Opinion

Buhari, Yakubu, Atiku and the death of trust (Part 2)

Published

2 years ago

March 16, 2023

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By Tunde Olusunle

If there’s one Nigerian with irreparable integrity deficit today, it has to be Mahmood Yakubu. But he would thereafter be allowed to prosecute the most expensive, most corrupted, most opaque, most odious presidential election, in the subsisting Fourth Republic, Saturday February 25, this year. That exercise was a colossal shame and momentous tragedy to democracy and popular governance. On the scale of what Nigerians witnessed at the presidential polls, Mahmood has no business, absolutely none, remaining on his seat. More appropriately, he should be cooling off in the very same luxury accommodation where Nnamdi Kanu, the self-styled leader of the Independent Peoples’ of Biafra, (IPOB), has been a VIP guest for nearly two years now. The very fact that he will yet prosecute the gubernatorial and state assembly polls, is further evidence of our unseriousness as a people and as a nation.

INEC has been preparing for the 2023 electoral cycle since the last polls in 2019. Yakubu’s INEC budgeted a dizzying N400 Billion for the polls. That is the 2023 budgets of Osun, Ekiti and Yobe states, put together. Trainings, further trainings, skills acquisition programmes were organised for INEC personnel and election day operatives, before the polls. Simulations and test runs were carried out to bring Nigerians at par with the so-called innovations, improvements and new technologies to be deployed for the polls. It was an ecstatic polity which anticipated a new dawn in the manner our elections are henceforth conducted. The world was also an interested party in the preparation for, participation by our people, and prosecution of the polls per se.

Despite our diminished diplomatic capital especially in the last decade, the world continues to view Nigeria seriously because of our age-old global ratings. The quality and diversity of talent, scholarship, genius emanating from Nigeria and illuminating the world’s skies, is also reason the world is not giving up on Nigeria as yet. And so, election observers in their numbers, including highly regarded former presidents and prime ministers, were detailed by notable international bodies to monitor the polls. Photographs of luminaries like Thabo Mbeki, Uhuru Kenyatta, John Mahama, Bai Koroma, Boni Yayi, former presidents of South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Benin Republic among others, have featured prominently in Nigerian dailies in recent days and weeks.

Yakubu, however, delivered a monumentally flawed election, Saturday February 25. Ultimately, it will very surely be light years away from the 2019 fraud, which the straight-thinking, know was won by Atiku. For starters, select information technology experts on the staff of the organisation, were reassigned days before the polls. Election materials and polling officers reported late in several instances, at the polling zones. Despite the previously pronounced “restriction of cash” by Buhari to mitigate vote-buying, the trend became even more pronounced at the recent polls. Identifiable people like a local government chairman in Kogi State, seized a polling station aided by uniformed policemen, chased away voters and electoral officers and destroyed ballot boxes.

Buhari himself was a major offender at the Saturday February 25, polls, having contravened relevant sections of the electoral law. Upon thumb-printing the ballot paper for his preferred candidate, the president displayed the ballot paper, not only to other voters in his unit, but to Nigerians in general. Buhari was captured real-time perpetrating such irresponsible illegality, in contravention of provision 122 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022. The section says: “Every person in attendance at a polling unit including every officer charged with the conduct of an election and his or her assistants and every polling agent and candidate in attendance at a polling station or at the collation centre, as the case may be, shall maintain and help in maintaining the secrecy of the voting.” Subsection (4) of this section prescribes committal to prison for three months or a fine of N100,000, or both, to violators of this law. As though by previous rehearsal, Abubakar Malami, Buhari’s justice minister, committed the very same offence in his polling unit in Kebbi State. Malami, is reputed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN), and the nation’s chief law officer.

As military president, Ibrahim Babangida nullified MKO Abiola’s victory in the historic June 12 1993 presidential poll. Among the contentious grounds for the annulment of that election, was that as candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP) in that election, Abiola donned a national dress bearing the logo of his party to his polling unit. This was in contravention of electoral provisions, even at that time. Thirty years later, Buhari is remorselessly trailblazing “top to bottom” disdain and disrespect for rule of law, in a government he supposedly heads. By the day, it gets clearer that Buhari actually coveted the presidency not to leave a glorious imprimatur of altruistic service, specifically. Rather, the office is to him, a personal trophy to assuage his erstwhile sense of loss arising from his 1985 ouster, by Babangida and company.

And so, Nigerians were taken through that wholesale charade at the presidential polls. The BVAS equipment could upload the results of the national assembly polls, but could not do same for the presidential poll, held same time with the parliamentary polls! Mahmood Yakubu was at it again, apparently. The server had been intentionally and deliberately recalibrated not to receive the results of the presidential election. Initial results were not looking good for the candidate of the ruling party, thus the panic to disable the server. For the second time in four years, INEC and its notorious server had been deployed for the wilful and criminal subversion of popular will.

Local and global disclaimers and condemnation have come from observers at the levels of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS); the African Union, (AU); the Commonwealth and the European Union, (EU). This is not excluding various non-governmental organisations, (NGOs) and world powers including the United States of America, (USA) which has loudly described the election as below par. The cooked-up results of Nigeria’s presidential election has been announced Wednesday February 28 and a winner, Bola Tinubu of the APC pronounced. INEC has since presented to him the Certificate of Return. Disaffected candidates and parties have been enjoined to “go to court.” This new expression has gained currency in recent weeks, irrespective of the serially demonstrated toothlessness of the judiciary within the context of our own governance system. On the social media lately, a sticker purportedly emanating from East Africa has been trending. It says: “When a thief tells you to go to court, just know that his brother is the judge.” “Go to court,” Nigerian-style therefore is like telling the aggrieved to go to hell or to Golgotha as the case may be. His fate is most probably, previously sealed.

Curiously, very worryingly, since the declaration of the poll outcome, there has been no celebration, no jubilation anywhere. The streets are mute, the national space in mournful, graveyard quietude. Our people in the south west are famous for ever raising the bar when it comes to partying, revelry and ceremonies. There’s typically no dulling, to appropriate from the vocabulary of the street, for our compatriots from the Yoruba country. Not many reports of dignitaries, home-based and foreign are queuing up to congratulate the “president-in-waiting” and have photo opportunities with him, are trending. What is going on? The president-elect from what we’ve seen thus far it is, who has been going about, gleefully showing off his certificate to Buhari, to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akinolu, and similar dignitaries.

I’ve just seen this skit on the social media, where Tinubu was described as “INEC-elect!” There is also this joke also on the social media about the fact that Tinubu seems to love the ownership of a certificate so much, despite his inability to produce just one credible and identifiable sample, as prerequisite for eligibility at the polls. Back to back now, Nigerians have elected two presidents who could not present the constitutionally prescribed certificate of most basic academic qualification, the West African School Certificate Examination, (WASCE) ordinary level certificate. This is one of the precedents the inglorious Buhari regime has set for Nigeria.

I’ve heard in certain quarters, that the chicanery and evil machinations which attended the presidential election, was a coordinated plot to deny Atiku Abubakar of outright victory. Evidence from raw scores from over 160,000 polling units across the country, point to the unassailable lead of the former vice president. Atiku has fought many legal battles all the way to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, excelling in almost all his judicial interrogations of the Constitution and other laws. The world must not forget Atiku’s lion-hearted opposition to the third term ambition of his former principal, Olusegun Obasanjo, which remains at the subsisting beef between both men, till this day. The gentle and genteel Atiku believes the rule of law should be enabled to develop the needed tap roots to guide the evolution of our democratic system. Many of those running for elective offices unencumbered today, are beneficiaries of Atiku’s selflessness in years past.

Atiku may yet be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Olukayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN), and his colleagues have a responsibility to prosecute a totally unbiased adjudication of matters arising from the election. Atiku’s ultimate ambition and desire, has always been to witness in his time, a country that works for everyone. In his quiet corner as a private citizen, Atiku by the day, addresses issues and problems which are otherwise commonplace and should have been dispensed within the structures of a functioning, functional polity. Talk about “the individual as mini-government.” The issues emanating from the polls will surely go all the way to the apex court in the land for in anticipation of
dispassionate arbitration. The blatant, daylight rape of democracy on Saturday February 25, 2023, must not be allowed to stand. We must get to the core of the most recent electoral brigandage, aided and abetted by INEC, if we must be taken seriously as a country, and if our country deserves utmost loyalty from its people. Justice in this conundrum must be very well served and be seen to be so served.

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

Opinion

BENUE 2027:The Apa/Agatu Quest for Equity

Published

4 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Tunde Olusunle

It may be well over two years to the next cycle of general elections in Nigeria. For the people of Apa/Agatu federal constituency in *Benue South, however, the measure of their participation and integration into the governance scheme will be defined in the run-up to the general polls that year. Nine local government areas make up the predominantly Idoma country of Benue State also labelled Zone C in the senatorial tripod of the geo-polity. The zone is also home to the Igede ethnic stock and the Etulo. Local government areas in “Benue Zone C” include: Apa, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ado, Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Otukpo and Ohimini. The other zones, Benue North East and Benue North West, are wholly dominated by the Tiv nationality, striding across 14 local government areas. They are christened Zone A and Zone B in the local political scheme of the state. Federal constituencies in Benue South are: Apa/Agatu, Oju/Obi; Ado/Ogbadibo/Opokwu and Otukpo/Ohimini.

The subjugation of groups and ethnicities considered demographically smaller, by the larger groups which has dominated Nigeria’s politics over time, has not been any different for the Idoma of Benue State. Until the circumstantial emergence of a Yahaya Bello from the Ebira ethnicity in Kogi State in 2015, the Igala had the relay baton of governorship of Kogi State, in rounds and succession. The Ebiras and the Okun-Yoruba zones in the state could only aspire to be serial deputies or Secretaries to the State Government. This political template was virtually cast in stone. The Ilorin people of Kwara State have similarly wholly warehoused the gubernatorial office, sparingly conceding the position to other sociocultural groups in the state. The only exception was the concession of the seat to a candidate from Kwara South, in the person of Abdulfatah Ahmed, by his predecessor, Bukola Saraki in 2011. Even at that, there were murmurs and dissent from those who believed Ahmed came from a community too close to the Ilorin emirate to be of genuine Igbomina stock, which prides itself as the pure Yoruba species in Kwara State.
Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, the maximum proximity of the Idoma to Government House, Makurdi, has been by the customary allocation of the Deputy Governor’s slot to its people. Ogirri Ajene from Oju/Obi, the charismatic blue-blood of blessed memory, was deputy to George Akume, incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), from 1999 to 2007. Akume it was reported, genuinely desired to be succeeded by Ajene who exhibited competence and loyalty and could build on their legacies. The Tiv nation we understand, shot down the proposal. Gabriel Suswam succeeded Akume and had the urbane multipreneur, Stephen Lawani from Ogbadibo as deputy. Samuel Ortom, a Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan presidency who took over from Suswam opted for Benson Abounu, an engineer from Otukpo as running mate, while Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest who succeeded Ortom, also chose as deputy, Samuel Ode, who was also a Minister in the Jonathan government, from Otukpo. Arising from this precedence, Apa/Agatu has not for once, been considered for a place in Government House, Makurdi.
In similar fashion, the position of Senator representing Benue South, has repeatedly precluded Apa/Agatu federal constituency. David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark a former army General from Otukpo, took the first shot at the office in 1999. He was to remain in the position for five consecutive times, a distinctive record by Nigerian standards. Mark would subsequently become President of the Senate and the third most senior political office holder in the nation’s governance scheme for a string of two terms between 2007 and 2015. He was replaced by Patrick Abba Moro, who hails from Okpokwu and was a former teacher, in 2019. Abba Moro who previously served as Minister of Interior in the Jonathan government from 2011 to 2015, won a second term at the 2023 general elections and remains substantive Senator for “Benue Zone C.” He is indeed incumbent Minority Leader of the Senate, and thus a principal officer in the leadership scheme of the “red chambers.”
While Moro is barely two years into his second term, there are suggestions that he is interested in a third term which should run from 2027 to 2031! This is the core issue which has dominated contemporary political discourse in Benue South, especially from the Apa/Agatu bloc. For Apa/Agatu, it is bad enough that they are repeatedly bypassed in the nomination of deputy governors in the scheme of state politics. It is worse that they are equally subjugated by their own kinsmen within the context of politics in *Idoma and Igede land.* This is particularly worrying when both local government areas constituting the Apa/Agatu federal constituency, Apa and Agatu, are not in anyway deficient in human resources to represent Benue South. Names like John Elaigwu Odogbo, the incumbent *Och’Idoma* and respected clergy; Isa Innocent Ekoja, renowned Professor and Librarian; Sonny Togo Echono, FNIA, OON, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), and John Mgbede, Emeritus State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue State, readily come to mind.
Major General R.I. Adoba, (rtd), a former Chief Training and Operations in the Nigerian Army; Professor Emmanuel Adanu, former Director of the Kaduna-based National Water Resources Institute, (NWRI) and the US-based specialist in internal medicine, Dr Raymond Audu, are eminent Apa/Agatu constituents. There are also Ada Egahi, long-serving technocrat who retired from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHDA), and Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, (why not, hasn’t the retired soccer star, George Opong Weah just completed his term as President of Liberia)? The Member Representing Apa/Agatu in the House of Representatives, Godday Samuel Odagboyi, an office previously held by Solomon Agidani, as well as Adamu Ochepo Entonu, is, like his predecessors, a prominent figure from the resourceful Apa/Agatu federal constituency.
The Olofu brothers, Tony Adejoh, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), and David, PhD, a renowned management and financial strategist, who is also an Emeritus Member of the Benue State Executive Council during the Ortom dispensation, are from the same federal constituency. So is Abu Umoru, a serial entrepreneur who represents Apa State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly. The continuing intra-zonal alienation of Apa-Agatu from the politics of Benue Zone C, remains a sore thumb which must be clinically diagnosed and intentionally treated in the run-up to 2027.
If previous top level political office holders from Idomaland in general and Apa/Agatu in particular, had diligently applied themselves to tangible, multisectoral development of the zone and constituency, the present clamour for inclusiveness would probably been less vociferous. *River Agatu* which flows from Kogi State, and runs through Agatu before emptying into *River Benue,* is a potential game changer in the socioeconomy of Apa/Agatu, Benue South and Benue State in general. Properly harnessed, it can revolutionise agriculture and aquaculture in the state, beyond subsistence levels which are the primary vocations of the indigenous people. Rice, yam, guinea corn, millet and similar grains, thrive in the fertile soils of the area. These can support “first level” processing of produce and guarantee value addition beneficial to the primary producers, before being shipped to other markets. River Agatu can indeed be dammed to provide hydro-electricity to power the entire gamut of Idomaland.
The infrastructure deficit in Benue South with specific reference to Apa/Agatu is equally very concerning. A notable pattern in Nigerian politics is its self-centeredness, the penchant for political players to prioritise their personal wellbeing and the development of their immediate space. This has accentuated the ever recurring desire of people to ascend the political pedestals of their predecessors if that is the principal window by which they can also privilege their own primary constituents. Motorable roads are non-existent, seamless travel between communities therefore encumbered. Expectedly this has been a major impediment to subsistent trade and social engagements between constituents and their kinsmen. Primary health facilities are almost non-existent, compelling people to flock to Otukpo, headquarters of Benue South, for the minutest of medical advice and treatment.
Apa/Agatu pitiably bleeds from the relentless and condemnable activities of vagrants and bandits who have reduced the constituency into a killing field. Reports suggest that in the past 15 years, no less than 2500 lives were lost to the vicious attacks of marauders and trespassers in the area under reference. This unnerving situation has compelled engagements between concerned Apa/Agatu leaders, and the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF). The prayer is for the swift establishment of a mobile police outpost in the troubled sub-zone to contain bloodletting. The proposal, anchored by AIG Tony Olofu, NPOM, (rtd), and Echono, has received the blessings of the police high command. At the last update, a commander for the outfit had been named, while the deployment of personnel had begun in earnest.
It is very clear that in the march towards 2027, Apa/Agatu will refuse, very vehemently, to be sidelined and trampled upon in the political scheme of their senatorial zone. Abba Moro may desire a third term in the Senate, but the people of Apa/Agatu are quick to remind him that his curriculum vitae as a politician is sufficiently sumptuous for him to yield the seat in the “red chambers” and sit back like an elder statesman. They remind you that for a man who began his working life modestly as a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic, Ugbokolo in 1991, Abba Moro has done extremely well for himself in Nigerian politics. For reminders, Abba Moro was elected Chairman of Okpokwu local government in the state as far back as 1998. Ever since, he has remained a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s national politics.
The people of Apa/Agatu will put up a determined fight for the Benue South senatorial seat in 2027, and no one should begrudge them. They are the proverbial ram which was pushed to the wall, which must of necessity push back with angered horns to liberate itself. They are already engaging with their kith across “Benue Zone C” to ensure that intra-zonal equity, fairness and justice, prevails in communal politics.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja

Opinion

The Prince Adebayo prescriptions for ease of doing Business: 15 Take-Aways

Published

5 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Dr. Ag Zaki

On Thursday, 9 January 2025, Prince Adewole Adebayo presented a keynote address at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The occasion was the annual conference of a group of professionals, business executives and experts codenamed J9C for January 9 Collective. The theme of the Conference was “Business and Policy Strategy: Examining the Role of Reform in enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.” Prince Adebayo is a versatile cerebral man of many parts, a lawyer, a multimedia practitioner, a real estate investor, a large-scale miner, a philanthropist, a community developer, and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The organisers of the J9C conference introduced him as an intercontinental lawyer because he currently practices law in over sixteen countries.

The full speech of Prince Adebayo at the occasion is available online and can be accessed by clicking at this url: https://youtu.be/SsHkcJbVNRg?si=ebvoOVqGh0zVOsnt or by scanning the QR code above. However, we are presenting the salient take-aways from this most incisive keynote address below for the convenience of interested persons and for the public good.

THE TAKE-AWAYS
Preamble
1. Not every change of policy or programme is a reform. A reform is a fundamental change in the activities, programmes, and policies structured to cause improvement. Genuine government reforms are people oriented and so citizens can interject, comment or contribute.
2. Reform may be internally motivated, externally forced or imposed, or technological driven.
3. The government of Nigeria must first reform itself to be able to implement development-oriented reforms to improve the country’s economic performance.

In general terms
4. Fiscal and monetary reforms are critical and are urgently required in Nigeria. While government can freely control its fiscal reforms, it must be bound by market forces for realistic and realisable monetary reforms.
5. Economic reforms must positively affect developmental policies, programmes and projects to engender economic growth, increase in efficiency, and lead to stability. Economic and political reforms must be implemented pari-passu for untainted policies and programmes.
6. Urgent structural reforms are required in areas of legal reforms, laws on banking controls and regulations, lending and borrowing as well as land matters.

In specific terms
7. Reforms which are aimed at targeting ease of doing business must be aligned with the Malam Aminu Kano maxim that “all civil servants should abstain from contracts or business”.
8. Nigeria must break the current odious and unwholesome conspiracies between policy makers, civil servants, and contractors, which can lead to irreversible endemic corruption, long foreseen by the revered Malam Aminu Kano, and which can permanently damage the economy.
9. Structural reforms must ensure that land laws open up maximum benefits and potentials of the land, encourage labour productivity and efficient and transparent entrepreneurship rules including registration, capital and lending matters.
10. Tax reforms should be broad-based, not about sharing of revenue but promoting productivity and competitiveness in all aspects of endeavours and infrastructure reforms should make transportation of people and goods safe and cost effective.
11. Monitoring economic crimes must be thorough and should go beyond arresting of “Yahoo boys” and those spraying Naira notes, but those devaluing the Naira and abusing economic rules and regulations.

Warnings
12. Adebayo left some stern terse warnings for the business sector and for the government of Nigeria.
13. Business executives and professionals should not ask or encourage government for specific reforms but for general broad-based reforms as firm-specific reforms can enhance operations of specific firms or business in the short term but will ultimately kill the industry.
14. Government should not meddle into business or be guided by partisan businessmen; government should meet business only at the junction of regulatory framework.
15. Government should be selfless and honest in carrying out reforms, incorporate measurable performance indices and ensure that reforms are implemented in a way not to inflict pains or punishment on the people.

# DrZaki25, 903 Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja

Opinion

Governor Monday Okpebholo: A Blessing to Edo State

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

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Monday Okpebholo

By Eigbefo Felix

His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has demonstrated that he is a blessing to the state through his policies, appointments, initiation of road construction across the three senatorial districts, and his deep love for the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo has begun fulfilling the five-point agenda he promised the good people of the state since his inauguration.

In the area of security, he has shown total commitment. He assured the people of Edo State that he would ensure their safety, and true to his word, the state remains peaceful, which has brought joy to its residents. He has provided the necessary support to security personnel.

The governor increased the subvention for Ambrose Alli University (AAU) from ₦40 million to ₦500 million. He also promised to address the issues facing AAU medical students. Additionally, he has started renovating primary and secondary schools across the state, underscoring his understanding of the importance of education.

The agricultural sector has taken a positive turn as Governor Okpebholo has allocated ₦70 billion to the sector. Recognizing agriculture’s importance to both the state and the nation, he is positioning Edo State to become the food basket of the nation with his investments in the sector.

During the electioneering period, Senator Okpebholo promised to create 5,000 jobs within his first 100 days in office. He has already begun the process, and soon, the people of Edo State will benefit from these employment opportunities. Unlike in the past, he will not rely on MOUs before making appointments. Furthermore, he has started appointing Edo State indigenes, rather than outsiders, to various positions.

Governor Okpebholo has commenced road projects across the state, from Edo South to Edo Central and Edo North. He believes that when roads are motorable, the prices of goods in the market will automatically reduce.

He has also begun investing in the health sector, understanding its critical importance to the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo’s initiatives and actions affirm his dedication to transforming Edo State for the better.