You may accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of many things but not flippancy. He is a man who rarely speaks and on the few occasions he does, he picks his words. So, when a man like that concludes a prepared text at a public ceremony and then adds that he has a personal experience to share by way of ‘digression’, people pay attention. That was what happened last week at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) Senior Executive Course No. 44 (2022) with the theme, ‘Strengthening Local Governance in Nigeria: Challenges, Options and Opportunities’. The president pointedly accused an unnamed governor of stealing 50 percent of the money belonging to local governments in his state. 

Before I proceed, it is important to put context to the presidential accusation. On 22^nd May 2020, President Buhari signed Executive Order No 10, which sought to grant financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary in the 36 states, in line with provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended by the 4th Alteration Act, No.4 of 2017. The Executive Order was challenged by the 36 Governors who argued that it goes against the letter and spirit of our federal constitution. And in a six to one decision by Justices in February this year, the Supreme Court agreed with the governors by declaring Executive Order 10 unconstitutional, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.  

That was the background to the presidential lamentation. “If the money from the Federation Account to the state is about N100 million, N50 million will be sent to the chairman (of local government), but he (chairman) will sign that he received N100 million. The governor will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to share it with,” said the president who cannot be accused of not knowing what he was talking about. ‘‘And then the chairman of the local government must pay salaries and to hell with development. When he pays salaries, the balance he will put in his pocket. This is what’s happening in Nigeria. It’s a terrible thing; you cannot say the person who was doing this is not educated. He was a qualified lawyer, he was experienced, yet he participated in this type of corruption.” 

Because the president referred to a specific governor (current or former) who happens to be a lawyer, one can infer that the accusation is not directed at all governors. But in a way, the president was also general in his accusation which means many governors are involved in this sharp practice. Besides, Buhari’s allegation came in the context of discussing how that tier of government has been crippled. Two years ago in my column, ‘Democracy and the grassroots’, I addressed this same problem. Beyond management of their finances, which I also highlighted at the time, there are other issues that need to be addressed if local government administration is to have any meaning in Nigeria. Due to its topicality, my column of 27^th August 2020 is reproduced below with minor editing. 

The 1999 Constitution (as amended), provides that each of the 774 local governments in the country is vested with powers to establish and maintain cemeteries, burial grounds, and homes for the destitute or infirm; license bicycles, vehicles, canoes, wheelbarrows, and carts; regulate slaughterhouses, markets, motor parks and public conveniences as well as construct and maintain roads, streets lightings, drains, parks, gardens, open spaces etc. They are also to register births, deaths and marriages and name roads, streets, and houses, while providing and maintaining public conveniences and refuse disposal among other functions. Perhaps most significantly, local governments are expected to provide and maintain primary, adult, and vocational education and health services. 

These, no doubt, are heavy responsibilities for which 20.60 percent of our total national earnings is allocated from the federation account. That is one fifth of the entire resources accruing to the nation. Available data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) indicates that no less than about N25 trillion has been shared by the 774 local governments in the past 21 years. Even if we use the prevailing exchange rate, that still exceeds $60 billion! For instance, last year (2019), all the local governments shared N1.649 trillion; In 2018, they shared N1.667 trillion; in 2017, they shared N1.502 trillion; in 2016, they shared 1.011 trillion; in 2015, they shared N1.205 trillion; in 2014, they shared N1.557 trillion; in 2013, they shared N1.708 trillion; in 2012, they shared N1.535 trillion; in 2011, they shared N1.255 trillion; in 2010, they shared N1.328 trillion; in 2009, they shared N976.817 billion and in 2008, they shared N1.206 trillion. 

Despite such huge financial resources, local governments are not playing their roles. Sadder still, they cannot account for the humongous amount of money allocated to them because governors have conspired to render local government administration in Nigeria completely prostrate. Not only have they hijacked council funds, but they also recruit their personnel as well. The national president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel once argued that “the concept of bringing governance closer to the people through a third-tier participatory form of government has not materialized in Nigeria.”  

After tracing the history of reforms of local government from the Dasuki Committee of 1976 to the Etsu Nupe report of 2003 and several Supreme Court rulings, Khaleel gave a damning verdict: “there is no state in Nigeria where one form of illegality or the other is not committed with the funds of local governments. Through over deduction of primary school teachers’ salaries; spurious state/local government joint projects, sponsoring of elections, taking over the statutory functions of local governments and handing them over to cronies and consultants; non-payments of pensioners and non-utilization of training fund despite the mandatory deduction of stipulated percentages for these purposes, we can go on and on. Most of these shameful activities are known to all of us.” 

To be sure, local government administration in Nigeria has always presented a challenge, but it has never been as bad as it is now under the current dispensation. And it begins with the election of officials. Even though democracy is a never-ending process of inquiry that requires the validation of voters, in Nigeria, catch phrases such as ‘the will of the people’, ‘the people have spoken’ have, over the years, become no more than false constructs, especially regarding local government elections. If our democracy is to survive and thrive, we must examine this charade. For the benefit of readers, let me highlight results of the last local government polls in many of the 36 states. 

In December 2016, the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission conducted LG polls, where almost a million people were recorded as having voted. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state won all 17 chairmanship and 292 councillorship seats. “There was no election anywhere in the state,” the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secretary, Sunday Onukwubiri, told reporters. A year earlier during the 2015 general election, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had secured 264,713 votes (representing 59.4 percent of total votes cast) to defeat Dr Alex Otti, the then APGA candidate who secured 180,882 votes (representing 40.6 percent of total votes cast). Yet, APGA could not win a councillorship seat at the LG polls. That has been the pattern in practically all the states. 

Last December (2019) in Adamawa, candidates of the ruling PDP won all the 21 chairmanship and 226 councillorship seats in the state. Akwa Ibom is billed to conduct the local government election on 31st October this year (2020) but the APC has already seen the handwriting on the wall by threatening a boycott. In the last one conducted in December 2017, PDP won all the 31 chairmanship and 329 councillorship seats. “Details of scores will be made available by the field operations/logistics department of the commission,” according to the state electoral commission chairman, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who only gave round figures without providing any breakdown of the results! 

In Anambra State where LG polls have not been held in the past six years, businessman, Chief Arthur Eze, has issued a stern warning to Governor Willie Obiano: “I want him (Obiano) to know that since he has refused to hold local government elections, he must be ready to vomit all the allocations and revenues of the councils at the end of his tenure. He will not go free. I have taken up the matter formally in writing with President Muhammadu Buhari concerning all Southeast governors who have refused to organise council elections but chose to unilaterally usurp the functions and finances of that level of government. They will all be called to account. None will get away with it.” 

In Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed had promised to conduct LG polls in June this year before COVID-19 put a spanner in the works. But in the last one conducted 13 years ago, it was 100 percent victory in both the chairmanship and councillorship positions for the then ruling PDP in the state! In Benue state, COVID-19 did not prevent the LG polls from holding in May this year with the ruling PDP winning all the 23 chairmanship and 276 councillorship seats. In June this year, the ruling PDP won all the 18 chairmanship and 196 councillorship positions in Cross River State. 

The January 2018 LG polls in Delta State produced an interesting outcome. After winning all the 25 chairmanship seats, the ruling PDP in the state conceded a single councillorship position in Ward 2, Aniocha North local government area, (home base of the then minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu) to APC, winning the remaining 424 councillorship positions. Ebonyi will hold its LG polls this Saturday. In the last one conducted in April 2017, PDP won all the 13 chairmanship and 171 councillorship seats. In Edo State in March 2018, the then ruling APC won all the 18 chairmanship and 192 councillorship seats. In Ekiti State, the last local government poll held in December 2017 and predictably, the then ruling PDP won all the 16 chairmanship and 177 Councillorship seats. In Enugu State where the poll held in March this year, the ruling PDP won all the 17 chairmanship and 260 councillorship positions. In Gombe State, the then ruling PDP won all the 114 councillorship and 11 chairmanship positions in the February 2017 LG polls. In Imo State, in August 2018, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship positions and 636 of the 645 councillorship positions. In June 2019, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship and 286 councillorship positions in Jigawa State. 

In February 2018, the ruling APC swept all the 44 chairmanship and 484 councillorship seats in Kano State. In August 2014, the PDP cleared all the 34 chairmanship and 361 councillorship seats in Katsina State. In October last year, the ruling APC in Kebbi State won all 21 chairmanship and 223 councillorship positions. Elections into the 57 Local Governments/Local Council Development Areas of Lagos State were conducted in July 2017 with the ruling APC winning all the chairmanship positions. The party also won 369 councillorship seats while the PDP won four seats, and Accord Party, the remaining three.  

In May 2018, the ruling APC won all the 26 chairmanship and 147 councillorship positions in Nasarawa State. In October 2016, the ruling APC won the chairmanship positions in all the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs in Ogun State. The party also won 346 out of the 349 councillorship seats. In January 2018, the ruling APC cleared all the 389 councillorship positions in Osun State. In the May 2018 poll in Oyo State, the then ruling APC won all the chairmanship seats in the 33 local government councils and the 35 Local Council Development Areas. 

In June 2018 in Rivers State, the ruling PDP won all the 23 chairmanship and 302 councillorship positions. In Sokoto, the then ruling APC (now PDP) won all the 22 chairmanship and 234 councillorship seats at the March 2016 local government elections. In June this year, after the Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission (TSIEC) chairman, Dr Phillip Duwe declared PDP candidates the winners for both chairmanship and councillorship positions in all 16 local government councils, he urged the defeated candidates and parties to understand that ‘leadership comes only from God.’ But after the February 2017 LG poll in Yobe, the state electoral commission chairman did not beat about the bush: “Having received and compiled the election results, all the 17 candidates of the APC in the chairmanship category are declared winners.” And in the LG polls conducted in April last year by the then outgoing Governor Yari of Zamfara State, his APC cleared all the 14 chairmanship and 147 councillorship seats. 

It must be noted, however, that on local government polls, Governor Nasir el-Rufai has been different. In May 2018, what perhaps remains the only semblance of a competitive election was conducted by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM). At the end, the ruling APC won in 12 local government areas, the PDP won in five local government areas, with results from three local government stalemated. 

Ordinarily, the essence of voting is for citizens to decide how they are governed. But in a situation in which Nigerians have been conditioned to believe that exercising their franchise in local government elections is simply a waste of time, then something is wrong with our system. To change the trajectory of our country, there must be institutional reforms, beginning with the charade we now call local government elections. Aside from wasting enormous resources on these meaningless elections, the governors do not even pretend that they consider them serious. In Gombe some years ago, the state government engaged a contractor to supply ballot boxes for the LG polls. The contractor went to China for the procurement, but the election was conducted, and winners declared before the ballot boxes were eventually delivered.  

In their book, ‘How Democracies Die’, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argued that while there is a general tendency to believe that a democracy is imperilled only by military adventurers, it is now the elected leaders who most often subvert the very process that brought them to power. These are men who have no qualms “rewriting the rules of politics to permanently disadvantage their rivals”, the authors wrote before adding, “The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s enemies use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.” 

It is in the enlightened self-interest of the governors to change the current narrative on local government elections in the country. 

ENDNOTE: While President Buhari is right on the money (literally and figuratively), regarding local government administration in Nigeria, reform will require more than financial autonomy. As crucial as that may be. Unless our leadership recruitment process changes, the situation will remain the same! 

Some of our fellow country people have made a nasty habit of finding justification for virtually every instance of vulgarism. Whether such vulgar act revolves around power abuse, lack of accountability code, ethical violations, or any other random act of indecency, these people will insist on its propriety. They can be so fiery in their stances they make you wonder how someone can dip their pen in their veins just to write some justificatory nonsense. Often motivated by partisanship, these people have primed their instincts to defend any action as long as it affirms their favourite political leaders’ power and privileges. These people do not seem to appreciate that the constant deployment of their mental and psychic energies towards helping the political class maintain their hold on power dull their respective instincts to anticipate and astutely prepare for when and how the force of the power they seek to preserve might be used against them.

Such people should take a lesson from the case of Aminu Adamu, the young man who purportedly insulted the First Lady and suffered for it. While his plight was ongoing, it unfolded that Adamu himself had previously made some insalubrious comments about Deborah Samuels, the young woman in Sokoto, who was killed by her maniac classmates for using her inalienable right to free speech. Like most people who justify power abuse to shield their chosen politicians from scrutiny, Adamu probably never imagined he would ever need the generosity of spirit he denied Samuels. Most naïve people somehow assume that if they prop up the infrastructures of repressive power well enough, the worst it will ever do is hurt others. Their gain would be to take a vicarious delight in seeing others’ pain.

The First Lady might have pulled back from her ill-advised punishment of Adamu after getting a blowback, but it remains quite disturbing to see people insisting the young man deserved his plight. For Aso Rock to have offered Adamu VIP treatment, even they knew what they did to him was all shades of wrong! Despite this desperate attempt at face-saving by Adamu’s oppressors, some of these justifiers still did not retrace their steps. Mere days later, they were back at it, hailing Olaiya Igwe’s butt as a dignified show of appreciation. Then their presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, went to Chatham House on an errand no one had sent him. Evidently, an unprepared candidate who could not be bothered to prod the recesses of his own mind to answer questions that would have demonstrated his readiness to serve, Tinubu had to outsource some responses to his lackeys. Right on cue, this tribe of justifiers jumped up and hailed again, saying such irresponsibility was teamwork. If that is how teamwork works in electoral processes, then why do ballot materials bear the name of only the candidate?

While the case of Adamu ended in an anticlimax—I wanted to see the First Lady appear in court since she was listed as one of the witnesses—it still holds several useful lessons for the rest of us, especially those who habitually justify blatant abuses of power.

First was the bewildering realisation that Muhammed made the supposedly offensive comment in June during the extended strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. For him to be arrested in November, it meant the security officials waited for about six months—until the university resumed operations and students were about to start their examinations. That level of malevolence can be justifiably equated to witchcraft!

Second, and according to the reports of the court proceedings, a police detective in Nasarawa State, Festus Josiah, revealed that he was contacted by the First Lady’s Aide De Camp, one Usman Shugaba, concerning Adamu’s tweet. He testified that the police team travelled to Jigawa State where Adamu’s university was located. They spent three days trailing him before they apprehended him. Then they took him to the Federal Capital Territory State Criminal Investigation Department, and his confiscated phone was sent to the Terrorism Investigation Branch, Force Intelligence Bureau in Abuja “for analysis” and “evidential value.” You read all that and marvel at how far these guys would go to punish what is, at best, a mere civil offence. The worst Adamu should have received was a court summons from a bailiff, but they treated him like he was an actual terrorist.

The efforts invested in arresting Adamu should worry everyone, including those of you who thought he deserved the reprimand. These detectives have not found the person they declared wanted over the assassination of Deborah Samuels, but look at the diligence they devoted in pursuing the person who merely insulted the First Lady? You can see why security agents in Nigeria never catch the actual terrorists. They expend so much time and resources on petty grievances! They even deposited Adamu’s phone with the police unit that investigates terrorism while actual terrorists make videos and circulate them on WhatsApp. Just a few days ago, notorious bandit Bello Kachalla phoned in during a live television show to mock security agents’ serial failure to catch him. So Kachalla has a phone with which he plays “catch me if you can” games with security forces, but the person who made a silly tweet is the one whose phone is subjected to forensic analysis?

Those whose instincts are regularly cultivated to justify the vulgar use of power need to learn from this episode. People who have made it a habit to demand severe punishment for anyone whose exercise of free speech makes them uncomfortable had better wake up. The fatwa-ists among us, those always demanding censorship or asking for more laws to curtail the boisterousness of people on social media should take a lesson from this affair. Like Adamu who probably never imagined that a day would come that he too would be punished for using his freedom of speech in the same way he advocated against someone else, it is only a matter of time before the force of the political power they are valorizing turns its fangs on them.

Those who know how to think about things like this should take the Adamu episode as a cautionary tale. The government that asked to register our SIM cards and gathers the data of our names, addresses, images, date of birth, fingerprints, bank account number—and maybe even our blood pressure—to purportedly ease surveillance of criminals turns around and ambushes a random guy over a non-criminal offence. Who knows when and how the rest of us will suffer a similar fate?

Meanwhile, given that Adamu was reportedly invited to Aso Rock by the president after his release, one cannot take it for granted that he learnt any valuable lesson from his plight. It is possible that if he gets another opportunity to advocate murder against someone accused of blaspheming his religion, he will jump at it. The examples of people who passed through fiery situations but never develop the sensitivity to empathise with others are countless. Depending on what the president tells him or how they related to him in Aso Rock, he could even come off that experience convinced about his specialness, that he is part of the group given the privilege of regulating life and death. It is also possible that he will come off the experience more humane and more reflective of the nature of the human spirit and the freedom it craves, who knows? Anyhow, whoever and whatever he becomes after this episode is entirely up to him.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?  It is a question that gets asked every time. And the triggers are usually types of dressing, spoken language, name or mannerisms.  Something that draws attention to a person. And that was the question asked of a guest at a reception at Buckingham Palace, the seat of Britain’s royalty, in London, recently that rocked the ethnicity boat. That guest, Ms Ngozi Fulani, attired in a kaleidoscope of colours and long braids swirling to her midsection, stood out in the classy environment where virtually everybody was in formal dress.  Ngozi Fulani – by her dressing – was a curio.  And that name combination, too – Ngozi Fulani – itself is another trigger of curiosity.  Curiosity must have attracted her traducer, Lady Susan Hussey, to the curio that Ms Fulani represented in that highbrow gathering. Lady Hussey, tall, elegantly dressed, a chaperon to Queen Consort Camilla, who was hosting a reception for charity organizations in the UK, probably thought she was going to have a light-hearted encounter.  But Ms Fulani, going by the aloof carriage of the veteran palace official, apparently saw a SNOB and not just an elderly 83-year-old who may innocently be seeking to widen her contact list, with a collector’s item.  The encounter got blown into the public sphere and Lady Hussey got more than she bargained for - a sack.  A brittle British royalty, entangled in racist issues in the royal household, made a sacrificial hen of Lady Hussey to appease the god of public opinion.

Now, let us interrogate the Lady Hussey – Ms  Fulani encounter. It started innocently, enough :

Lady H: “Where are you from? “

Ms Fulani :  “  Sistah Space. ( Her charity organization she is representing at the reception )

Lady H: “No, where do you come from?”

Ms Fulani:  “We are based in Hackney “. ( that her charity is in Hackney, London )

There were three other questions and answer rigmarole, then the clincher from Lady Hussey:

“ … But what nationality are you ?  “.

Ms Fulani: “I am born here and I am British “.

Lady Hussey:  “No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from? “.

That was hitting the kernel of the rigmarole  - your nationality  and where your people came from : you are different from us and Ms Fulani eventually indicated that her parents came in in the 1950s and she has African and Caribbean  heritage. End of long story.

The Lady Hussey – Ms Fulani encounter brings to the fore the enduring contention between Nationality and Citizenship,  one is naturally inherited through parenthood, while the other is conferred : nationality is immutable, unchangeable while citizenship is changeable.  In some cases, both are mutually reinforcing  where  nationality and citizenship are coterminous.

Going forward, the contention between nationality and citizenship may become flashpoints, especially  in many countries where a large immigrant population have acquired citizenship. For example, there are muted undercurrents of resentment on the emergence of the new British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, a first generation Briton of Indian nationality. 

At personal levels, racial  and ethnic baiting thrives, worldwide. There is always that feeling of separateness , of us and the other people. What often aggravates racial or ethnic tension is the inferiority complex of those underdog nationality persons.  They are usually sensitive, often over sensitive, to what is seen as racial or ethnic baiting. That, to me, was the inferiority complex exhibited by Ms Fulani.  She cannot pretend that she does not know what the palace official meant with the question : Where are you from ?  She is in denial by not responding confidently to her African and Caribbean heritage, while stressing her British citizenship.  Is she ashamed of her nationality inheritance ?  If she had responded with humour, ignoring any perceived putdown in the question, maybe she and Lady Hussey could end up establishing some relationship.                

In her column article on the incident titled :  Where are you from ?  Mrs. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi,  wife of two-time governor of Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had pointed out that in  receptions, the question : Where are you from ? is often meant to be an ice breaker to establish conversation.  She had advised : “ We should all be prepared to answer the question, “ Where are you from ? “ with as much dignity and clarity”.   Such dignity and clarity were obviously lacking in Ms Fulani. Mrs.  Fayemi, a widely travelled civil society activist, with pedigree, had narrated  her various encounters with the : Where are from question and that she generally parried the question. What must be admitted is that such questions get asked even within countries of many nationalities, including Nigeria.  Often times, non indigenous citizens carry on as if they are native in areas of their domicile, prompting indigenes to remind  such uppity individuals where their fathers and grandfathers came from.  Indigeneship is a strong factor in relations in multi-ethnic traditional societies where urbanization has created a melting pot of nationalities, where natives feel threatened by migrants. Lagos is an example of such melting pot in Nigeria where the indigenous Yoruba population is engaged in a subdued war of attrition with the Igbo ethnic group, as local migrant-citizens.  Even within ethnic nationalities, people get reminded of their non indigenous status when they become disrespectful of indigenes. Names and languages are the most distinguishing factors of ethnicity, and by our names, our ethnicity can be ascertained.  Ethnic nationalities  are also geographically bounded. It will therefore be an absurdity for a  Bisi Olawunmi, a Yoruba, with geographical locale in Southwest Nigeria,  to want to claim indigeneship of Aba, in Igboland, Southeast Nigeria, however long he lived in that city.  Modern governments are, however, destabilizing this established order of nativity by enacting laws which make citizenship synonymous with indigeneship, with grave consequences for social disorder. Also, for example, an emergent generation of young Nigerians, resident in cities, do not know their hometowns. In the competition for positions, economic opportunities with natives, such ‘’ROOTLESS’’ young Nigerians will in future have to contend with the question : ‘’ Where are you from’’.

It must be pointed out that some western countries created artificial citizenship either by being born in such countries or through naturalization  to address their population deficit  - not having enough children for generational replacement.  They had, decades ago, embraced a population policy of limiting the number of children per couple, the success of which has today boomeranged.  Citizenship, was therefore,  basically an inducement for permanent cheap labour provided by migrants.  Today, there is upsurge of nationalism in Europe, arising from what has been dubbed  ‘ The Browning of Europe’  given the exponential growth of the immigrant population.

The Immigrant Question  - Where are you from ? – threatens to become a volatile issue at national and global levels in the years ahead as the world grapples with the two parallel movements of localization and globalization.  At the national level, massive urbanization, fueled by economic migrants from rural and provincial areas, who are overwhelming natives in the new urban centres, will create  tension and possible violent clashes, while at the international level,  the changing demographics  in western industrialised countries may induce attacks  on immigrants by extremist nationalists . The immigrant issue may be the flashpoint of the future.       

It is self-evident that Francis Arinze, Bishop and Cardinal of the Holy Mother Church, embodies the best Gospel values. No pun is intended with the caption ‘good news according to Francis’. It is but an iteration of the obvious truth. Right from childhood, when he accepted the Good News of Jesus Christ, he graciously lived by the Word and in the Spirit. He accepted and received the Gospel of Christ with wholehearted obedient surrender such that trust in divine providence measures his life. Having drunk from the fountain of grace and the eternal well of life, he iconizes the faith; indeed, his life translates the best of the Christian faith.

The primacy of God in all things is the simple parsing of Cardinal Arinze’s life. Arinze is theophoric; he is virtually reflective of Christian virtues and hopes.
 
Living within and beyond time, this humble servant of God dwells in the consciousness that eternity awaits. In reality, his life runs on grace. It thus generates a happy and glorious preface to Christianity in Nigeria in more ways than one. Encounter him, and you behold a true man of God. His life is a sign of contradiction, illuminating the path of people of our age across mountains and fountains. His life runs on virtues that he is ever ready to bear—with serenity, patience, inner peace, equanimity and humility—the misunderstanding, false accusations, antipathies and misdeeds meted out to him.
 
The primacy of God and self-abandonment in His providence constitutes the subjective motor that drives his life. Cardinal Arinze’s life in its simplicity maintains an indescribable peace of mind and doxological reach in order to capture the joy so eternal and real. He is in a constant stretch to capture the love eternal. A holy and peace-filled Prince of the Church, very intelligent and witty, his life is as inspiring as they come. He is a life- and family-defending and social justice-affirming leader due to his faith and as an expression of his love for Christ.

 
His filial trust in God funds the free surrender of his intellective and volitional faculties to divine providence. Thus, he approaches politics, power, money and women with Spartan discipline, legendary detachment, unimaginable prudence and absolute submission to divine providence. Some of his most recent works say it all: Radical Discipleship, God is Providence, The Holy Eucharist, Encountering Christ and Following Him, Marian Veneration: Firm Foundations, Divine Providence: God’s Design in Your Life, God’s Invisible Hand, etc. His life is a sufficient warrant to appreciate the Good News. It inspires because it is good news. It is as self-evident and straightforward as that. 
 
Consecrated a bishop at the age of 32, he displayed an uncommon pastoral leadership and sanctity that sustained the Catholic faith during and after the Nigerian-Biafran war, being at the heart of the theatre of war. He was able to reconstruct the pastoral and administrative structures to sustain faith and hope. He accompanied the people through those difficult years, providing for their spiritual, psychological and material needs. In and through his episcopacy in Onitsha, especially during those difficult war and post-war times, it was clear that faith feeds hope. He was both a container and a conduit of grace. Without a doubt, his Episcopal ministry was a solid event of faith and a transmitter of love. On account of his hope-borne actions of the time, both the faith and the people survived. Beyond survival, both triumphed and thrived to the glory of God. And Arinze is good news!
 
These sterling qualities did not escape the Holy Father, Pope Saint John Paul II, who invited him to serve the universal Church in Rome in 1984. From then, this good news to the Church in Nigeria has become good news for both the universal Church and the entire black race. 

 
Living in Europe these past couple of years has given me a firsthand understanding of how one person’s goodness can become the corporate gain of a people. The corporate nature of the effects of goodness is apodictic in His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze. Due to the ramifications of Cardinal Arinze’s integrity, encounters are easy with people of America and Eurasia. One experiences a welcome, an acceptance and a smile of goodwill immediately one associates himself either by nationality or faith with Cardinal Arinze. One directly shares in the merits of Arinze’s goodness. Verily, that’s a corporate benefit of original goodness. Cardinal Arinze is one of the best image-makers for Nigeria. He is of a similar value to Nigeria’s image as the national football team, Super Eagles. Their near competitors are Nollywood and the music industry. However, they prove to be mixed grills of the good, the bad and the ugly. Indeed, for being a Nigerian, Cardinal Arinze is one of Nigeria’s best living individual marketers and image-makers. Hence, Arinze is good news for Nigeria.
 
On the 1st of November 2022, His Eminence celebrated his 90th birthday, remaining that disciplined, measured, witty, holy, humble, meticulous and organized Prince of the Church. He records each Mass on a page and has never missed celebrating Mass in the last 64 years. You can predict almost accurately what Cardinal Arinze is doing by the time you are reading this piece.  
 
For example, at 3 p.m., he is in the chapel praying; by 6.30 pm, he is praying; at 2 p.m. he is resting. His life verifies and vindicates the possibility of Christian life in our post-Christian, post-modern world. It attracts a lot of goodwill for us, his countrymen and women, and all associated with him by faith, humanity or culture. His life is good news to the poor, the confused, the rejected, the disturbed, the faithful and people of goodwill. His life is good news, and in this year of his 90th anniversary, we celebrate the gift and the goodness that is Francis Cardinal Arinze. Indeed, we celebrate the ‘good news’ according to Francis!

The second daughter of the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, Zina has been called to the Nigerian bar.

The former Abia State governor took to his Facebook page on Tuesday to celebrate Zina as she was called to the bar on Tuesday.

Kalu shared photos from the ceremony on his page, showering prayers on his daughter.

The Abia State former governor wrote, “Congratulations to our beautiful daughter Zina, on her call to the bar. May God keep blessing you forever and always. Your hard work finally paid off.

We feel so proud of you sweetheart.”

[NaijaNews]

For the brief period that I have been a lawyer, I have learnt some few things that have helped  me stand out as a young lawyer and I would love to share thirteen of them with the new wigs. 

1.Law practice is a noble profession and appearance matters a lot. Borrow some wisdom from Robbert Greene’s Laws of power that if you dress as royalty you will be treated like a king. If you dress well, big and high-profile individuals will approach you with briefs. Don’t look tattered, unless you want to be regarded as a charge and bail lawyer.

2. Let the new wigs know that practicing law and surviving in the practice is wild and takes a whole lot; therefore, being book smart is important but you need to also be street smart, have street credibility, and have a hustling spirit to survive in the practice. 

3. You need to be a voracious networker and a confident marketer to scale as a lawyer. Therefore, attend events (especially nonlawyers events), meet new people that are not lawyers and network, always introduce yourself as a lawyer and market yourself. These are proven ways of getting briefs. 

4. If you have the opportunity to work in another sector that offers better pay and better opportunities other than the law sector please grab it with both hands unless you are passionate about practicing this law. 

5. As you must have learned in law school that the lawyers’ rules of professional conduct (RPC) preaches against having a second hustle or a second job as another source of income joined to your law practice, but if there is any rule of the Rpc you ever plan to break, please break this rule and have a second hustle so you don’t die of hunger or turn into a charge and bail lawyer. 

6. Mentorship and learning under senior lawyers at the early stage of your career is good but if you can build your law practice by yourself and scale it immediately you get called please do that for it is better. 

7. I have found out that the amount you charge a client determines how the client will rate you. If you charge some clients low they will doubt your competence to handle the case. Therefore never charge outrageous low fees just because you want to survive, you will only earn the title of a charge and bail lawyer.

8. Don’t accept every brief, don’t be an all-weather lawyer, let people know what you stand for, and maintain a standard. 

9. Create an online profile, everything is now online. Clients now search for lawyers online. Google online profile is the best for now and it’s free. 

10. When you get a brief, handle that brief with a high level of competence because a pleased client will bring more briefs and will definitely refer more clients to you. 

11. Do not believe the fallacy that you have to be active in litigation or be a litigation lawyer to make money from the law practice. Corporate practice pays more than litigation. If you doubt me ask the likes of Messrs Olumide Akpata, Gbenga Oyebode, Asue Ighodalo, Adewale Tinubu, Ibrahim Jimoh, etc.

12. Build relationships and sustain relationships with clients and even with co-lawyers. 

13. Learn new skills and get more degrees; as much as you can afford to add to your law degree, that will make you the first choice for the employers of labor in the job market. 

Signs that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will run a government by proxy if elected, emerged at his outing at Chatham House in London. Tinubu, who has made a tradition of avoiding public speaking events in the run-up to the February 2023 elections, jettisoned the Arise Television townhall meeting organised for the major presidential contenders on Sunday, December 4, 2022. It was the latest in Tinubu’s non-appearance at similar engagements since he won the presidential ticket of his party last June.

Last August, Tinubu was conspicuously absent at the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, honoured the invite at the conference held in Lagos. Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, stood in for him. In September, Tinubu was again absent when presidential candidates of all the political parties endorsed the 2023 election peace pact. The National Peace Committee (NPC), organisers of the peace pact, is chaired by Abdulsalam Abubakar, a former military head of state. Tinubu was again represented at the event by his running mate, Shettima, at a process that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, also attended in person. Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP), were also present.

In what has become his trademark, Tinubu shunned an earlier townhall meeting also convened by Arise Television in early November, where Atiku was represented by Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, his running mate. On the eve of yesterday’s second edition of the Arise Television, Tinubu jetted out to London, supposedly to headline an engagement on Nigeria’s political process. This was by way of addressing the British Royal Institute. He was supposed to have focused on the 2023 general elections, with specific regards to national security, economic and foreign policy imperatives. Director, media and publicity of the APC-Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, had previously said his principal “would not be blackmailed into attending the event”.

Atiku, Kwankwaso and Obi dutifully attended the interview programme, which was simultaneously transmitted to the world from both the Lagos and Abuja studios of the organisers, anchored by Charles Aniagolu and Adesuwa Omoruan. The attendees addressed issues related to poverty alleviation and the holistic re-engineering of critical education, healthcare and human capital development. In what was a temperate and convivial ambience, Atiku who is rigorously grounded in both the public and private sectors promised to remove red-tapism and block wastage in government if elected. “Overheads” and “recurrent expenditures” which are often blurry and opaque, constitute major drainages to public resources, emasculating appropriations for actual socio-economic growth.

The “question and answer” session which followed Tinubu’s address, however, visibly exposed Tinubu’s suspect capacity in one-on-one dialogue. In a visibly striking pattern which amplified this possibility, Tinubu severally called up members of his entourage to answer the questions posed to him. He had on his delegation the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Kaduna state governor, Nasir el-Rufai and his Jigawa and Cross River counterparts, Abubakar Badaru, and Ben Ayade. Former Ekiti state chief executive, Kayode Fayemi, was also present.

There were also Dele Alake, a seasoned media practitioner and Wale Edun, a top player in the economic and financial sector. Both served as commissioners in Tinubu’s state executive council, when he was governor of Lagos state between 1999 and 2007. Tinubu variously called out El Rufai, Ayade, Alake and Edun to answer questions directed at him. The outsourcing of the questions was a watershed in political engagements anywhere. The world has taken due cognisance of our leadership recruitment prototype, at the topmost echelons in Nigeria.

Back in 2015, Buhari, despite his well-established communicative deficiencies, never reassigned questions directed at him. How he has outsourced authority during his term in office will constitute another discussion. It would have indeed been more dignifying for Tinubu to have attended the Arise Television townhall meeting in Lagos. Any of the governors who travelled with him would have done a better job of the delivery of the address which was well written by the way. Tinubu and his party owe Nigeria and the international community profound apologies. The much-publicised Chatham House appearance was a massive disaster.

Tinubu’s appearances on the soapbox across the country since the flag-off of campaigns have been characterised by concerning verbal gaffes and wobbly coordination. When he is not calling Delta state “Niger Delta state,” he is offering prayers for the success of the main opposition party, PDP. While on a recent campaign visit to Bayelsa state, the APC flagbearer struggled to pronounce the words “recreate” and “technological”. Out there at the *Chatham* outing, even when he had the dais all to himself, Tinubu stuttered in instances, including having difficulties with an expression as straightforward as “co-contestants”. These serial blunderings have inspired several social media skits and videos highlighting the worrying cognitive challenges of the APC candidate.

The obvious plan of the APC is to paper up, cover up in glass, gloss and foist on Nigerians, a president with such worrying vitals. Or else, why the Tom and Jerry roulette about a man who intends to superintend over the lives and affairs of Africa’s most populous country remain eternally shrouded in mystery? This is even though Nigeria is yet to recover from the long years of the locusts of the Muhammadu Buhari catastrophe, which has subsisted since 2015. A man who survives drowning is more circumspect when he sees a large body of water. Nigerians must be circumspect and resist the installation of another “royal president” who will oscillate between the comfy cocoon of the presidential villa and the world-class medical facilities of Europe and America. We cannot go to the Saturday, February 25, 2023 polls blindfolded, the way we did in 2015. We cannot afford another president who will be a serial medical tourist, logging 225 days of our collective life and existence. A very popular Yoruba adage tells us that even as we shed tears, our eyes are not blind to goings on around us.

Tinubu’s managers and handlers owe Nigeria the obligation of allowing us to engage with the man who aspires to make presidential broadcasts to us, post-May 29, 2023. Nigerians must prevail on Tinubu to talk to us, face-to-face like Atiku, his principal challenger, who is ever enthusiastic to reassure Nigerians how we can collectively rebuild our crumbled national edifice. The title of the very incisive book: ‘This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis’ by the German author, Karl Maeir, cannot be more apposite. Nigeria doesn’t need a masquerade as a leader. We need a tested Atiku Abubakar who can very ably provide full-steam leadership straight out of Eagle Square, Monday, May 29, 2023.

 

The much-touted lecture at Chatham House in London, England, where the presidential candidate of the All-Progressives Party (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was expected to finally come clean with the Nigerian people turned out a monumental embarrassment. But the press must not fall for its frenzy. It is nothing but a fragment of a long-running scheme. The apparent logic is that the show of shame would rapidly grow to overshadow the prevailing charges against the Asiwaju, especially a drug case.  

But the Nigerian masses are no fools. 

Like the audience at the Chatham House, the Nigerian masses will not backdown from probing the APC flagbearer on the serious allegations facing him. These allegations, of course, hover around his biographical details, such as name, age, state of birth and origin, education, career, and the source of his sudden billions. Throw in perjury, bribery, forgery, and so forth… And now the incident at Chatham! 

There is also the issue of a failing health. Even blind men could see that the Asiwaju no longer has the physical ability nor the mental stability for any serious leadership position. Further, Nigeria’s misfortune with two ailing presidents—in Umar Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari—is still fresh in our memory. Though both leaders would become largely incapacitated while in office due to ill-health; they never appeared as unhealthy or as impaired as Tinubu before they were elected.   

Not to be forgotten is corruption. Running away to a foreign land or dodging the press will not cut it. The masses are keenly aware that despite Nigeria’s sleazy reputation, none of her leaders in history—whether military or civilian—assumed the governance of the country with a background as shady as that of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  

Of course, most of these charges have been proven beyond reasonable doubt, and ought to be very disqualifying. However, Tinubu’s montage of mess has lingered up to the point of shaming Nigeria at the Chatham House, because of the prevailing socio-political culture at home. The civil society is as wobbling as the country’s economy. The local press, which is typically vibrant, has become understandably overwhelmed or intimidated and thus appears to be treating anything relating to the Asiwaju with kid gloves.  

BUT the allegation of drug trafficking is a new low in the Nigerian presidential politics. Tinubu and his handlers recognize its magnitude. They know it is like none of the other accusations and have been perfecting schemes that could overshadow the crisis. One could notice the pattern of the unending shows of shame in his campaign, including the Chatham calamity. The spirited shenanigan is a page from the Donald Trump political book: ‘The best solution to a crisis is another explosive crisis.’ Be that as it may, the Nigerian press must not allow the drug trafficking issue to be swept under the carpet without full investigation, no matter what. 

The consequences are grave.  

To refresh, the records show that Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu forfeited $460,000.00 to the authorities in the United States of America, allegedly for drugs trafficking and money laundering. The American country is also known to be very unforgiving of individuals who use drug proceeds to gain power in foreign nations. A perfect example is the case of Manuel Antonio Noriega, the former President of Panama.   

Like Tinubu, Noriega had amassed a huge personal fortune but had a background tainted with drug allegations. Though the U. S. authorities initially turned a blind eye to the Panama president, allowing him to enter the country as he pleased, they chose the pertinent time to exhume his drug case. They eventually convicted Noriega, removed him from power, jailed him for life, and shamed his country forever.  

A similar fate awaits Nigeria if Tinubu is ever to emerge president. Like the incident at Chatham, the world would like to know the Asiwaju. Since the former Lagos State Governor has continued to deny any connection to massive corruption in Nigeria, the logical question becomes: What is the source of this man’s sudden billions?  

Any serious attempt to answer the above question must peep into Tinubu’s evasive past. The drug case that once led to his forfeiture of $460,000.00 will automatically take center stage.  

Some legal commentators have argued that the narcotics case is barred by the Statute of Limitation and Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. But they are merely glancing the gist from a foggy lens. The objective fact is that the very nature of this high-profile case still presents prosecutors clear legal avenues to explore the Separate Sovereigns Doctrine to seek Tinubu’s indictment. Yes!  

Nigeria has endured all manners of stigma in the comity of nations. The last thing the country would wish is a president who is globally seen as a corrupt kingpin cum drug lord.  

Instead of addressing the drug charges, the Tinubu campaign has deployed a cocky cocktail of coercion, intimidation, distractions, and deceptions, heaping insults on the media organizations, and going as far as threatening them with baseless lawsuits. In short, the APC flagbearer has been doing everything humanly possible to avoid being held accountable for his past or present. The man dodges press interviews. He dodges town hall meetings. He dodges presidential debates. He dodges the truth. Thus, the hullabaloo at the Chatham House was not unexpected.  

THE PRESS must not succumb to the sheer arrogance and political chicanery. The men and women of the press should live up to their constitutional obligations and thoroughly interrogate the former Lagos State governor on the drug allegations. Please!! 

Importantly, there must be consequences for bad behavior in the relationship between the press and politicians. The media organizations must not be seen to be promoting an anti-democratic character—in this case Mr. Bola Tinubu—who continually circumvents an integral role of the press, which is to not only ensure that people in a democracy are free to receive information and ask questions, but also to investigate individuals seeking public office without fear or favor.