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The Atiku Abubakar you may not know

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By Tunde Olusunle

For those who may not know, Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President and presidential flagbearer of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), is an extremely organised character. He is a system’s person who is meticulous, painstaking and regulations-compliant. Ask those who know him closely, or have worked with him in the past. Ask Chris Mammah, (his former media adviser); Abdullahi Nyako, (his principal private secretary); Azu Ndukwe, (his longserving personal physician), or Olusola Akanmode, (his erstwhile chief of staff).

You may also ask Olusegun Ajuwon, (his former family physician) or Jide Adeniji, (his close associate). Both gentlemen had known Atiku many years preceding his emergence at the highest hierarchies of our contemporary democratic dispensation, back in the days in Yola. How about Andy Okolie, (subsisting head of Atiku’s secretariat) or Tokunbo Adeola, (one of his former aides), who continues to be in close contact with Atiku? I should also know a thing or two about his work regimen too, after being associated with him for two and half decades now. Atiku typically has his plans and itineraries, which define his local and international engagements, all pre-planned and worked out. Except of course for emergencies and save-our-soul situations, which may precipitate adjustments.

My first encounter with Atiku was back late 1998. Mammah who previously had a relationship with Atiku, had joined us in the publicity directorate of the “Obasanjo Presidential Campaign Organisation.” He had risen to be deputy editor in The Punch in the early 1990s, and branched out to float a news magazine, The Week. He received support and encouragement from Atiku, who was more or less the quiet proprietor of the publication. Onyema Ugochukwu, our revered senior professional colleague, was the director of publicity. I was also on the team as the “mobile component” of the department, ever present with Obasanjo as he travelled around the country cultivating delegates and supporters, ahead of the presidential primary, scheduled for early 1999. I took notes, filed news stories and wrote articles. Ugochukwu was the professional leader of the directorate and administrator as well.

It was, at that time, a fait accompli that Atiku would be the first governor of Adamawa State, in the fourth republic. Aside this, however, Atiku was be the new leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Movement, (PDM), a pan-Nigerian political organisation, established by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, deputy to Obasanjo during his days as military head of state. Yar’Adua, elder brother to Umaru Yar’Adua, had rapidly metamorphosed into formidable politician and political force post-retirement from the military, whose pan-Nigerian political whirlstorm, threatened the military administrations of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, respectively. He died in controversial circumstances in incaceration, under Abacha’s watch.

Atiku, hitherto the deputy to Yar’Adua, was formally consecrated leader of the movement. Besides being governor-in-waiting for Adamawa State therefore, he was a force to be reckoned with in the emerging national political calculus. Mammah thought
Ugochukwu should meet Atiku formally and got him an appointment. I tagged along with them to the Victoria Island, Lagos home of the latter. We were well received by Atiku, famous for his public relations savvy, even as he ushered Ugochukwu into a private section for their short meeting. Ugochukwu would later share with me in the car and we drove back, that Atiku came forth to him as a “risk taker,” a daring person.
Following the January 1999 gubernatorial elections, Atiku was to become the rallying point of most of his governor colleagues. They deferred to him for guidance and mentorship.

We will yet discuss Atiku’s emergence as running mate to Obasanjo, and subsequently, the Vice President. Early in the life of the administration, however, Atiku swiftly demonstrated his capacity as a pragmatic problem-solver. Recognising his limitations in terms of the number of aides he could engage to work with him, he reached out to friendly governors to relieve him of the burden. His argument: “These people worked for us, they have been with us. We cannot throw them away, we will still need them.” Indeed, at the point his Principal, Obasanjo was in a bind about how to accommodate the pool of technocrats who assisted with the presidential project, Atiku it was who made a brilliant suggestion to the President, to the latter’s eternal relief.

Obasanjo had requested the National Assembly, to approve his appointment of 12 Special Advisers, which worked out at two per geopolitical zone. Having spontaneously filled the slots, however, Obasanjo still had several scholars and tested professionals, in the lurch. How were notable personalities like Ahmadu Ali, (a former Minister of Education under the military, then referred to as “federal commissioner”); Haroun Adamu, (political scientist and university scholar) and Stanley Macebuh, (distinguished journalist and scholar), to be incorporated into the emerging scheme? How about an Onyema Ugochukwu who was roundly criticised by his Igbo kinsmen for working for Obasanjo, when an Alex Ekwueme was also running? There were others like Ad’Obe Obe, (respected journalist and resource person); Babalola Borishade, (a professor of chemical engineering) among others.

Since Obasanjo didn’t require the parliament’s approval of aides like Special Assistants, (SAs) and Personal Assistants, (PAs), Atiku ingeniously reckoned that a new deck of adviser-level appointees could be created to take in deserving technocrats. Obasanjo bought the idea of having an aggregation of quality “Senior Special Assistants,” (SSAs). He had sound sleep once that was sorted out. It is a measure of the quality and capacity of many appointees within this pool and bracket, that they were serially detailed to higher responsibilities. Ahmadu Ali went on to become the National Chairman of the PDP; Borishade was upgraded Minister, while Ugochukwu was entrusted with the responsibility of pioneering the actualisation of Obasanjo’s pet project, the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC).

Atiku shocked many when he took up the gauntlet to appear in person in an exclusive,ctop-notch Lagos nightclub, to meet regular Nigerians and answer inquiries about the administration which was just settling down, way back in 1999. This was several years before Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s publicised, pre-election visit in 2019, to the Afrika Shrine, a prominent events centre and address of Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, scion of the afrobeat exponent, Fela, in Lagos. The Niteshift Coliseum, hitherto the Numero Uno hub of entertainment and networking in Lagos, invited Obasanjo to its signature event, The Grand House Reception, (GHR). Before the date the event was to hold, however, Obasanjo had proceeded on a pre-scheduled foreign engagement. Atiku desired to make the point that his boss was not averse to attending the programme, but for his trip abroad. He volunteered to stand in for his principal. Did Ugochukwu perceive this side of Atiku when he suggested he was a “risk taker?”

Here was a Fulani man, a muslim, Nigeria’s second-in-command, obliging to participate in an event in a discotheque, supposedly! Mammah, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo and I, erstwhile regulars at Niteshift, accompanied Atiku. Proprietor of the place, the self-styled Guv’nor, Ken Calebs-Olumhense, led the welcome party. Reuben Abati, yes, our same Abati of The Guardian, Thisday and Arise Television variously, my good friend, was the compere. Trust the crust and cream of the media and entertainment to be in attendance at such high tension gbedus, as such high octane events at the Coliseum were described. The Ray Ekpus, Yemi Ogunbiyis, Taiwo Obileyes, the younger Nduka Obaigbenas, Ohi Alegbes, Ide Eguabors, Ehi Brimahs, Seye Kehindes, Mayor Akinpelus and so on, were at the event.

Atiku sat through the questions posed to him at the Celebrity Interview, by the very excited and enthusiastic audience and answered them confidently, diligently, not losing his composure for a minute. He sat through the drill for well over an hour, to the unnerving distress of his protocol and security aides. In-house nightclub services proceeded side-by-side with the interactive session, lagers and liquors, wines and spirits making the rounds, before an unperturbed Atiku. He received a standing ovation after the official segment of the event, but the audience requested him to dance to one song before he exited!

You couldn’t but envy Atiku’s taste for quality, and his deliberate exertions in talent-hunting as an administrator. As a media professional myself who served in the Official Secretariat of the President, I was eternally envious at the content and quality of my professional colleagues in the Vice President’s wing of the State House. Onukaba, (holder of a doctorate), who just returned from his tour of duty as chief executive of the Daily Times, was SSA. Garba Shehu, (yes the same one who speaks for President Muhammadu Buhari) and Adeolu Akande, (now a professor and Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), were Special Assistants. Remarkably, both Shehu and Akande despite their privileged positions, have not lost touch with their friends and primary constituency. Shehu locates you in a function and comes over to exchange pleasantries and handshakes. Akande picks your call at the first dial, ever humble and unassuming, a true Yoruba omoluabi.

Chike Okolocha, (now a university professor) was speechwriter, while Andy Okolie, (who holds a doctorate), managed the VP’s paperwork. If you’ve noticed the ethno-religious imbalance in the incumbent government, you cannot but applaud the striking cosmopolitanism of Atiku’s official configuration. It complemented the prototype in the President’s section of the presidential villa. Both men tallied in their preference and recognition for the content of the vessel, not its colour. This is the enervating perspiration Atiku brings to governance and administration. Unfortunately, Atiku was serially misconstrued and misrepresented on this score, as being over-ambitious in setting up a personnel infrastructure which depth and diversity, which could almost run the media office of the United Nations, (UN)! The spin was: Why did he require such a formidable team, if he wasn’t thinking of upstaging his boss in anyway? Whisperers exacerbated tensions between both big men and here we are.

Atiku shocked me at midnight on Saturday March 30, 2005. It was a landmark birthday for me, and my friends had come from far and near to celebrate with me. Tivlumun Nyitse, (incumbent chief of staff to the Benue State governor); Segun Ilori, (an attorney and legal adviser to an energy firm), and Tunji Bamishigbin, (also an attorney and reputable film director), among others, were in town. We ended up in a pub in Abuja’s city centre, we had drinks and refreshments. In the music-filled din of the arena, I got a telephone call, well past midnight. I picked it up and the caller said I should hold on a second to speak with Turaki. “Turaki” was Atiku’s titular brand for decades, until his upgrade to Waziri just a few years back. I was astonished. “Tunde, congratulations on your milestone…” I was trying to explain that my location was noisy, and I wanted to step out, but he continued. “Never mind, Tunde, have fun. I’m happy for you. I wish you many happy returns of today. You will receive my congratulatory letter later this morning and something to ensure that the celebration continues!” That was the Number Two man in Nigeria straining his voice on phone just to wish me well.

Sunday March 5, 2017, Nigeria lost one of its finest journalists and plawrights, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo. He died escaping from robbers by fleeing into the bush, only to be killed by a car which lost control, while escaping from the robbers, close to Akure in Ondo State. Upon hearing about the sad and unfortunate development, Atiku’s immediate concern was the education of Onukaba’s children. He knew my very close relationship with our departed friend and his family, and told me of his intention to set up an endowment fund, specifically for the education his kids: “You and your team are not to entertain shopping lists, Tunde. This is strictly about the education of Ojo’s children,” he admonished.

He would later inform me that he had in the past, helped out with the education of the children of friends and indeed people he barely knew, who passed on, midlife. Chike Chigbue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN), a vibrant attorney and personal solicitor for Atiku, and Godwin Agbroko, a respected journalist who Atiku barely ever knew, featured on the list. Onukaba’s children were all pretty young, the eldest being 14 when he died. The youngest was just about a year old. Bimbo Daramola, a former federal parliamentarian and I collaborated to arrange a formal launch for the Endowment Fund. A “Board of Trustees” for the Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo Endowment Fund, was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, (CAC) and I was appointed Chairman of the body.

Instructively, apart from his financial contribution to the Fund, which remains the biggest individual intervention, Atiku promised to grant full scholarships to any of Onukaba’s children who desired to study at the American University of Nigeria, (AUN), Yola, owned by him. Asuku Onukaba, who was 16 in 2019, applied for admission into the institution and met all the entry requirements. Atiku was away in Dubai and I reached him through his “mobile secretariat,” ably manned by Nyako and Okolie. On August 19, 2019, Atiku conveyed his approval of full scholarship for the young Onukaba, to study his desired Software Engineering programme. That date remains a landmark in the Onukaba family.

The typically thorough Atiku advised the President, (equivalent of Vice Chancellor) of the AUN at the time, Dawn Dekle, to liaise with me on the subject. Relevant university officials, notably Usman Isa of the admissions office were equally detailed to be in touch. Happily too, on ground at the AUN to provide fatherly cover for Asuku, was our friend and colleague, Dan Okereke, Director of Communications in the institution, who knew his late father well. We all kept communicating until Asuku safely arrived Yola, Tuesday August 27, 2019, with his stepmother, Maimunat Onukaba and were picked up by university officials. Asuku’s scholarship package as approved by Atiku was so comprehensive that it entitled him to a brand new laptop! The one he took along from home which he won during an inter-school competition, therefore, had to be returned.

Asuku resumes into 400 level later this month, gradually inching towards the completion of his degree programme. The Board of Trustees of the Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo Endowment Fund, didn’t go lounging in Atiku’s corridors or waiting forever for his return from his foreign trip, to make progress on the issue. All of these were resolved by the grace of technology. We were also dealing with an e-savvy personality, who even in old age, humbled himself to return to the classroom, to study for a masters degree in international relations from the Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom.

I won’t forget the genial, jovial side of Atiku. We were in his house one of those days and he invited us over to dinner table. Atiku’s charisma regularly keeps people around him. It was a buffet, and we all had to stand in a file while people took their rations, went round and returned to their seats. Atiku came in my direction en route to accessing his seat. Tried as I could, the access was still constrained. Looking at my face, he threw one at me: “Tunde, see how your big belle has taken up the whole space. You don’t want me to pass, abi?” The room erupted in raucous laughter!
And that is the Atiku Abubakar you just may not know.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, author and scholar, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE).

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Opinion

The Hypocrisy of Power Game Between The North and South: The Time To Talk Is Now

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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.

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Day Mamman Vatsa welcomed Ken Saro-Wiwa to his Abuja Village

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Tunde Olusunle

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

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That ‘fake’ Sanwo-Olu vs EFCC suit: Whodunit? Who sponsored it?

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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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