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The tough guy as nascent statesman

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By Tunde Olusunle

For avid followers of Nigeria’s sociopolitics, the name Samuel Ortom regularly hums in the ear like the droning rhythm of the busy bee. The man who has been governor of Benue State for almost eight years, is outspoken, fearless, even daring. He is never shy of intruding into the tooth-picking, complacent comfort zones of those whose actions and inactions, have made life unbearable and un-liveable for our people. Their kinsmen superintend over swathes of the national landscape, rendering them ungovernable. Ortom has been a gadfly, a consistently loud voice on issues of insecurity in his state and indeed in the entire Benue trough. His reactions to the murderous, blood-spilling preoccupation of marauding Fulani herdsmen who have serially violated the peace, quiet and pristine equilibrium of simple agrarian folks in the state, have brought him into regular collisions with the establishment.

He has tirelessly voiced his grief and helplessness about the relentless activities of the cattle-herding nomads, who have illegally arrogated to themselves, the nation’s infinite national flora as unfettered grazing ground. It has become pastime for the aggressors to invade unsuspecting communities typically under the cover of night. To loan the popular Biblical quote from John 10:10, the itinerant Fulani, “cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.” This trend has compelled aborigines to flee their homelands and to seek refuge in spawning camps for Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs). Such impromptu infrastructures dot the torso of the nation’s renowned number one grower of food in the country. The crowded, spilling, inconvenient camps, it has been suggested, hold numbers in the region of a million IDPs. That the camps have largely survived devastating epidemics remain a contemporary mystery. This is even as the numbers of those uprooted from their homelands, continue to balloon. New joiners in the forms of newly dislocated persons and newborns sired under such intolerable circumstances, have swelled the tallies.

Visits to scenes of the invasions and desecration of the pristine abodes of his people and tours of various medical facilities where victims are managed, have become constants on Ortom’s official itinerary, inevitably and unfortunately. Having to arrange and fund the internment expenses of many of his constituents, felled by the herdsmen rascals has been a most unpleasant fixture of his governance regimen. With static fiscal accruals to the state from the national till, Ortom has depended on the goodwill of colleague governors and public-spirited individuals and organisations, to augment material provisions for the management of the IDP saga. The development has indeed become a cost item on the financial spreadsheet of the Ortom government.

In his hands-in-the-air consternation, Ortom expected the unambiguous denunciation of the trend from the highest levers of state administration. He anticipated specific directives from the Commander-in-Chief to his troops to deal decisively with the ogre. Ortom sought audience with the president a few times so as to brief him about the niggling situation in his state to no avail. He thus came off with the impression that a conspiracy by senior members of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari who are from Benue State, had culminated in his being shielded from the nation’s chief executive. A miffed Ortom surmised that the central government, constituted by the political party to which he belonged in the early years of the security situation in his state, the All Progressives Congress, (APC), could not be bothered to mitigate the quantum emergency he was contending with. He took his fate in his own hands and decamped to the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), to seek a second term as governor. The line had been drawn in the relationship between Ortom and the federal government therefore.

Much as he was a “returnee” to the PDP, Ortom sustained his capacity for vitriol. He has relentlessly tackled the leadership of the party on issues he feels very strongly about. At various times, he has spoken about the imperative for internal democracy at the several rungs of the political structure of the party. He has advocated inclusiveness, equity and balancing. Ortom chaired the PDP committee which opted for the “borderless zoning” of the presidential ticket of the party, early 2022. This implied that aspirants from every geopolitical section of the country could aspire for the ticket of the nation’s number one office. Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar beat about half a dozen other aspirants to clinch the ticket at the primary held late May 2022.

Ortom in concert with four of his colleagues, Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, of Rivers, Oyo, Enugu and Abia, teamed up to constitute a group known as G-5. They mandated themselves to press for a North/South balance between the office of the national chairman of the party and the presidential candidate. Since Iyorchia Ayu the chairman hailed from Benue in the north central, it was expected he would step down like he promised before the primary, and be replaced by a southern chairman since Atiku comes from Adamawa in the north east. Ortom would become a very vocal member of the quintet, and pulled no punches in his engagements on the subject. He riled severally at Atiku and the Fulani ethnocultural stock in general, arising from his bottled-up anger about the irreparable damages being committed by them against his people.

Governor Ortom by the way has been my friend for a while now. Our relationship developed at the instance of his chief of staff, Tivlumun Nyitse, who has been my brother since my first day in the university back in 1982. The educational course and professional careers of Nyitse and I have followed similar trajectories in every material particular. We both studied English and regularly sat next to each other all through our years in university. We graduated the same year in 1985. We variously worked as teachers during the early years of our post-graduation occupational ventures. We pursued our passions in journalism where he worked with the sadly now defunct National Concord newspapers, while I sought fulfilment in the primordial Daily Times of Nigeria. Nyitse and I both served as directors of press affairs and chief press secretaries to strings of civilian governors and military administrators in our various states, Benue and Kogi, between 1992 and 1999.

Nyitse subsequently joined the bureaucracy in his state, rising to the position of permanent secretary. This was before his voluntary retirement in January 2014, to pursue his ambition to be governor of Benue State. I served in several portfolios as an aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 1999 and 2007, and took a shot at the senate in 2011. Nyitse obtained a doctorate in mass communications, while I earned my doctorate in media arts. The various congruences between the profiles of Nyitse and I are indeed the stuff of a fairy-tale. Ortom indeed took me up for working for Atiku during the latter’s robust and recent presidential quest, following from he, Ortom’s position on the Fulani question. I methodically explained to him that I had been an Atiku aficionado even before our “Aso Villa” odyssey beginning from 1999. Ortom understood and the relationship between him and I, therefore, was not impacted.

Days after his anti-Atiku vituperation at a banquet he held in honour of his G-5 allies in Makurdi last November, Ortom demonstrated penitence, by apologising if his declamatory outburst against the Fulani nationality and Atiku, was misunderstood. That act was notably statesmanly. Ortom who visited the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed with his G-5 friends after his “Makurdi vituperation,” was interviewed by pressmen about his comments on the Fulani/Atiku subject days before. Point is that Ortom needs to be understood within the context of his being a leader who had been so relentless and thoroughly worsted and frustrated by the virulence and viciousness which nomads have sustainably unleashed on his people through the seasons. He is human by the way, and as such is entitled to emotionalism from time to time.

Tuesday March 28, 2023, Ortom shocked many in yet another display of statesmanship. He announced the withdrawal of his election petition, over his loss of the Benue North West Senatorial position to the candidate of the APC, Titus Zam, at the Saturday February 25, 2023 polls. Ortom noted that he exited the case in the interest of peace and brotherliness. He observed, however, that his action was without prejudice to the litigations filed by other candidates of the PDP at various levels. Ortom spoke after he met with the campaign team and stakeholders of his parliamentary quest. Famous for his frequent recourse to the Holy Bible, Ortom noted that his decision was informed by the expression in the Book of John 3:27, which says: “A man can receive nothing except it is given to him from heaven.”

Ortom who has been an active participant in the politics of his state for several decades, expressed appreciation to God and to the people of Benue State for the several opportunities he has had to function in various offices and capacities. Ortom’s words: “The grace of God has taken me to key positions at the local, state and national levels, within which I was a local government chairman, state secretary, state deputy chairman and national auditor of PDP. I was minister of the Federal Republic, and I am presently serving out my second term as governor.” Ortom observed that he couldn’t have trodden these paths without getting on the wrong side of some people. He said: “For those I might have offended in this journey of serving our state and country, I seek their forgiveness. This is as I also forgive those who have offended me.”

In a nation famous for elite arrogance at various levels, Ortom has displayed striking statesmanship, an action which should not be thrown under the carpet. The average African politician is haughty and all-knowing. His carriage is denominated by prototype nose-in-the-air arrogance, while viewing others with unfounded contempt and derision. Ortom whose story of ascendancy from the valley to the hilltop has been told and retold, desires to return to status quo ante. He desires to return to his pre-public office personality. He wants to be his previous simple, unassuming self after office, savouring luam with ashwe, adenger and other home-made soups in commonality with friends and folks. He craves to be back to earth with his constituents and comrades, shorn of the isolationist tapestries of office and power. Ortom has just reaffirmed, by his recent gestures, this burning desire, courtesy of his recent narratives and body manifestations.

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

BENUE 2027:The Apa/Agatu Quest for Equity

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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

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Opinion

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

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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

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Opinion

Governor Monday Okpebholo: A Blessing to Edo State

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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.

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