2023: Between Atiku, Tinubu And Obi

 By Charles Okoh

For Nigeria, the year 2023 is just not another year. It is a year that will determine the fate of the nation. The campaigns by political parties would not commence until September 28, 2022 as provided by Sec. 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. But, the tension around the election has reached boiling point. What happens to this nation going forward would be determined by the choice we make in 2023.

*Obi, Tinubu, Atiku 

There are several reasons why 2023 could make or mar Nigeria. One of the biggest reasons why Nigeria and Nigerians must get it right is that for the past seven years we have been living the reality and facing the pangs that come with our wrong choice of President Muhammadu Buhari. In seven short years, Buhari has squandered the enormous goodwill he had coming to that office. That more than anything else, is the reason there is so much tension in the land. It is the reason Nigeria has remained on the edge of a precipice.

As the campaigns commence, it is imperative on all political parties and candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns. This way we can ensure that the polity is not unnecessarily heated up and it will also afford us the opportunity to assess the competencies and preparedness of those who seek to rule us in order to ensure transparent elections in which only the votes cast by citizens determine the winner. Sentiments, emotions and selfishness must take the backstage in making that vital decision.

Obidients: The Protest Before The Revolt

 By Tony Eluemunor

Keeping faith with the sorry saying that: "All things bright and beautiful Nigeria kills them all,” we members of the wasted and wasting generations (age 40 and above) are busy demeaning the only hope that Nigeria could ever hope to get it right as a nation.

*Obi

Nigeria is right now on the verge of a right thing. Ever lucky, Nigeria is hosting a new political and nationalistic and developmental Mojo; that magical phenomenon of Nigerian youth rising up to seize control of the political space and lead from the front, instead of following behind their fathers and mothers. Mojo? It is a slang for a magic charm, talisman or spell or magical power or supernatural influence or luck. 

Ordinarily, Nigeria has so failed and traumatized it’s youth that that segment of the citizenry should be totally alienated. But, here comes the young ones rising up to embrace and remake their fatherland. The political interest they have shown in the forth-coming 2023 election is out of this world, and could only have come from Nigeria, a country that breaks all the rules. 

Insecurity: Lai Mohammed, Where Are You?

 By Dan Onwukwe

He evokes different images to different people. He’s a talker and a tackler. He lives in denial just like the government he serves. Anybody who has been following his political career carefully and his comments, will understand that this man has an irritating habit of talking too loosely and telling yarn that amounts to nothing other than rough humour. That’s just one of his numerous personality traits. Other traits include peddling half-truths and outright lies. But there’s a darker side of living in denial.  It doesn’t give one the ability to look facts, very unpleasant facts – in the face – without deluding oneself with wishful thinking. 

*Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture possesses these traits in abundance. As any management consultant will tell you: beware! These traits are the blinding lights of success. They are also the secrets of failure. But, Lai Mohammed keeps telling the same tale. Very often, he indulges in outright propaganda to hoodwink the undiscerning . However, the good thing is that half-truths have expiry date, no matter the short-term political gains. Let’s go a bit back in time. In the campaign leading to the 2015 elections, and desperate for power, Lai Mohammed was a forceful presence in the then opposition APC propaganda machine to demonize the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency and make it unelectable. 

Peter Obi: As Tough As Nails

Excerpts from The Promise Of A New Era, a book on Mr. Peter Obi, written by Chuks Iloegbunam, which will be publicly presented at the Enugu Sports Club on Wednesday September 21, 2022...

Sitting inside his Apapa, Lagos, office, one day, just the two of us, and holding lighthearted conversation, Peter Obi suddenly said that he would forever be grateful to Onyechi Ikpeazu.

Why did he say that? I didn’t put the question to him. All the time the suit to claim his stolen electoral mandate was in the courts, there was no day we met without discussing it, at least tangentially. Sometimes we had a full house. At other times, half a full house. On certain occasions, just the two of us. In every shape or setting we had, the case came up for exhaustive or salutary examination. Not once did he talk of Dr. Ikpeazu being worthy of perpetual gratitude. So why did he raise it now? I looked at him intently, saying nothing.

He resumed: “When we were going to challenge INEC’s declaration of Dr. Ngige as the winner of the governorship election, our plan was to file the case in the name of APGA,” he said. “But Onyechi refused and said I must file the case in my own name. I didn’t immediately see his point because, apart from not being a lawyer, I assumed that since I contested the election on APGA’s platform, the party must file the case. Onyechi refused and said no. ‘If APGA filed the case, they might run out of steam during the proceedings and throw in the towel, even if you hold a contrary opinion. File the case in your name; you contested the election. Only you can legitimately dictate whether or not to go the whole hog.’”

Remembering Gani Fawehinmi

 By Ayodele Ale

We were in the newsroom when respected lawyer Gani Fawehinmi’s call came in that reporters should be sent to his Oduduwa Crescent, GRA, Ikeja residence. A drama was in the offing. Gani was news, any time, any day. Within a jiffy, reporters from different media houses stormed his abode. It was a day to the Ileya festival and two rams were tied to the stakes in his compound. Gani pointed at the two animals, alleging that they were sent as Ileya presents to him by the then military administrator of Lagos.

*Fawehinmi

Fawehinmi said emphatically that the MILAD, who is a Muslim did not know the tenets of Islam as Ileya meat and gift is to be shared with the poor, not the rich like him. Cameras flashed as Gani granted an interview, turning the animals to four-legged celebrities. The enfant terrible loaded the animals into a truck and returned it to the Alausa office of the governor, with the message that Gani would never accept any such Greek gift.

Gani was war. Uncompromising. And the MILAD dared not try him. But the MILAD was also fond of him. He later approved that the road leading to Gani’s house be tarred. Gani had no objection. He told the press why. “The MILAD only used taxpayers’ money to tar the road and not his compound and he could not prevent other people living in the same street from enjoying the product of their tax. Chikena!

At The Peter Obi Event In New York

 By Sonala Olumhense

As a Nigerian with considerable interest in public affairs, the Grand Ballroom of New York City’s Hilton Midtown Hotel, the venue of “Afro-Economics & Government Policy: A Conversation with Governor Peter Obi,” was my destination last Sunday.

*Obi

The engagement followed others in the United States, some of which had been mismanaged by local organisers who chose to charge a gate fee. Not New York, which was free to every registered attendee, thanks to the Columbia University’s Africa Business Club and Black Law Students Association.

The Hilton Grand Ballroom is a cavernous facility capable of accommodating 3,000 persons. For a city with nearly 700 hotels pre-COVID, Hilton bills the facility as the city’s largest ballroom.  At the height of the event, it was about two-thirds full.

Nigeria: Victory For The Vanquished

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

It Is A Goal! No! – The Necessity of Biafra by Hanum Mary Chioke (ISBN: 978-978-977-670-2; 2018; 259 pp)

 

Man’s existence on earth can be understood like a football match in which a goal must be scored for victory to be achieved. Hanum Mary Chioke in his book It Is A Goal! No! – The Necessity of Biafra understands that a radio or television commentator almost always enthusiastically screams “It is a goal!” only to reverse himself when the ball does not eventually hit the back of the net. The players must then keep on trying until the goal of victory is scored.

Hanum Mary Chioke has lived through the gamut of the early promise of Nigeria at independence in 1960, the horrors of the Igbo genocide after the coups of 1966, and saw action as a Biafran soldier in the civil war. He now stands strong as a witness to the denial of justice and equity in post-war Nigeria, and thus bears testimony that the clear and present necessity is to let the oppressed people go.

 

It is remarkable that Hanum Mary Chioke in It Is A Goal! No! – The Necessity of Biafra goes way back to the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria by Britain. His discussion of the country’s early politics is foregrounded by an unpublished paper entitled “A Quick Review of the Development of Nigerian Politics 1945-1966” written by one of the permanent secretaries of the era. The author adds gravitas to his thesis with Philip Asiodu’s “The Formal Structure of British Colonial Government in Nigeria.”

Why Nigeria Is In Debt

By Sunny  Awhefeada

I must begin with a confession that I am not an economist! My dabbling into a topic with its moorings in economics is the consequence of provocation by those who rule, run and ruin Nigeria. The ruling class too of­ten feels that the rest of us do not think and are therefore bound to swallow opinions hook line and sinker without asking questions.

*Buhari and Ahmad

This tendency to undermine the people is also traceable to our docility and inability to follow through clamours for account­ability and good governance. We occasionally raise alarm and frown at some of government’s inanities, but we give up too soon and move on and those who creat­ed such discomfitures laugh and mock the brevity of our critical response and also move on to per­petuate more devious schemes that hold us down. Economics and politics are no rocket scienc­es.

Nigeria: Why Getting The Economy Right Matters

 By Dan Agbese

Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo was in Washington last week to talk shop with US and World Bank officials on issues that matter to our country and the rest of the world. His takeaway from that trip will most likely be the brief lecture given him by the World Bank Group president, David Malpass, on the management of our stubborn national economy. Osinbajo was shopping for support from the World Bank on the vexed challenge that has defeated every president since our return to civil rule in 1999: fuel subsidy. Yes, that again.

Malpass thought the vice-president was looking for a solution in the wrong place because, as we say in this country, the solution is in his sokoto, not in Sokoto. The Daily Times online publication captured the essence of his advice to the vice-president with this headline: “World Bank to Osinbajo: Go home, address your staggered exchange rates, over-bloated fuel subsidy.”

Nigeria: Ethnic Profiling And 2023 Campaigns

 By Emeka Alex Duru  

Weeks to the official flag-off of the 2023 presidential campaigns, signs of what to come are becoming clearer. And disturbing! Nigerians may be in for a rough deal, perhaps, worse than they are having, if the morning, as they say, determines the day. Mudslinging and ethnic recriminations may dominate public engagements, in place of issue-based campaigns. 

Presidential campaigns are carnivals of sorts. They are occasions for glamour, demonstration of eloquence and style. But besides the side shows, they are moments of stock-taking, reflections and defining the future of the country. That is why presidential debates and manifesto nights are usually taken seriously in advanced democracies.

 

They are avenues for the candidates to advertise themselves and market their parties to the people and tell them what to expect from them if voted to power. Whatever declarations made by the standard-bearers on such events, are taken as yardsticks upon which they would be assessed while in office. For the incumbent, they provide opportunities to brandish their achievements, while the opposition, cash in on the window to expose the lapses of the party in power and project itself as the alternative.

 

An incidence in the 1980 American presidential election offers a good illustration on this. In the final week of campaign between the candidate of ruling Democratic Party, President Jimmy Carter and Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan, the two were put on debate. In course of the exercise, Reagan posed what has become one of the most important campaign questions of all time: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Carter’s answer was a resounding “NO”. That response was what the voters needed to deny him re-election but America as country won in the long run. That is the beauty of presidential campaign.

 

As the Independent National Electoral Commission gets set to lift the seal on the campaigns, you would expect the presidential candidates of the leading political parties in the country and their foot soldiers to be addressing their minds to such important questions. The presidency is the hardest job in the world, says American essayist, John Dickerson, in his piece on the White House. He prescribes that when the national fabric rends, the president will administer needle and thread, or at least reach for the sewing box of unity. This is a big lesson for those aspiring for the office.

But that is not what we are getting here, so far. It is rather campaigns of calumny and regurgitation of primordial sentiments. Resort to ethnicity is more dominant. In place of interrogating and analysisng the contents of pronouncements by the presidential candidates, their persons and pedigrees, issues of regions of birth are being played up, obviously to divide the people.

 

In Lagos for instance, the campaigns are drifting from the challenges facing the country to such fleeting topic as the ownership of the city. In the process, drinking joint banters or off-hand jibes by loose minds, are being cited as reasons to profile others and accuse them of attempting to take over the state. Since the emergence of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the momentum he has been generating especially among the youths and down trodden Nigerians, there have been waves of insinuations on the Igbo for “plotting to covet Lagos state”. Suddenly, the allegation of the Igbo purporting that “Lagos is no man’s land” has been on the rise and penetrating. Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, are firing relentlessly on this.

 

But that is a ruse. There is no space that can be described as “no man’s land”. Every entity has an indigenous population with certain claims of ownership or autochthony. Lagos cannot be an exception. Regardless the length of residence of an Igbo or any other non-indigene in Lagos, he/she remains a visitor.

 

Next to this is the lazy recollection of subjective narratives of the First Republic politics featuring the hackneyed mistrust between Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for which some Igbo and Yoruba seem sworn not to accept one another. The idea behind raking up these baseless topics is to further drive the wedge between the people from the two regions. The agenda may appear simple on the surface. But most genocides and ethnic cleansings in history, had started by casual profiling of the victims. That is the reason why these reckless expressions of sordid sentiments, should not be taken lightly 

 

Importantly, they are not issues that should bother Nigerians, presently. The candidates need to tell us how they intend to tackle the challenges facing the country. These are matters of failed governance, infrastructure collapse, insecurity, youth unemployment, depreciating value of the national currency, endemic strikes in the institutions of higher learning and restiveness in the component units of the country.

 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), just released a data the other day, which puts Nigeria as having about 20 million out-of-school children. The rate before was between 10.5 and 13.5 million. But with insecurity and kidnapping of school children, some parents are scared of sending their wards to school in some parts of the country. The present estimate is worrisome.

 

Elsewhere, though there seems a disagreement on an earlier report by a global terrorism research/analysis group, Jihad Analytics (JA), which placed Nigeria as the second most terrorised/attacked country, and that of fact-check which quotes the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) as saying that the country is sixth in the league, the fact is that the climate of insecurity remains high, here. Farmers can no longer access their farms, resulting to food insecurity in the land. In other indices of development, we are not faring better. Nigeria remains the Poverty capital of the world since 2018.

 

Nigeria tops the list of fragile, failing states and now the most stressful country to live in, according to the stress level index. For seven months running, students in public universities have been out of school due to the face-off between their teachers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal government over unfulfilled agreements.

 

Some Nigerians abducted in the Abuja-Kaduna-bound train on March 28, are still held by their captors, while the government looks the other way.

These are the issues that should matter in the 2023 debate. The task ahead is enormous and not the trivial issues of the Igbo or any group trying to take over Lagos or indeed any state in the country for that matter. Nigerians do not have the time for such idle talk.

*Duru is a commentator on public issues                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Eat Plantains, They Are Nutritious!

 By K. Coco Zhang

Plantains resemble bananas botanically and nutritionally and are common staples in Ghanaian cuisine. They are decent sources of magnesium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin K and contain some vitamin C and B vitamins, such as thiamin and riboflavin, according to a journal by Ogidi et al. (2017) published on European Journal of Food Science and Technology. Green, or unripe, plantains are rich in resistant starch, which passes through the digestive system largely undigested and allows blood sugar levels to rise slowly after their consumption.

This feature may optimize blood sugar profiles in people with type 2 diabetes and could increase fullness after meals, which aids in weight control. Another benefit of resistant starch is that it feeds the good bacteria in the gut, thereby fostering a healthy gut microbiome. 

As plantains ripen, large quantities of resistant starch present in unripe plantains turn into sugars. Not only are yellow, or ripe, plantains higher in sugar, but they are also richer in magnesium, potassium, and vitamins C and K than the unripe ones.

What Is Wrong With Africans?

 By Tochukwu Ezukanma

In his Philosophy of History, the 19th Century German philosopher, Friedrich Hegel, wrote so disparagingly about Africans, “The African exhibits the natural man in his wild and untamed state; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in his character”. 

And “the undervaluing of humanity among them reaches an incredible degree of intensity: cannibalism is looked upon as quite customary and proper. The devouring of human flesh is altogether consonant with the general principles of the African race.” We can disregard Hegel on the grounds that, as of the 19th Century, the Europeans’ prejudiced and inadequate knowledge of Africa could not have given an accurate and objective account of Africans.

Peter Obi Caught In The Act

 By Promise Adiele

In Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame, as King Odewale informs his wife Ojuola that he caught Aderopo red-handed plotting evil against the throne, the reader is aghast with surprise. How could Aderopo, the Obidient and unassuming son of Ojuola plot evil against the throne? In the same manner, the Labour Party presidential flag bearer Mr. Peter Obi has been caught in the act doing something. Plotting evil against the throne? No!!! Come with me let’s find out what he was caught doing. 

*Peter Obi 

So far, events leading to the 2023 general elections in Nigeria indicate a paradigm shift in the country’s political evolution. The blind can see it. Mortar and pestle are aware too. What hitherto seemed impossible or unrealistic has become possible, an undeniable actuality that daily queries every empirical explanation. Suddenly, Nigerian youths have justifiably found their voices with a compelling need to be part of the political process in their country. 

Queen Elizabeth II Of England Dies At 96

 

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch, died on Thursday afternoon at the Balmoral Castle, her highly cherished summer home in the Scottish Highlands.

She was on the British throne for 70 years. 

A statement by Buckingham Palace this afternoon states that “the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.”

According to the statement which also appeared on Royal Family, the official Twitter handle of the British Royal Family, both “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this [Thursday, September 8, 2022] evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Proscription Of ASUU?

 By Achike Chude

And so we are told that the federal government, having failed to honour its agreement with ASUU, has now come up with the ingenious and perfect solution which is the speculated plan to proscribe the union. And just like in the dark days of military dictatorship, the government has propped up, encouraged, and is facilitating the emergence of a rival academic group within the university system to break the rank of ASUU.

When you have a minister of Labour in a country whose doctors went on strike due to the same government’s refusal to honour another agreement and the minister says that the frustrated doctors can run away from the country because Nigeria has enough doctors, then you should weep and gnash your teeth – because you know that the minister is guilty of egregious lies. 

What a perverse and deleterious state of affairs! Because the recommended doctor to patients ratio of the United Nations is 1:600 (one doctor to six hundred patients). Nigeria’s doctor to patients’ ratio is 1:6000 (one doctor to six thousand patients). And worse, it will take 120 years for Nigeria to have enough doctors if they are no longer leaving the country. 

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Christianity Would Suffer At Nigeria’s Seat Of Sovereignty

 By Olu Fasan 

Every well-meaning Nigerian must remain outraged by the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC. Every patriotic Nigerian should be appalled by the utter insensitivity and perniciousness of the calculated decision that belittles Christianity and puts religious harmony and internal cohesion at greater risk in Nigeria. Of course, the issue won’t go away; we will discuss it until next year’s elections. My focus here is the symbolism of the choice. 

*Shettima, Tinubu

Self-servingly, some have mischaracterised the opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Recently, Festus Keyamo, a minister of state for labour and employment and spokesman of the Tinubu presidential campaign, said it was about “balance of power”. According to him, Christians feared losing power at the centre if Tinubu became president with Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim, as his vice-president. He said this was misguided because the vice-president “is powerless”.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: What Nigeria Can Learn From The Islamisation Of Constantinople

By Reno Omokri

(First published in my column, The Alternative, in today’s ThisDay).

I have just returned from a trip to Turkey, where I was on a pilgrimage to some of the seven churches of Asia, also known as the seven churches of Revelations. 

I visited Smyrna (now known as Izmir), Pergamum (now known as Bergama, and Ephesus (now known as Efes). Prior to this visit, I had visited Laodicea (now known as Laodikeia). There are no remnants of some of the other churches, but I did get to see Cappadocia.

And then I went to Istanbul and the city blew my mind. It was my third visit to Istanbul, but my first time staying on the Asian side.

Istanbul has a rich history that can probably bring you to tears. This city used to be known as Constantinople, and was the center of orthodox Christianity, until on 29 May 1453, when it was conquered by the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Note I said Muslim Ottoman Empire, not Islamic Ottoman Empire.

Why ASUU Showdown With Government Is Justified

 By Bisi Olawunmi

Academic Staff Union of Universities has gone for broke with its declaration of indefinite strike, ending its roll-over strategy since its February 14, 2022 call out of lecturers in public universities.  The union must have decided to force issues, considering that in recent times, momentum has been building up against the six-month-old strike by  ASUU  that has grounded academic activities in publicly owned universities across the nation.

The lecturers are being backed to the wall as Federal Government negotiators, its spokespersons and critics, mainly on social and print media,  project  ASUU members as self-serving, overindulged and lacking empathy for their students. The broadcast media are not left out as the ASUU strike has been the subject of discussion and phone-in programmes on radio and television stations.

Editorial writers and columnists are having a field day, pontificating on the face-off. The initial groundswell of support for ASUU is gradually giving way to a weariness-induced attitude of e don do (enough is enough) by a growing segment of the public. It is understandable. Those who have been largely parents, in absentia, are being compelled to be parents, in situ, for six continuous months and many are not finding it easy. It has occasioned frayed nerves at the family level. 

Casting Malevolent Shadows: Liz Truss Wins the Tory Leadership

 By Binoy Kampmark

10 Downing Street is set to be bathed in social media guff with the victory of Liz Truss. Confirmed as Boris Johnson’s successor, the new British Prime Minister won by a slimmer margin over rival contender Rishi Sunak than anticipated. Nonetheless, 81,326 votes to 60,399 was sufficient to guarantee her a secure margin – for the moment. (The turnout had been 83 per cent.)

*Liz Truss

There is little doubt that the Tory selectorate – a good deal of it – seem to adore her. That hardly makes them, or her, representative of a broader constituency, and certainly the same constituency that voted for Johnson in 2019. Certain conservative voices have even warned that the Tory party now resembles, in part, the Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn stormed through the ranks with an adoring base of party supporters and ideological brio. The broader electorate were not quite so enamoured.

Nigeria: Ethnic Profiling Not A Campaign Strategy

 By Amanze Obi

My friend and colleague, Segun Ayobolu, has joined the infamous clan of journalists and writers who are demonizing the Igbo on account of Bola Tinubu’s presidential aspiration. I find this regrettable, especially in the light of my belief that these gentlemen, as cosmopolitan as I thought they were, were incapable of this level of incivility.

*Peter Obi

But I know that Segun was conscripted and fed a lie. He must have been taken in by the antics of those for whom Igbophobia is a pleasurable pastime. I dare say that the views he expressed in his recent article on the Igbo and the Peter Obi presidency are hardly original to him. They are bits and pieces of prejudicial narratives on the Igbo hammered into shape by promoters of hate and purveyors of falsehood.

 

Like many others who have mischievously tied Obi’s presidential aspiration to his Igboness rather than his personality, Segun outlined many reasons why he is scared stiff of a possible Obi presidency. None of them, strictly speaking, is about Peter Obi. All of them border on Igbo stigmatization and jaundiced perception by many a non-Igbo Nigerian.