That ‘fake’ Sanwo-Olu vs EFCC suit: Whodunit? Who sponsored it?
By Ehichioya Ezomon
Strange things happen in Nigeria, one of the latest being a suit purportedly filed by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to prevent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating, arresting, detaining or prosecuting him or his aides after his eight-year tenure of office in 2027.
However, the Lagos Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), has debunked the widely-publicised suit, saying Sanwo-Olu neither sued nor authorised any legal practitioner to file a suit on his behalf concerning the matter, adding that the EFCC isn’t investigating the governor and hasn’t invited him or threatened to arrest any of his staff, domestic or otherwise.
The odder and curiouser angle to the alleged pre-emptive writ at the Federal High Court in Abuja is that it’s filed in June 2024, almost three years ahead of Sanwo-Olu’s terminal governance of Nigeria’s commercial capital, the richest State in the Federation, and the fifth largest economy in Africa as of 2022 GDP figures, which Sanwo-Olu’s pledged to advance further by 2027.
Thus, the suit is a new one on Nigerians, as the proverbial bridge is way too far off – 36 months to Sanwo-Olu’s end of tenure – to attempt to cross before getting there! Snapets from EFCC’s moves against outgoing governors are telegraphed a few months or weeks before they bow out of office, so giving them the jitters. They either begin to express being squeaky clean, alleging political witch-hunt or daring the EFCC to carry out its threat to make them account for their stewardship.
Since democracy returned in Nigeria in 1999, a few ex-governors have escaped overseas and were forced to return to Nigeria to face prosecution; many have remained in the country to face the EFFC and years of legal ordeal; a couple of them, such as former Ekiti State Governors Ayo Fayose and Kayode Fayemi, have presented themselves to the commission for interrogation and/or prosecution.
Some former governors have engaged in a hide-and-seek, for instance, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, who’d gone underground for months only to unexpectedly show up at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja in October 2024, and yet wasn’t booked, interrogated, or detained having been on the wanted list of the EFCC and the courts; two have been tried, jailed and served their sentences; one was tried and jailed but his sentence overturned on appeal and was released from prison; while one was tried overseas and served his sentence before returning to the country.
Lately, the EFCC threat to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute former governors has become mostly academic, and the norm rather than the exception. It appears some ex-governors now relish being dragged by the EFCC, at least, as a way to keeping themselves in the news after missing the years of free spotlighting.
But even as Sanwo-Olu’s reported counsel, Darlington Ozurumba, sues the EFCC as sole defendant over the said threat to arrest, detain and prosecute the governor after his tenure, the EFCC has denied knowledge, contemplation or plans by the commission or any of its officers to harass, intimidate, arrest or prosecute Sanwo-Olu after May 29, 2027,
As reported by The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), when the matter was called for mention on October 29, Ozurumba informed the court that he’d withdrawn the earlier originating summons, and that the EFCC had been duly served with the latest court documents, which the commission’s counsel, Hadiza Afegbua, said she’s yet to sight, even as the proof of service of the processes wasn’t in the court file, and Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to November 26 for further mention.
In an originating summons, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/773/2024, dated and filed on June 6, Sanwo-Olu, reportedly raising seven questions and seeking 11 reliefs, prays for a declaration that, under and by virtue of the provisions of Section 37 of the amended 1999 Constitution, “the plaintiff, as a citizen of Nigeria, is entitled to right to private and family life as a minimum guarantee encapsulated under the Constitution, before, during and after occupation of public office created by the Constitution.”
Besides craving a declaration that, upon community reading of the provisions of Sections 35(1) & (4) and 41(1) of the Constitution, the threat of his investigation, arrest and detention by the EFCC during his tenure of office as governor is illegal, Sanwo-Olu allegedly prays the court to declare that the incessant harassment, threat of arrest and detention against him upon the EFCC’s instigation by his political adversaries based on false and politically-motivated allegation of corruption, is a misuse of executive powers and abuse of public office.
Hence, he purportedly seeks, among others, an order restraining the EFCC from harassing, intimidating, arresting, detaining, or prosecuting him in connection with his tenure as the governor of Lagos State.
However, the EFCC, describing as speculative and a conjecture the alleged Sanwo-Olu’s claims and reliefs in his fundamental right enforcement suit, has denied it threatened, invited or took any step at all to encroach on the governor’s right to freedom of movement or violated his right to private and family life and personal liberty.
Countering the originating summons Ozurumba purportedly filed on behalf of Sanwo-Olu, the EFCC, in an affidavit filed on October 31 by its lawyer, Hadiza Afegbua, the deponent, Ufuoma Ezire, told Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the plaintiff’s depositions in Paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7 and even 8 are unfounded, untrue and unknown to the defendant, and calculated to mislead the court, and are hereby denied.
Noting that the EFCC isn’t investigating Sanwo-Olu, and has never invited him or threatened to arrest any member of his staff, domestic or otherwise, Ezire states that the EFCC invites members of the public for interview, interrogation or any engagement vide a written invitation, phone calls or text messages by any of its officers, who shall introduce themselves by name, rank, designation, and section to enable the invitee trace the officer easily.
Ezire says the EFCC is unaware of any threat to arrest Sanwo-Olu’s “aides, accusation of maladministration or diversion of Lagos State’s funds nor is it aware of any likelihood of a breach of the applicant’s right to liberty or right to own movable and immovable properties in this case.”
Stressing that there’s no petition or any intel gathered before the EFCC to warrant its officers to invite, or threaten to arrest the plaintiff at the moment, Ezire asserts that the entirety of the alleged Sanwo-Olu’s dispositions isn’t true, as the application is “misconceived and brought in bad faith to mislead this honourable court,” adding that, “it will be in the interest of justice to refuse the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.”
Similarly, Mr Pedro, the Lagos Attorney General, in a statement on October 29 rebutting “the news circulating in a section of the media, titled: ‘Sanwo-Olu sues EFCC over alleged plan to arrest, prosecute him after tenure,’” clarified as follows:
“Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at no time, sued or briefed any legal practitioner to file a suit on his behalf concerning the above subject matter. Moreover, it is implausible for the Governor, who enjoys immunity as conferred by the Constitution, and has almost three years remaining in office, to engage any lawyer on this matter.
“To the best of my knowledge, my inquiry confirmed that the EFCC is not investigating the governor and has never invited him or threatened the arrest of any member of his staff, domestic or otherwise. We are currently investigating how the case came to be without our knowledge.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has demonstrated exemplary service delivery and prudent, judicious management of public resources. Therefore, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is tirelessly working to improve the living conditions of all Lagosians, has no cause for concern when he eventually leaves office at the end of his tenure in May 2027.
“We, therefore, urge media organisations to be cautious about the reports they publish on their esteemed platforms to avoid misleading the public.”
Needless to ask: Whodunit? Who sponsored it? Without a doubt, the so-called Sanwo-Olu’s suit, filed by an “unauthorised legal practitioner,” against the EFCC is the handiwork of his political adversaries trying to induce, instigate or coerce the anti-graft agency to embark on a fishing expedition it’s no reasonable grounds for, either from a petition(s) or intel that points to a likelihood of (mis)appropriation of funds and resources of Lagos by the governor or his aides.
That said, many will defend Governor Sanwo-Olu for perceptively seen as deploying the resources at his disposal to upgrade and develop existing and new infrastructural and human capital needs to match the Lagos motto of “The State Of Excellence” and its Mega City status that’s attracted unprecedented public and private investments.
These include the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA-) managed ground-breaking Blue and Red Rail Lines, the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, the proposed Fourth Mainland Bridge, the Atlantic City project, the fully-automated Imota Rice Mill, and the Lekki Free Trade Zone that houses the multibillion dollar 650,000bpd-capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery – the largest single-train refinery in the world at full capacity – which’s Nigeria’s window to self-sufficiency in production and supply of petroleum products.
Other areas in the Lagos socio-economic sphere: Education, ICT, innovation and technology, healthcare, commerce, agribusiness, small-scale industries, entertainment, showbusiness, tourism, and youth and sports development are receiving adequate attention, and have become a source of pride to Lagosians, and emulation by other States in Nigeria.
Lagos, a hub of international engagements all-year-round, has moved up the ladder as one of the most preferred destinations on the continent of Africa, and is up-scaling on the global leisure spots, thanks to Governor Sanwo-Olu and his vastly young, professional, dynamic and dedicated team, who’ve deployed their expertise in various fields to achieve a shared dream of Lagos leading or being among the best in all human endeavours.
Sanwo-Olu isn’t just a workaholic delivering on the promises of his administration, but he’s the epitome of the alias, “Mr Project,” in the true sense of the lingo in our clime. So, why should he be worried about the EFFC when he’s deploying the resources of Lagos to develop the state to an enviable standard! The “amiable” governor should free his mind and continue “to finish strong” with the good works he’s been doing, for which he’s received umblemished praises, accolades and awards within and outside Nigeria.
Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria
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