Opinion

Day ‘General Obasanjo’ resurfaced in Oyo Alaafin

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2023

admin

By Tunde Olusunle

Let me begin by making a distinction here. Nigeria’s military acknowledges two Obasanjos in its records. One has been retired for nearly 45 years now, while the other was at best a toddler when the older disengaged froam military service. Both of them made it to the uppermost crust of the military, the former rising to the exclusive club of “four star” Generals,” while the latter is a “one star” General. He will be decorated Major General, a “two star” General on his next elevation. One is the father, Olusegun Obasanjo, the first Nigerian to serve both as military Head of State, and democratically elected President. Muhammadu Buhari is the only other Nigerian thus far to savour this distinction. Even at that, Obasanjo bests Buhari in terms of length of stay in office. Succeeding Murtala Ramat Mohammed who was cut down by the bullets of coupists in February 1976, Obasanjo was military leader for three and half years.

He handed over to a democratically elected President, Shehu Usman Shagari on October 1, 1979. Buhari on the other hand, was a little over two and half years in office when he was torpedoed August 27, 1985 by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Both of them served out two terms of four years each as civilian Presidents. Their records of performance will be discourse for another day. But the more vocal Obasanjo echoes the views of many Nigerians to the effect that Buhari, multi-sectorally, was a grand failure. The other Obasanjo, in the Nigerian Army is Adeboye, son of the former whose name when interpreted and approximate age suggest that he was sired while his father was in office. Father and son as combatants have variously featured in the thick of firefighting. Olusegun Obasanjo still wears in the peri-scrotal section of his physiognomy, a scar of a bullet wound from the thick of battle during the Nigerian civil war. Adeboye as a Lieutenant Colonel was shot in the leg September 2014, while leading his troops for an onslaught on Baza, Adamawa State, an extension of the hydra-headed Boko Haram crisis in the country’s North East.

I had the privilege of working with the older Obasanjo for over eight years. I was drafted into his immediate campaign team, ahead of his formal declaration to run for Nigeria’s presidency in the lead up to the current fourth republic in November 1998. Pervading cynicism about military involvement in the nation’s politics was a potent albatross on Obasanjo’s path. Popular experience with the regimes of Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha impugned national trust and believability in the military establishment. Between these three rulers, Nigeria’s second republic was aborted on December 31, 1983, while the goalposts of the wholesale democratisation of national politics was interminably shifted.

Obasanjo was also a hard sell among his Yoruba kith in South West Nigeria many of whom still harbour misgivings about Obasanjo’s management of the 1979 presidential election which produced Shagari. There is a school of thought which still believes that the revered attorney, nationalist and entrepreneur Obafemi Awolowo should have been declared President after the 1979 polls. South westerners equally opine that the region never enjoyed any special developmental privileges under Obasanjo’s military rulership and couldn’t understand why they should support him. Our job as Obasanjo’s makeover professionals under the leadership of the Emeritus editor and economist, Onyema Ugochukwu, was therefore cut out.

Among other strategies thefore, we deliberately subsumed his towering military rank, in all references to him. We played up his traditional honours and titles. Arising from his exploits during the 30-month Nigerian civil war which ended in January 1970 and his subsequent emergence as military leader, Obasanjo had garnered a long list of indigenous honorifics. As campaign policy therefore, Obasanjo would be addressed as “Chief.” I recall this particular day when we Obasanjo’s aides walked him from his Aso Villa office to the residence through the connecting walkway. Obasanjo observed as we strolled with him that his name had been inscribed on the lawn behind his office.

The title “General” resurfaced on the manicured grass and Obasanjo started a debate about the reinvention of his name in this format. Solomon Giwa-Amu of blessed memory who was aide de camp, (ADC) to Obasanjo jocularly explained how it came about. He said there was a debate between him and the chief security officer to President, (CSO) the President, Kayode Odunneye at the time, about the appropriate Obasanjo title that should be communicated to the horticulturist. Odunneye, according to Giwa-Amu suggested it should be “Chief.” He, Giwa-Amu, however, argued that Obasanjo was first a General before he was recognised by his constituents and festooned with scores of chieftaincy titles. Foregrounding Obasanjo’s military rank in that particular instance therefore, became more compelling. As a virtual constant on Obasanjo’s entourage on his foreign trips, I noticed in several banners, brochures and mementos prepared to commemorate his visits that the name of Nigeria’s enigmatic former President was couched in several ways. He was either “His Excellency, Olusegun Obasanjo” or “His Excellency, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo” or even “President of Nigeria.” Neither his military nor chieftaincy appellations were prefixed to his name.

Friday September 15, 2023, General Obasanjo resurfaced in Oyo State. It was the commissioning of the 38 kilometre road linking Oyo with Iseyin, two major towns in Oyo State and the governor of the state, Seyi Makinde, had invited Nigeria’s former leader as guest of honour at the event. Makinde’s effort by the way is commendably audacious and visionary. He has opened up vast sections of Oyo State for development. Obasanjo arrived the venue in the company of his host who very fittingly is the age of his biological children. Obasanjo, schooled and skilled in official protocol, observed an aberration in the proceedings. The audience didn’t rise, out of courtesy, to acknowledge the arrival of his host Makinde, and his good self at the event. Not one to brook such “misconduct,” he spoke his mind once he took possession of the microphone at the ceremony.

Obasanjo reminded his host audience about two major canons in Yoruba tradition. Deference is customarily accorded to age and authority, he lectured. Didn’t we recently see viral images of Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji, 55, governor of Ekiti State prostrating full length to pay respect to the nonagenarian attorney and statesman, the 93 year old Afe Babalola? That is deference to age and seniority. There is also the flip side, the imperative of according honour and respect to authority irrespective of the age of the occupant of the office. Obasanjo himself was pictured kneeling before the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko, who can pass for his grandson, at his installation two years ago, in conformity with tradition. Obasanjo noted deserved respect for authority was not demonstrated at the Oyo event. The military streak in Obasanjo spontaneously overwhelmed him. He ordered the royals like a commander, to rise up to their feet. This he noted should be the standard practice if a governor or President were being welcomed. Instantaneously, he ordered the royal fathers to sit down.

Ever in the eye of the storm, Obasanjo’s act at that event has elicited and continues to elicit reactions and controversies. He has been upbraided and castigated for “blasphemy” against the Yoruba traditional institution by the
Council of Yoruba Elders, (CYE). A statement issued by the body and e-signed by Victor Taiwo and Lanre Ogundipe, lambasted Obasanjo for an act considered ” infra dignitatem to Yoruba culture and tradition and a taboo.” The release accused Obasanjo of denigrating and desecrating Yoruba royalty who are considered igba keji orisa, (second-in-command to the deity).

Elsewhere, a certain “Adejare Ibrahim” purportedly resident in Oyo Alaafin has written a rejoinder titled “Now, the truth is coming out gradually,” which continues the Obasanjo-bashing. He submits in the piece that the former President came to the event specifically to exact his pound of flesh out of the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon, Francis Olusola Alao, Vice Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs. The Olugbon reportedly featured on a radio programme ahead of the February presidential poll where “he berated Obasanjo for his support for the candidacy of Peter Obi of the Labour Party, (LP). Such has been the diversity and magnitude the fire stoked by Obasanjo’s recent outing.

A statement authored by “Dr John Adebayo Abolarin” dated September 16, 2023, appears to be what my approximate my reading of the “Obasanjo vs Oyo traditional rulers” saga would be. Abolarin suggests that Obasanjo in reality was “fighting” for Makinde whose omoluabi simplicity appeared to have been taken for granted by the royals. The unassuming, unobtrusive Makinde it would seem is not fastidious about protocol and officialdom. Obasanjo believes Makinde who will be 56 on his next birthday in December deserves respect from all and sundry on account of the position he occupies. Abolarin proposes that “it was not the Obas that were humiliated by Obasanjo. It was rather the governor who was dragged on the floor on that occasion.”

As one who has officiated at functions which had Presidents in attendance, the blame for the Oyo slur should be shared between the Government House protocol team and the Master of Ceremony. It is the responsibility of the protocol department to furnish the MC, especially if he is not from the governmental system, with the programme brochure and list of expected dignitaries. The MC should be prompted to respectfully invite the audience including the traditional rulers to rise to their feet to receive the August guests once they arrived the venue. That tutoring should come from the protocol unit. It needn’t have awaited Obasanjo’s assumption of that responsibility.

I conclude by observing that the typically witty Obasanjo could have chosen like a rat, to nibble at the toes of the deep sleeper, while fanning at those toes simultaneously. How about this as suggested remarks by Obasanjo: “I respectfully greet you royalties and salute the people of Oyo State on this auspicious occasion. You all know me well so I need no reintroduction. I’m here as guest of your son, my son your Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde who is doing so well for your state in my view. For his status as chief executive of this state, protocol demands that you rise to receive him at a function like this. Governor Makinde may be a gentleman who doesn’t bother about ceremonials and fanfare, though”

“Today, however, I am here and I want to correct this. We should give honour to whom honour is due at all times. This is particularly important on an occasion like this when the Governor is hosting a former President. The minimum this audience should do is to rise to receive him and his guest, just as Makinde the “omoluabi” that he is pays obeisance whenever he comes to your palaces, just as I do whenever I visit you. I imagine that not too many Obas and Baales at this event are older than I am. Shall we then be up standing, please?… Thank you, Your Highnesses. We may all be seated now.” We should be mindful, however, that Obasanjo is just a few years to becoming a nonagenarian. This proverbial fire-dried fish, will certainly and surely be difficult to bend!

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

admin

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

4 days ago

January 14, 2025

admin

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

admin

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.