A former National Vice Chairman, North-West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman has claimed that the presidential ambition of the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso is a mere mirage.

Lukman stated this during an appearance on Channels Television on Wednesday.

He, however, opined that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) might improve Kwankwaso chances if they open the party’s door for him to come back and rebuild his relationship with the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Speaking further, he stated that the corruption allegations facing Ganduje in Kano has political undertones, and only a political solution would solve it.

Lukman insisted that Ganduje’s predicament has to do with his squabble with Kwankwaso.

He said, “We must push Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to renegotiate relationships back in his state because it’s political. If you don’t approach it politically, you will never take it away. You can replace Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and if the capacity to get leaders to do the right thing in their base is not addressed, we will continue to get into this.

“We must accept that things are not alright within the APC, forget about the Ganduje matter in Kano. The reality is that we have problems that require us to come back to rebuild our party.

“The ambition of Senator Kwankwaso is to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where he is today, I can confidently say that it will be like a mirage for him to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It will take years of building and negotiation across the country which may outlive his lifespan and if we are to fast-track it and open our party for him to come back in such a way that we renegotiate his relationship with Dr Ganduje and across the state, we also renegotiate relationships between leaders and bring in new forces, Nigerians are even likely to have more confidence in the party.”

[NaijaNews]

Telecommunication operators in Nigeria have said that their services are overdue for price increments as they have not implemented any upward price adjustment in the last 11 years.

The operators stated this in a joint statement by the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). The two associations represent Mobile Network Operators and telecommunication companies in Nigeria.

According to them, the telecom industry is the only industry that has not reviewed its prices despite the rising inflation in the country and other economic realities that warrant increment. They blamed this on the regulatory restraints that have been preventing them from pricing appropriately.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) regulates prices in the telecom industry and telecom operators are not allowed to implement any price change without the regulator’s approval. The regulator has said a cost-based study is being conducted to determine if it would approve price increments for the operators.

What the operators are saying

In the statement signed by the Chairman of ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, and the President of ATCON, Engr. Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, the telcos said:

• “ALTON and ATCON respectfully reiterate that telecommunications infrastructure development requires substantial investments in network expansion, maintenance, and technology upgrades.
• “Despite the adverse economic headwinds, the telecommunications industry remains the only industry yet to review its general service pricing framework upward in the last (11) years, primarily due to regulatory constraints.
• “For a fully liberalized and deregulated sector, the current price control mechanism, which is not aligned with economic realities, threatens the industry’s sustainability and can erode investors’ confidence.
• “ATCON and ALTON call upon the government to facilitate a constructive dialogue with industry stakeholders to address pricing challenges and establish a framework that balances consumers’ affordability with operators’ financial viability.”

Other challenges facing telecom industry

The operators called upon the government to take decisive action in addressing the numerous challenges confronting the telecommunications industry. According to them, some of these challenges include the issue of multiple taxation and regulations and prohibitive Right of Way (RoW) charges, inadequate electric power supply, and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure.

They also called for legislation that designates telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (“CNI”), while expressing concern over the escalating security threats facing telecommunications infrastructure in Nigeria.

• “Telecommunications infrastructure undisputedly plays a pivotal role in Nigeria’s national security and socioeconomic growth, especially as the country currently contends with multiple security challenges that require urgent and immediate actions in response to these threats.
• “Attacks on cell towers, fibre optic cables, and other critical assets disrupt telecommunications services and result in significant financial losses for operators. The associations urge the government to prioritize the security of telecommunications infrastructure and collaborate with law enforcement agencies to enhance protection measures and combat vandalism and sabotage effectively,” they stated.

In addition, ALTON and ATCON also called for the sustenance of a culture of independence in the regulatory landscape to safeguard against undue influence and unwholesome incursion into the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) domain, which will inspire trust in the telecommunications sector and encourage investment.

According to them, regulatory neutrality and independence are crucial to ensuring a thriving telecommunications sector. They added that statutory provisions lend credence to this notion, as a lack of an impartial regulator will lead to a failure to maintain public confidence in the objectivity and independence of its decisions.

[Nairametrics]

Nigeria’s three main political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP) – are in turmoil. They have been infested by little foxes that threaten to damage and, potentially, destroy them.

I know that discipline is not a virtue of political parties in a presidential system. In Nigeria’s own version, however, indiscipline governs everything. 

Whether the political parties are winning or losing – of course, it is worse when they’re losing – politicians never forget that the party is simply a convenient tool, serviceable only when it can help them get to power, but certainly dispensable immediately afterwards.

See what is happening in the PDP, the party which lost its way after 16 years in power. The same forces led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that snatched defeat, not once, from the jaws of victory, are still determined to bury what is left of the sick party alive.

To be fair, Abubakar has paid his dues. He has done so with the generosity of a rolling stone, gathering moss from PDP to the Action Congress of Nigeria (AC), then to n-PDP, and from there to APC, and back again to PDP. At each point, never failing to leave a mark in pursuit of the prophecy of a marabout about 26 years ago that he would one day become Nigeria’s president.

Ambition, what price?

Ambition is not a crime. For a man of Abubakar’s political accomplishments, however, not knowing when to stop is a bad thing. He not only abandoned the PDP for years, he worked against it openly by running against the party as the AC presidential candidate in 2007. It was bad enough for him to abandon the PDP and return to it to fight for a presidential ticket at a most ill-advised and inauspicious time.

But what is worse was for him to take a front-row seat at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja last week, plotting if not to run again as president, then to decide who runs the party. While this was happening, one of the party’s altar boys, Emeka Ihedioha, was resigning with a heavy heart from the PDP, perhaps casting one eye at his grandfather, Abubakar, the remaining dinosaur among the founding fathers present at the Abuja NEC meeting.

It was one meeting Abubakar should not have attended – or if it was inevitable, he should have come at least shedding crocodile tears in remorse for his role in how the party snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 2023 general elections. But he came, as we say, with his full chest.

Accuser and accused 

I looked at the press photos from the event twice to believe he was actually the one sitting there in the front row at the NEC meeting. As if that was not heartbreaking enough, some folks – governors/landlords of the party –lined up behind him, asking not for him to account, but that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who sustained the party while Abubakar was in exile, should be disciplined for “anti-party activities.”

Wike has his problems, but they do not include political prostitution. Or trashing the party’s constitution (as Abubakar did) which clearly provided that it was not the North’s turn to field a presidential candidate. When will the PDP learn?

Humpty Dumpty

I’m told that after separate meetings with Abubakar and Wike by the PDP governors (four of whom appear to be leaning towards Abubakar, seven for Wike and two undecided) the party is considering setting up a reconciliation committee headed by former Senate President Bukola Saraki, to mend Humpty Dumpty.

I wish Saraki luck in his task of doing what all the king’s horses and all the king’s men have failed to do. But as surely as six follows seven, the record of all known attempts to settle intra-party conflicts by indulging the hubris of the instigator have ended in futility. There’s not much time left before the party’s congresses in June and all the drama at the Abuja NEC was about control of the party ahead of that congress. 

With Umar Damagum still in the chair as acting Chairman – the last thing that Abubakar wanted before the NEC meeting – the former vice president’s grip is more tenuous than it ever was and his relevance in decline.

Proxy wars 

The PDP can, however, take comfort that it’s not alone in keeping the foxes out of its garden. Even the ruling APC and Labour are having torrid times of their own. APC Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, has been fending off petitions and attacks from his state, Kano, by persons who not only want him out, but also want him tried on charges ranging from bribery to diversion of funds, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust.

What is happening in Kano is a continuation by other means of the long-running war between NNPP leader, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and his former deputy-turned-adversary, Ganduje. Of course, APC members in Ganduje’s Kano ward are being used against him in this proxy war, but his real foe is Kwankwaso.

There has been talk of party members in the North Central eyeing Ganduje’s chair. But party insiders insist that the main issues remain the potential return of Kwankwaso to the APC and who between him and Ganduje has more strategic value for 2027. 

Musical chairs 

Party chairmanship is perhaps the ficklest of positions. Ganduje is the sixth APC chairman in 10 years and three national election cycles, while its older cousin, the PDP, has produced 18 in 25 years, with only two – Barnabas Gemade and Ahmadu Ali – completing their tenure. Even Labour, just one-year-old, cannot keep one chairman safe.

Ganduje knows he is on a hot seat, held only at the pleasure of the president, as we have seen from the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Changing Ganduje is hardly President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s problem. His headache is whether with the North’s growing unease about his administration, he can find someone else to replace Ganduje that he can trust. 

Tinubu can also hardly ignore the anti-Nasir El-Rufai stirrings in Kaduna, which not a few have suggested may have been instigated by Abuja. There’s a double imperative for Tinubu first to secure Kano, the North West’s vote bank; and also, to keep El-Rufai, an influential politician in the region, on a leash. The jury is out on who, between Kwankwaso and Ganduje, would be the better battering ram.

The leper and the milk 

The party chairman is like a leper. He may not be able to drink the milk that nourishes his appointor’s position, but he sure can spill it. And the perfect fit, often, is someone with something around their neck, which if they ever forget, can be used to constantly remind them of their vulnerability. Since Kwankwaso and Ganduje cannot possibly sit in a room without a referee in protective gear, a middle ground is out of the question. Tinubu will have to choose who to work with between the two. 

While he is at it, party administration will continue to drift and Ganduje’s authority will continue to ebb. 

Labour in vain 

But again, this is not significantly different from what is happening in Labour, where two factions of the party – one headed by Julius Abure and the other by Lamidi Apapa – have brought the party to its knees, raising speculations of the possible exit of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

With the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) taking a stand against Abure and splitting the party’s executive right down the middle, it won’t be long before Obi decides whether he can save this ship or risk drowning with it.

The moment of decision for the parties may seem far off, if you count three years until the next general elections. But in politics it is not the years before the next election that count; it is the events that shape those years. And those events are lining up at a speed that suggests that if the campaign for 2027 has not started already, it might be upon us sooner than later.

Less than a week after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, the legal stalemate over the review of the party’s caretaker committee in Rivers State has raised concerns within the camp of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Recall that the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara had rejected the Rivers State Caretaker Committee list published by the NWC because it favoured his estranged predecessor and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike.

The PDP governors forum and the party’s national caucus had last week asked the National Working Committee (NWC) to revisit the composition of the list, which was opposed by the Fubara and opposition lawmakers.
However, the PDP national leadership on Tuesday said it cannot take any action on the contentious Rivers State Caretaker Committee List because of an ex-parte order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja restraining it from doing so.

A statement by the PDP national publicity secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba, said “After an extensive deliberation the NWC noted the existence of an Ex-Parte Order issued by the Federal High Court, Abuja restraining the NWC from further action with respect to the status of the Rivers State Caretaker Committee List as published.

“However, while the Rivers State Caretaker Committee List as published stands in compliance with the Order of the Court, the NWC notes the concerted intervention and efforts of various Organs of the Party, particularly the PDP Governors’ Forum to finding a political solution to the issue of the River State Caretaker Committee.”
The party said it will intensify consultation to amicably resolve the issues in conjunction with the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Reacting however, some PDP stakeholders in Rivers State, urged the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) not to go back on its promise to review the caretaker committee list for the state.Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt yesterday, former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke, said it would be strange if the party fails to stand by its own directive.

Nwuke said: “Right now, we don’t have a clear picture of what the NWC or NEC wants to do with the list. What is evident is that by their own directive, new fresh names were supposed to be introduced to the list of existing executive bodies, which run the party’s activities from the ward to local government to state level.

“That is precisely what their own directive was. So, it will be very strange if the NWC or NEC is unable to stand by its own directive because there is evidence that there is injection of names that does not belong and even attempts to remove names of serving executives of the party who translated into caretaker committee members. That is fraudulent.

“I don’t imagine that PDP will tolerate fraud. Accordingly, yes, people could speak from both sides of their mouth, but, we in the PDP in Rivers State are holding the party accountable to its promise that there will be no additions, there will be no subtraction.

“Of course, we are gentlemen and the party is being led by decent minds, decent people, we believe the party will do well to keep itself within the realm of its promise.”

Speaking with LEADERSHIP also, a PDP chieftain in the state, Robertson Jack, said the refusal of the party’s NEC to review the list is laughable.

Jack said: “For the refusal of the PDP national working committee to effect a review citing a court order is laughable and a clear indication that possibly, they are sold out to the Federal Government led by Tinubu. Possibly, PDP will adopt Tinubu as its candidate in the next election.

“If not, if they are really an opposition political party that wants to be viable, certainly, they will effect that review because they cannot have one rule in all the states and in Rivers State, you apply a different rule,” he said.

[Leadership]

Everton secured their first win in a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park since 2010 to leave Liverpool’s Premier League title aspirations in ruins after a 2-0 defeat on Wednesday.

The defeat leaves Jurgen Klopp’s men still three points adrift of leaders Arsenal and only one point in front of defending champions Manchester City, who have two games in hand.

“We need a crisis at City and Arsenal and we need to win football games,” said Klopp of his side’s shot at the title with four games to go of his reign.

Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin took Everton eight points clear of the relegation zone.

The Toffees now look certain to extend their 70-year stay in the English top flight despite being deducted eight points on two charges of breaching financial rules.

Klopp had never lost on his previous eight visits to Goodison but his final taste of the Merseyside derby was a bitter one.

Hopes of a glorious goodbye for the German after a nearly nine-year tenure that has transformed the club’s fortunes are fading fast.

According to reports, Feyenoord boss Arne Slot is being lined up as Klopp’s successor and the past few weeks have exposed weaknesses that need addressing in a huge summer for the Liverpool hierarchy.

 

‘Energy, commitment’
The Reds have won just one of their last four league games and have also bowed out of the FA Cup and Europa League in recent weeks.

Klopp made six changes after resting a number of key players for Sunday’s 3-1 win at Fulham but did not get the response he desired.

Buoyed by their weekend win over Nottingham Forest to pull clear of the relegation zone, Everton are a side transformed from the one that went 13 Premier League games without a win between December and April.

“Delighted with the performance of our players and delighted for the Evertonians,” said Everton boss Sean Dyche.

“They’re a good side, we know that. The commitment and energy from us had to be there.”

Slow starts have been a recurring factor as Liverpool’s quest for four trophies has unravelled.

Everton thought they had a penalty in the opening minutes when Calvert-Lewin was tripped by Alisson Becker but VAR intervened to save the visitors as the striker was offside.

Alisson then clawed away a Calvert-Lewin header and Ben Godfrey nodded wide as Liverpool struggled to cope with Everton’s threat from set-pieces.

More comical defending from the Reds led to the opener on 27 minutes.

Alexis Mac Allister’s mishit fell perfectly for Branthwaite and the defender’s effort went in off the post despite Alisson’s best efforts.

Going behind woke Liverpool from their slumber and only a combination of wasteful finishing and Jordan Pickford preserved Everton’s lead until half-time.

Darwin Nunez blasted straight at the England number one when clean through before the Uruguayan teed up Luis Diaz to fire too close to Pickford.

Mohamed Salah’s loss of form has come at the worst possible time for Liverpool’s title challenge and the Egyptian sliced another good opening well over the bar.

Liverpool were camped in the Everton half after the break, yet the hosts pulled further clear just before the hour mark from another dead ball.

Calvert-Lewin was afforded a free header at the back post to power home Dwight McNeil’s corner.

Liverpool’s night was summed up when Diaz’s powerful effort came back off the post with Pickford finally beaten.

But it was Klopp who was crestfallen come the final whistle as he looks set to depart Anfield with just one Premier League title to his name.

[DailyTrust]

Last week, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held its much anticipated 98th National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Abuja.

The meeting as expected was widely attended by prominent leaders of the party, including former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and former Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

Also present in the NEC meeting were the state governors: Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State); Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Ahmed Fintiri (Adamawa State), Ademola Adeleke (Osun State); Sim Fubara (Rivers State), Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, among others.

The NEC at the end of its meeting endorsed the Amb. Umar Damagum-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the party, giving him a fresh bill of health to continue acting in office till the next NEC.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, who read the communiqué by NEC, said that the issue of the party leadership, which was the main bone of contention before the meeting, would be considered in August.

Debo said that the NEC tasked all organs, leaders, stakeholders and members of the PDP to close ranks and put aside their differences and work together to reposition and return the PDP to power.

“Our party emphasises the need for reconciliation and stability within the party at this time. Therefore, the issue of the National Chairman, Damagum, has been deferred to the next NEC meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15th.

“NEC also approved the reconstitution of the Party Disciplinary and Reconciliation Committees to further ensure the stability of the party,” he said.

However, the development, DAILY POST gathered, signalled an indication that Wike would continue to maintain an upper hand in the leadership crisis plaguing the party, with Damagun remaining as the acting National Chairman. This is despite his estranged relationship with the PDP.

Prior to the NEC meeting, the issue of whether Damagum should maintain his position or be changed was the main point of discussion among PDP officials.

The discussion restored hostilities between the Atiku and the Wike camps.

Wike is currently serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, despite his claim of still being a member of the PDP.

Speaking to DAILY POST, a Public Affairs Analyst and Communication Scholar at Peaceland University, Enugu, Nduka Odo, said the PDP was floundering not because Wike was too strong nor because of the strength of his tactics or manoeuvring.

According to him, Wike and others who press the neck of the PDP leadership, romance with the opposition, and attend NEC meetings with braggadocio were doing so because people have lost interest in the party.

Odo warned that if the PDP doesn’t put its house and acts in order, and atone for how it treated its strongholds, it may no longer exist at the national level in next election cycles.

He said: “People are getting it all wrong. What is happening is different from what most people and even the press described.

“I don’t see it as Wike having a strong grip on the PDP. For you to appreciate the situation properly, I want you to take a look at the forces that got the party where it is today.

“The party became blind to the sensitivities of its stronghold. The South-East has been the strongest base of the PDP. That’s followed by the South-South. When individual interests overrode party and national interest, the party hit rock bottom.

“The party thought it wise to give its presidential ticket to Atiku, a northern Fulani Muslim, to replace Buhari, a northern Fulani Muslim in a country that has been run based on alternations.

“Now, the party is floundering, not because Wike is too strong. He seems to have a strong grip on PDP leadership, not because of the strength of his tactics or manoeuvring.

“Wike or anyone is able to press the neck of the PDP leadership, romance with the opposition, and attend NEC meetings with bragadacio because people have lost interest in the party.

“Future is no longer associated with the party at the national level. That’s what happens when individual interest overshadows party or national interest. Is it not recently that Emeka Ihedioha resigned from the party?

“There is a reduced interest in the party at national level. So, Wike or anyone can run the party anyhow and nothing will happen.

“If the PDP doesn’t put its house and acts in order, and atone for how it treated its strongholds, the party may no longer exist at the national level in two election cycles. APC is out to swallow carrier politicians. Labour Party is out to sweep up the younger generations disillusioned by the others”.

Meanwhile, the PDP in a press statement on Tuesday, after an emergency meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC), said it has reviewed the issue of the Caretaker Committee of River State.

According to the statement, NWC resolved to intensify action in the continuing consultation to resolving the issues amicably in conjunction with the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Hon. Debo Ologunagba, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, who made this known, said the NWC noted the existence of an ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining it from further action with respect to the status of the Rivers State Caretaker Committee List as published.

He said the party organ also recognized the concerted intervention and efforts of various organs of the party, particularly the PDP Governors’ Forum to find a political solution to the crisis.

“However, while the Rivers State Caretaker Committee List as published stands in compliance with the Order of the Court, the NWC notes the concerted intervention and efforts of various Organs of the Party, particularly the PDP Governors’ Forum to finding a political solution to the issue of the River State Caretaker Committee,” he added.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Osita Okechukwu has stated that “PDP’s blank communiqué with no mention of Wike’s masquerade signposts a sinking party.”

Okechukwu, who is the immediate past Director General of Voice of Nigeria, VON, told DAILY POST that the PDP instead of facing the realities in the party was busy heaping blame on hunger and insecurity in the land.

He said that “instead of careful introspection of its bleeding ailments and how to fix its troubled Wike’s Masquerade, imbibe the best tenets of internal democracy devoid of breach of the zoning convention, extant laws, planlessness and squandermania, the PDP arrogantly hauled unnecessary blame game on the APC.”

“My understanding is that PDP may not even recover in August after the ward, LGA, and State congresses and national convention, when they failed ab initio to embark on careful introspection to examine the root causes of Wike’s masquerade which led a party that boasted of 60 years uninterrupted reign to woeful failure in 2023 presidential election.

“Truly PDP needs soul searching to make amends, rather than sweeping its troubled faction under the carpet. The party must first clean the log in its eyes and learn that blame game is no solution provider, before playing an effective role as the main opposition party,” Okechukwu quipped.

He reminded the PDP that they not only agreed to remove fuel subsidy in the 2023 presidential election campaign, but were “the first to embrace neoliberalism, hence privatised both failed and lucrative State Owned Enterprises (SOE).”

He said the PDP cultivated the ground for Nigeria’s notorious World Poverty Capital status and palpable insecurity, by less than transparent sale of SOEs and squandermania of Oil Windfalls.

Okechukwu challenged the PDP “to name any SOE they privatised that succeeded as envisaged by neoliberals – all failed – NEPA, Ajaokuta Steel, Aluminum Smelter Company Akwa Ibom, NICON Insurance, Mambilla et al.

“PDP took sixteen years of planlessness and squandermania to sell our national assets, even legislators’ quarters, hence dislocated our socio-economic fabric, abandoned critical infrastructures and truncated our democracy.

“APC in the last nine years has been engaged in the Herculean task of reconstruction, rehabilitation and renewal under COVID-19 and poor oil revenue.”

[DailyPost]

“What we mean by restructuring is going back to the Independence Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between 1957 and 1959. It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to go to Independence as one united country. When the military came in 1966 and threw away the constitution, they did not only throw away the constitution but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of the three regions. The regions used to be federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So, we are saying let us go back to that arrangement which all of us agreed at independence and not what Abacha imposed on us, which is very partial, unfair and one-sided. That is the meaning of restructuring; it is to restructure unfairness and give semi-autonomy to the federating units.”

That was Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to Babangida’s military government, giving historical context to our current crisis of nation building during a last week Arise TV programme in order to educate our uninformed youths and elders described by Senator Adams Oshiomhole as “mischief makers who are trying to twist, manipulate and politicize a patriotic request borne out of altruistic motivation” by pretending not to know the meaning of restructuring.

But Chief Olu Falae is not alone. For his fellow crusading patriots, the answer to our unresolved national question is a return to our 1954 structure, negotiated by our founding fathers ‘to promote the unity of Nigeria and protect the interest of diverse elements that make up the country’. Some of these credible voices include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has called for ‘less centralized, less suffocating and less dictatorial’ central government; the late Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna State who had called for ‘a return to regional arrangement, where each region can create states they can cater for, which would certainly reduce injustice and inequality among the people;’ and Emeka Anyaoku, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General who has also renewed his call for ‘a return to the regional structure practiced in the First Republic, with the country’s six regions forming the federating units.’ And for Gen. Alani Akinrinade, “anyone that wishes Nigeria well and wants our states to develop will join in the growing agitation to restructure the country;” while for Wole Soyinka, regarded by many as the conscience of the nation, “the basis of our association needed to be renegotiated if we are to prevent a disastrous disintegration.”

Our founding fathers, confronted with the challenges of a multinational Nigeria state, described by Obafemi Awolowo in 1947 as ‘a geographical expression’ and as ‘a British intension’ by Tafawa Balewa in 1948, resolved to make Nigeria home to every nationality within the greater Nigerian nation. Thus, when Action Group was formed in Owo April 25, 1951, the party’s motto was “United through federation, freedom for all, and life more abundant;” while the manifesto of NPC, inaugurated in Kaduna by Balewa, Ahmadu Bello and others in September 1951, focused on “regional autonomy within a united Nigeria ‘with “one north, one people, irrespective of region ethnic and religion”, as its slogan. Each dominant ethnic group managed its own affairs

They knew they didn’t have to invent the wheel since it had long been established that crisis of nation building in most multi-ethnic nations of the world is best addressed through a federal arrangement. Europe itself had after two devastating world wars resolved their crisis of nationhood by embracing federalism. And working in our founding fathers’ favour was the fact that despite the 1914 amalgamation designed for ease of administration, the long-term policy thrust of Britain was a Nigerian nation with a federal system where every group can develop at its own pace without interference from others.

The colonial powers challenged those who live in denial, claiming that “our cultural differences had been exaggerated by accident of colonial rule,” to look at themselves in the mirror to confirm if there were parallels “between the Hausa of Zaria and the Bantus people of the Benue Valley,’ the 200,000 Ogonis who escaped the tyranny of South African Chaka the Zulu, ‘the cannibals of the mama hill, the unsocial Mumuyes of Muri Province and of naked warriors of the inner eastern tropics,” all of who were at different levels of cultural development.

To underscore Britain’s commitment to her policy thrust, Hugh Clifford, the then Governor General of Nigeria in an address to the Nigerian Council on December 29 1920, asserted that the British policy was to support ‘the local tribal institutions and the indigenous forms of government based on the ‘social institutions which have been evolved for it by wisdom and by the accumulated experiences of generations of its forbearers,’ adding that “if suddenly the impossible were feasible’, that those separated by difference of history, traditions, social, political and religious barriers were indeed capable of being welded into a single homogenous nation’, it would be a disservice to the concept of national government which secures to each separate people the right to maintain its identity, its individuality and its nationality.”

 

But rather than prove Oliver Stanley  who  while speaking before foreign policy association in New York City on January 19, 1945 had said that “it is the British presence alone which prevents a disastrous disintegration and British withdrawal today would mean for millions a descent from nascent nationhood into the turmoil of warring sects” wrong,  the new inheritors of power confirmed his fears when they threw the West into a political turmoil with its attendant violence, deaths and loss of properties” following their imposition of  a leader on the west in breach of the constitution in 1962.  And ‘to cut Awolowo to size’, according to Trevor Richard, they created Mid-west out of West while suppressing the self-actualization quest of 11 national groups made up of 3.2 million Efik/Ibibio/Annang, 700,000 strong Ijaws, 220,000 Ogonis and 8.000 Ngenis and others totaling 5.3 million (1963 census) in the COR areas of the Eastern Region.

Ironically, Nigerians got better deal from the colonial masters than the successive military regimes who have since 1966 done everything including plunging the nation into an avoidable civil war except addressing the core issue of crisis of nationhood- which is about how our multiethnic, multi-cultural and multi religious society can live together in harmony. Their efforts like those of their ‘new breed’ politicians to resolve the national question through constitutional negotiations like statesmen turned out to have been driven by greed and intrigue.

General Ironsi’s 21st Feb 1966 Study Group on Constitutional Review was sabotaged by his own unitary Decree 34 of 24th May 1966, just as Gowon’s Ad-hoc Group to work on Constitutional Proposal was overtaken by outbreak of riot in the north. Murtala Muhammed’s Constitution Drafting Committee’s report (CDC) of 18th October, 1975 into which Obasanjo added 17 different items, was according to Rotimi Williams and Nwabueze, who regretted their role in building a federal “leviathan” inferred they merely did the bidding of the military.

The 1999 constitution known as Abdulsalami Abubakar’s ‘Decree 24’, never debated by anyone was the sum total of Babangida’s 1989 and the largely boycotted Abacha’s 1995 constitutional conference. While Obasanjo’s own National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) of February 2005 was marred ‘tenure-elongation’ concerns, Jonathan’s 2014 CONFAB was thought to be an after-thought to seek support of Southwest, the region that was in the forefront of the struggle for restructuring.

For Olu Falae and other concerned Nigerian stakeholders, our journey to nationhood must start with enthronement of justice, which is best assured with restructuring of the country in line with the dreams of our founding fathers and the 1920 British stated policy thrust.

There was a serious panic in Niger State as no fewer than 119 inmates escaped after a heavy rainstorm destroyed the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Suleja.

Spokesman of the Federal Capital Territory FCT Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS, Adamu Duza disclosed this in a statement on Thursday morning.

According to him the storm accompanied by heavy rain around 9 pm destroyed parts of the old Suleja custodial centre, a development that led to many of the inmates escaping from the facility.

 

 

He said, “A heavy downpour that lasted for several hours on the night of Wednesday, 24 April 2024 has wreaked havoc on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Niger state, as well as surrounding buildings, destroying part of the custodial facility, including its perimeter fence, giving way to the escape of a total of 118 inmates of the facility”.

He further said the Service has immediately activated its recapturing mechanisms, and in conjunction with sister security agencies has so far recaptured 10 fleeing inmates and taken them into custody, while still in a hot chase to recapture the rest.

Duza said the Service is not unmindful of the fact that many of its facilities were built during the colonial era and that they are old and weak, adding that the Service is making frantic efforts to see that all ageing facilities give way to modern ones.

“This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of six number of 3000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria as well as the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of existing ones.

“The Service wishes to assure the public that it is on top of the situation and that they should go about their businesses without fear or hindrance.

“The public is further enjoined to look out for the fleeing inmates and report any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency”, said Duza.

[intelregion]

Since the arrest of another Nigerian socialite, Pascal Okechukwu (aka Cubana Chef Priest), I have come across jejune assertions justifying the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s pursuit of those spraying naira at parties. While reading comments made by a random commenter on social media but unsupported with sensible evidence is one thing, it is another entirely when the illogic becomes the subject of a newspaper editorial. We must be careful not to contort logic because we want to justify the abuse of power by an organisation like the EFCC that hardly boasts a significant record of conviction against perpetrators of massive heists but wants to convince us that naira spraying is where the problem lies. If the EFCC’s move against those charged to court for abusing the naira is truly about the naira and not a mere pursuit of vendetta against select individuals, the CBN Act 2007 would have long netted traditional rulers, politicians, popular juju/fuji musicians, and even Afrobeat artistes. We all know the reason the EFCC will not dare.

The campaign against naira abuse has subsisted for decades but selecting individuals for prosecution based on what they do at parties/events is a new development. Maybe, the madcap is due to the EFCC’s new sheriff or a newfangled zeal to remain relevant since the prosecution of actual thieves is impossible for them. Naira spraying, a practice associated with faaji-loving Yorubas, has existed for decades and is now appropriated by other ethnic groups in the country.

Money spraying has given rise to a mini-industry of buying and selling crisp and clean notes at party sites, an enterprise that must irk a joyless organisation like the EFCC. It is interesting that party sites are about the only place you are guaranteed to ever see crisp notes in Nigeria. I have been to several countries but Nigeria is about the only place where the dirtiest and the most diseased currency notes circulate. Even banks unembarrassedly hand you piles of dirty and shrunk notes that should have been shredded five years ago! Unless you are connected to someone high up who can help you procure clean crisp notes, it is virtually impossible to get them in Nigeria. It is at those party sites that ordinary folks get to sight and buy them to spray; such is the nature of our cultural attitude to ostentatious displays of joy. Unfortunately, it is also that very joy that the EFCC has sneakily come to steal, to kill and to destroy with their sudden clampdown.

First, a major reason the naira notes get so easily mutilated is that our economy is heavily cash-dependent. The practices that Section 21 of the Central Bank of the Nigeria Act of 2007 identifies as naira abuse—and for which punishments are prescribed—only marginally contribute to the problem of the shortened life of the notes. The Act stipulates activities such as spraying at events and dancing or stumping on naira notes; writing, stapling, and tearing banknotes; defacing, selling, and mutilating, as examples of naira abuse but all of the above barely culminate in the diseased condition of the notes in circulations. Money is too scarce in Nigeria for anyone to mutilate it like that. What is far more responsible for the limited life of naira notes is their heavy usage. How?

Nigeria has a high percentage of what they call the “unbanked population.” That is, a section of people who do not have an account with a financial institution nor are connected to the grid of mobile monetary payment systems anywhere. Consequently, we transact in cash a lot, which puts a heavy strain on our naira notes. In 2022, a report put Nigeria as one of the seven countries that comprise half the world’s unbanked population. That is a lot of people who do not use the electronic systems of banking that have reduced the demand for physical notes in other countries. The factors that have helped advanced economies to achieve cashlessness—that is, ready availability and reliability of digital payment systems and infrastructure—are still largely missing in Nigeria. Without knowing Nigeria’s population, we can only guess that those who use cash in daily transactions run into millions.

Meanwhile, much of what also constitutes our economy is classified as “informal,” meaning a bulk of transactions we carry out daily pass beneath the radar of what is formally accounted for by institutions. Our daily habits do not help the condition of the naira either. How many Nigerians use wallets to store their cash? In marketplaces, people squeeze naira notes before tucking them in their waist bags and aprons. Those are the daily activities that strain the naira. Was the whole idea behind changing the material used to produce the smaller denominations of the naira to polymer to reduce the strain of the heavy usage of those notes?

While it is easy—and cheap, in fact—to blame naira spraying at parties for the poor condition of the physical notes, nobody has established a reasonable connection between the two. What does naira spraying have to do with the ultimate condition of diseased naira notes? Nobody can say for a fact that the dirty naira notes that circulate in the country came about because they were sprayed at parties. Yes, people spray money at parties, but most of those gatherings also mop up the money immediately! The naira notes that people take home after concluding their celebrations usually retain their newness and crispness, so what is anyone talking about?

Second, while there is no denying that there has been a significant decrease in our unbanked population due to the 2022/2023 naira redesign policy, overall, there is still too little physical cash in circulation. The naira redesign policy that the former administration introduced to reduce the overreliance of our economy on cash and encourage us to adopt digital alternatives sapped Nigerians of naira. For a country already heavily dependent on cash, withdrawing more than two trillion from circulation was an unmitigated disaster. Around this time last year, one of the major conspiracy allegations surrounding the general elections was how the country was being starved of naira notes to reduce the electoral chances of a political candidate whom everyone knew was going to hand out cash to bribe prospective voters. The election has long been over. The candidate they allegedly conspired against won, but the problem of the paucity of cash in circulation has hardly improved.

Our leaders must stop pursuing frivolities and focus on abstract solutions to our economic problems. Nigeria is not the only country where people spray money. In the United States, they throw cash at strip dancers who tuck the cash in their G-strings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation never pursues people like that because they know that that is not where the strength of the dollar lies. What makes the dollar the dollar is not the piece of paper they printed a few symbols on; the dollar is the dollar because the US is the US. When Nigerians throw a party in Europe, they procure $1 bills to spray at parties. You will never hear the US barking at anyone in the name of defending its currency.

Our currency is frequently defended with all kinds of tactics, yet its value hardly appreciates. When it does, the gains are not sustained. From arresting Bureau De Change operators to Binance officials, Nigeria uses too much physical force—rather than informed technical knowledge—to supposedly advocate its currency. Where does it ever get us? Our leaders do not seem to know how to make naira great, and that is why they resort to gimmicks such as arresting people for spraying naira at social events.

The founder of Woodhall Capital, Mojisola Hunponu-Wusu, has disclosed that despite being married for 20 years she has never cooked in her home.

In a conversation with Ifedayo Agoro on ‘The Diary Of A Naija Girl” podcast, Hunponu-Wusu explained that though she would have loved to cook and do other chores, she never had that time.

” I don’t get to cook. I would have loved to get more time; not even for cooking but for other things across the family. So, I’m not even zooming in on cooking…

” I love and admire women who have the time but I’m through to the path God has set me and that is the entrepreneurial path,” she said.

When asked if her husband was bothered, she responded that cooking might not be his love language.

Hunponu-Wusu’s revelation has again brought to the fore conversation about the roles of a woman in the home.

Though it is believed that, these days, men should compliment their wives in kitchen duties, a popular Nigerian chef Hilda Effiong Bassey, aka Hilda Baci, recently declared that she wouldn’t date or marry a man who knows how to cook.

According to the former Guinness World Record holder,  she loves cooking and would not want a man who will outshine her in the kitchen.

“I don’t want a man that knows how to cook. I don’t want it. I like cooking so much. My friends would tell you like Hilda would show you love, she will send you food. You will cook for you. That’s kind of one of the things I like to do for people that I care about, especially for my man.

“You can wake me up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Babe, I want a doughnut. I want meat pie.’ And I’m flying to the kitchen to make it for you. That’s my thing. I want a man that can order me food. If you don’t have a problem with ordering me food, I’m in love,” Baci said in a viral podcast video that made the rounds on X (formerly Twitter).

[Punch]