By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

It is in my constitution to celebrate Onyeka Nwelue, no matter whatever anybody reads elsewhere. The much-ballyhooed news out of Oxford or Cambridge on Onyeka Nwelue should be better understood in a better context with the passage of Father Time.

Let me stress this fact upfront: I knew Onyeka Nwelue before Oxbridge!.As Oscar Wilde famously said, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
People talk about Onyeka Nwelue because he is a world citizen – if he did not matter all the yarn about “Fake Professor” would not wash.
Onyeka Nwelue matters, and it comes from the very beginning because I was there when he travelled all the way from the East, a mere gangling boy, to set eyes on the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.

Talk of the three wise men from the East coming to see Jesus Christ! .It was at Jazzville in the Majaro Street, Yaba area of Lagos, where Onyeka was summoned before the presence of Soyinka, and he remarkably asked the Nobel Laureate if he had a child of his own.

Before Soyinka could answer, one of my many enemies around, maybe Jahman Anikulapo or some other wag, pointed at me and said I was one of the great man’s sons!Soyinka looked at Onyeka and then fixated on me and declared:

“Yes, he is one of the renegades!”
Onyeka of course took to Soyinka as a father, and the Nobel Laureate true to his noble character gave the young lad a reason to believe.

Onyeka Nwelue was thus emboldened to march forward and conquer the world with astonishing swiftness. His first novel, The Abyssinian Boy, showcased the new kid on the literary block as a phenomenon to watch out for. He wrote books and made films and travelled the world with gusto that belied his young age.

He made his views known on all platforms without bending the knee to political correctness or whatever. He was arrested and taken into dire custody in Rwanda for talking truth to power, and it took the high intervention of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for him to be freed.

Onyeka Nwelue has done a world of good for African writing through his spirited interventions over the years.

He became the founding Director of the James Currey Society in Oxford, England and got appointed an Academic Visitor at the grandee university Oxford before going further afield to earn an encore of the post at Cambridge University.

He set up Abibiman Publishing company in England, and won the rights of bringing back the esteemed African Writers Series (AWS).
It is so like Onyeka Nwelue to call me up to ask if I had a ready UK visa so that I can attend a literary festival just like that in Oxford, England.

Having retired from overseas travels, and being holed up in pastoral Awka, Anambra State, I thanked Onyeka for his inimitable generosity. His Abibiman Publishing has issued my novel The Missing Link, and I am poised to release more titles from the stable.

Onyeka Nwelue instituted the Akachi Ezeigbo Prize for Literature which inaugural awards happened while celebrating the eponymous author’s birthday.He has also endowed two prizes via the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), namely, the ANA/Chukwuemeka Nwelue Prize for Igbo Language Literature and the ANA/SBC Obiora Prize for Environmental Writing.

His endowment of the James Currey Prize for African Literature has gone a long way in bringing new vistas to African writing across the globe.Onyeka Nwelue had to leave his post at Oxford when charges of misogyny and making hurtful posts on social media were tabled against him.

To earn more media mileage, the matter of being a so-called “fake professor” had to be raised for good measure. Characters aiming for the kill had to add to the dimension of “school dropout” and suchlike mundane matters.

I guess it was Bob Marley who said he would have ended up as a damn fool if he had gone to formal school.James Baldwin did not need to attend any university to achieve his literary feats, not forgetting that he was laughed out of sight from the offices of a literary magazine as a youngster when he introduced himself as being able to review books and write essays.

Not wanting to marry does not in my book translate to misogyny because I know of Onyeka’s love for women such as Onyeka Onwenu, Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Flora Nwapa etc. Dead or living, Onyeka Nwelue loves them all.

There is the issue of Onyeka haranguing the poor, but I am his friend and my life depends on Henry David Thoreau’s words in Walden, to wit: “None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.”

The world needs Onyeka Nwelue to stir things up for us all to have a total picture of life and living. The white man should take no offence that Onyeka calls them “pink people”, and he does not need destruction for writing and publishing the controversial books The Real Owners of Britain and There Are No White People.

The essential Onyeka Nwelue deserves celebration as showcased in his cinematic crime novel The Strangers of Braamfontein.There is only one Onyeka Nwelue, and he remains an evolving revelation.

By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN

On Friday March 3, 2023, the nation waited with bated breath for the Supreme Court, the crowning glory and head of Nigeria’s judicial system. The apex court is populated with leaders of the judiciary, starting from the Honourable the Chief Justice of the Federation, who also heads the National Judicial Council.

It had been a long wait indeed, essentially because on February 8, 2023, the Supreme Court gave a lifeline to the suffering masses of our people when it issued an order for the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to continue to circulate alongside the new notes.

But the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria would have none of it, insisting that the old N500 and N1000 notes were gone forever as they had ceased to be legal tender.

In a national broadcast that challenged the independence of the judicial arm of government, the President as head of the executive countermanded the order of the Supreme Court by directing the CBN to issue out only the old N200 notes.

Thus, it became clear to all that the executive arm was on a collision course with the judiciary, but most people supported the Naira redesign policy because of its positive impact to curtail vote buying and reduce the menace of corruption across the land.

Since 2015 when this administration was inaugurated, it has had a running battle with judges, lawyers and indeed the entire legal profession, premised mainly on the desire to arm twist the due process of law. In a manner reminiscent of the gestapo tactics of forceful annexation, law enforcement agents stormed the houses of judges in the middle of the night to capture serving judicial officers, who were all treated like common criminals.

The head of the judiciary himself was booted out of office based upon an ex-parte order and the home of another senior judicial officer was invaded by faceless persons in an alleged sting operation. The message would then seem to be clear enough that the judiciary had no independence.

The Origin of the Judiciary

The Judiciary is established under section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended. The Constitution proceeds to state the function of the judiciary as to “extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and to any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any questions as to the civil rights and obligations of that person.”

In reality therefore, the judicial powers as conferred upon the courts relate to adjudication and determination of disputes. This power is traceable to the period of creation, when the first man (Adam) was put to trial in the Garden of Eden. God drafted the charges, served them on him and took his defences thereto and thereafter judgment was passed.

However, judicial power was properly codified when the father-in-law of Moses visited him and advised him to set up several courts for the resolution of all contentious issues, depending on their magnitude. Man has followed this pattern ever since, leading to the trial, condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus by the Jews.

The History of Nigerian Judiciary

The judiciary became more entrenched as part of the foundation of the creation of Nigeria, due to the Sir Henry Willink Commission of Inquiry report, detailing the means of addressing the fears expressed by the minority ethnic groups, post-independence.

Assuredly, there will always be one dispute or the other, in any human endeavor or existence. With their over-bloated population and size, the majority ethnic groups could always boast of electoral victory to form the cabinet and also majority in the parliament, any day, through which they would continue to dominate the minority groups. It was then resolved to establish a strong judicial system, capable of intervening in any dispute between persons and persons, persons and governments or indeed any other authority.

This partly accounts for the reason why the judiciary was established as an independent and autonomous arm of government, to be strong enough to look anyone in the eye, to be strong enough to damn oppressive policies and strike down all manners of injustice. This worked well for some time, until the military emerged with absolute powers and decrees, through which the powers of the courts were circumscribed and at times suspended, outrightly.

But even under the military, the judiciary remained the only arm of government that could not be dissolved totally, unlike the parliament and the executive. No government has been so brutish and damning, as to outrightly sack the courts; we have never had it so bad and we pray not to ever have such malady, in our time.

What we are witnessing currently portends a bad omen for our nation, if the decision of the apex court is to be treated with such levity as we are presently witnessing. It is now five clear days after the final judgment of the Supreme Court directing the circulation of all the old Naira notes but the federal government has pretended as if the judgment does not exist at all.

The Role of the Judiciary

What then is the problem with the judiciary? It insists on the rule of law, the rule of prescription, the rule of certainty, the rule of fairness and the rule of equity and equality.The judiciary abhors all forms of impunity, by which arbitrariness and unequal application of rules and regulations become the norm of human behavior.

In this regard therefore, everyone in the judiciary is a potential threat to and target of the executive arm of government, represented by the President or Governor, Ministers or Commissioners, police officers, law enforcement agencies, public officers, civil servants, heads of government parastatals and other agencies. They mostly would love to bend the rules, when their vested interests are at stake, which invariably sets them in confrontation with the judiciary.

In 1986, the judiciary looked at the ugly face of impunity and thundered down against executive lawlessness in the famous case of Governor of Lagos State v Ojukwu. And the heavens did not fall. Later on in the case of Fawehinmi v Abacha, in the thick of military dictatorship, the Honourable Justice Dahiru Musdapher, (CJN) while then presiding at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal struck down the infamous Decree No. 2 of 1984, which was the instrument of detention of citizens.

In the life of this present administration, operatives of the Department of State Security stormed the Federal High Court in Abuja in a failed kidnap attempt of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Comrade Omoyele Sowore, whilst still in disobedience of the order granting him bail. When the judge gave the DSS twenty-fours to release Sowore, the government knew at once that the game was over and Sowore was indeed released.

Membership of the Bench is a special calling, not meant for the ordinary human being, given to the usual emotions and fancies. The judge is meant to be a special breed, above board, sober, conservative, moderate in all things and without any flair for extravagance or such worldly cravings.

The eyes of the judge are blind to status, position or extraneous factors and they seek to do justice to all manner of people without fear or favour. The judge is kept away from society and from open fraternity and affiliation, because some of their cases may end up in his court one day. In return for these manifold deprivations, society accords him dignity, honour and reverence and calls him “My Lord”, being the next person to God in terms of power and authority.

In addition, the state undertakes to pick up his bills and guarantee him a secured tenure of office and a worthy life of retirement, after the Bench. But this has not been the case with the present administration, which has more than any other government before it undermined the independence and authority of the judiciary.

No other time has the affront to the judiciary been so blatantly demonstrated than the present disobedience to the final judgment of the Supreme Court given on March 3, 2023 on the old Naira notes. The summary of the judgment goes as follows:

The defendants ought not to be heard when they have refused to obey the orders of the Honourable Court. The disobedience of the orders of the Court is a sign of the failure of rule of law. This suit has merit and the following reliefs were granted in favour of the Plaintiffs:

1. The demonetisation policy is inconsistent with the CBN Act. 2. A declaration that the President cannot make a unilateral policy without carrying the Plaintiffs along. 3. In issuing the policy, the President is under an obligation to carry the National Council of States along. 4. The policy has impeded the functions of State governments. 5. The directive of the President is illegal. 6. The old N200, N500 and N1000 versions of the Naira notes shall continue to be legal tender with the new Naira notes until 31st December, 2023.

The above decision says that there is failure of the rule of law and that the President acted illegally. That illegality has continued and is still continuing. It was reported that the federal government is considering applying to the Supreme Court to set aside its judgment. I hope this remains a report in the media and that the day will never come when the executive will be allowed to trample upon the Courts, hold judges to ransom and then turn around to rejoice in their humiliation.

Nigerians look up to the Courts for deliverance from the stronghold of impunity and lawlessness. We expect the Supreme Court and indeed all Courts in Nigeria to stand firm in defence of the judiciary. Let the judiciary wake up and assert its authority under the Constitution, the maxim being fiat justitia ruat caelum (let justice be done, though the heavens fall).

BORN into an aristocratic family on March 9, 1934 in the ancient city of Ijebu Ode, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, albeit trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom, he is better known as the icon of the country’s capital market, the pacesetter in entrepreneurial banking and the great living legend of our time.

The merchant bank that he founded in 1982 transformed to a universal bank in 2001 and became known as First City Monument Bank. The bank has been on the upward swing, thanks to the vision, dexterity and sagacity of the founder, and the abiding faith of the Almighty God.

Today, the prime mover of the FCMB financial conglomerate is 89 years old! Imbued with uncommon gait, aristocratic mien, culture and heritage, the Head of Ijebu princes and princesses, and leader of Ijebu Christians has been a common denominator in the cultural renaissance of his people. He is one of the major sponsors of the annual Ojude Oba Festival of Ijebu Ode.

A close analysis of the contributions of Otunba Balogun to the countrys socio-economic landscape reveals “a man whose fame rested on solid personal achievements, despite his privileged upbringing to paraphrase Chinua Achebe in his epic novel, Things Fall Apart.

He has a distinctive style about whatever he does and beyond his enviable success in every ramification of life. He is a constructive philanthropist and a venerable Christian leader who has been devoting a substantial part of what God has bestowed him with towards the care and service of the less privileged and the needy.

In his nearly six decades of unassailable corporate practice, he has become a venerated boardroom generalissimo who has combated the vicissitudes of life, and corporate politics with indomitability, tenacity, assiduity and stoicism. Despite the machinations of naysayers, his empire continues to be a reference point as it continues with his “heritage of excellence.”

As a visionary father of the banking and finance industry, he is convinced there are no short-cuts to any place worth going. He is one Nigerian that is painstakingly and unequivocally in pursuit of excellence. He confoundingly demonstrates to all who care to study and tap from his sagacity, objectivity and resilience that the future belongs to those who believe in their dreams of making the world a better place for all and sundry to live in.

Even though he had a Muslim background, he became a Christian whilst at Igbobi College, Lagos and ever since he has made Jesus Christ the corner stone of his existence and success. His perception of his Maker has been the fortifying force and propeller in his period of travails. He strives never to be under any illusion that detractors, cynics, critics and character assassins will not aim at him.

First, success breeds detractors. Second, envy and jealousy accompany accomplishments. Third and importantly, no society wants an individual to be fed to the extent that the individual will have the audacity to say he is well fed or he is satisfied.

Characteristically, Otunba Balogun had taken his travails with Christian fortitude, forbearance and equanimity. He is always convinced that there are positive and negative dimensions to success. When travails bear their deadly fangs, he is known to take refuge in his Lord. In all circumstances, he attributes his triumph to Divine will and absolute commitment to the Almighty Lord. His soul mate, prayer warrior and wife of great simplicity and astonishment, Olori Abimbola Adetutu Balogun has been a monumental pillar of support and of unquantifiable assistance in his journey through life.

Now that this doyen of entrepreneurship is 89 years old, a year short of being a nonagenarian, it is apt to sum up his existence in four short statements.

First, in him was a determination to succeed in the face of seemingly unsurmountable odds. Second, his life has been the life of a man who came, saw and conquered. Third, this is a man who is wearing the crown because of Gods benevolence and magnificence. And, fourth, this is a pacesetter in life who is not naïve to think and act as if the world is a bed of roses.

Apart from unquantifiable contributions to the society, he is committed to the future of the Nigerian child, born and unborn. Three decades ago, he established in Ijebu Ode, the National Paediatric Centre as a referral institution for the healthcare, welfare and survival of our children. The international centre handles teaching, research into, and treatment of every aspect of paediatrics. He has since handed over the centre to the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital for effective management.

Indeed, in the last forty years, his philanthropic endeavours under The Otunba Tunwase Foundation have been traversing several endeavours including education, religion, healthcare and other spectacular initiatives and interventions. No doubt, he has been paying his dues as he is never tired of assisting humanity. In actual fact, in the pursuit of excellence, spirituality and commonality, he seeks for Providential guidance and support.

A creative, energetic and visionary leader, even at 89, he is convinced about the imperativeness of constantly nurturing his faculty and body. No wonder, he spares the time to go to his private office at least three times a week.

The energy may not be too strong, studying him at close quarters reveals a phenomenon with an enhanced mental agility and capacity with uncommon nourishment and enrichment, holistic perception of issues and the world around him, better grasps of the dynamics of socio-political and economic power, and better appreciation of the Creator of the heaven and earth. He is therefore, of the opinion that to completely peg off now will make him vegetate with its attendant consequences of inertia, passivity, mental inactivity, longueurs and emotional disequilibrium.

A man ahead of his time, his private financial institution, First City Monument Bank Limited is now publicly quoted (in the Nigerian Stock Exchange) with several national and international subsidiaries. He is of the opinion that the Almighty Creator used him as a vessel to embark on the voyage that successfully anchored the empire.

He is ever ready to serve as a corporate counsellor, financial and banking engineer and architect, corporate law adviser, community mobiliser, humanist, constructive philanthropist, and above all, a great but a very humble servant in the Lords vineyard.

As a corporate strategist, mentor, coach and leader within our chequered nation, he sees good corporate governance as sine qua non to taking the country to the Eldorado. He believes that good corporate governance is a sum total of probity, accountability, transparency and due process in the management of affairs. He advocates that critical attention should be attached to the wellbeing of the society. He contends that laws of nature must be adhered to as they are sublimated and have the potential of spiritual reawakening and reinvigoration.

As Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, CON., Olori Omo-Oba of Ijebu turns 89, this is wishing the grandmaster of the Banking and Finance industry, profound good health, sagacity, additional longevity, and continued relevance to God and mankind.

Chief Fassy Adetokunboh Yusuf, a veteran journalist, lawyer, teacher, corporate governance expert and community leader writes from Ijebu Ode (WhatsApp: 0803 315 4488 & E-mail: drcfassyaoyusuf@gmail.com).

The Presidential elections have come to pass, and the outcome of the results will continue to be a watershed in the political terrain and a new definition of “Loyalty “ in Adamawa PDP politics.Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic PDP got 417,611 votes, Bola Ahmed Tinubu 182,881, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) secured 105,648 votes while Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) got 8,006 votes

The performance of the Labour Party in the state though not surprising because of the open secret fraternity of the incumbent Governor with the Labour Party for some time.It is now obvious that the allegations against the governor of Adamawa state for anti-party activities have come to pass.

Many prominent people of Adamawa State last month alleged and warned that, the Incumbent Governor Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintirihad pitched his camp with the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate and crisscrossed the state campaigning for him in line with the arrangements of the G5 PDP governors.

It’s an open secret that he remained a member of the group covertly.The outcome of Saturday‘s Presidential election is a clear testimony to that effect. The theatrics of the governor’s pretentious loyalty and deception could only go that far and today the dye is cast and the truth cannot be suppressed.

Atiku Abubakar, though not unaware of Fintiri’s intrigues according to sources, but decided to ignore all the clear and overwhelming evidence shown to him in that regard, and deluded himself in a suspension of believe, hoping that Governor Fintiri will continue to be loyal and supportive.

The Waziri Adamawa rightly or wrongly is said to be scared of the consequences of confronting the Governor in order not to jeopardize his political fortunes since all politics are local, and will need the governor on his side to succeed in this rather elusive Presidency, having attempted severally without success and believing this could be his last opportunity.

In February, when the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi visited Adamawa State for his campaign, he ignored the Protocol of usual courtesies on the Paramount Ruler, the Lamido of Adamawa Emirate and Chairman of the Adamawa state Traditional Rulers Council but headed straight to Numan Federation to pay homage/Respect to Hamma Bachama of Numan Federation, which was a serious breach of protocol and a slight on the Lamido.

It’s also on record that he was there to fraternise with the Christian community who are predominant in the zone.
Obi’s action was attributed to Fintiri’s advice and in active collaboration of CAN leadership.This strategy is today consequential to Labour’s Political gains in that part of the State. Obi defeated Atiku in Numan LGA, and secured substantial votes in the other areas in the zone.

The outcome of the elections results in Madagali the Governor’s support base where the Labour Party won at the Governor’s polling unit is, without doubt, a collusion in cohort with the governor.

The ADC gubernatorial candidate, Malam Muhammadu Usman Shuwa after officially endorsing the PDP presidential candidate His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and promised to work for him in the state, relocated to his home town Madagali 6 days before the election, made serious contact and strategies to ensure that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s victory, and delivered his polling unit and even his ward for Atiku.

If Fintiri had Atiku’s interest he could have made sure he delivered not only his unit or Madagali but the entire Northern Zone for Atiku, being his domain and as an incumbent Governor of Atiku’s Party, but behold the outcome isn’t what we expected.

They say in war, political war inclusive all is fair. and politics is like the contributions in “Adashe” it’s turn by turn everyone will take his share albeit at the tail end Waziri Adamawa is well-schooled in political treachery and well-acquainted with its muddy terrain. Therefore needs not to be incited into realigning his priorities and strategies. He surely feels where it pinches.

In stating the obvious,we can only wish Waziri Adamawa well in his future endeavours

Auwal Modire wrote from Yola, Adamawa state, he can be reached via modiree@aol.com

By Emiko Aruofor

Today,February 25, 2023,the Nigerian nation begun the process of activation of the largest democratic process ever embarked upon on the African continent. 93.5 million eligible voters will have the right on that day, and for several weeks after, to go out and choose the deciders and directors of our future.

This quadrennial pilgrimage to the polls has been entrenched and consistently embarked upon six times since the re-establishment of the third republic in 1999.

The inalienable implication of this reality is that we,as a people cannot in truth distance ourselves from the choices we had willfully made for good or for bad, for progress or setback every time in the past 24 years that we have gone to the ballot box and imprinted our thumb to install the next custodians of our political and in fact, existential institutions; the legislative arms, from the Senate, the House of Representatives through to the State Assemblies;formulators and guardians of our constitution and the overarching supervisors of the executive arm of governance, from the president, to the state governors and local government chairpersons, all the way to the minutest wards.

For us to evaluate where we are and where we should be heading to, it would be good to look at our place in the world vis a vis our peculiar circumstances. Nigeria is one of 96 acknowledged democracies out of the 195 countries on the globe. We are a country of the future, as over 70% of our population are youths and a huge percentage of them are entitled to vote this time around.

About 78% of our people are literate, which to all intent and purposes should serve us well in taking the right decisions. Overall, if you look at the pluses, such as an oil-backed economy, bountiful agriculture and a dynamic, broad-based workforce, we should be the envy of any other country on the continent.

From the three regions inherited at independence in 1960,we have grown to a federation of 36 self governing states as well as the federal capital in Abuja. This diversification of governance was supposed to engender a focused, grassroots-oriented administration across the broad swathes of our society.

Unfortunately,109 years after the installation of the Nigeria’s experiment,we are not confident to espouse any indication that we are on the right path,as sadly,we are far from celebratory shape.

As the sunset closes on another eight years of a duly elected set of leaders, the circumstances of our lives beg the question; what and how is anything different this time around? If we view our present form of government from its Greek background of people (demo) and rule (krato) there is a clear understanding that democracy is, as succinctly presented by Abraham Lincoln in his post-American civil war Gettysburg address, “the government of the people, for the people, by the people”.

It follows that we have always been expected to elect representatives across all tiers of government that would come into office for the purpose of attending to our needs with a determination to deliver on our expectations.In other words, we vote to achieve a better life for ourselves, our families and by extension, the society as a whole.

To determine if our democratic efforts have yielded ‘fruit’, it would be worthwhile to compare the experiences of this iteration of our political dispensation with what had come earlier. The almost one hundred years of colonial overlords were definitely not intended to serve us. It was a period of ruler takes all and devoted to the relentless extraction of everything of value.

But,in the process of harnessing the resources required by the British, the North and South provinces were linked to create our present status. Rail lines stretched from the coastal ports to the farthest reaches of the Sahel to evacuate the goodies of the land. Our grandparents were educated as produce buyers and clerks and found abode, comfort and acceptance in areas far from their places of origin.

By the time we became a self-fulfilling republic in 1963, it was a given that you could and would holiday with family and friends in far off regions of the country, particularly railway men, the police, teachers and nurses. The British left three highly productive regions, but, they also left behind grinding poverty in the hinterlands.

The short lived first republic embarked on the entrenchment of our people in the pursuit of governmental relevance. The nouveau politicians played to the citizens’ yearnings, spinning tales of grandiose expectations and limitless promises. The results of the cleavage to our perceived cohesion and fragile unity soon brought in the militarisation of our existence.

Since we are comparing phases of our lives, the long reign of the ‘military industrial complex’ would bring the creation of first, twelve states and later thirty six states with a geographically central federal administration in Abuja.

The intention was to allow for the actualisation of governance depth at the minutest level of society. Rather than the grandiosity of just Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Kano,at least 36 state capitals now actualize the wishes of the people around them, or are supposed to.

Unfortunately, rather than the economically independent regions of yore,many of these politically carved out states are not self-sustaining and most would stagnate and go into paralysis without quarterly federal largesse funded mostly from oil resources.

The years of democracy have sadly not being built on the original idea of bringing a sense of belonging to all and sundry in Nigeria In place of a single universal ideal of a Nigerian nation, balkanisation has driven a wedge between previous hegemonies in the country.

The stark absence of final mile presence of governance beyond the state capitals has left the rural environments where most Nigerians live in the hands of militias, brigands and other rent seekers pitilessly haranguing and sometimes displacing whole communities. All of these would be bearable if at least, people could feed and have the semblance of a manageable existence.

But, when the continued evisceration of the worth of the Naira is added to the existing devastation of the quality of life, we find ourselves at the crossroads. Do we turn back to times better not remembered? Do we lay down and bear the weight of our diminished circumstances?

Or,do we look forward to a more glorious future and step into the promise and fulfilment of our admirable potentials? The answer as they say, lies in our hands, or should we say, our thumbs.

As we step out on February 25 and the weeks after to express our democratic right to choose who to hand over the baton of the future of ourselves, our children and unborn generations to, would we, as has happened in the past, bequeath our very existence to those who would dig us further into the gruelling abyss of the present times?

Or,do we have a rethink and embark on a rebirth of our dear nation by electing only those whose thinking and orientation is aligned to our yearnings for peace, progress and the universal pursuit of happiness. The answer lies in that little sheet…the PVC and what we do with it.

Emiko Aruofor,is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer,Pulsar Limited

By Godknows Igali

In Greek mythology, the hero-warrior Achilles was exceptionally strong and was considered invincible.

At birth, his mother had dipped him in the mysterious River Styx which made his body insulated from penetration from any weapon, apart from the tiny piece on the heel of his leg which she held during that act.

Most often in life, there is always the proverbial point of weakness which, if not conscious of, could be the source of doom.This, unfortunately, was the fate of Achilles, and our political actors need to watch that delicate part in the last few hours before the polls.

As the D-Day for Nigeria’s presidential election beckons, the sky still remains cloudy with regards to having an accurate guess of who will wear the victory medallion. The vicissitudes and physical exertion of the campaign season, the unparalleled financial exertion, the demand of innovative strategizing, and not the least, keeping up with the rules of the game have kept the ante quite high for all stakeholders.

Unarguably, no Nigerian election, since 1959 and perhaps 1979, has been that difficult to call with predictable exactitude as this. Irrespective of our personal idiosyncrasies, the main leading candidates all have their strong points and clearly verifiable records of national service and application.

The other factors, such as ethnicity, geopolitics, media and communication outreach, and demographic underpinning in various ways, equally seem to be working to the advantage of individual candidates and their political aggrupations.

How Are The Old Guards Fairing?

For example, the All Progressive Congress (APC) has a whopping advantage of controlling the federal government with all the paraphernalia of state power.

Though, openly leading campaigns for his preferred candidate, the flagbearer of his party, a weighty politician, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Lagos State Governor, the President has nonetheless reiterated to Nigeria’s voting population to discard fealty to party and vote for the best candidate.

Gladly though,incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari had in no few occasions voiced his commitment to free and fair elections.

Added, the decision of the federal government, through currency redesigning on the eve of the election to demonetize the voting process, which in recent times has become the most insidious abuse on the country’s electoral order, though shabbily implemented, has further affirmed his commitment to free and fair polls.

So if APC strategists rely on any supposed federal might, they may find themselves in the Waterloo!

But then, with 23 of the 36 states being controlled by APC Governors, it would obviously be foolhardy for any credible analyst to take the APC for granted. This is more so as Nigerian Governors are somewhat domineering, in some case even imperious within their states and therefore capable of mustering a large amount of influence on voters.

Virtually every serving governor maintains significant political structures and networks that they can unleash at any time. It is ill-omened for the party to enter election day with seriously cracking walls of its house.

But then, APC with such strategic advantages must watch its guards. In human history, not once or twice, but quite recurring, the mighty have fallen.

In the last election in the USA, then populist President Donald Trump, with his “making America great again,” lost to the Democrats after just a tenure in office. What about Kenya?The political dynasties which Uhuru Kenyatta and Rahila Odinga belonged are entrenched like impregnable fortresses for 60 odd years.

But in 2022, erstwhile Vice President William Ruto, jumped ship from the erstwhile ruling Jubilee Party and brought down the old order with his redacted United Democratic Party (UDP) becoming that East African country’s leader. The APC can not rest on its oars until in this last bit of the race.

On its part, its protagonist, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a great public servant and entrepreneur, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, maintains a record as the country’s longest reigning political clan at the federal level. It dominated the country’s current Fourth Republic and ruled for 16 uninterrupted years until its unimaginable electoral defeat in 2015.

The nearest to it in terms of longevity in office are the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) both of which dominated the First and Second Republics at federal level for 8 and 5 years respectively. It had previously declared itself the largest political party in Africa, swearing to have the capacity to rule Nigeria ad infinitum.

The PDP, more than any other political group, has unprecedented national spread. Although it has been out of national power now for nearly 8 years since 2015 and its sub-national spread shrank from 28 to 14 states, its national spread and appeal is still overwhelming.

The question, however, is, can this wide dragnet of the PDP translate to votes after its relegation to number 2 status? This question becomes relevant when it is realized that it has, in the past few years, lost much grounds to other political actors. For example, in virtually all the country, the ruling APC has made significant incursions that can not be ignored.

Let’s not forget that even in an ultra conservative enclave of PDP such as Bayelsa State, the APC in 2019 produced an elected Governor, until the finger of God, through the Supreme Court, reversed things and now have the “Miracle Governor” from the PDP in place. Same for Imo State, where the converse happened as a duly elected PDP governor was ousted by the instrumentality of the Supreme Court of the land.

Let’s not also forget that in the same deep south, the erstwhile PDP Governors of Cross River and Ebonyi, as well as the immediate past PDP Governor of Akwa Ibom have all crossed over to the APC.

In neighbouring Delta State, a major political gladiator, the current Deputy Senate President and fifth citizen of the country, hitherto a PDP member, has since jumped ship to the APC and is waging a proverbial battle of titans over governorship of that state.

These are all mighty men and have great followings. PDP has to watch its flanks.The biggest challenge, which PDP can still unravel, is the resurfaced internecine fracticidal fight.

In 2014, when the party had an internal fight during the reign of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, some hawks within the establishment openly canvassed that each of the five governors who were termed rebellious had only “one vote” each.

Against advice, they saw no need for reconciliation, no matter the price. The PDP has to remember that each of the same worrisome number five governors controls large swathes of votes. Anyone regarding them as irrelevant are doing the party great disservice.

Fortunately, where there is a will, there is a way. Often, stooping to conquer, even at the last minute, could unleash gains. PDP must not allow this number “five” to hurt the chances of the party during this election.

The Challenge Of Fresh Blood

Much intriguing, in this election, we are seeing a departure from the old dictate, as new frontiers are being seriously broken.

The Labour Party, being led by former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, based on its ideological foundations, is perhaps the oldest autuchnotous political vanguard in Nigeria.

From the days of late Pa Michael Imoudu (1902-2005) and the demarche to have workers and people focused political parties started, the pioneers achieved exceptionally impressive success and helped achieve independence, alongside the centrist cum Conservative political groups.

However, in 2002, what we know today as Labour Party sprouted as one of the main upshots from the erstwhile Party for Social Democracy. After the 2003 General Elections, it formally changed its name to the Labour Party. It is, therefore, not an upstart, but a solid institution with deep taproots across the country.

Besides,the LP is the political wing of the Nigerian Labour Congress, which became an umbrella organisation of over 1,000 unions in 1978, So this political arm, like all wings, has well streamlined cross-sections across the country.

Even more spectacular is the fact that the LP had been able to galvanise its support base under Peter Obi amongst the younger population who by the way, constitute more than a third of the 93 million registered voters.

In what appears like Arab Spring,the LP has created wide acceptance of “Obidient” Nigerians as representing the yearning for a new paradigm shift for political change in Nigeria with hopes of national rebirth.

The tremendous inroads made by the LP from relative obscurity make it a credible contender for the plumpy presidential position. However, the party, like a sapient games-man, must realize that its adversaries are old foxes with solid tentacles.

Besides, most of its “Obidient” followers are urban and suburban dwellers and relatively scanty in the majority of the rural areas where most voters are resident.

In other cases, some of the crowd who attend LP’s public rallies like those of the APC and the PDP are the proverbial “Roman Mob”; they tend to follow all and do not seem to genuinely belong fully to any. The party needs to use the period before touchdowns to follow up on its supporters to ensure that they come out to vote.

The situation with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) under veteran politician Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, and even the SDP led by Prince Adewole Adebayo, take the same pattern as the LP in the parts of the country where they maintain their forte.

For one, NNPP has a robust standing in the North West and North East and amongst the “talakawa” around the country. As well, the coterie of the other political parties all totalling 18 have all filed candidates of great national exposure and taken the campaigns with the greatest level of serious mindedness.

It will, therefore, be expected that each of them have continued to go the extra mile to sway the opinion of voters.

Another advantage that these smaller political parties have is the fact that most of their presidential candidates are much younger candidates. This has considerably influenced their capacity to correlate with younger voters and also apply technology, especially ICT on social media.

It will, therefore, be foolhardy to ignore this collection of smaller parties, all of which have their own levels of appeal and followings

What can still be done, therefore, is for leadership of most of these parties to see how they can web some levels of working together and alliance among themselves or with any of the bigger parties. This can make them to be a part of any winning slate and help form the coalition in the next governments both at federal and state governments.

It will be totally ill-advised for any of these parties to think it is yet uhuru, but consider how to work together. All over the world, smaller parties work together to win elections and form governments together.

Arise,Oh Compatriots!

The hallmark of democratic governance is the ability to participate in elections. This is both for the candidate and the voting population.

According to 48th American President Lyndon Johnson, “The right to vote is the right without which all others are meaningless.” This, according to him, is due to the fact that “it gives people the right to control their destinies. ”

For an election that has very high stakes and topmost expectations, Nigerians have great opportunities to change the course of the country’s future for good. Nigerians would, however, need to watch out for some signposts both as it pertains to the candidates and their sponsoring political parties.

Amongst other things, it’s important to:

– critically review the character and personae of the candidates in question,

– critically review the achievements, performance of the individual in previous public service, or involvement in corporate Nigeria,

– the contents of the individual and political party blueprint for the development of the country or the constituent part,

– in particular, fixing the economy and thereby creating jobs. If the economy is fixed, it will be easier, tackling insecurity, fighting corruption and improving the social and material well-being of people, and

– undertaking major constitutional changes that will bring about devolution of power, fiscal federalism, and entrenching of good governance and rule of law.

Conclusion

The highest point in any democratic process is the ability to conduct elections as this is an investment into the future of any people. It is the veritable instrument by which the people express their voices and map out a journey into their future.

Hence, Abraham Lincoln, rated by many as the greatest American president ever, once said, “the ballot is stronger than the bullet”.

The way the political leaders of any country can know what matters most to the people and how the people feel most at any time about where they are and where they want to go, is through their participation either as candidates or as responsible voters in any given election. Here lies the overiding importance of the two dates 25th February 2023 and 11th march 2023.

Seen in its entirety, all stakeholders have to brace up their resolve for national rebirth as we all approach the terminus. Even 24 hours is a terribly long time in changing the fortunes in a highly competitive election, such as the two dates ahead of us. The political parties and their candidates should, therefore, not relent in crossing their t’s and dotting there i’s, rigorously, up to the last minute.

In particular is the need, where necessary for some of them to finalize discussions among themselves with a view to settling internal squabbles, building alliances and coalitions and taking last minute steps to reach the hitherto unreached, especially in the villages and rural communities where the majority of the voters are.

In like manner, the electoral arbiter (INEC) and the security community have to be on a greatest amount of vigilance and watchfulness, as the tendency by some of the actors to resort to last minute desperate actions would not be discountenance.

Since the stakes are very high, the voting population itself, perhaps more than most previous elections will require to show the highest level of discretion and patriotism in ensuring that the actual proclivities of political influence such as ethnicism, religion, language and party affiliation are placed as secondary.

The mood and mode of Nigeria’s Election 2023 are overridingly must be the competence, credibility, and character. These are virtues on which the Nigerian voting population can not afford to derogate from this time around.

Dr. Igali is a retired Ambassador and an award winning writer.

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN

On February 8, 2023, the Supreme Court of Nigeria made an order directing that the old Naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000 should continue to circulate alongside the new Naira notes, pending the hearing and final determination of the Motion on Notice filed by three States before the Court. The case was then adjourned to February 15, 2023.

In its reaction to the suit and the order made therein, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation, filed its processes in the suit and gave an undertaking to obey the order of the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the problems associated with the scarcity of the new Naira notes continued unabated.

At the behest of the President, the Council of State met and gave an advice that if the new notes are not sufficiently available, then the old notes should continue to circulate concurrently with the new notes until such a time that the latter will circulate widely.

When the court case came up before the Supreme Court on February 15, 2023, the interim order previously made was validated and extended.

The following day on February 16, 2022, the nation woke up to listen to the President in his nation-wide broadcast on the crisis of the old and new Naira notes. The highpoint of the President’s broadcast is best captured in the now infamous declaration that the old N500 and N1000 notes have ceased to be legal tender and that the old N200 will remain legal tender till April 10, 2023.

There are many absurdities in the President’s broadcast. The President himself acknowledged in that broadcast that the issue of whether or not the old Naira notes will remain legal tender is already pending before the Supreme Court and he is a party in that case through his Honourable Attorney-General.

If that is the case (and indeed it is), then where lies the locus of the President to dabble into making proclamations on a matter pending before the Court? The President is not entitled to take the law into his own hands, by seeking to overreach whatever decision the Supreme Court may take on the matter, ultimately.

Also, there is already a subsisting order made by the Supreme Court to preserve the status quo of the subject matter of the case before the Court. The President cannot disobey or circumvent that order, in whatever form at all.

The statement by the President that the old N500 and N1000 notes have ceased to be legal tender amounts to overruling the subsisting order of the Supreme Court, which he has no powers under the law to do. In every democratic setting such as obtains in Nigeria, there is the hallowed doctrine of separation of powers, by which the organs of government work separately and independently, without seeking to interfere with or undermine the statutory functions of the other organs.

By virtue of section 6 (6) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, the judicial powers vested in the Courts extends to the determination of disputes between persons and persons, between persons and governments and between governments and governments. And once that dispute is submitted to the Court for adjudication, the parties lose the power to act or take any decision on the subject matter, otherwise we will be faced with a situation of complete anarchy and lawlessness.

The reason for seeking to preserve the subject matter of a suit pending before any court is simply to avoid situations whereby the decision that may be reached by the Court on the case on the merit loses value or that the Court is made to face a situation of fait accompli or complete helplessness.

In this instance, suppose the Supreme Court decides ultimately that in line with section 20 (3) of the Central Bank Act, the old Naira notes will continue to be legal tender? Meanwhile the President has by his broadcast declared them illegal. That creates confusion in the land, because people now have to decide who to obey between the Supreme Court and the President.

Under and by virtue of section 235 of the 1999 Constitution, “… no appeal shall lie to any other body or person from any determination of the Supreme Court.” In other words, the Supreme Court is the final authority in legal pronouncements in Nigeria.

The constitution is very careful in the selection of words to state no other “body” or “person” should seek to exercise authority over the Supreme Court, which is what the President has done through his broadcast in respect of a matter in which he is directly a party. Section 287(1) of the Constitution provides as follows:

Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution:

“(1) The decisions of the Supreme court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme Court.”

Without doubt, the President, and indeed all persons exercising authority in Nigeria, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, are bound to obey and give effect to all decisions of all Courts in Nigeria. It is more so important in this case because it involves the highest Court in the land.

In this case, the President cannot claim to seek to exercise any right of appeal against any decision of the Supreme Court as that has been outlawed by section 235 of the Constitution. This is why the broadcast of the President is sad for our democracy; it should not have been made at all, given the implications of the declarations stated therein.

The President set himself in confrontation with the Supreme Court, by making a declaration that is contrary to that which had already been made by the Supreme Court. Since he already admitted that the matter is subjudice, the President should not have proceeded to vary the order of the Supreme Court. No one can choose or pick which portions of the order of a Court he will obey.

Under and by virtue of section 318 of the Constitution, ‘decision’ of the Court extends to “any determination of that Court and includes judgment, decree, order, conviction, sentence or recommendation”. So, whatever the court has decided, sitting in its judicial capacity, becomes binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria.

The same section 318 states that authority includes government. The oath that was administered on the President is to defend and uphold the Constitution. In this regard, the President and indeed the executive should not give the impression that citizens can brazenly disregard lawful orders of any court, as that will only encourage anarchy and lawlessness.

The President not only reviewed the order of the Supreme Court but he actually overruled it, by setting a deadline of April 10, 2023 for the validity of the N200 old notes and declaring the N500 and N1000 notes as expired. No arm of government has the powers to do that which the President has done in his broadcast.

And it portends very grave danger to our democratic experience, where such a bad precedent is set that the executive arm of government is at liberty to undermine the judiciary at will. The other point is that the President took an oath of office to defend and uphold the constitution, from which he derives his powers as the head of the executive arm of government. That same Constitution enjoins the President to obey and give effect to all orders and decisions of the Supreme Court.

And what is the issue at stake really? Nigerians were misled by the President and the Central Bank of Nigeria that if they surrendered their old notes to the banks, they will have access to the new notes in exchange, which has not been the case. The CBN cleverly deceived us into giving up our old notes when it had no plans to print enough new notes to go round.

This has now led to hardship for the people, wherein citizens are forced to sleep at ATM centres and stay in the banks for hours, just to collect their money. It has also affected business transactions and it has impacted upon the economy very negatively, where some workers now stay at home because they cannot access money to transport them from one location to another. We have experienced protests against the policy of the federal government, which has led to the death of many.

Surely this cannot be the intention of the President. Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution prescribes that the primary purpose of government should be the security and welfare of the people. Thus, any policy of the government that leads to suffering, death, hardship and poverty, cannot be in the interest of the welfare of the people.

Consequently, the President bears the onus to review the policy in such a way that it will benefit the people, ultimately. Furthermore, the President must inspire confidence in the institutions of democracy, in particular the judiciary.

Once we get to the stage when citizens are free to decide which portion of the order of any court they will obey, then we are approaching the dangerous bend of a breakdown of law and order. If left unchecked, what the President has done is nothing less than executive rascality and brazen disregard for and contempt of the Supreme Court.

The President should reverse his directive and ask the CBN and all financial institutions to obey the subsisting order of the Supreme Court to continue to accept, use and transact business with the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

It is gratifying that the case is coming up before the Supreme Court on February 22, 2023 when their Lordships will have the golden opportunity to assert their constitutional authority by reversing the directives contained in the broadcast of the President.

Anything short of this will rob that Court of its legitimacy and authority. It will also render all other courts subordinate to the Supreme Court as mere talk shops whose orders and decisions will no longer be taken seriously by the citizens. Above all, it will leave the common man helpless and vulnerable.

By Abdullateef Ishowo

As promised in the first part of this tripartite, this second part shall attempt to explain how GAA has dealt severely with transparency and traumatised it completely in different sectors of Kwara economy. He has so bastardized the whole system that should he spend another week after May 29, 2023, the mess will be exacerbated.

In the eight most common elements of good governance, transparency occupies a vantage position. Put differently, a governance environment that is devoid of transparency can’t be good.

When the generalissimo of Kwara assumed office on May 29, 2019, the first indication he gave Kwarans on how (dis) transparent his government would be was to bootout the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill the 8th KWHA, under Hon. Ali Ahmad as speaker, passed to become law before the expiration of that administration.

Up till this moment, the bill is still languishing in the rubber-stamp characterised house under GAA. All pleas of a Kwara based civil society organisation, Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD) to him, to reconsider his decision in stamping out transparency in Kwara governance environment proved abortive.

This explains why it remains a herculean task to trace all Kwara dough that have taken flights from the state since June 2019. Little wonder, in spite of the huge funds realised by the state since June 2019 (as shown in the first part of this piece), nothing to show for it. The generalissimo couldn’t convince even his party to bring PMB to visit kwara for a single project commissioning.

The generalissimo has, since assumption of office, unrepentantly refused to declare how much the state uses on monthly bases to pay salaries of workers, how much we spend on pensions and gratuities, how much we have left from FAAC after payment of salaries and what we use IGR for, as different from the borrowed fund. No one knows. Not even government officials can confidently state the wage bill of the salaries of state workers, LGs workers and SUBEB teachers, as against what was obtainable in the past.

The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) created by the Maigida administration has suddenly become the conduit pipe through which state funds are being laundered.

The Executive Chairperson of the revenue service is another generalissimo in the making. No staff dares ask questions on the running of the service and the hired firm that collects the revenue on behalf of the state takes 15% on monthly bases. So if for instance the revenue house realises N3bn (as the case was in December 2022), N450m goes to the firm.

More interestingly, the firm belongs to her husband, who’s indirectly accountable to the generalissimo. It shocks you? It shocked me too. It may equally interest you to note that the staff of this firm (Project Phonics) are not even up to 25. And they take this huge?

She stopped local and international trainings staff used to embark on and funds allocated to the cancelled monthly feed-feed back exercise aren’t accounted for. Have a check on her, she’s a potent instrument in the hands of the main generalissimo.

The situation in the ministry of education is more worrisome as the Permanent Secretary of the ministry and its Honourable Commissioner engage in cat and mouse relationship; interpreting the divide and rule script of the generalissimo to cover the shady deals in the ministry.

Since the appointment of the Commissioner, it has been pretty difficult exchanging files and ideas that could improve standard of education in the state. All efforts of the HOS to settle the administrative rifts to no avail. It has become so bad that the duo use such foul languages as: ‘ashewo’, ‘Ole’, ‘araoko’, etc on each other. Isn’t it interesting that while the Permanent Secretary that wields power over two Ministries enjoys her loyalty to Baba Fagbemi, the party chairman, the other is covered by the generalissimo himself.

He enjoys this movie because it covers many financial shenanigans in the ministry. It is so bad that the commissioner doesn’t even have authority to award contracts worth a million. Contracts are (in) directly awarded by the generalissimo himself; using surrogates outside the state. Her counterpart in the finance ministry is in no way better. Do as the generalissimo says. She can sign any cheque, as long as the cut is fat enough to buy pancake.

In another ministry of the government, a contractor failed to deliver 35 transformers since mid 2021 when he received 138 million from the government of GAA. This huge financial atrocity as alleged by ENetSuD is yet to be refuted by the government several months after the allegation. Isn’t this stunning?

In continuation of his bid to imprison transparency, the House under the instruction of the generalissimo illegally extended service of the clerk by six months without due process to cover certain shady deals in the house.

When the government was taken to court by ENetSuD, the then Attorney-General of the state lied that the government wasn’t aware of the illegal contract appointment. The iron lady of the house is still holding-sway at the moment.

On 9th May 2022, ENetSuD accused Kwara State Ministry of Education of padding Ilorin Grammar School’s (IGS) project with a total sum of ₦29,046,836.43. In the release, the anti-corruption civil society organisation based in Kwara advised the Ministry of Education to do the needful as soon as possible. The needful is however yet to be done nine months after the release.

On 27th January 2022, GAA wrote KWHA, seeking its approval to remove Auditor-General (AG) of the state. His offence was his revelation of how the government of GAA was spending billions of naira without receipts. A total of five hundred and ninety-two (592) audit queries amounting to N6,265,010,819.98 were raised by the state’s Auditor General in the 2020 Financial year.

In the 2020 Citizens’ Accountability Report published by the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Finance, Folorunsho Abdulrazaq, ten (10) Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were listed as the top queried public fund spenders with no expenditure receipts.

Again, ENetSuD frowned at it but GAA wasn’t perturbed. After removing the AG, he appointed an acting who does his biddings and ever since, he has kept renewing his ‘actingship’ for his selfish interest.

Consequently, Coordinator of the CSO, Dr. Abdullateef Alagbonsi, expressed shock that the office of GAA was the top culprit having spent N2,054,211,929.13 without having relevant expenditure receipts.

If the 2021 ranking of the Transparency International (TI) positions Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in West Africa, Kwara since 2019 has become the first of the 37 legs of the corruption table of the federation.

In the third and final part of this tripartite,I shall reveal the real Bashorun Gaa in the GAA.

Abdullateef Ishowo is the Director Media and Communications, PDP Presidential Campaign Management Council, Kwara state

In this first part of the tripartite epistle, I shall put into perspective how the generalissimo of Kwara has been spinning people’s patrimony just within himself..

Of the four tyrants in Wole Soyinka’s satirical drama, “A Play of Giants”, Kamini was the most brutal. Savagely mean probably because of his knowledge deficiency. He jettisoned democratic virtues for dictatorship by acquiring more powers and mismanaging state resources. He was all in all as he hardly allowed any other organ of government to function. All cabinet members were inferior to him as he took pride in his self acclaimed superiority. Dignity of womanhood meant nothing to him as he violated them at will.

In the case of Kwara generalissimo however, he likes them young, beautiful and married. Those are vital credentials in making it to the cabinet; educational attainment, trackrecords and other important achievements are immaterial.

You are hereby welcome to Kwara, where we presently experience the rebirth of Kamini. Like a reincarnated being, our own generalissimo assumed office like an innocentee, who knew next to nothing. He would drive himself around, carry his own bag to the airport, queue at the terminal and traveled in commercial.

He would arrive at Central Mosque for Jumat service earlier than the entire congregation and sit outside; forming Mahatma Gandhi of Kwara, who represents nothing but peace. Surprisingly, all these have long been thrown to the dustbin, as our generalissimo now jets around the world with chartered flights and abuse opposition leaders using gutter ‘language’ typical of the lumpens. Character, they say, is a smoke, it’d manifest no matter how you try to cover it.

Kwarans would soon detect the undemocratic tendency in him when he started his sole administratorship with his refusal to form cabinet about five months into his administration. So such sensitive ministries as finance, education, works, etc didn’t have commissioners for months.

No state executive council meeting, no security council meeting and he was approving monies to and for himself. When he eventually constituted the cabinet, it was the worst the state had ever had. Our fears were eventually justified when he sacked the cabinet barely a year later. Even when he eventually reconstituted the cabinet, ministry of education, as sensitive it is, had to suffer for months more before it was considered to be headed. It was that bad.

Ours is a situation of from frying pan to fire, as many of those who considered Abdulfatah Ahmed’s administration as being bad are now chanting _O suwa as they experience worse scenarios in all fronts under GAA; hence, the sudden consideration of the earlier rejected stone to gleamingly form the critical angle of the house. At the moment, transparency has taken flight from Kwara, which explains why the generalissimo keeps siphoning our common patrimony without remorse.

The financial statistics of the state between June 2019 and January 2023 glaringly shows how the government of GAA has received bountifully with infinitesimal justification for its use. GAA is using Kwara resources to rebuild his collapsed businesses prior to becoming the generalissimo of Kwara in 2019. Has it not become an open secret that he has concluded construction of an oil refinery in a neighbouring country? Time will tell.

In his article “For Kwara, 2023 is about facts and relatable history” published on January 2, 2023, Mr. Rafiu Ajakaye, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, toed the line of his barely educated boss by misinforming unsuspecting Kwarans, quoting wrong statistics that the current government received lesser federal allocation compared to the last four years of Ahmed’s administration. I wonder why our friend, who’s a better educated fellow than his boss would shamelessly follow such an ignorant path.

Setting the record straight, former governor Ahmed FAAC receipt, between June 2015 and May 2019 reveals the following:

June — December 2015 = N23,607,056,916.5
2016 = N30,083,630,965.86
2017 = N37,658,120,654.63
2018 = N49,859,910,786.90
Jan — May 2019 = N19,365,739,246.43
Total Gross Amount = N160,574,458,570

Whereas, as at December 2022, if the CPS’ figures on the allocation received so far by the government of GAA, it has gotten N203,113,105,761.03 from FAAC so far. This is without January 2023’s FAAC allocation to the state.

Relying on the data from KWIRS and NBS sites, IGR of the state under both administration reveals that: Ahmed’s administration garnered N17,307,987,696.76 in 2016; N19,793,540,368.26 in 2017; N23,133,522,575.32 in 2018 and
N16,090,373,542.90 in the first two quarters of 2019. These totalled =N76,325,424,183.20 while GAA has realized N14,556,357,866.00 in the last two quarters of 2019;N19,623,992,033.62 in 2020; N26,961,014,485.76 in 2021 and N34,198,834,646.19 in 2022. These totalled =N95,340,199,031.57 as at December 2022.

So, from both FAAC and IGR, GAA has gotten far more than Maigida as against what the CPS and his boss dished out.

Another thing that will make a reasonably concerned Kwaran to worry is the state’s debt profile under GAA. In just three years and few months, Kwara has bitten more than it can chew as the state may continue to pay debts many years after the administration of the most clueless governor the state has ever produced.

For the records however, peeping into the Sub-National Debts Documents from the Debt Management Office (DMO) Nigeria, will reveal the Kwara State debt profile till date.

As at December 2015, the Kwara State Domestic Debt Profile was N31,966,815,195.18. By June 2019, it has built up into N61,335,531,821.69.

The difference between the figures above is N29,368,716,626.51. This interprets that Abdulfatah Ahmed only raised the Kwara debt profile by N29bn between 2015 and 2019. Therefore, as at June 2019, Kwara State Debt Profile maintained N61,335,531,821.69.

The DMO data revealed that as at September 2022, the Debt profile has increased to N109,551,279,948.44 The difference between this amounts to N48,215,748,126.75

The GAA government has been so lucky in terms of its financial fortune that no previous government has so enjoyed the largesse it is swallowing. So much that by now, one would expect a serious government to have conveniently commissioned at least, ten projects worth billions each.

But I am not surprised, Mr. GAA has so far made a lot of money that he now converts same to personal use. It’s gathered that he’s almost through with construction of a personal oil refinery in Cote d’voire. Isn’t it so unfortunate that this is what the noisy O toge of 2019 would produce for Kwarans? Those who contributed to the emergence of GAA should be ashamed of themselves and be bold enough to come out now and apologise to Kwarans.

Apart from the huge sums realized from FAAC, IGR, borrowings and the inherited N5.2bn from Abdulfatah Ahmed’s administration, the government of GAA secured FG infrastructural fund worth N18.6bn, World Bank grant N11.6bn, RAAM project grant N3.2bn, Covid 19 donation support N2.2bn, Paris Club refund N5.2bn, Covid 19 donations from multinationals N2.5bn, EFCC recovery money N600m UBEC counterpart fund N7.1bn, 13bn of Sure-P refund and many other undisclosed funds.

Therefore, when one of the fearless O toge soldiers, Bar. Akogun Oyedepo and a former commissioner for finance in the state, Hon. Banu, were quoted to have said GAA’s administration has gotten more than N300bn and more than N500bn respectively, they were right in their own right.

Dear Kwarans, let me end the first part of this tripartite piece with the words of Jose Saramago, in his award winning prose, “Blindness”. He quipped, “I don’t think we did go blind, I think we are blind but seeing, blind people who can see, but do not see. The difficult thing isn’t living with other people, it’s understanding them. Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.”

In the second part of this piece, I shall attempt to explain how GAA has dealt severely with transparency and traumatized it completely in different sectors of Kwara economy.

Abdullateef Ishowo is the Director Media and Communications, PDP Presidential Campaign Management Council, Kwara state