GREAT ARTICLES

Nigeria’s Departing Future

By Funke Egbemode (egbemode3@gmail.com)

Ace Actor, my multi talented friend, Yemi Sodimu, started a riot with this post some days ago:

"E wa o, dis omo meji meji that we are ‘borning’, se kii se wahala lojo iwaju for us in the south bayi?"

I will explain it in simple terms. 

" Every Yoruba family now favours two children per couple. Are we ready for the trouble ahead in the South?"

Well, if you ask me, I think the consequences have arrived already. At least the first batch has. When last did you find a a Yoruba okada rider in Lagos? Some weeks ago, in Mowe,  which is Ogun state, a confused Google Map forced me to look for an okada to lead me to my destination. Alas, my Northern Bro didn't know the address and didn't speak a word of English. The frustration was a killjoy. By the time I arrived the party venue, I was no longer in party mood. A lot is going to change in the South  very soon,  very quickly.  

If Yemi’s post had been just about family planning and smaller families, it would have been compact enough to be wrapped with a few leaves . But the trouble ahead is not a regional one. It is a national malady. For we have all sinned. Like Chief Adeyemi.

Chief Ramos Adeyemi sits in a house that used to breathe, a house that was once a home filled with laughter, warmth and activities.

These days, it only echoes, emptily.

The man did everything right—at least, everything Nigeria told him was right. He worked hard, made money, built houses, invested strategically. He married one wife and stayed with her until she passed on a year ago. They had only two children, out of choice, not because they ran out of healthy eggs or fertile sperm. They just wanted the number of children they could give the best. Then, he did the ultimate: he exported his children to “better life.”

 Tunde is now in London. Sade is in Canada. And God has been kind to them. Between divine favour and level-headed choices, they have conquered accents, mortgages, and winter.

Their widowed father is not doing so well. He now depends on an absent-minded nurse to check his blood pressure, blood sugar and make his meals. These days, he would sit in his large living room, phone in hand, staring at pictures of Tunde in a suit somewhere in London, Sade smiling beside a winter tree in Canada. They looked happy. Successful. Exactly what he had prayed for.

And yet, the house remained stubbornly silent.

Sometimes, when the evening stretched too long, he would step outside and sit under the fading sun. The neighbor’s children would run past, laughing loudly, their noise spilling into his compound like a reminder of something he once had and willingly let go. He had given his children the world but in doing so, he had quietly removed himself from it.

You are shaking your head in pity already. Look around you and take a headcount of people you know who have done this. Maybe you are like Chief Adeyemi, even. Well, he is not alone. 

In fact, Adeyemi is Nigeria—rich in assets, poor in presence; full of potential, empty of people. And here is where the story stops being sentimental and starts becoming statistical.

Seriously this is not just about one Yoruba Chief having just two children, shipping them abroad and living lonely later. This is about a country slowly packing its future into suitcases. Let’s put emotions aside for a moment and face the arithmetic of our sad national choices.

In the United States today, there are between 700,000 and 1 million Nigerians—counting both immigrants and their children. In the United Kingdom, over 270,000 Nigerian-born people live and work, with the broader Nigerian community rising to about 300,000 to 350,000 when you include second-generation citizens.

Canada, the new bride of Nigerian migration, has witnessed a surge so dramatic it reads like a population transfer. From modest numbers just a decade ago, it now hosts over 100,000 Nigerians, driven by nearly 100,000 new arrivals between 2020 and 2025 alone.

Across Europe—Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland—another 300,000 to 500,000 Nigerians have quietly settled.

Put together, the Nigerian diaspora is estimated at two to four million people worldwide. Just four million Nigerians when we have over 200 million people. Why is Funke making it sound like 40 million left Nigeria?

Because this is not just about numbers. It is about who is leaving. It is not about a crowd leaving. It is about the class of those leaving. This is about the exit of capacity, a whole generation of capacity. And then another generation. Do you see why we all should declare national days of mourning for this great losses?

Doctors are leaving hospitals that already look like waiting rooms for death. Lecturers are leaving universities that now echo with strikes instead of ideas. Tech talents are building billion-dollar solutions—in Toronto, not Yaba. Even artisans—welders, plumbers, nurses—are now boarding flights with the same quiet determination: anywhere but here.

So while the percentage of Nigerians abroad may still be small, the percentage of Nigeria’s functional future that has left is anything but small.

Chief Adeyemi didn’t send all his children away. He sent two very brilliant , exceptionally focused young Nigerians. They most likely won’t return to live or help this ailing, diseased nation. They will give their youth, their best years to another nation.

When children leave and never return, something subtle breaks, quietly.

Not immediately. Not loudly. But permanently. The grandchildren of today’s migrants will grow up in Boston, Birmingham, and British Columbia. Nigeria in the minds of our departing children and their children will become a story, a vacation spot.

You cannot build a nation with people who no longer feel it belongs to them.

Yes, we are raising global citizens but we may also be raising stateless patriots, emotionally detached from the soil that raised their parents, a land that needs them.

Then there is the national death of our cultural care system and values.

Chief Adeyemi’s reality is spreading. Elderly parents now live on remittances but starved of presence. Across Nigeria, fathers and mothers are being “maintained” from abroad, bank alerts are replacing hugs and story times.

Now extend that to the national level.

If those trained to heal, build, teach, and lead are abroad, who attends to Nigeria’s daily emergencies? A country cannot be fixed via social media posts and vents.

At some point, somebody must be physically present to fix the leaking roof.

Over the years, we have got used to the phrase ‘brain drain’ and lost sight of the fact that a nation that exports its problem-solvers on a daily basis cannot expect its problems to reduce.

Let’s admit it for what it is: systematic depletion where Nigeria trains and the world gains.

The country that does not have enough to invest in education then watches as that investment is taken abroad not in an exchange program , but for free to strengthen foreign economies. The hospitals in the UK and Canada are staffed, in part, by Nigerian-trained professionals. Silicon Valley startups boast Nigerian engineers.

Meanwhile, back home, every sector is staggering under the weight of absence of or inadequate professionals.

Your grandson raised in Toronto by his Nigerian parents may eat jollof rice, yes—but will think Canadian. He will choose Canada first and have Canadian dream. All Nigerian languages are fading. All our cultures are weakening. Even the Igbo boy does not understand why the Yoruba boy prostrates to greet. Now that both of them are in America, they are both feeding their culture and mother tongues into the shredder. With each generation, Nigeria becomes less of a homeland and more of a heritage footnote. We may be in denial but our nation is dying quietly, disappearing without drama.

Where are your children? Are they all abroad? Do they come back at least once a year? Are you 60 or in your 70s and 80s and all your grandchildren are British,  Canadians or even Australians? If our brilliant children are not in APC,PDP or ADC, think deeply, what that means.  Your daughter that graduated with a First Class at 20 is abroad. The neighbourhood vulcanizer is the party youth leader. Both the APC and PDP just finished their conventions in Abuja, how many youths were there? I mean real young Nigerians who can actually buy their return tickets to Abuja and pay for Airbnb? Young Nigerians who do not and will not see politics as a job, the ones who have second and third addresses and are willing to make a difference.  

Our best brains are abroad, the next set of best brains are in the social media army, angry, depressed and impotently venting. I am sad. We all should be sad. Why? Because we think politics is beneath us but we want good governance. You must first break the egg before you fry the egg.

Of all the looming crises hidden in that Yemi Sodimu’s Facebook post, a future leadership trouble has the most dangerous implication. Tomorrow’s Nigeria will need leaders—people who understand its chaos, its contradictions, its possibilities.

But where are these future leaders today?

In Manchester, writing exams.

In Newcastle as carers in Old People’s Homes.

In Houston, juggling three jobs to pay bills.

In New York, building careers.

In Alberta, raising children who may never return.

Leadership is not just about brilliance from a distance, it is about presence.

As things stand, we risk a future where Nigeria will be governed by those who stayed—not necessarily those best prepared or qualified.

Migration  is normal.  People will always seek better lives. It is human nature.

But when everything goes so awry at home that an entire generation decides that “better life” cannot be found at home, then home is in trouble.

If every Chief Adeyemi exports his best, who inherits Nigeria?

If every Tunde and Sade builds abroad, who builds here? If two to four million Nigerians abroad represent some of the most skilled and driven, then their absence is not just physical—it is structurally tragic.

Nigeria is under siege of multi-dimensional terrorism on the home front. Ancient towns are emptying out in fear. Gunmen on the rail tracks and highway used to be our major fears. Now they have started attending vigils and Sunday services for bulk harvest of victims for ransom. Job opportunities have shrunk to the size of a sinful third leg caught in a married woman’s lap by the licensed owner.

Our systems are collapsing and we all seem to be agreeing, agreeing that 

Nigeria’s brightest minds are better used in other countries. It is as if we have given up on both our today and tomorrow.

Like Chief Adeyemi, we may one day sit in a vast, resource-rich nation—full of houses, roads, and possibilities—but strangely empty of people willing to take responsibility for it. Maybe our excuse then will be : 

“We wanted the best for our children.”

How can a people want the best for their children without wanting the best for themselves,  for the whole family, the entire nation?

The tragedy of Nigeria is not that its children are leaving. It is that the nation seems increasingly comfortable letting them go.

[4/3, 2:00 PM] Tunji Ayoade: The Core Irony: Reverence Without Resurrection

The irony is striking. Islam grants Jesus (Isa) an exalted status that, on paper, rivals Christianity's devotion. He is the Messiah (al-Masih), born of a virgin, sinless, a miracle-worker who heals the blind and raises the dead, and a sign of the Hour. The Qur'an affirms his special birth (Surah 19) and his role as a divinely inspired prophet. Many Muslims name their children after him, and he is referenced with the same honorific "peace be upon him" as Muhammad.

Yet this profound reverence collides with an absolute theological barrier: the denial of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Surah 4:157-158 is unambiguous: "They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them... Allah raised him up to Himself."

Why the Irony Matters

This isn't a minor doctrinal difference. For Christianity, the resurrection is the axis on which the entire faith turns. As Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" (1 Corinthians 15:17). The resurrection validates Jesus's divinity, his atonement for sin, and the defeat of death itself.

For Islam, accepting the resurrection would be impossible—not despite Jesus's high status, but because of it. To affirm resurrection is to affirm divine sonship and atonement theology, both of which violate tawhid (absolute monotheism). A God who requires a human sacrifice to forgive sins is, in Islamic thought, inconsistent with divine mercy and sovereignty. Instead, God simply raised Jesus bodily to heaven, bypassing death entirely.

The Deeper Paradox

The irony reveals a deeper truth: shared veneration does not imply shared meaning. Both traditions "love" Jesus, but they love different figures wearing the same name.

· Christian Jesus: Dying and rising God-man, second person of the Trinity, sacrificial lamb.

· Muslim Jesus: Prophetic precursor to Muhammad, miracle-worker who did not die, witness against those who deified him.

The resurrection is the event that creates the Christian Jesus. Remove it, and you have a wise, morally impeccable prophet—revered, yes, but not the object of saving faith.

Conclusion

The irony is not a flaw in either religion. It is a sharp boundary line. Muslims honor Jesus precisely by rejecting what Christians consider his greatest victory. For believers on both sides, this irony is not confusion to be resolved, but a theological cliff that defines their respective landscapes. Reverence without resurrection is, from a Christian perspective, reverence for a ghost of Jesus. From an Islamic perspective, resurrection is reverence for a fiction about God. The irony is irreconcilable—and that is precisely its function.

-DeepSeek

[4/3, 2:00 PM] Tunji Ayoade: ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS: IRONY

It's arguable that Muslims have as much reverence for Jesus as Christians do. 

Yet a true Muslim  must reject the resurrection story

*POLITICAL CONTESTANTS; YOU CAN NO LONGER DECAMP  AFTER PARTY PRIMARIES  WITH THE NEW ELECTORAL LAW. THE PUNITIVE MEASURES ARE TOO MANY..* .

 *1. PREAMBLE* .

The Electoral Act 2026 (building on the 2022 Act) significantly restricts "party-jumping"on politicians who lost at any party primaries by imposing strict membership and nomination deadlines that make last-minute defections practically impossible for securing a ticket. 

 *2. THE LEGAL POSITIONS ON POST PRIMARY DEFECTIONS AND MULTIPLE REGISTRATION* 

 *A. Mandatory Membership Register (Section 77)* 

The law now requires every political party to maintain a digital membership register that must be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days before any primary, congress, or convention. 

 *B. Eligibility constraint:* Only individuals whose names are in this pre-submitted register are eligible to vote or contest as candidates in that party’s primaries.

 *C. The "Peter Obi" Loophole Closure:* In 2022, candidates could switch parties days before a primary (as seen with Peter Obi moving from PDP to Labor Party). 

Under the 2026 Act, a candidate who defects after their new party has already submitted its register to INEC cannot legally contest that party's ticket. 

 *3.PROHIBITION OF MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS ( SECTION 115).* 

The Act explicitly criminalizes the attempt to secure nomination for more than one constituency or office simultaneously. 

 *A. Offense* : It is a criminal offense for a person to sign a nomination paper or result form as a candidate in more than one constituency for the same election.

 *B. Penalties:* Conviction for multiple nominations attracts a maximum term of two years imprisonment without the option of a fine.

 *C. Constituency Definition:* For these purposes, "constituency" refers to separate offices, meaning one cannot be a candidate for President and Senate, or Governor and Senate, in the same election cycle. 

 *4. RESTRICTIONS ON CANDIDATE SUBSTITUTION.  (Section 33)* 

Once a party submits its list of candidates to INEC, changing or substituting a candidate is strictly limited to only two scenarios: 

A..Death of the candidate.

B.Voluntary withdrawal in writing by the candidate.

Parties can no longer arbitrarily swap "placeholder" candidates for influential defectors who lose elsewhere, unless a fresh primary is held within 14 days of a valid withdrawal. 

 *5. PENALTIES FOR MULTIPLE PARTY REGISTRATION*  

Under the stricter 2026 framework, registering in more than one political party is prohibited to ensure the integrity of the digital membership database. 

 *A.Fine/Imprisonment:* Violating registration rules can lead to a fine of at least N100,000 or imprisonment for at least one year, or both.

 *B. Data Integration* : INEC is integrating voter registration with the National Identification Number (NIN) system to track and prevent duplicate memberships across different parties.

 *6. INEC TIMETABLE FOR 2027 GENERAL ELECTIONS.* 

Yes, INEC has released the revised timetable for the 2027 General Elections. 

The new schedule is specifically designed to align with the Electoral Act 2026, which shifted election dates earlier to avoid clashing with the 2027 Ramadan period. 

 *A. Key Deadlines for Political Contestants* 

The most critical date for any politician looking to switch parties is the membership register submission deadline. 

If your name is not on the list submitted by this date, you cannot legally contest that party's primary. 

 *I. Notice of Election*  February 13, 2026

 *II. Submission of Membership Register*  April 1 – April 21, 2026

 *III. Deadline to Beat "Party Jumping"* 

 April 2, 2026 (34-day scramble for some parties)

 *IV.Conduct of Party Primaries* 

 April 23 – May 30, 2026

 *V. Submission of Nomination Forms*  June 27 – July 11, 2026 (Presidential/NASS).

 *VI. Final List of Candidates* Published  September 12, 2026 (Presidential/NASS).

 *7.2027 ELECTION DATES.* 

 *A. Presidential & National Assembly:* Saturday, January 16, 2027

 *B. Governorship & State Houses of Assembly:*

 Saturday, February 6, 2027 

 *8  WHY THE APRIL . 2ND DEADLINE MATTERS.* 

Under Section 77 of the new Act, parties must submit their digital registers at least 21 days before primaries begin. 

Since primaries start on April 23, 2026, the window for a politician to join a new party and be "captured" in the official register effectively closes in early April 2026. 

Any "rush" to another party after this window is legally void for the 2027 cycle, as INEC will only recognize the register submitted during that April window.

 *9. THE LEGAL TRAP.* 

Exactly. The legal "trap" is now set long before the general election.

 If a politician loses a primary in May 2026 and tries to "rush" to a new party, they will find the door locked because that new party's membership register was already "frozen" and submitted to INEC in April 2026.

Unless their name was already on that new party's list before they lost the first primary (which is illegal multiple registration), they cannot be cleared to run.

This creates three major legal roadblocks for "political nomads":

 *Q. The "Frozen" Register:* INEC will reject any candidate nomination whose name is not found on the digital register submitted during the April 1–21 window.

 *B. The 21-Day Rule:* Section 77(3) is a strict condition precedent.

 No name on the register = no valid primary victory.

 *C. Judicial Precedent* : Nigerian courts have recently leaned toward strict compliance with the Electoral Act. 

Any candidate who bypasses these timelines faces a "pre-election matter" lawsuit that could disqualify them even if they win the general election.

Essentially, the law now forces politicians to pick a lane and stay in it at least nine months before the actual election day.

 *10. THE SEVERE CRIMINAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONSEQUENCES TO PARTY OFFICIALS THAT WANT TO BYPASS THE LAW ON THE PARTY REGISTRATION.* 

. The Electoral Act 2026 introduces severe criminal and administrative consequences for party officials, specifically targeting those who attempt to bypass the new digital membership rules. 

Under the new law, "smuggling" names or manipulating registers carry the following penalties:

 *A.. Disqualification of the Entire Party (Section 77)* 

The most immediate "death sentence" for a political party is administrative.

 *I.Total Exclusion:* If a party fails to submit a compliant, digital, NIN-linked register by the April 21, 2026 deadline, they are barred from fielding any candidates for the 2027 elections.

 *II. Ineligibility:* Any primary election held using a register not previously submitted to INEC is legally void, meaning winners cannot be issued certificates of return. 

 *B. Criminal Penalties for Party Officials* .

Party Chairmen or Secretaries who provide false or misleading information—such as backdating memberships or adding names after the deadline—face direct prosecution.

 *I.Imprisonment:* Principal officers who provide false information commit an offence and can be prosecuted.

 *II.General Forgery Penalties:* The House of Representatives recently approved a 10-year jail term or a fine of ₦75 million for anyone found guilty of forging nomination papers or related electoral documents.

 *III. Unqualified Candidates:* A political party that knowingly presents a candidate who does not meet the legal requirements (including membership duration) is liable to a fine of ₦10 million. 

 *C . Personal Ban from Public Office* 

Under Section 22, any individual convicted of undermining the credibility of the election through fraudulent practices: 

#. Faces a minimum fine of ₦5 million or up to two years imprisonment.

#. Is hit with a 10-year ban from contesting any public office in Nigeria. 

 *D.. No Court "Rescue" (Section 83)* 

Previously, party chairmen would use court injunctions to force INEC to accept late names. 

The 2026 Act significantly curtails this: 

 *I. Ousted Jurisdiction:* Courts are now largely barred from interfering in the "internal affairs" of parties, including membership disputes.

 *II Frivolous Suit Penalty:* Lawyers or plaintiffs who file "frivolous" suits to stop primaries or force late registrations risk a mandatory court cost of at least ₦10 million. 

This "booby-trap" effectively ensures that once the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) data is synced with the party register in April, no further names can be "smuggled" in for the 2027 cycle.  

Political parties risk disqualification from 2027 poll over digital registration. 

#Copied ✍️✍️

*SPEECH DELIVERED BY MR. BAMIMORE MUTIU ADESOLA, THE VICE PRINCIPAL OF OBA KILANI OLARINRE ILUFEMILOYE SECONDARY SCHOOL, SANGO, SAKI, OYO STATE OF NIGERIA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE VALEDICTORY SERVICE FOR THE CLASS OF 2024/2025, HELD ON TUESDAY, 5TH AUGUST 2025, AT THE SCHOOL PREMISES*

*PARENTAL FAILURE – HOW LACK OF DISCIPLINE IS CREATING A GENERATION OF LOST SOULS*

There was a time when parents raised warriors. Now, they raise weaklings.

A time when children feared their fathers’ discipline. Now, children insult their fathers online.

A time when a slap from your mother could reset your entire future. Now, mothers watch their children twerk for clout.

The world changed—not because evil became more powerful, but because parents became weaker.

Children no longer have boundaries,

 No fear. 

No respect. 

No discipline.

And the result?

A generation that mocks God, worships vanity, and embraces sin with pride.

*BRUTAL THREAD:*

1. *CHILDREN WITHOUT DISCIPLINE BECOME ADULTS WITHOUT SELF-CONTROL*

A child who never hears “NO” at home will hear “NO” from life when it’s too late.

The boy who was never told to control his desires will become a man addicted to sex, gambling, and laziness.

The girl who was never told to respect herself would become a woman who exposes her body for money and attention.

The child who was never corrected for lying will become an adult who deceives, manipulates, and steals.

If parents don’t discipline their children, the world will punish them later.

2. *THE FALL OF FAMILY VALUES IS THE RISE OF MORAL DECAY*

What happened to parenting?

Mothers used to teach daughters how to be women of dignity. Now, they encourage them to “secure the bag” by any means.

Fathers used to teach sons how to be responsible men. Now, they are absent—either too weak, too distracted, or too scared to lead.

So children are now learning from TikTok instead of home, and the internet is raising a generation with no fear of God and no sense of direction.

3. *PARENTS WHO SPOIL THEIR CHILDREN ARE DESTROYING THEM*

Giving your child everything they want is the fastest way to ruin them.

A child who never worked for anything will grow up lazy and entitled.

A child who was never disciplined will grow up thinking life has no consequences.

A child who was never corrected will grow up believing they can do anything and get away with it.

Now, we have a world full of adults who can’t handle rejection, can’t handle failure, and can’t handle life.

4. *WHEN PARENTS CHOOSE FRIENDSHIP OVER LEADERSHIP, CHAOS FOLLOWS*

Many parents today want to be their child’s friend instead of their leader.

So instead of saying:

❌ "This behaviour is wrong!" They say, "She’s just expressing herself."

❌ "You must work for what you want!" They say, "Let me buy it for you."

❌ "This is not acceptable!" They say, "I don't want to hurt their feelings."

And just like that, we have a generation of weak people who cry over small problems and break down when life gets tough.

5. *THE NEW GENERATION LOVES PLEASURE BUT HATES RESPONSIBILITY*

Discipline used to be normal.

Now, a child calls it "abuse" when a parent corrects them.

Now, teachers can’t discipline students because "it’s too harsh."

Now, young people demand freedom but reject accountability.

Everyone wants to enjoy, but no one wants to work.

And this is why:

The streets are full of lazy men chasing quick money.

Social media is full of young girls selling their bodies for attention.

Homes are full of broken families because nobody was raised to be a good partner or parent.

6. *WHEN CHILDREN LOSE DISCIPLINE, THEY LOSE THEIR FUTURE.*

Many young men today are addicted to masturbation, pornography, and cheap pleasure—because nobody taught them self-control.

Many young women today expose their bodies for social media likes—because nobody taught them self-respect.

Many young people today are broke, weak, and mentally unstable—because nobody taught them how to survive hardship.

The devil is not the problem. The parents failed.

Firstly let us critically  analyse  the  national electricity  problems 

Asking chat GPT

"Is Nigeria  in this present  state has capability  of providing steady,  regular and adequate  electricity  to the nation?"

This is the answer 

"Yes — Nigeria has the potential to provide steady, regular, and adequate electricity to the whole country, but in its present state it is not yet capable of doing so reliably. The reasons are mainly structural, technical, and policy-related rather than lack of resources.

Below is a simple explanation.

1. Nigeria Has Enough Energy Resources ⚡

Nigeria actually has more than enough natural resources to generate large amounts of electricity:

Natural Gas – Nigeria has one of the largest gas reserves in Africa.

Hydropower – Large dams such as Kainji Dam, Jebba Dam and Shiroro Dam.

Solar energy – Very strong sunlight across northern Nigeria.

Wind and biomass – Also available in several regions.

Experts estimate Nigeria could generate 20,000–40,000 MW or more with proper development.

However, the actual electricity delivered is usually only about 3,000–5,000 MW for over 200 million people.

2. Major Problems Limiting Electricity Supply

Poor Transmission Infrastructure

The national grid cannot carry enough power even when it is generated.

Grid collapses occur frequently.

Transmission capacity is limited.

The grid is managed by Transmission Company of Nigeria.

Weak Distribution Companies

Electricity distribution companies often:

Cannot maintain infrastructure.

Lose electricity through energy theft and technical losses.

Have poor billing systems.

Many Nigerians therefore receive irregular supply.

Gas Supply Problems

Most Nigerian power plants run on gas. Problems include:

Pipeline vandalism

Gas supply debts

Infrastructure gaps

This prevents power plants from operating at full capacity.

Financial Problems

Many companies in the power sector struggle financially.

The sector was privatized in 2013 by the government under Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission oversight, but:

Tariffs often do not cover real costs.

Government subsidies are still required.

Policy and Management Issues

Frequent policy changes, weak enforcement, and political interference have slowed progress.

3. Nigeria's Electricity Demand vs Supply

Approximate figures:

Item

Estimate

Population

220+ million

Power needed

30,000–40,000 MW

Installed capacity

~13,000 MW

Actual delivered power

3,000–5,000 MW

For comparison:

South Africa produces about 40,000 MW.

Egypt produces over 50,000 MW.

4. What Nigeria Would Need to Achieve Stable Electricity

Nigeria could achieve steady electricity if it:

Expands generation capacity (gas, solar, hydro).

Modernizes the national transmission grid.

Improves distribution networks.

Enforces cost-reflective tariffs.

Encourages private investment and renewable energy.

✅ Conclusion:

Nigeria has the resources and technical ability, but due to infrastructure, financial, and governance challenges, the country currently cannot provide steady and adequate electricity nationwide.

With  this it's very obvious that all the ministers that has been  handling  the power portfolio  of the country  know that it is task that cannot be achieved.  

Mainwhile  to them it a portfolio to embezzle, loot and steal  the national  commonwealth  to enrich  themselves  with nothing to show  for it.

BREAKING: China just ordered Sinopec and PetroChina to stop exporting diesel and gasoline.

Not slow them down. Stop.

Beijing looked at the Strait of Hormuz, looked at its fuel stockpiles, and made a decision: nothing leaves. Every barrel refined in China stays in China until further notice.

Half of China’s crude imports transit the Strait of Hormuz. 30% of its LNG comes through the same chokepoint. With 85% of maritime traffic in the Gulf already halted, China is not waiting to find out how long this lasts. It is hoarding now, while it still has something to hoard.

This is the moment the Iran war stops being a Middle East story.

When the world’s largest manufacturer, the engine of global supply chains, the factory floor for everything from semiconductors to solar panels to the clothes on your back, begins rationing fuel, the economic shockwave does not stay in the Gulf.

It arrives in every container port, every logistics hub, every retailer, every consumer price index on earth within six to eight weeks.

Here is the number that should stop everyone cold.

Chinese refiners reckon they have about 10 days of buffer before domestic operations become genuinely constrained. If Hormuz remains closed past that window, within two months China faces real supply problems. Two months of China running at reduced industrial capacity is not an energy market event. It is a global recession event.

The market is pricing an oil supply shock.

It has not begun pricing what happens to global manufacturing when the world’s largest buyer of commodities goes into fuel conservation mode with no confirmed reopening date on the horizon.

Those are not the same shock. The second one is significantly larger.

open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

☀️*MORNING TEA:*🍵

_*THURSDAY-5th MARCH , 2026*_

*TODAY'S THEME:*📖

_*....Doing Great Exploits.*_

*TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:*📖

_*Daniel 11:32*_

"But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits". 

*TODAY'S WORD:*🔥

*God’s dream for you is that you will be strong and do mighty exploits. No more living intimidated and saying, “I can’t do it. It’s too big.” When you know who you are, when you know your God, you won’t run from the giant, you’ll run to the giant. God didn’t say you’d just do exploits; He says mighty exploits. It’s going to be bigger than you can accomplish on your own. You can’t do this just in your power, your ability. The Most High God will back you up.(Zechariah 4:6). Sometimes He’ll let the odds be against you in a great way so it will be a mighty exploit.*

Dearly Beloved, do you realize that you were created in the image of Almighty God? (Genesis 1:26). When He made you, He put a part of Himself in you. Because of that you are powerful. You are anointed. You are favoured. You are blessed. You’re a mighty warrior. You’re full of can-do power.(Phillipians 4:13). His favour surrounds you like a shield. ( Psalm 5:12). You can bring healing to the sick. You can start that business. Don’t go through life thinking you’re average. There is greatness in you. Halleluyah!✅

_*Praise the Living God somebody.*_🎹🎤🥁🪘🎸🪗🪇🪕🎼

*PRAYERS FOR TODAY:*🙏

Gracious God the Father, thank You that You are the all-powerful Creator of the universe. Help me take the limits off what I believe You can do in and through my life and carry out great exploits. I open my heart to You and ask You to increase my capacity to be full of can-do power in  Jesus’ name.

Dearly Beloved, 

*" You are children from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."*(1 John 4:4)

⊺ɦɛ ֆǟɢɛ: 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗘𝗙 𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗙𝗘𝗠𝗜 𝗔𝗪𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗢 🌟

*The last two years of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Premier of Western Region was concentrated on efforts to develop YORUBALAND and write his own name in the book of Legends.*

He incorporated: *Western Hotels* which invested in:

1) _Premier Hotel,

2) _Lafia hotels in Ibadan

3) _Lagos Airport Hotel respectively.

He set up:

*Western Nigeria Development Corporation* to finance mega corporations. This was established in 1958.

It encouraged plantation development with six agricultural plantations covering 20,517 acres in collabo-ration with Cooperative societies, eleven additional plantations covering 8,468 acres with crops ranging from Cocoa , Rubber, Oil Palm, Citrus, Cashew and Coffee had been put in place all over the region.

WNDC, a clearing house for multitude of companies, established for the rapid industrial development and revolution of the region.

Among them were:

1. _WAPCO at Ewekoro for cement, with enough capacity to serve the whole country.

2. _Nigerite Ltd, producing asbestos and roofing sheets,

3. _National Bank,

4. _Wema Bank,

5. _Nigerian General Insurance,

6. _Great Nigeria Insurance,

7. _Gravil Enthoven and coy,

8. _Vegetables Oil Ltd,

9. _Cocoa Processing Industry Ogba Ikeja,

10. _Odua Textile Mills Ltd,

11. _Wrought Iron Ltd,

12. _Union beverages Ltd, 13. Sungass company,

14. _Wemabod estates, owner of Western House tallest building, then on Broad Street, and other es-tates,

15. _Western livestocks,

16. _Fisheries services Ltd,

17. _Caxton Press,

18. _Epe Plywood,

19. _Asakar Paints,

20. _Nigeria Crafts and Bags Ltd,

21. _Nipol Plastics in Ibadan,

22. _Phoenix Motors.

Also, he opened up biggest industrial layouts in:

i. Ibadan, Oluyole and

ii. Lagos Oba Akran axis and

iii. *Ilupeju in Mushin axis with over 120 factories* for mass production of different needs & gave birth to:

23. _Nigeria Textile Mills,

24. _West Africa Breweries,

25. _Dunlop Tyres,

26. _Crittal Hope Aluminum,

27. _Tower Aluminium,

28. _Solel Boneh,

29. _Nidogas,

30. _Nigeria Wire and Cables in Ilupeju.

Odua Investments was the largest conglomerates in Nigeria as at 2004 with assets worth over N10 tril-lion.

Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo paid the Western Nigeria Civil servants, the highest salaries far above Federal government.

So much jobs were created by vast industrialisation drives.

All these were achieved without Oil revenue between1951-1959. He also touched the road construction with bitumen & laid road network covering over 2,000 kilometers throughout the region.

Other achievements of his regime are:

1. _Cocoa House, the tallest building in West Africa for decades,

2. _Liberty Stadium, the most modern in the entire African,

3. _Western Nigeria Television & Broadcasting Service (WNTV/WNBS), the first Radio & Television Sta-tions in Africa,

4. _Many General Hospitals and Dispensaries in rural area.

5. _Free Education at primary school level.

6. _His effort in Cooperative society development gave birth to establishment of Cooperative Bank in 1953 and Cooperative College.

The eight years most of this present Governors spend, was the same with Pa Awolowo, covering what comprises 8 states nowadays, yet he achieved so much. Most of our present day Governors could not mention one world class company, corporate institution or industry set up to create jobs for teaming youths being turned out year in, year out, by our ivory towers.

Today leaders should at least emulate our late sage foot steps instead of all the temporary empower-ment programs (Motor cycle, Keke Napep, Pepper grinding machine, Cassava grinding machine, Deep freezer, Fridge, Clipper etc) being used to cajole the electorates at the turn of election every four years.

A time will come in this nation that people aspiring for position must show a well laid out plan before the electorate.

The cash and carry politics will fail as it's the practise in developed nation.

Let us always look forward to lasting legacies.

*OBAFEMI AWOLOWO* was obviously ahead of his peers and till today no living or deceased Nigerian has surpassed his achievements.

You wonder why the southwest Nigeria did well.

In the 1990s, Nigeria Textile Mills, Oba Akran Ikeja alone employed over 4,000 workers before the mili-tary mismanagement of economy killed the company with unfriendly company policies

*Can we ever find a leader like this man in Nigeria again?*

*Indisputable fact*

 

ᴄᴏᴘɪᴇᴅ ғʀᴏᴍ: 𝑶𝒑𝒆 𝑶𝒍𝒖𝒘𝒂

*SPOT ON:*

*"Reclaiming the People’s Wealth - Tinubu’s "Direct Remittance" Order: The End of the NNPC ATM Era?*

In a major move to fix how Nigeria manages its "Oil & Gas," President Bola Tinubu recently signed a landmark Executive Order. 

This is one of the most significant shifts in the oil and gas sector since the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Here is a deep dive into what this means for you and the nation.

*Explaining Like You’re Ten: The Big Piggy Bank*

Imagine you and your siblings have a big family piggy bank (the Federation Account). 

This money is used to buy food, pay for school, and fix the house. 

Your big brother (the NNPC) is in charge of selling mangoes from the family garden to put money in that bank.

Usually, before your brother puts the money inside the piggy bank, he takes out a huge chunk for himself to "pay for his shoes" and "save for a rainy day." 

By the time he’s done, the piggy bank is almost empty!

*What is the Executive Order?*

It’s a new ruOPe from your Dad (the President) saying: "No more taking money first!" 

From now on, every kobo made from the mangoes must go straight into the family piggy bank. 

If the big brother needs money for his shoes, he has to ask for it properly or use the small allowance he already has.

*Why did this happen?*

Because the family was becoming too poor to buy food, even though they were selling more mangoes than ever.

*How does it work? (A Simple Scenario)*

If Nigeria sells $100 worth of oil:

 *Before:* NNPC would take $30 (Management Fee) + $30 (Frontier Fund) + other small fees. Only about $30-$40 reached the family.

 *Now:* The full $100 goes to the Federation Account first. Then, the government shares it fairly between the Federal, State, and Local governments to build schools and roads.

*The Numbers: What Was Being Deducted?*

Before this order, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) allowed several "layers" of deductions that acted like a sieve, leaking money away:

*30% Management Fee:* NNPC kept this from "Profit Oil" and "Profit Gas" for managing contracts.

*30% Frontier Exploration Fund:* This was set aside for searching for oil in new areas (like the North).

*20% Profit Retention:* NNPC already keeps 20% of its profits for its own operations.

*Gas Flare Penalties:* Money paid by companies for burning gas was being sent to a special fund (MDGIF) instead of the main account.

*Total Impact:* These deductions were eating up nearly 60% to 70% of the money that should have gone to the Federation.

*Factors Responsible for This Move*

 *Revenue Crisis:* Despite high oil prices, the amount of money reaching the government was dropping.

 *Economic Pressure:* Nigeria needs more money to pay off debts and fund the 2024/2025 budgets.

 *Transparency Issues:* The old system was "opaque" (cloudy), making it hard to see exactly how much was being spent.

 *Constitutional Alignment:* The 1999 Constitution says all oil money belongs to the Federation, but the 2021 PIA had created "loopholes" that bypassed this.

*Impact on Nigeria and Nigerians*

 *More Money for States:* Your Governor and Local Government Chairman will now have more money every month (FAAC). This means no more excuses for unpaid salaries or broken clinics.

 *Strengthened Naira:* With more dollars going directly into the Federation Account, the government has better control over the economy.

 *Accountability:* It forces NNPC to act like a real business. If they want to spend money, they must be efficient, not just dip into the "public pot."

*Tinubu’s "Direct Remittance" Order: The End of the NNPC ATM Era?*

For decades, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has operated as a "state within a state." While the nation groaned under the weight of inflation and debt, the oil giant sat on billions in deductions allowed by the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). 

On February 13, 2026, President Bola Tinubu shouted "enough" by signing an Executive Order that mandates the direct remittance of all oil and gas revenues to the Federation Account.

*How it Works*

The order essentially "plugs the leak." Previously, NNPC acted as a middleman, collecting oil proceeds, removing its 30% management fee and 30% exploration fund, and handing over the "change" to the government. 

Under the new directive, all operators and contractors must pay royalties and taxes directly to the Federation Account. NNPC’s power to deduct at source has been stripped.

This development ensures that the three tiers of government—Federal, State, and Local—receive their full constitutional share of the country’s primary wealth. 

By suspending the Frontier Exploration Fund and redirecting gas flare penalties, the President is prioritizing immediate national survival over speculative future projects.

*Recommendations*

 *Legislative Backup:* While the Executive Order is a great start, the National Assembly must urgently amend the PIA to make these changes permanent.

 *Oversight:* Citizens must now hold State Governors accountable. With "more money" comes the responsibility of better projects.

 *NNPC Efficiency:* The NNPCL must now focus on being a world-class commercial entity that makes profit through innovation, not just through statutory deductions.

*Conclusion*

President Tinubu’s move is a bold "fiscal reset." By returning oil revenues to the Federation Account, the government is finally putting the horse before the cart. 

If managed with integrity, this could be the turning point that provides the funds needed to transform Nigeria’s infrastructure and pull millions out of poverty. 

*The "middleman" has been bypassed; now, let the money work for the people.*

Join the National Crusade for a Better

Nigeria."

*COPIED*

*May Nigeria and Nigerians Succeed IJN.* 🇳🇬♾️✅😍 CFA nueigsynergy@gmail.com

*Did Tinubu win fair and square in 2023?*

This was the central question of my Master's dissertation. Here's what I found.

The Fox Brief

Dec 18, 2025

For many years, Nigeria’s elections have been dealing with a crisis of legitimacy. This crisis manifests in voter apathy across all levels. People get voted in through rigged elections that do not reflect the will of the people and then proceed to misrule.

The 2023 elections were supposed to address this. Nigeria spent over ₦300 billion on that cycle, around $650 million at the time. The central promise was seductive: biometric verification would eliminate ghost voters, real-time result uploads would make ballot-box stuffing obsolete, and transparency would finally triumph. Electronic transmission was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle to restore public confidence in the elections. By allowing for uploads of result sheets at polling unit level in their original state, it would provide a check against electoral malpractice that occurs at collation centers.

On the day of the presidential election, that promise to Nigerians was not kept. The IReV portal crashed. For hours. When it finally sputtered back to life, INEC officials began backtracking on their promises about real-time transmission. Allegations of irregularities sprouted like mushrooms after rain. Opposition parties cried foul. International observers frowned diplomatically, and Bola Tinubu was announced as the winner.

There is a decent number of people who do not think that Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election fairly. If you asked these people, they would point to the failure of the electronic transmission of results through INEC’s IREV portal on election day, as well as the fact that those uploaded result sheets were also not admissible during the election tribunal hearings.

But here’s the thing about modern democracy: the numbers don’t lie, even when people do. Every uploaded result sheet, every recorded vote, every digital breadcrumb creates a statistical fingerprint. And if you know where to look, those fingerprints tell stories.

For my master’s thesis in Data Science at Pan-Atlantic University, I analyzed 123,918 polling units across all 36 states and the FCT. I fed the data through statistical forensics tests that have caught fraudsters from Russia to Mexico. I also trained machine-learning algorithms to spot patterns that human observers would miss. And I found things that should make every Nigerian pause.

Before I continue, I must appreciate the work of Innover Technologies who scraped the result sheets directly from the IREV portal as part of a massive operation. I must also acknowledge Amara Nwankpa, Director-General of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, for helping me get this dataset. Without these events, what follows below would not have been possible. To my knowledge, this is the first time that machine learning algorithms have been applied to detect fraud in Nigerian election data at polling unit level. This is not a trivial matter.

Thanks for reading The Fox Brief's Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

When Humans Make Up Numbers, Math Catches Them

Here’s a fun experiment: close your eyes and generate ten random numbers between 0 and 9. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Now count how many times you used the digit 5 or 0. If you’re like most humans, you probably avoided them. We think we’re being random, but our brains hate true randomness. We unconsciously avoid repetition, favor certain digits, and create patterns. This psychological quirk has been documented since the 1950s, and it’s exactly what makes human-generated fake data detectable.

In genuine elections where thousands of independent voters make individual choices, the last digits of vote counts should distribute uniformly. Each digit from 0 to 9 should appear about 10% of the time. But when someone sits in a collation center (or at a polling unit) and invents numbers, their cognitive biases leak into the data.

My analysis of Nigeria’s 2023 election revealed a chi-square statistic of 24,871.37 for last-digit distributions. For context, anything above about 20 is considered significant. This is...not close. The probability that this pattern occurred naturally is essentially zero (the statistical software literally returned p = 0, which means “I can’t even calculate how unlikely this is”).

The digit 0 appeared 7.8% less often than expected. The digit 5 appeared 9.4% less often than expected. People fabricating results systematically avoided the most “obvious” endings, just like you probably did in my experiment above.

Then there’s Benford’s Law, which sounds like science fiction but is just math being weird. In naturally occurring datasets, the second digit of numbers follows a specific logarithmic distribution. Don’t worry about the math, just trust that vote counts from genuine elections should match this pattern, and fabricated ones usually don’t.

Across all parties, the deviations from Benford’s Law were so extreme that the probability of them occurring by chance was 3.87 × 10-195. To put this in perspective, you’re more likely to win the lottery five times in a row than to see this pattern emerge naturally. The universe has existed for about 1017 seconds. This probability is 10-195. The numbers are screaming.

The Machine Learned Some Things

Statistical tests are powerful, but they examine one thing at a time. Machine learning examines dozens of features simultaneously: how votes distribute across parties, whether turnout correlates suspiciously with vote shares, whether results cluster at round numbers, whether arithmetic adds up correctly.

I trained several algorithms, including Random Forest classifiers and something wonderfully named “Isolation Forest.” These models flagged 4,351 polling units as anomalous (3.5% of all units analyzed). Small percentage, you might think. But we’re talking about potentially hundreds of thousands of votes in an election decided by 7.4 percentage points nationally.

And here’s where it gets interesting: these anomalies weren’t randomly scattered. They clustered. Hard.

The Southeast Will Be Studied

Anambra State showed an anomaly rate of 24.9%. Nearly one in four polling units displayed multiple fraud indicators. Enugu came in at 16.7%. Imo at 10.9%. These aren’t rounding errors or statistical noise. These are neon signs visible from space.

For comparison, Lagos, despite being the political home of the winning candidate, showed an anomaly rate of just 2.3%. Oyo recorded 0.3%.

The pattern contradicts the simple narrative that “the ruling party rigged it everywhere.” The data suggests something more complex and frankly more worrying: electoral manipulation is geographically concentrated, crosses party lines, and seems to follow opportunity rather than ideology.

Another thing to note is that this only covers analysis for uploaded result sheets. The actual numbers that were announced by INEC, in some cases, are at significant variance, indicating additional manipulation. The biggest example is Rivers State, which the Labour Party won, but was called for the APC in the final tally.

Here’s the twist that should make everyone uncomfortable: the Labour Party, not the ruling APC, showed the highest concentration of irregularities in its strongholds. LP had 2,328 instances of what I call “perfect scores” (results clustering at suspiciously round percentages like 50.00% or 75.00%). Despite winning only 29.1% of votes nationally, LP accounted for more than its share of statistical red flags.

This finding complicates the popular narrative. It suggests that electoral fraud in Nigeria 2023 wasn’t a one-sided affair orchestrated from Aso Rock. Multiple actors engaged in manipulation where they could. The southeastern concentration suggests that the very regions crying loudest about being cheated may themselves have been sites of significant irregularities.

The above should not be confused with the fact that Peter Obi was not popular in the South-East. In fact, he was extremely popular. It is precisely that hegemonic popularity that provided cover for electoral manipulation. In a contested space, it is much more difficult.

When the Observers Agreed With the Algorithms

The strongest validation of these statistical findings comes from an unexpected source: boots on the ground.

YIAGA Africa, perhaps Nigeria’s premier election-monitoring organization, deployed over 3,800 observers in a statistically representative sample of polling units. Using their Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, they independently estimated what the results should have been based on direct observation.

Their findings: significant irregularities in exactly two states. Can you guess which ones? Rivers and Imo. Both states rank in the top six anomalous states in my statistical analysis.

In Rivers State, INEC declared that APC won 44.2% of votes. YIAGA’s PVT estimated APC support between 16.7% and 26.7%. My analysis, covering 69.5% of Rivers polling units, shows 26.3%. The convergence between observer reports and statistical forensics is striking.

When two completely different methodologies (one based on human observation, one based on computational analysis) independently identify the same problems in the same places, confidence in the findings increases dramatically. It’s the scientific equivalent of two witnesses corroborating the same story.

The Evolution of Electoral Mischief

Nigerian elections used to be crude affairs. Ballot boxes got snatched. Thugs thumb-printed thousands of ballots. Results bore no resemblance to reality.

The 2023 data suggests that fraudsters have evolved. Crude ballot stuffing has declined, replaced by subtler manipulation of vote distributions. Instead of reporting 100% turnout with 95% for one candidate (which screams fraud), modern perpetrators report 65% turnout with 58% for their candidate. Plausible. Defensible. Still fraudulent.

The sophistication shows in another pattern: integer heaping. At the 50% threshold for leader vote share, I found 3,511 instances compared to 2,765 expected. The Z-score of 14.34 is astronomical in statistical terms. People love that psychologically comfortable 50% mark when fabricating results. It sounds plausible, delivers victory, and avoids the red flags of 90% landslides.

This evolution poses new challenges for election observers. You can’t spot subtle numerical manipulation with the naked eye. You can’t catch someone who reports 52.73% instead of the genuine 48.19% by watching the counting process. You need computational forensics.

Why 3.5% Matters More Than You Think

Some might seize on that 3.5% anomaly rate. “See? 96.5% of polling units were fine. Stop complaining.”

This misses crucial points.

First, we only analyzed 70% of polling units. The missing 30% was the result of INEC’s servers preventing the scraping operation of results sheets from IREV from completing. The true national anomaly rate likely exceeds 3.5%.

Second, in close elections, small percentages determine outcomes. The winning margin was 7.4 points. Even conservative estimates of affected votes (15,348) become meaningful. The moderate scenario (196,308 votes, or 1.21% of total) could be decisive in competitive states.

Third, geographic concentration creates outsized effects. When irregularities cluster in regions that strongly favor specific parties, the impact multiplies. The Labour Party’s southeastern concentration meant that manipulation there disproportionately affected its national vote share.

Finally, there’s legitimacy. Democracy runs on trust. When over 5% of polling units in six states show patterns consistent with manipulation, that trust erodes. The perception of fraud can damage democracy as much as actual fraud.

So, who won the 2023 elections?

When you bring all this together, we can now answer the question about whether Tinubu won the 2023 election fair and square. The answer is yes; he did. Apart from the fact that there is no evidence of overwhelming voter fraud that favoured only the APC, the fact is that other parties inflated vote totals where they could. What kept the APC in power is that the opposition vote was split. 63% of voters selected other parties. If that vote was concentrated in one opposition party, the APC would not have returned.

This is a crucial piece of information ahead of the next election: even though the APC controlled the center, their capacity to affect electoral outcomes through electoral manipulation is limited. Division among the opposition is a much bigger factor in their continued dominance.

We are already seeing this playing out. Several governors have defected to the APC in 2025, citing division in the PDP. The PDP are unable to get their house in order and so far, the ADC coalition is also yet to take off. As it stands, the APC has a supermajority of governors as well as federal legislators in both houses, and this gives it multiple paths to victory at the polls.

The only chance for opposition figures seeking to unseat the APC, is to unite under one banner. The ruling party will do all it can to prevent that from happening.

The Path Forward Isn’t Paved With More Technology Alone

Nigeria’s instinct when facing electoral challenges is to throw technology or money at the problem. The 2023 experience suggests otherwise. BVAS worked magnificently in some areas, failed spectacularly in others. The technology wasn’t the problem; the institutions were.

Here are my recommendations after months of staring at these numbers:

Conduct an independent audit. Only a minority of Nigerians trust INEC. Restore trust through transparency. Let civil society, academics, and international observers review the full 2023 data as well as polling unit level data from off-cycle elections. Publish findings and act on the recommendations. INEC’s current posture is to go into hiding, hoping that the storm will pass and people will forget. But the storm of electoral illegitimacy does not pass. It is a permanent ill-wind that does no one any good.

Make real-time transmission mandatory by law. The 2022 Electoral Act should explicitly require result uploads to IReV within specific timeframes. This will remove the ambiguity INEC exploited and place the burden on it – rather than the candidates – to show that the election was free, fair and credible.

Unbundle INEC’s responsibilities. The commission currently regulates parties, conducts elections, and prosecutes offenses. This concentration invites conflicts of interest. Create separate agencies.

Build in-house technical capacity. Develop internal teams of data scientists and IT specialists. They cost money up front but save democracy in the long run.

Prosecute offenders visibly. Electoral crime persists because consequences are rare. Investigate, prosecute, and post updates publicly. Visible justice deters future crimes.

And for God’s sake, do NOT nominate the INEC Chairman who declared you winner for an ambassadorial role, three minutes after he steps down!

The Democratization of Electoral Fraud

Perhaps the most unsettling finding is that electoral manipulation in 2023 wasn’t confined to the ruling party. All four major parties showed elevated anomaly rates in their strongholds. Fraud is an equal-opportunity employer.

This represents a democratization of malpractice. When only incumbents rigged elections, opposition forces could unify around reform. When everyone rigs where they can, reform becomes complicated. Every party benefits from the status quo in their strongholds while crying foul elsewhere. This is hard statistical evidence of the maxim that ‘you can only rig where you are popular’.

This creates a collective action problem: electoral integrity requires cooperation from actors who benefit from its absence. Breaking that equilibrium requires either overwhelming civic pressure or leaders willing to sacrifice short-term advantages for long-term legitimacy.

We haven’t seen much evidence of either yet.

What the Numbers Mean for Nigerian Democracy

The numbers point toward uncomfortable conclusions about where Nigeria’s democracy stands.

Voter turnout of 26% represents one of the lowest in recent African elections. Ghana routinely exceeds 70%. Kenya hits 65%. South Africa manages 66%. When you combine low turnout with high rates of statistical anomalies, you get a democracy that struggles both to mobilize citizens and to count their votes honestly when they do participate.

The southeastern concentration of irregularities, occurring precisely in regions that loudly contested the election results, creates a bitter irony. The areas claiming to be most victimized by fraud may themselves have been significant sites of manipulation. Truth and perception have diverged dangerously.

Nigeria’s effective number of parties (3.322) and the narrow winning margin (7.4 points) indicate a genuinely competitive presidential election cycle, which was good news. Competition means power can transfer peacefully and multiple viable parties prevent hegemonic dominance. However, with the APC taking up every governor going right now and the opposition collapsing, the 2027 elections are set to be much less competitive.

When citizens believe that elections can be stolen, they disengage. When parties believe their opponents will cheat, they feel justified in cheating preemptively. The resulting equilibrium is a low-trust, low-turnout democracy that satisfies no one.

Final Thoughts

I started this research half-expecting to find evidence of massive, coordinated fraud orchestrated by the ruling party. I found something more complex and, in some ways, more troubling: a pattern of distributed manipulation across multiple parties, concentrated in specific regions, sophisticated in execution, and difficult to detect without computational tools.

The 2023 presidential election wasn’t catastrophically fraudulent, but neither was it credibly free and fair. It represents Nigeria’s ongoing struggle between aspiration and execution, between billion-naira technology and persistent dysfunction, between democratic promise and authoritarian habit.

John Curran observed in 1790 that “the condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” In 2025, that vigilance increasingly requires statistical software, machine-learning algorithms, and the willingness to believe what the numbers tell us, even when the message is uncomfortable.

The data doesn’t determine Nigeria’s democratic future. People do. But data can illuminate the path forward, if we choose to follow it.

©️ 2025 The Fox Brief ·

What has happened to 

Kwara?  “State of Harmony” - Prof Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies Bemorns 

Kwara State Government House have been quietly changed to "Ahmadu Bello House" in Yoruba Land -  

Why would Kwara State Governor just re-name the Government House “Ahmadu Bello House” in Yoruba Land?

By Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies

Kwara State has for decades worn the identity of “State of Harmony” like a badge of honour. It is one of the few states in Nigeria where Christians and Muslims have historically lived with relative calm, intermarried, traded together, and built communities without the constant fear of religious war.

That is why the recent decision by the Kwara State Governor to rename the Government House “Ahmadu Bello House” has raised deep concern, anger, and confusion among many citizens—especially in a time when Nigeria is battling the deadly consequences of religious extremism, insurgency, and violent identity politics.

This is not a small issue. I am a Professor of Applied Linguistics for crying out loud fro KWARA STATE. Names or nomenclature are not decorations.  Names are messages. And in a fragile State and fragile Nigeria, messages can heal—or inflame.

A Government House is not a political billboard for heaven sake! The Government House is not the private property of a governor. It is not a party secretariat. It is not a campaign monument. It is the symbolic seat of governance for all Kwarans—Yoruba, Nupe, Baruba, Fulani, Christians, Muslims, and traditional worshippers alike.

Renaming such a sensitive institution after "Ahmadu Bello", a towering Northern political icon strongly associated with the historical ideology of Northern regionalism, immediately raises the question:

What exactly is the governor trying to communicate?

Because to many citizens, it does not look like unity.

It looks like alignment.

Why this is troubling in a Yoruba-speaking state

Let us speak plainly: Kwara is not Sokoto. Kwara is not Kaduna. Kwara is not Kano.

Yes, Kwara is a bridge state in the North Central. Yes, it has Northern influences. But Kwara is historically tied to Yoruba civilisation, language, and identity, even as it remains religiously mixed.

So why rename the Government House after a Northern political figure rather than:

An indigenous Kwara hero,

a national figure accepted across ethnic lines,

or a neutral name that represents unity and peace?

This decision appears culturally careless and politically provocative.

And for a state already facing security threats, such provocation is dangerous.

Nigeria is bleeding from extremist violence — this is not the time for identity games.

Nigeria is not in a season of symbolic experiments. Nigeria is in a season of mourning.

The country is still battling extremist groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP (ISIS-West Africa Province)—groups that have slaughtered civilians, bombed churches and mosques, abducted women and children, and destabilised entire regions.

The reality Nigerians live with since 2009, Boko Haram has waged a brutal insurgency, killing both Christians and Muslims deemed “un-Islamic.”

Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds, including the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, a tragedy that shook the world.

Churches have been repeatedly attacked, burnt, Christian killed, as well as Muslims including the reported January 2026 attacks in Kaduna, where worshippers were abducted.

And most painfully for Kwara:

Kwara itself was attacked

Reports indicate that on February 3, 2026, extremist-linked gunmen massacred over 162 people in Kwara communities, burning buildings and leaving families shattered.

So let us ask again:

In the face of this kind of terror, why would any governor take steps that could deepen religious suspicion and ethnic mistrust?

Ahmadu Bello is not a neutral symbol in today’s Nigeria

This must be said with honesty and respect: Ahmadu Bello is a major historical figure, but he is not a neutral one.

He represents:

a strong Northern Fulani political identity,

a religiously-tinged regional legacy,

and a historical era many Nigerians associate with domination politics.

Whether one agrees with those perceptions or not, they exist. And leadership must be wise enough to understand perceptions.

Because in Nigeria, perception often becomes reality.

A governor and an educated governor for that matter must govern with sensitivity — not sentiment of been from Muslim  Fulani origin or whatever.

A responsible leader asks:

Will this decision unite or divide?

Will it reassure or alarm?

Will it promote peace or provoke resentment?

A governor must not behave as though citizens are emotionless objects.

The people of Kwara are already anxious. Many communities now sleep with one eye open due to kidnapping and banditry. Families fear travelling on highways. Churches and mosques fear attacks.

In such a tense climate, symbolic governance becomes a serious security matter.

Kwara’s “Harmony” is fragile — and the governor must protect it

Harmony is not automatic. It is built.

Kwara has been peaceful largely because:

religious groups have respected boundaries,

leaders have avoided inflammatory gestures,

and citizens have embraced tolerance.

But harmony can collapse quickly.

All it takes is one reckless political message interpreted as:

“Islamic expansion,”

“Northernisation,”

“cultural conquest,”

or “religious preference.”

Even if that was not the governor’s intention, leadership is judged by wisdom—not excuses.

This renaming looks like misplaced priority

At a time when Kwara needs:

stronger security architecture,

intelligence gathering,

rural community protection,

support for displaced families,

and decisive action against terror cells,

the governor is spending political energy on renaming the Government House.

This is not what leadership looks like in a crisis.

It looks like distraction.

If the governor wants honour, let him honour peace-builders

If Kwara must rename anything, why not honour:

interfaith peace champions,

indigenous Kwara icons,

educators, jurists, and statesmen from the state,

or national heroes accepted across ethnic and religious lines?

Why choose a name that predictably triggers suspicion?

If Kwara is truly the State of Harmony, then the Government House should carry a name that reflects:

unity, inclusiveness,

and shared ownership.

Not a name that many citizens interpret as ideological branding.

Conclusion: Kwara needs peace, not provocative symbolism.

This renaming is not just a cultural issue. It is not just an ethnic issue. It is not just a political issue.

It is a peace issue.

In a Nigeria where extremist violence is real and expanding, leaders must avoid anything that can be interpreted as religious triumphalism or ethnic domination.

Kwara deserves stability.

Kwara deserves sensitivity.

Kwara deserves leadership that understands the power of symbols.

And if Kwara is truly the State of Harmony, then the governor must remember:

Harmony is not maintained by imposing identity.

Harmony is maintained by protecting neutrality.

Some of us grew up home in Kwara State, and would like to retire and come back home but now our heart bleeds as there is no retirement home again!

Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies

Former Presidential Candidate, 

Professor of Applied Linguistics, 

Political Analyst/ Commentator Public/ Affairs Analyst & Advocate for Peace, Unity,  Justice &  IRA Kwara State Princess.

When I say I love Nigeria, people react like I’ve confessed to something naïve.

As if loving your country without attaching it to a political party is suspicious.

As if hope must automatically mean propaganda.

As if patriotism now requires a disclaimer.

But let me say it again, slowly and clearly.

I love Nigeria. As is. As it was. And as I hope for it to be.

Not a fantasy version. Not a selective version. Not a version filtered through tribal loyalty or party allegiance. The real Nigeria. The chaotic one. The resilient one. The wounded one. The brilliant one. The one that frustrates you in the morning and makes you proud by evening when you remember the good times.

And because I love this country, I genuinely want every administration to do well.

Yes. Every single one.

Not because I care for politicians. Not because I am blind to the numerous issues. Not because I lack memory of the missteps. But because governance is not a football match. When a government fails, citizens pay the price. When policies collapse, it is not politicians that stand in fuel queues. It is not them calculating school fees. It is not them navigating insecurity. It is everyday Nigerians.

If an administration succeeds, Nigerians benefit.

If reforms work, Nigerians breathe.

If institutions stabilize, Nigerians plan long term.

Why would I root for the opposite?

Why would I pray for economic collapse just to validate my earlier criticism?

Why would I celebrate policy failure because it confirms my bias?

Why would I hope an administration stumbles when the fall lands on 200 million people?

That mindset is emotionally satisfying but nationally destructive.

Critiquing government is not the same as hating the country.

Demanding competence is not sabotage.

Refusing propaganda is not disloyalty.

And hoping that a sitting administration gets it right is not approval.

It is patriotism. I am non-partisan. 

I want electricity to work whether my preferred candidate won or not.

I want security to improve whether the credit goes to someone I voted for or not.

I want inflation to drop, businesses to grow, institutions to mature, not so a party can brag, but so ordinary Nigerians can live.

Nigeria is bigger than personalities. Bigger than election cycles. Bigger than social media alliances. Bigger than regional gaslighting. Bigger than the temporary noise of political seasons.

We have reduced national discourse to identity performance. If you criticize, you must “hate.” If you hope, you must be “compromised.” If you want success, you must be “aligned.”

It is childish.

I am aligned with Nigeria. 

That is the only side that makes sense. I want Nigeria to win!  I want Nigeria to become great in my lifetime. So my children and their children will feel proud to call it home.

Some people engage this country only through pessimism. Anger has its place. It exposes rot. It demands accountability. But anger without vision becomes addiction. It becomes an identity. It becomes a performance of outrage instead of a strategy for progress.

I engage Nigeria through expectation.

I expect leadership to understand the weight of the offices they occupy.

I expect institutions to function beyond individuals.

I expect policies to be thought through, not reactionary.

I expect continuity, not constant resets.

Because the tragedy of Nigeria has never been a lack of ideas. It has been sustainability. Continuity. Execution. It has been leadership.

And still, I believe we can build that.

Loving Nigeria does not mean ignoring insecurity, corruption, incompetence, or policy missteps. It means I care enough to demand better while still believing better is possible.

It means I refuse to detach emotionally and completely just because it is easier to be dismissive.

Pessimism is fashionable. Patriotism is uncomfortable.

It is easier to say “this country will never work.” It requires no investment. No responsibility. No long-term thinking. But to say “this country can work, and I want whoever holds power at any given time to govern effectively, to make sound decisions, and to deliver measurable progress because the lives of millions depend on it” , that requires perspective.

And before you jump in  with "it is because you don't live here". But you do, your parents do, my beloved Southeast where my father's soul rests is there, 200 million people do. And no matter how many people can leave , there will still be more people left behind to be in Nigeria. 

If for nothing else, Nigeria has to work for them! So they can experience what it means to have a functioning system. 

If for selfish reasons, I want Nigeria to work, because it is where my hope and aspirations live.

You can see the cracks and still believe in the foundation.

You can acknowledge the failures and still fight for improvement.

You can hold leaders accountable and still insist they rise to the responsibility of their office.

You can love a country without loving its flaws.

That is not a wild take.

That is what serious patriotism looks like.

And I refuse to apologize for it.

My name is Chioma Amaryllis Ahaghotu. 

I am Igbo from the South East of Nigeria. 

And this is my bittersweet ode to a country I will always love.

*This article incorporates the financial results of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as declared today, February 12, 2026.*

Breaking the Monopoly, Breaking the Curse: NNPC’s Record 2025 Profit of ₦5.76 Trillion ($4.26 Billion)

For over forty years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was a black hole of national wealth. As a state-sanctioned monopoly, it presided over decades of "unexplained losses" and "under-recovery," while Nigeria’s four refineries remained dormant despite billions spent on repairs. Today, that narrative has been shattered.

On February 12, 2026, NNPC Limited (NNPCL) announced its most successful year in history, declaring a Profit After Tax (PAT) of ₦5.76 trillion ($4.26 billion) for the 2025 fiscal year. This follows the ₦5.4 trillion profit reported in 2024, signaling a permanent shift from a loss-making government agency to a high-yield commercial entity.

The "Dangote Catalyst" and the Death of the Monopoly

The primary driver of this turnaround is the total dismantling of the NNPC monopoly by the Dangote Refinery. For years, NNPC was the sole importer of petrol, forced to sell at subsidized rates while incurring massive "logistics" and "under-recovery" costs.

 * Market Liberalization: The entry of the 650,000 bpd Dangote facility ended NNPCL's role as the "sole importer." With local refining, the company ceased its multi-trillion Naira subsidy drain, allowing it to retain earnings from crude sales and downstream operations.

 * Commercial Accountability: Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, NNPCL now operates as a private entity. The pressure to compete with the efficiency of a private-sector giant like Dangote forced the company to streamline operations, cut "ghost expenses," and prioritize revenue.

 * Anti-Theft Gains: A sustained military and technological crackdown on oil theft saw production stabilize at 1.62 million bpd in 2025, ensuring that the oil produced actually reached the balance sheet rather than being diverted by vandals and cartels.

Visualizing the Turnaround: 2015–2025

The following table highlights the dramatic transition from the era of perpetual loss to the current era of multi-billion dollar profits.

| Year | Profit / Loss (Billion Naira) | Status |

|---|---|---|

| 2015 | -₦267.14 | Loss |

| 2016 | -₦197.49 | Loss |

| 2017 | -₦82.00 | Loss |

| 2018 | -₦803.00 | Loss |

| 2019 | -₦1.70 | Loss |

| 2020 | +₦287.00 | First Profit |

| 2021 | +₦674.10 | Profit |

| 2022 | +₦2,523.00 | Profit |

| 2023 | +₦3,293.00 | Profit |

| 2024 | +₦5,400.00 | Record Profit |

| 2025 | +₦5,760.00 | Today's Declaration |

The Indictment: Why the Need for Prosecution?

While today’s profits are a triumph for the current administration, they raise a dark question: Where did the money go for the previous 30 years? The sudden profitability of the same company, using the same national resources, proves that the previous losses were not "technical" or "operational"—they were likely manufactured. There is a compelling case for the prosecution of previous leadership on the following grounds:

 * The TAM Scandal: Over $20 billion was reportedly spent on "Turn Around Maintenance" (TAM) for refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna between 2000 and 2023. These refineries remained at 0% capacity throughout the loss-making years. This represents one of the largest heists of public funds in history.

 * Subsidy Fraud: The "under-recovery" mechanism was often used to hide the diversion of billions. Former executives who oversaw these opaque subsidy regimes must be held accountable for the "phantom fuel" that never reached Nigerian pumps.

 * Systemic Negligence: The ability of NNPCL to turn a profit of $4.26 billion in a single year today suggests that the previous ₦803 billion annual losses (as seen in 2018) were the result of high-level collusion and gross mismanagement.

Conclusion

The 2025 profit declaration is proof that Nigeria’s oil wealth can benefit its citizens when market forces replace corrupt monopolies. However, justice is required to ensure this transparency lasts. To simply "move on" from decades of engineered poverty would be a disservice to the millions of Nigerians who suffered while the NNPC’s previous leadership oversaw the decay of the nation's most vital asset.

NNPCL declares N5.7trn profit for 2025.

All the 50 countries below have a combined population of 245million people..... Almost same population as Nigeria.... You can only compare Nigeria to Pakistan , Bangladesh Indonesia, Brazil with comesurate population... Not this mushroom countries with same population as Nigeria states...

Country.             Population.

1 Azerbaijan. -  10,397,713

2. Greece       -   9,938,844...

3. Togo.         -    9,721,608...

4. Hungary      - 9,632,287

5.  Israel.      -    9,517,181 

6.  Austria.     -   9 ,113,574 

7. Belarus.      -   8,997,603 

8. Switzerland. - 8,967,407 

9. Sierra Leone. - 8,819,794 

10. Laos.             - 7,873,046 

11. Turkmenistan - 7,618,847...

12. Libya.               - 7,458,555...

13. Hong Kong.    -.7,396,076 ..

14. Kyrgyzstan      - 7,295,034

15.  Paraguay.      - 7,013,078...

16.  Nicaragua.     - 7,007,502...

17.Bulgaria.            - 6,714,560...

18. Serbia.              - 6,689,039...

19. Congo.              - 6,484,437....

20. El Salvador.    - 6,365,503 0...

21. Denmark.         - 6,002,507...

22. Singapore.       - 5,870,750...

23. Lebanon.         - 5,849,421....

24. Liberia.           - 5,731,206

25. Finland.          - 5,623,329...

26.Norway.          - 5,623,071...

27. State of Palestine. - 5,589,623 1.

28. Central African Republic - 5,513,282

29. Oman.              - 5,494,691..

30. Slovakia.          - 5,474,881

31. Mauritania.     - 5,315,065

32.Ireland.             - 5,308,039...

33. New Zealand. - 5,251,899...

34. Costa Rica.       - 5,152,950...

35. Kuwait.              - 5,026,078...

36. Panama.            - 4,571,189..

37. Croatia.          - 3,848,160

38 Georgia.          -3,806,671

39 Eritrea.           - 3,607,003

40.Mongolia.      - 3,517,000

41. Uruguay.        - 3,384,688

42. Puerto Rico.    -3,235,289..

43. Bosnia and Herzegovina..  3,140,095 

44.Qatar.             - 3,115,889

45. Namibia.        3,092,816 

46 Moldova.             - 2,996,106

47. Armenia.            - 2,952,365

48 Jamaica.             - 2,837,077 

49, Portugal.             - 10,543,200

50, Sweden                - 8,352,210

Every State gov in Nigeria is as powerful as the presidents of these 50 Nations..... The only thing they lack is having a military....

If Nigeria have states governors that actually govern their states as president of Sweden, Denmark or even Armenia.... Nigeria would have waved " bye bye" to poverty....

Unfortunately Nigeria is blessed with an army of clueless governors, who don't have what it takes to govern modern Nations....

They lack long term planning, spend 8 years building elephant projects while neglecting sectors that can create jobs and wealth....

Nigeria is a massive country ... as president Tinubu has fixed the macro economic challenges of Nigeria... The states must equally start thinking like countries and fix the microeconomic challenges facing Nigeria....

The govs must end showmanship and populism for visionary governance....

If you are coming here to argue...

Don't forget that...

It is better to born a thief than to born a mumu - Urhobo Proverb...

Proverbs are not for kids....

*THE SIERRA LEONIANS IN LAGOS*

Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the Portuguese and Brazilians, during the time of Oba Akinsemoyin, the Sierra Leoneans came to Lagos around the year 1838. They arrived in small groups and, because of the harsh treatment meted out to them by the reigning Oba of Lagos, their arrival occurred at long intervals rather than in a steady flow. However, by 1841 about two hundred and fifty of them had settled on the island, and by January 1852, when news of Oba Kosoko’s fight reached Freetown, there began a steady influx of Sierra Leoneans into Lagos.

Known as Saros, the Sierra Leoneans were in the fortunate position of not having experienced slavery directly and, consequently, were not faced with the problem of purchasing their freedom. They were liberated by British men-of-war while en route to a life of captivity and were landed on the coast of Sierra Leone in an area appropriately known as Freetown, where they were cared for by British missionaries. This was in pursuance of the humanitarian motive behind Britain’s campaign against the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It was believed that setting the slaves free was not enough; of greater importance was giving them a decent start in life, which in practical terms meant educating them and inculcating the Christian way of life.

When the Sierra Leoneans began to arrive in Lagos in large numbers, they encountered difficulties in landing. These were initiated by the strong opposition of European traders who owned the canoes arbitrarily used by coastal shipping captains to land passengers. This opposition, rooted in hostility, took the form of orders given to the Krumen who manned the canoes to upset them at sea. The Krumen were excellent and powerful swimmers, while the Sierra Leoneans were not. Despite these challenges, the Saros managed to build up a population of about 2,500 by 1861, when Lagos was annexed by the British as a colony.

As expected, the impact of the Sierra Leoneans on the island was remarkable, as they arrived “apparently possessed of the white man’s wisdom.” Even if they had wished to do so, they could not have quietly incorporated themselves into the social framework and pattern of existence they found at Isale-Eko, the stronghold of the indigenes. Although they belonged to the same racial stock as their hosts, there were very strong and pronounced cultural differences between them. Indeed, in their early years on the island, they were referred to as “Englishmen” by the indigenes because of their enhanced material status resulting from their association with Europeans. Unfortunately, they were not trusted by the indigenes and did not enjoy the confidence of European traders on the island, who were deeply suspicious of them.

Fully aware of this situation, the Saros decided, for their own safety, to seek a place where they could live together as a community. They approached the reigning Oba, Akitoye, who granted their leader, Daddy Savage, a parcel of land in the Oke-Olowogbowo district of the island for distribution among individual families. In the course of time, the area became known as “Saro Town,” developing a distinct character of its own.

With an association spanning over one hundred and eighty years, the descendants of the Sierra Leoneans have an undisputed claim to be true Lagosians. Their relationship with the Obas of Lagos was such that individual Saros could approach the Oba directly for grants of land, with the understanding that if the land was not used for a worthwhile purpose, it would automatically revert to the Oba. In this way, they became concentrated in the Breadfruit area of the island so named because of the abundance of breadfruit trees which had earlier made it a favourite site for slave dealers to herd their human cargo, tied to the trees while awaiting shipment to foreign lands.

Because of their early contact with Western education and civilisation, the Sierra Leoneans formed a formidable group from whom much perhaps too much was expected. They assumed the responsibility of playing leading roles in the social, religious, political, economic, and educational life of Lagos, with commendable results. Like the Brazilians, the Saros were deeply religious; however, they were Protestants, so staunch and devoted that they regarded religion not only as integral to, but also as an essential part of, both their sacred and secular lives. Christianity was to them a way of life, and they strove, to the best of their abilities, to live according to its moral principles and ethics, greatly enhancing their contribution to the progress of Lagos.

It was without exaggeration largely due to their efforts that Lagos became, during their era, the capital of the West Coast of Africa, bristling with opportunities to make fortunes and serving as the conscience of the continent.

*Compiled by Prince Ademola Oladega Akinsemoyin*

THE 7 STATES THAT TURNED 50 AND YET NO GROWTH.

In February 1976, General Murtala Mohammed created 7 new states to deepen federalism and accelerate development:

Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Imo, Niger, Ogun and Ondo.

Fifty years later, the results are mixed — and for many, deeply disappointing.

1. BAUCHI STATE (Created 1976)

Region: North-East

Population: ~8 million

Poverty rate: ~56–60% (NBS Multidimensional Poverty Index)

IGR: Below ₦25bn annually

Economy heavily dependent on FAAC allocations.

Historic reality:

Despite agriculture, solid minerals and tourism sites like Yankari, Bauchi failed to industrialize.

Manufacturing contribution to GDP remains minimal.

50 years later:

No major industrial hub.

Youth unemployment remains high.

Capital city still lacks modern infrastructure.

Development outcome: Poor relative to age and potential.

2. BENUE STATE (1976)

Nickname: Food Basket of the Nation.

Poverty rate: ~50–55%

IGR: ₦20–25bn

One of the lowest per-capita incomes in North-Central Nigeria.

Historic irony:

Benue produces massive agricultural output but exports raw produce, not processed goods.

50 years later:

No large agro-processing industrial cluster.

Salary arrears common.

Farmers remain poor.

A food basket that feeds others but starves economically.

3. BORNO STATE (1976)

Region: North-East.

Poverty rate: Above 70%.

IGR: Under ₦15bn.

Economy devastated by Boko Haram insurgency.

Historic tragedy:

Once a major Sahelian trade route hub linking Nigeria to Chad and Niger.

50 years later:

Infrastructure destroyed.

Heavy humanitarian dependence.

Private investment almost absent.

Security failure reversed decades of development.

Insecurity created by Northern leaders who love power more than progress.

4. IMO STATE (1976)

Region: South-East.

Poverty rate: ~30–35% (lower than national average but rising).

IGR: ₦35–45bn (low for a commercial Igbo state).

Historic contradiction:

High literacy, entrepreneurship, diaspora remittances — but weak state planning.

50 years later:

No strong industrial policy.

Businesses migrate to Lagos.

Insecurity cripples investment.

Human capital wasted by governance failure.

5. NIGER STATE (1976)

Largest state by land mass.

Poverty rate: ~62%.

IGR: ₦20bn or less.

Hosts major dams: Kainji, Shiroro, Jebba.

Historic failure:.

Produces electricity but remains energy-poor.

50 years later:

No energy-driven industrialization.

Massive rural poverty.

Weak urban centers.

Power without prosperity.

6. OGUN STATE (1976).

Region: South-West

Poverty rate: ~20–25%

IGR: ₦80–100bn+

Major manufacturing base.

But poor infrastructure.

No good roads.

Historic success:

Leveraged proximity to Lagos for industry and logistics.

Which is just a spillover not a product of intentional policy governance.

50 years later:

One of the best-performing 1976 states in terms of attraction to investments.

Industrial parks, factories, logistics hubs.

But still has poor roads and infrastructure.

Ogun state should be growing exponentially like Lagos but it has visiîonless Governors.

That state is living below its potential.

7. ONDO STATE (1976)

Region: South-West

Poverty rate: ~30–35%

IGR: ₦30–40bn

Oil-producing but poorly diversified.

Historic mistake:

Oil revenues not converted into long-term industrial assets.

50 years later:

Weak private sector.

Youth migration.

Underdeveloped coastal economy.

Resource-rich, cash-poor.

8. OYO STATE (Created 1976)

Region: South-West

Capital: Ibadan (once the largest city in West Africa).

Poverty rate: ~28–32% (NBS Multidimensional Poverty Index).

IGR: ₦45–60bn annually (below potential for its size).

Unemployment & underemployment: High among youth.

Historic reality (this is where it hurts):

Ibadan was:

West Africa’s largest city in the 1950s–60s.

Home to University of Ibadan (1948) — Nigeria’s first university.

Headquarters of the old Western Region, the most progressive region pre-1970.

A center of publishing, research, agriculture and commerce.

Oyo inherited massive intellectual and institutional capital.

50 years later:..

Ibadan industrial base collapsed.

Most factories died or relocated.

The city now exports graduates, not products.

Lagos absorbed the economic energy Oyo failed to retain.

A state that started ahead but chose stagnation.

Oyo is not poor because it lacked history.

It is poor because it failed to convert history into modern productivity.

In conclusion..

Out of 8 states created 50 years ago:

Only Ogun clearly escaped dependency.

And that is because of a spillover of investments from Lagos.

Not because of intentional policy governance.

Their Governors have been irresponsible.

The rest  still survive on Abuja allocations.

Ondo and Imo have huge oil potential but have visiîonless Governors.

Poverty remains structural, not accidental.

State creation did not create development.

Leadership, planning and accountability did.

If we don’t admit this truth, the next 50 years will be another anniversary without progress.

Ugoji Maximillian speaker, Author,  Entrepreneur and believer in the beauty that's in humanity.

NIGERIA: WHY TÜRKIYE

By Sunday Dare 

On Monday this week President Bola Ahmed Tinubu departs for a two-day official visit to the Republic of Türkiye. The stated agenda—military cooperation and trade partnership—is precise. But the subtext is broader: Nigeria is recalibrating its partnerships toward countries that combine strategic geography, industrial depth, security capability, and an instinct for pragmatic diplomacy. 

Few nations fit that description as naturally as Türkiye, making this visit not just a sentimental jaunt but a strategic engagement, strengthening our official ties, since Turkey established diplomatic presence in Nigeria in 1962.

Türkiye: Where Civilizations Converge

Long before modern states, the lands that form present-day Türkiye were the arteries of human civilization—bordering Mesopotamia, linking ancient empires, and serving as the world’s crossroads between Europe and Asia. Today, Türkiye remains the only major power that physically straddles two continents, controlling maritime gateways that connect the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the global trade lanes.

Geography has always been destiny. For Africa—and for Nigeria in particular—Türkiye’s location is not symbolic; it is operational. It is a bridge to Europe, a corridor to the Middle East, and a springboard to Central and Far-East Asia.

So, Istanbul is not just a city; it is a gateway.  For Nigerian exporters, investors, students, and logistics operators, Istanbul is increasingly the shortest route from Africa to global markets.

Why Nigeria Is Turning to Türkiye

The President is visiting with the mindset that Nigeria’s reform trajectory—industrialization, security stabilization, trade diversification, and technology transfer—requires partners who do not merely sell products, but build systems.

Türkiye brings four strategic advantages:

a. Industrial Capability: From construction to defense manufacturing, textiles, energy equipment, and rail systems, Türkiye is one of the most industrialized economies bridging emerging and developed markets.

b. Defense and Security Depth: Türkiye has become a global supplier of cost-effective, battle-tested military platforms—from drones and armored vehicles to surveillance systems. For Nigeria, confronting insurgency, banditry, and transnational crime, this partnership is about capacity, not dependency.

c. Trade Dynamism: Türkiye is among the world’s leading exporters to Africa. Its model emphasizes local production, infrastructure delivery, and joint ventures—the kind of growth Nigeria now prioritizes.

d. Geopolitical Balance: As a NATO member with strong relations across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, Türkiye offers Nigeria strategic flexibility—not alignment by ideology, but cooperation by interest.

A Partnership Already in Motion

The first Turkish Head of State to visit Nigeria was President Abdullah Gül in 2010. This milestone was followed by the official visits of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Nigeria in March 2016 and October 2021, reflecting Türkiye’s sustained diplomatic outreach and commitment to deepening bilateral relations with us.

These engagements were complemented by President Muhammadu Buhari’s official visit to Ankara on 19 October 2017, during the D-8 Summit. Together, these high-level exchanges set the tone for the strategic and forward-looking conversations taking place this weekend as President Tinubu visits.

So, the Nigeria–Türkiye relationship has already since, taken tangible shape—far beyond diplomatic pronouncements—across healthcare, education, manufacturing, agriculture, defence, and trade.

Trade at Scale- Bilateral trade now exceeds USD 1 billion annually, with historical peaks near USD 2.7 billion.  Both governments have set a formal target to expand trade to USD 5 billion.

In 2024, alone, Turkish exports to Nigeria: ~$721 million,  Nigerian exports to Türkiye: ~$505 million, Nigeria recorded a non-oil trade surplus of ₦6.1 trillion, signaling diversification aligned with Turkish industrial inputs.

According to IMF 2026 projections, Nigeria’s 4.4% growth rate compares favorably with: US (2.4%), Germany (1.1%), UK (1.3%).  Nigeria is now in the upper tier of emerging-market growth, achieved through structural correction—not commodity windfalls.

Strategic Turkish Presence in Nigeria is seen in various Turksih led investments within our homeland.

* Turkish Eye & Specialist Hospitals – expanding clinical partnership.

* Hayat Kimya – $200m hygiene manufacturing (Ogun State).

* Ülker – $50m food processing.

* Direkçi – $22m agro-livestock investments.

* ASELSAN – defence electronics office in Nigeria.

* Türkiye Exporters Assembly missions – 150+ bilateral business engagements.

* Nigeria–Türkiye Business Council – trade matchmaking and joint investment.

Atatürk’s Legacy, Tinubu’s Reform Path

Modern Türkiye was shaped by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—a military strategist who rebuilt a nation through institutional discipline, industrial revival, and modernization.

Nigeria, under President Tinubu, is now pursuing a similar arc—reform before relief, structure before sentiment. Exchange-rate realism, fiscal discipline, security sector reform, and trade diversification are not temporary. They are foundational corrections.  Türkiye understands this path because it has walked it.

The Bigger Picture

This visit is not about symbolism. It is about strategic alignment.  Nigeria is positioning itself as a regional manufacturing and logistics hub, and Türkiye is one of the few partners capable of transferring technology, scaling infrastructure, and co-producing security solutions.

If we are serious about becoming Africa’s gateway to global markets, then partnering with a nation that has spent centuries being the world’s gateway between continents is not coincidence—it is logic. By President Tinubu departing on this State Visit, the Nigerian leader is not just choosing a country to visit. Nigeria is choosing a corridor to traverse.  

And that corridor runs through Türkiye.

STORY OF A MAN WITH A PACT WITH DESTINY

In 1992, an upwardly mobile corporate yuppie—then a political neophyte scarcely known in public life—stepped into the turbulent arena of Lagos politics. A Lagos Island big boy and Chicago returnee, he had migrated to the United States to acquire knowledge and skills, returned home, worked with the multinational oil firm Mobil, and distinguished himself as a rising corporate icon.

A true Lagos Islander in sartorial taste, class, and civility, he embodied the famed work ethic and result-driven culture for which the Island’s elite are known. A consummate workaholic, it was not unusual to see the penthouse office of the Head of Treasury on Broad Street, Lagos—opposite the National Library—fully lit late into the night. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not merely earning a living; he was establishing a pattern of life that demonstrated what discipline and hard work could achieve.

His foray into politics culminated in his election as Senator representing Lagos Central in 1992. Although his mandate was abruptly truncated by the unconscionable annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the “City Boy” left unmistakable footprints within a short time, particularly as Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Appropriations. He had announced himself as a leader to watch.

By 1994, his principled opposition to the annulment of the June 12 election pitched him against the military junta. Forced into exile, he continued the struggle from abroad—financing pro-democracy activities both in the diaspora and at home. He remained steadfast until the military power-mongers imploded under the weight of their own excesses and were compelled to retreat to the barracks, restoring democracy to Nigeria.

Upon his return and the lifting of the ban on partisan politics, Bola Tinubu—now a political force in Lagos and beyond—contested the 1999 governorship election and won convincingly.

Barely had he assumed office as Governor of Lagos State when his leadership instincts became evident. However, his administration soon faced turbulence when the irrepressible human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, raised questions about his academic records. Though the controversy shook both political and judicial circles, Tinubu remained undistracted. With iron resolve, he pursued his vision of a new Lagos—one driven by digital revenue systems, institutional reforms, and large-scale infrastructure development.

Before the end of his first term, Lagos had begun to transform. Internally generated revenue grew to unprecedented levels, and a massive infrastructural drive commenced—setting benchmarks later emulated by other sub-national governments across Nigeria.

By his second term, the former finance expert—now an emerging national political asset—set his sights beyond Lagos. He began to construct a pan-Nigerian political alliance capable of wresting power at the centre. This strategic vision birthed the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which later aligned with General Muhammadu Buhari’s CPC and other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A political mathematician, Tinubu understood that sacrificing his immediate presidential ambition was a necessary price for a greater victory. He backed Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election, pairing northern popularity with southwestern political strength. The gamble paid off: APC defeated an incumbent government for the first time in Nigeria’s history.

Yet victory did not translate into influence. From the outset, Buhari’s posture—encapsulated in his declaration, “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”—signaled Tinubu’s marginalisation. The architect of the victory found himself increasingly distant from the power structure he helped build.

As the 2023 elections approached, obstacles multiplied. Political landmines were laid by entrenched interests—within the Villa, the party hierarchy, the legislature, and opposition camps—to block Tinubu’s path to Aso Rock.

Party chairmen perceived as loyal to him were removed. Attempts were made to foist alternative candidates on the party. Yet resistance mounted. At a critical APC NEC meeting, efforts to impose Senator Ahmed Lawan as Buhari’s preferred candidate were rebuffed. Voices within the party demanded fairness, and eventually, the President affirmed that the ticket should go to the South.

That moment marked the first breakthrough. The second came at the party primaries, where Tinubu swept the field decisively—defeating even the sitting Vice President with an overwhelming 1,271 votes.

The general election posed even stiffer challenges. Currency redesign, cash scarcity, and fuel shortages threatened to derail the process. Still, Tinubu pressed on, undeterred. Through grit and resilience, he emerged victorious.

Indeed, Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears a man of destiny. Time and again, attempts to thwart or eliminate him have failed—from the Abacha era persecutions to more recent political conspiracies. Fate, it seems, has continually intervened.

This is a man whose path appears pre-ordained, who walks with an uncommon sense of purpose, and whose resilience has defined a generation of political struggle.

Salutations to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu—an avatar of reform and a central figure in Nigeria’s unfolding democratic journey.

-Otunba Biodun Ajiboye

https://thisdawn.com/how-they-buy-the-judges-and-break-the-country/

How They Buy the Judges — And Break the Country

By Babafemi Ojudu

THIS DAWN — A lot happens in Nigeria that, if you did not witness it yourself, you would swear it was impossible.

Some events are so bizarre, so grotesque in their violation of common sense and morality, that even D.O. Fágúnwà’s magical adventures in Ìrìnkèrindò Nínú Igbo Elegbeje (the adventure in the forest of 7 spirits) pale beside them.

Yet these are not tales from another world; they are the lived realities of our republic.

From time to time, I feel compelled to share some of these experiences — not to dramatize, but to awaken. Our democracy is sinking, and few institutions illustrate this decline more starkly than the judiciary. We complain about it almost daily, but nothing demonstrates its decay more vividly than the episode I am about to recount.

I am compelled to narrate this story in view of the contradictory rulings that recently emerged from Abuja and Ibadan over the contentious Peoples Democratic Party convention — judgments issued not on merit, but based on who has influence in particular jurisdictions. It is a dangerous sign of the times.

And may I tell you that the charade, the national disgrace that happened in Abuja between Minister Nyesom Wike and the young naval officer was a result of lack of trust in the judiciary which engenders a resort to self help from both sides.

A Meeting That Should Never Have Happened

Several years ago, during a political dispute in Ekiti, I received an unexpected call from the late Senator Buruji Kashamu. He invited me to Lagos, promising to help resolve the matter. Out of courtesy, I went.

When I arrived, a prominent lawyer and another Ekiti politician were already seated in his living room. We exchanged greetings, and the conversation began casually enough.

Then came the moment that still chills me.

Kashamu excused himself, climbed the stairs, and returned with a briefcase. He set it down, opened it with a flourish, and turned to the lawyer with a smirk:

“Egbon, you refused when I asked you to write judgments for me. Each one would have earned you ₦50 million. Anyway, I have found another lawyer who does it very well.”

My friend looked at him, stunned. I sat rooted in disbelief.

Kashamu then brought out file after file — documents no private citizen should possess.

Inside that briefcase were:

• Judgments for cases already in court

• Judgments for cases he planned to file

• Judgments for cases he anticipated might be filed against him

All pre-written.

All waiting for the right judge.

He boasted that all he needed was to ensure his cases were assigned to “friendly judges.” Once that was done, he handed over the completed judgments — after greasing the necessary palms.

It was a moment of horror. A moment when the illusion of justice crumbled.

As Lord Denning once warned:

“Justice must be rooted in confidence, and confidence is destroyed when right-minded people go away thinking that the judge was biased.”

I walked out of that meeting with my faith in our judiciary deeply shaken. From that day, I resolved never again to take his calls.

Justice for Sale, Democracy in Danger

This story is not about one man. It is about a system slowly suffocated by those entrusted to protect it. When judgments are drafted in private homes before cases reach the courtroom, what we have left is not a judiciary but a cartel of influence, a black market of verdicts, and a criminal conspiracy wearing the robes of justice.

Let us be clear:

• Corruption in the judiciary is not ordinary corruption. It is corruption that eats the soul of a nation.

• It does not only steal money; it steals trust.

• It does not only distort outcomes; it destroys the foundation of society.

Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, one of Nigeria’s greatest jurists, once cautioned:

“The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. If the judiciary fails, where shall the common man turn?”

We are approaching that frightening moment.

Five Terrifying Implications of a Rotten Judiciary

1. The Innocent Can Be Destroyed

When the gavel is for sale, an innocent man can be jailed for another man’s crime. A widow can lose the only land her husband left behind. A community can be dispossessed overnight.

2. Criminals Become Untouchable

The powerful can violate laws, crush opponents, loot funds, and then secure court orders to legitimize their wrongdoing.

3. Politics Becomes Warfare

When verdicts follow money, not evidence, elections become meaningless. Courts become battlefields where victory goes to the highest bidder.

4. Public Trust Evaporates

Citizens lose faith in institutions. Cynicism becomes the national attitude. Society drifts towards self-help and anarchy.

5. No Nation Can Thrive Without Justice

As Justice Learned Hand warned:

“If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice.”

Yet that is precisely what we have begun to do.

How Did We Get Here?

This rot did not begin today. It accumulated slowly:

• Politicians seeking shortcuts

• Lawyers willing to sell their conscience

• Judges who traded honour for envelopes

• A system that rewards impunity

• A society too fatigued to resist

Now we live in a country where justice can be pre-written, transported in briefcases, and delivered like contraband.

A Nation at the Edge

We stand at a dangerous precipice.

A country survives hunger.

It survives insecurity.

It survives economic crisis.

But no country survives the death of justice.

When courts lose credibility, citizens withdraw their loyalty.

When judges can be bought, the rule of law collapses.

When justice is for sale, tyranny becomes inevitable.

What Must Be Done

There is no option but urgent, radical reform. We must:

• Purge corrupt judges

• Introduce transparent case allocation

• Strengthen oversight and discipline

• Protect judges from political pressure

• Digitize court processes to reduce human interference

• Enforce rigorous asset declarations

• Empower judicial whistleblowers

• Demand accountability from the NJC and legal associations

Above all, we must restore dignity to the bench. A judge without integrity is more dangerous than an armed robber — for the robber can only steal property, but the corrupt judge steals justice, peace, and the future.

A Final Warning

Some may dismiss this as another Nigerian anecdote. It is not. It is a mirror held up to a nation drifting towards catastrophe.

Unless we confront and uproot the rot in our justice system, we will one day wake up to find that we have no country left — only a territory ruled by the powerful and the lawless.

We cannot continue like this.

Justice must return to the courts.

Honour must return to the bench.

And truth must once again be something a citizen can expect — not something that can be bought.

Until then, Nigeria will continue to stagger like a giant robbed of its spine.

https://medium.com/@officialomolaja/leveraging-artificial-intelligence-for-balanced-urban-and-rural-development-4400ae499555

*PRESS RELEASE*

*Blue Ocean Initiative (BOI) – Series Seven*

*Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Balanced Urban and Rural Development*

*By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD*

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a silent engine of modern development, quietly transforming how nations grow, govern, and serve their people. For Kwara State—and Nigeria at large—AI offers a timely opportunity to accelerate development in both cities and villages, provided it is deployed with clear purpose and a human-centered vision.

Kwara’s development challenge is not a lack of potential but an imbalance of attention. With vast rural communities in the North and South and a growing urban centre in the Central zone, the state resembles a bird with two wings. *Progress is fastest when both wings move together.* AI can help ensure that urban growth does not come at the expense of rural neglect.

Around the world, cities have deployed AI to improve planning, traffic control, waste management, and public services, saving time and resources. These same tools can also serve rural communities—where the need is often greater—by supporting smart agriculture, digital healthcare, distance learning, and data-driven local governance.

For rural areas, AI is not about replacing tradition but strengthening it. Precision farming tools, weather forecasting, pest detection, and digital advisory platforms can help farmers grow more with less effort. When villages are productive, young people stay, food security improves, and migration pressure on cities reduces. *A farm that works well keeps the road to the city less crowded.*

Hon. Bolarinwa emphasized that rural revitalization through AI requires deliberate government action—starting with reliable internet access, stable electricity, and affordable digital tools. When villages enjoy technologies once limited to cities, productivity rises and quality of life improves. *A connected village is no longer remote; it becomes relevant.*

He further noted that well-functioning rural communities also strengthen security. Active villages with economic opportunities leave little room for criminal hideouts, turning rural areas into natural security buffers rather than neglected spaces. *Where light shines, darkness finds no shelter.*

Urban centres, on the other hand, benefit when AI reduces congestion, improves service delivery, and manages growth efficiently. Balanced deployment ensures cities remain engines of innovation while villages remain anchors of stability, food supply, and environmental balance.

Global experience confirms this balanced approach. Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative shows how AI-driven data analytics, geospatial tools, and digital city models improve urban planning, reduce congestion and pollution, and save public resources, while China and India demonstrate how AI transforms rural communities through digital agriculture, telemedicine, education platforms, and AI-powered services—boosting productivity, expanding access to essential services, creating livelihoods, reducing rural–urban migration, and strengthening local economies. These examples prove that AI is not a luxury but a practical tool for inclusive development.

Hon. Bolarinwa stressed that governance in Nigeria has long focused more on cities while villages quietly emptied, leaving vast fertile land underused and populated mostly by the elderly. AI presents a chance to reverse this trend by making rural life attractive again—economically, socially, and technologically.

He concluded that through the *Blue Ocean Initiative*, AI should be seen as a bridge, not a divider—linking rural promise with urban progress. *When technology serves people where they are, development becomes shared, sustainable, and secure.*

*Signed*

*Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD*

“Steve and Linda had $1.9M they'd never touch.

Both Age 67. Living comfortably in West Texas on their pension and Social Security.

Their kids were doing even better—one had a CPA firm in NYC, the other crushing it in tech in Palo Alto.

They thought leaving $1.9M to their kids was the plan. But their kids were only going to see $950K of it.

Here's why:

Son: CPA firm owner in NYC. Makes over 1M. Daughter: Tech exec in Palo Alto. Makes $800K + stock.

When they inherit that $1.9M traditional IRA, the SECURE Act forces them to drain it in 10 years.

That's $190K per year in forced withdrawals.

Son pays 48% combined tax (37% federal + 10.9% NY state). Daughter pays 50% combined tax (37% federal + 13.3% CA state).

After 10 years: Kids walk away with $950K. The government takes the other half.

Steve and Linda saved for 40 years. Their kids lose half in 10.

But here's what changed everything:

Steve and Linda live in Texas. Zero state income tax on retirement income.

Their only income: $58K pension + $50K Social Security. Tax bracket: 12-22% federal. 0% state.

Their kids pay 50%. They pay 19-22%.

That's a 28-31% arbitrage opportunity.

So we converted the entire $1.9M to Roth over 10 years.

Total taxes paid by Steve and Linda: $361K at 19% effective rate.

Now their kids inherit $1.54M in Roth accounts. Completely tax-free.

The kids don't need it immediately. They let it grow 10 years at 7%.

$1.54M becomes $3M. Tax-free @ 7%

Same $1.9M starting point:

Do nothing: Kids inherit $950K after taxes

Convert in Texas: Kids inherit $3M tax-free

The difference? $2.05M more to the family.

Steve looked at me and said: "We pay $361K to give them $2M more? Why isn't everyone doing this?"

Because most people don't know their state gives them this advantage.

14 states give full or partial tax relief to seniors on retirement income:

If you're retired in one of these states with kids earning big money in high-tax states like CA, NY, NJ, or MA?

You're sitting on a massive tax arbitrage most people never discover*.”

-*Kurt Supe* (CPA)

*Learn To Manage Disappointments, Grow Above Offences* 

Maintain relationships with people. It is childish and immature to pick offence at every provocation or perceived wrong and then start keeping grudges as a result.

*Grow above it when,*

•They didn't invite you for their celebrations

•They didn't wish you happy birthday.

•They didn't like your facebook post.

•They didn't support you in a disagreement you had with someone.

•Your junior have the audacity to talk or oppose your opinion.

•They said NO to your request, you asked them for money, they said they didn't have.

•You even keep record of people who came around when you were grieved, so you can know who to pick offence with. 

 *Note!!!*

•Everyone has battles you're not aware of. 

•Those who you need help from may also be looking for help.

•Not everything is personal and intentional.

•Not everyone hates you and never hate anyone.

•Sometimes, people are just caught up with their own lives, struggles, human weaknesses and limitations.

Learn to manage being disappointed by people, be on talking terms with them.

It will save you a lot of *unnecessary grudges* and save you some friendships you may need in future.

WHY NIGERIA’S PROBLEMS REFUSE TO DIE — THE TRUTH WE DON’T WANT TO HEAR

Nigeria is a country blessed with everything any nation needs to succeed:

(1) Population

(1) Resources

(3) Oil

(4) Land

(5) Energy

(6) Strategic location

(7) Smart people

(8) And one of the strongest spirits in the world.

Yet — we are still fighting the SAME PROBLEMS our parents fought almost 40 years ago:

(1) Insecurity

(2) Corruption

(3) Bad leadership

(4) Poverty

(5) Tribal politics

(6)  justice system

(7) Zero accountability

Why?

Let’s talk about it without sugarcoating anything.

1. Leadership Changes, But the System Stays the Same

Nigeria doesn’t have a leadership problem alone.

Nigeria has a system problem.

Presidents come and go, but the structures that control:

1" oil

2" security

3" contracts

4" politics

5" appointments

never change.

So even when a good person enters the seat, the system swallows him.

2. Corruption Is Not an Act — It’s a Culture

In Nigeria:

Everybody is angry at corruption…

…until they get the opportunity to do their own.

From:

(1) police checkpoints

(2) civil service

(3) governors

(4) local government

(5) contract awarding

(6) vote buying

(7) appointments

Corruption became a normal way of life.

Until corruption becomes shameful again, nothing will change.

3. Insecurity Has Become a Business

Kidnapping and banditry are no longer crimes alone — they are an industry.

Some people are making money from:

(1) ransom

(2) illegal mining

(3) weapon supply

(4) informants

(5) political protection

That’s why it looks like the government is “slow.”

Too many powerful people are benefiting from the chaos.

4. Ethnic Politics Is Killing Us

Every election:

Hausa vs. Yoruba

Yoruba vs. Igbo

Igbo vs. others

Muslim vs. Christian

We vote:

(1) not for leaders

(2) not for competence

(3) not for plan

…but for tribe and religion.

How can a country move forward when citizens choose leaders emotionally, not logically?

5. Nigerians Don’t Punish Bad Leadership

A governor can:

(1) fail

(2) loot

(3) waste money

(4) destroy a state

(4)leave poverty everywhere

And still win a Senate seat after leaving office.

Why?

Because we don’t punish failure.

When leaders know there’s no consequence, they behave anyhow.

6. The Justice System Is Weak and Selective

If you steal billions — you’re a VIP.

If you steal bread — you’re a criminal.

That backwards system encourages:

(1) corruption 

(2) political impunity

(3) police brutality

(4) insecurity

(5) slow development

A country without justice can not grow.

 *CONCLUSION: NIGERIA IS NOT CURSED — WE ARE MISMANAGED*

Nigeria’s problems don’t continue because we lack resources.

They continue because:

(1) the powerful benefit from the suffering,

(2) The system is designed to protect the few,

(3) and citizens don’t hold leaders accountable.

(4) Citizens are also terrible , one-way traffic people!

 *Until we fix the system, the problems will return no matter who the President.*

I told my son to “man up” and stop making excuses. I didn’t realize I was shouting at a drowning man until I found his bed empty and the silence in his room became permanent.

My son, Leo, was twenty-three. To the outside world, and frankly, to me at the time, he looked like a failure.

I’m a simple guy. I grew up in a time when sweat equity meant something. I bought my first house at twenty-four working at a local manufacturing plant. I drove a beat-up truck, fixed it myself, and never complained. That was the American way. You work hard, you get the white picket fence. Simple math.

So, when I looked at Leo, I didn’t see a struggle. I saw laziness.

He had a college degree that was gathering dust. He spent his days glued to his phone, delivering food for one of those gig-economy apps, and sleeping until noon. He lived in my basement, wore the same oversized hoodie every day, and had a look in his eyes that I interpreted as boredom.

I was constantly on his case. "The world doesn't owe you a living, Leo," I’d say, slamming my coffee mug down. "Get a real job. Build some character."

The Tuesday that changed my life started like any other. I came home from the shop, grease on my hands, feeling the good ache of a hard day's work.

Leo was in the kitchen, staring at a bowl of cereal. It was 6:00 PM.

"You just waking up?" I asked, the irritation rising in my chest like bile.

"No, Dad," he said softly. "Just got back. Did a few deliveries."

"Deliveries," I scoffed. "That’s not a career, Leo. That’s a hobby. When I was your age, I had a mortgage and a baby on the way. You can’t even pay for your own gas."

He put the spoon down. He looked pale, thinner than I remembered.

"The market is tough right now, Dad. Nobody is hiring entry-level without three years of experience. And the rent... a studio is two thousand a month. I can’t make the math work."

"The math works if you work," I snapped. "Stop blaming the economy. Stop blaming 'the system.' It’s about grit. You think it was easy for me in the 90s? We didn’t have safe spaces. We just got it done."

Leo looked up at me. His eyes were heavy. Not sleepy—heavy. Like they were holding up the ceiling.

"I’m trying, Dad. I really am. But I’m just... so tired."

I rolled my eyes. I actually rolled my eyes.

"Tired? From what? Sitting in a car? Playing on your phone? I’ve been on my feet for ten hours. I am tired. You’re just unmotivated. You have everything handed to you—electricity, food, a roof—and you act like you’re carrying the weight of the world."

The kitchen went quiet. The refrigerator hummed. The news played softly in the background, talking about inflation rates, but I wasn't listening. I was waiting for him to argue, to fight back, to show some spark.

Instead, he just nodded.

"You're right," he whispered. "I'm sorry I'm not who you were at my age. I'm sorry the math doesn't work for me."

He stood up, walked over to me, and did something he hadn't done since he was ten. He hugged me. It wasn't a strong hug; it was a lean, a collapse of weight against my shoulder.

"I won't be a burden anymore, Dad. I promise. Get some sleep."

I stood there, feeling vindicated. Finally, I thought. Finally, I got through to him. Tough love. That’s what this generation needs.

I went to bed feeling like a good father.

The next morning, the house was silent. Too silent.

I woke up at 6:30 AM, ready to wake him up early. We were going to look for "real" jobs today. I was going to drive him to the industrial park myself.

"Leo! Up and at 'em!" I shouted, banging on the basement door.

No answer.

I pushed the door open.

The room was spotless. The piles of laundry were gone. The blinds were open. The bed was made—military tight.

And on the pillow, there was his phone and a folded piece of notebook paper.

A cold shiver, sharper than any winter wind, shot down my spine.

"Leo?"

I checked the bathroom. Empty. The backyard. Empty. The garage.

My old pickup truck was gone.

I ran back to the room and grabbed the note. My hands were shaking so hard I almost ripped the paper.

Dad,

I know you think I’m lazy. I know you think I’m weak. I wanted to be the man you are. I really did.

But the mountain you climbed doesn’t have a path anymore. I’ve applied to 400 jobs this year. I didn't tell you because I was ashamed. I drove for that delivery app for 14 hours a day just to pay the interest on my student loans, not even touching the principal.

You told me to save. I tried. But when rent is double what you paid, and wages are half of what they should be, saving feels like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

I stopped taking my medication three weeks ago because my insurance cut out and I didn't want to ask you for money again. That’s why I was "tired." My brain has been screaming at me, and I didn't have the volume knob to turn it down.

You were right. The world is for the strong. And I don’t have any fight left.

I’m taking the truck to the old bridge. I’m sorry. You won’t have to pay my bills anymore.

Love, Leo.

The scream that tore out of my throat didn’t sound human. It sounded like an animal caught in a trap.

I dialed 911. I drove to the bridge. I drove so fast the world blurred into gray streaks.

I saw the flashing lights before I saw the river.

I saw the tow truck. I saw my pickup, the one I boasted about fixing, being hauled up from the water, dripping mud and weeds.

I collapsed on the asphalt. The officer who helped me up was a guy about my age. He didn't say, "It’s going to be okay." He just held me while I shattered.

It’s been six months.

People tell me, "It wasn't your fault, Jack. Depression is a silent killer."

And they are right. It is a disease.

But I can’t stop looking at the math.

I looked at his phone records later. He wasn't lying. He had applied to hundreds of jobs. He was rejected by automated emails. He was working while I slept. He was fighting a war I refused to see because I was too busy looking at the past through rose-colored glasses.

I measured his success with a ruler from 1990, and I beat him with it when he didn't measure up.

We tell our kids, "When I was your age, I had a house and a car." We forget to mention that a house cost two years' salary then, not twenty. We forget that we had pensions, not gig contracts. We forget that we had hope.

Leo didn't need a lecture on grit. He needed a dad who understood that "I'm tired" didn't mean "I need sleep." It meant "I'm running out of reasons to stay."

I visit his grave every Sunday. I tell him about the truck. I tell him I’m sorry.

But he can’t hear me.

The world is full of Leos right now. Young men and women who are working harder than we ever did, for half the reward, carrying the weight of a broken economy and a digital isolation we can't comprehend.

If your child tells you they are tired... if they seem stuck... if they are struggling to launch in a world that has clipped their wings...

Please. Put down your judgment. Throw away your "back in my day" stories.

Don’t tell them to man up. Tell them you are there. Tell them their worth isn't in their paycheck or their property.

I would give everything I own—my house, my pension, my pride—just to see my son sleeping "lazily" on that couch one more time.

A "perfect" dead son is a trophy of nothing but regret.

*Listen to the silence before it becomes eternal.*

President Bola Tinubu

By Emmanuel Orjih

Joseph, my 20-year-old relative, lives in my country home in the village. Joseph is unmarried, has no children, lives rent-free, works in my gardens, and ensures a human presence in my village house. For this, he earns N75,000 a month, while working on getting admitted into a tertiary institution to further his studies. Stories like Joseph’s are common across Nigeria’s landscape but are rarely visible where policy is made.

So at a tax explainer event with senior FIRS officers in Abuja, I asked whether Joseph would pay tax under the new tax regime which I call: “Bola’s Tax”. The answer was no. Joseph, they said, would not pay any tax.

Public policy should always be able to withstand its own arithmetic, so I asked them to show me how. And that was how the calculation began.

They listed all the deductibles Joseph was said to be entitled to. We examined each one carefully and matched them against Joseph’s real circumstances. After doing so, they agreed that the only deductible Joseph actually qualified for was pension.

Pension for Joseph is 8 percent, assuming compliance with statutory pension requirements. We ran the numbers. This resulted in a reduction of about N6,000, bringing Joseph’s taxable income to N69,000 per month and placing him squarely within the tax bracket of Bola’s Tax.

At that point, the officials performed a public U-turn. They revised their earlier position and accepted that Joseph, who earns N75,000 a month and lives a subsistence life, would indeed pay tax under the new regime.

They accepted because the logic left them no alternative. I did not debate. I did not raise my voice. I simply followed the framework they presented and asked careful, sequential questions. I used their logic on them. And it led to a conclusion that could not be avoided:

Nigeria’s poor are about to start paying taxes.

So who are Nigeria’s poor? If any institution has the authority to define poverty globally, it is the World Bank. I would know a bit about this, given that I am ex-World Bank, having worked at its Washington DC HQ and with several Southeast Asian country operations.

The World Bank estimates that 143 million Nigerians are “poor”. This determination is derived from a country-specific poverty line for LMICs (Lower Middle Income Countries). For Nigeria, that poverty line stands at approximately N190,000 per month, based on the World Bank’s daily poverty threshold of $4.20 converted to a monthly figure. Anyone earning below this amount is considered poor.

1. Everyone earning less than N190,000 a month in Nigeria is poor

2. Bola’s Tax will take money from Nigerians earning N67,000 a month.

3. Joseph earns N75,000 a month.

4. Joseph is poor

5. Bola’s Tax takes money from poor people like Joseph

These are 5 irrefutable facts.

No matter what political leaders, their supporters, and their armies of journalists and influencers may say about the poor being protected from Bola’s Tax therefore, the arithmetic tells a very clear and a very different story.

Even their own official communications acknowledge this reality – perhaps inadvertently. One of the stated objectives of Bola’s Tax is to “widen the tax base.” And those are not my words.

Policy language often sounds neutral until its consequences are made explicit. Widening the tax base simply means bringing more Nigerians into the tax net. Nigeria’s wealthy have long been within the tax net. If the wealthy are already there, then the widening must necessarily reach downward. There are only three possibilities therefore: the poor, livestock, or ghosts. I suspect we all know which of the three it is.

Given this, Nigeria’s poor are entitled to ask further questions. Questions like:

What will be done with the additional taxes collected from people like Joseph?

To answer this question, we need to look at government’s antecedents with similar public funds:

A. What do they do with Nigeria’s budget?

B. What did they do with the billions of dollars in external loans they have collected?

C. What do they do with fuel subsidy “savings”?

D. What do they do with earnings from crude oil revenue, including the forward sales?

E. What did they do with the billions of dollars that foreign development partners have delivered?

F. What do they do with the huge IGR they collect daily, weekly, monthly, and annually?

G. What did they do with the ever-present and ever-increasing VAT?

H. What did they do with all the stolen loot they recovered from Abacha, Emefiele, etc?

Wisdom demands that we judge government not by promises or by rhetoric, but by patterns and antecedents. On the basis of this, Nigeria’s poor are justifiably apprehensive that if Bola’s Tax is collected, whatever happened to the 8 pools of public funds listed above, will also likely happen to monies pooled from Bola’s Tax.

Finally, it is well established in macroeconomic and development economics that governments should exercise restraint in raising taxes when an economy is experiencing even one of the following conditions:

A. High inflation

B. Falling real wages

C. Shrinking or weak GDP growth

D. Rising unemployment

E. A large informal sector

F. High poverty rates

G. Weak social safety nets

H. Low wages and unstable earnings

I. Weak administrative capacity

Nigeria is experiencing all nine simultaneously. In such conditions, restraint is a responsibility, even a duty, particularly toward the poor.

When inflation is high and real incomes are falling, raising taxes reduces the purchasing power of the poor. When growth is weak, higher taxes suppress investment and job creation. When unemployment and informality are widespread, aggressive taxation pushes vulnerable households further to the margins.

In these conditions, tax increases do not reliably raise sustainable revenue. Instead, they shrink the tax base, increase non-compliance, and deepen poverty. This is not ideology. It is evidence, observed repeatedly across developing economies.

Sound fiscal policy requires sequencing:

1. Stabilize inflation

2. Support real wages

3. Restore growth and expand social protection

4. Strengthen administrative capacity

Only after these foundations are in place does broad-based taxation become effective and fair. Anything else shifts adjustment costs downward, where the poor are least able to absorb them. Implementing a tax regime that brings your poor population into the tax bracket when all 9 conditions are present is akin to national economic suicide.

This naturally leads us to the point where we must then ask: why are these national economic risks even being taken at all, and to what end?

A. So misappropriation of public funds can continue without consequence?

B. So inflated and padded contracts can keep rolling year after year?

C. So oversized and loud convoys, motorcades, and security entourages can continue to consume public money?

D. So offices unknown to the law, including the first lady office, and now the office of the first son, can continue to be brazenly funded from public coffers?

E. So political elites can continue to rely on public-funded foreign healthcare while Nigerian public hospitals serving the poor decay?

F. So judicial outcomes can continue to be improperly influenced and financed?

G. So public-funded political violence can continue to undermine democratic participation?

H. So elections can continue to be distorted using public resources?

I. So security votes funded by the public can remain opaque?

J. So abandoned projects can be endlessly recycled and re-awarded for bigger amounts at taxpayer expense?

K. So emergency public procurement can continue to bypass due process?

L. So patronage networks that deliver public funds to value depreciators can persist?

M. So public funded luxury allowances can expand while citizens are told to endure hardship?

N. So schools serving the poor can continue to collapse while children of public officials jet off to study abroad on public funds?

O. So cost of commissioning and launching a project continues to compete with cost of the project itself?

P. So broken systems can be substituted rather than fixed at taxpayer cost?

Q. So bloated bureaucracies funded by taxpayers can persist with thousands of redundant and idle workers?

R. So competence can continue to be subordinated to loyalty on the tab of the taxpayer?

S. So value for money can remain elusive while taxpayer bears the financial burden?

T. So public assets can continue to decay at taxpayer cost?

U. So palliatives targeted at the poor can continue to be hoarded, looted and traded for political gain?

V. So estacodes continue to flow unabated depleting public funds?

W. So social safety nets can remain weak when they could be funded by our taxes?

X. So citizens can continue to self-provide basic services including power, potable water, security, education, healthcare while taxes are abused?

Y. So trust between the poor and the state can continue to erode driven by abuse of commonwealth?

Z. So the poor can be asked to pay more and receive almost nothing in return for their own commonwealth?

Stop for one second. Ask yourself one simple question:

If government has been collecting money since, and your life did not improve, why will this one be different?

If food is already expensive, if transport is already costly, if school fees are already heavy, why take more money from poor people? This tax will not fix Nigeria. Rather, this tax will push the poor deeper into suffering. This is the truth without the sugarcoat.

Nigeria now stands at crossroads.

Road One:

Poor people keep paying more.

Hunger increases.

Suffering grows.

Nigeria becomes weaker.

Road Two:

We stop this tax.

The poor breathe.

Families survive.

Nigeria has a chance.

Only one road helps you.

If you choose to Stop This Tax, then from tomorrow 6th of January 2026, visit our website: StopThisTax.org

We are not asking you to protest.

We are not asking you for money or for anything else.

We only want you to understand.

When you understand, you will know what to do.

Tomorrow, go to StopThisTax.org

Learn quietly.

Protect yourself lawfully.

If this brings clarity to you, feel free to share it with other Nigerians who may be affected.

Yours in Service,

Emmanuel Orjih

Email: emmanuel@StopThisTax.org

www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-orjih

*ON SGBV AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS*

Children do not Belong to Parents this is why Courts Intervene

This statement offends many people but in law, it is correct. Parents do not own children. They are custodians. That difference is the reason the court can step into a family matter without asking permission.

In law, a child is not property. A child is a rights-holder. So while parents have authority, that authority is not absolute. This is why certain things trigger legal intervention.

When a child is abused, the state does not say,

“It’s a family matter.”

It steps in.

When a child is neglected, starved, denied education, or exposed to harm, the law does not wait for consent. It acts.

When decisions made by parents endanger a child’s physical, emotional, or psychological wellbeing, those decisions can be questioned, reviewed, and overturned.

Not because the law hates parents but because the law places the best interest of the child above adult control. This is the part many people struggle with.

Love alone is not enough. Good intentions do not excuse harm. Cultural authority does not override safety. Biological connection does not cancel responsibility. That is why:

🥢 Abuse attracts state intervention

🥢 Neglect has legal consequences

“I’m the parent” is not a defence

Courts intervene because children cannot always speak for themselves. The law becomes their voice.

Quietly.

Firmly.

Without apology.

So when you hear that the court has stepped into a family issue involving a child, understand this.  It is not an attack on parenting. It is a protection of childhood and in law, protecting the right of the chid is not negotiable

©️Confidence Aribibia

I remain your favorite Lawyer💕

Also, talk to us at Trios Foundation or Community Peace Practitioners Association members in all States and the FCT.

Thank you. Thank you all so much for your support and your trust. First and foremost, I give the Good Lord all the Glory and Honour.

It is an incredible honor to stand here today as the newly elected President of our dear MBHS OBA. I’m truly humbled and grateful.

To Mr Abiola Owoaje, thank you for your passion and commitment. Together, we have mobilised our dear members to take an active interest in the future of our dear association. Our shared dedication to this association can only make it stronger.

Today’s victory isn’t mine alone. It belongs to everyone who loves our dear school, in the vision and blueprint we put out there, in the possibilities and opportunities that my leadership portends for our dear school. I’m excited to work alongside each of you to strengthen our bonds, rebuild broken trust, and ultimately execute my manifesto.

I promise to lead with transparency, energy, and heart. Together, we will continue to make our great association even greater.

To the awesome Team Bridge Builders, congratulations. We did it. 

Let’s enjoy, savour, and celebrate this victory today because the hard work begins in earnest from tomorrow.

Hussien Momoh, Olumide Gbaja-Biamila, Pastor Mutairu Kayode, Rotimi Pedro, Ambassador Folami, Dr Arayomi, High Chief Dapo Bammeke, Sir Dipo Sowande , Sir Gregory Enahoro, Supo Ati John SAN, Prince Odubiyi, Lady Moji Bishi, Godfrey Ebetaleye, Raymond Olayemi, other campaign generals to many to mention here, the 1983 set, all other sets who delivered this awesome victory, I use you all as the point of contact for all my super supportive DOB’s who believed in me and my message from day one. 

You were strategic, posted, and reposted. You were agile, steadfast, resolute, vibrant, and you have forever changed the way we campaign as DOB of this great association. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

To my elders who supported me 100% from behind the scenes. You gave and kept your words. I am very grateful. Thank you, Sirs.

To my fellow elected exco, well done. 

To the electoral committee, well done for all the hard work. You have executed a very difficult assignment at a difficult moment in the history of our association. Well done.

To our revered trustee, past president, and past secretary, my dear Dad, Deacon, Dr Olalekan Adeola Dosunmu. Thank you for your prayers, instilling in me impeccable integrity, hard work, diligence, and exposing me to this dear association from a very early age. Today, history has been made, the first father and son President of an alumni association in Nigeria. Thank you, Sir.

Finally, to my dear wife, Sumbo Dosunmu, thank you, my darling. You have been my biggest supporter and cheerleader. You believed in this project from day one. Let’s do this together.

As promised, on day one, I am hereby constituting an ad hoc Centenary Hall Committee. This committee will be chaired by Gen Obashina Ogunbiyi as Chairman and Ambassador Kolawole Raheem Folami as the alternate Chairman. 

The Committee is comprised of all living trustees, past president, general secretary, Papa Chief Fanimokun, the chairman of the UK& IE, chairman of the North American Chapter, and all Set Chairmen. You are at liberty to invite any other distinguished old boy to join the committee as expedient. The singular term of reference for this committee is to come up with a sustainable plan/strategy for the completion and/or reconstruction of the Centenary Hall. A report should kindly be submitted to Exco on or before the 13th of June 2026. I pray that you will accept this honour and privilege to execute what is of utmost importance to our dear members. You will all be recorded in history as the great patriots who found the solution to our centenary hall and got it sorted out sustainably. Formal letters will be sent out to you all in the coming days.

Once again, thank you all.

 

Sola Dosunmu

President, Methodist Boys’ High School Lagos, Old Boys Association.

two weeks ago I learned something about my mother that I’m still ashamed I didn’t see sooner.

She’s 80, lives alone in the little tan house she’s been in for half a century. The one with the peeling shutters and the mailbox she still refuses to replace because “it works just fine.”

Last Wednesday, she called and said:

“Danny… I need help with my grocery list. Can you come? I think I’m forgetting things.”

My first instinct?

Annoyance.

I had deadlines.

Kids’ activities.

Bills on my desk.

A hundred things pulling me in every direction.

So I said, “Just tell me what you want. I’ll order it all online.”

But she was quiet for a long moment before whispering:

“I’d rather you come.”

So I did.

When I walked into her kitchen, three grocery bags were already sitting neatly on the counter.

“Mom… you already shopped,” I said, confused.

She waved her hand. “Those are just basics. I still need a few things.”

She opened her notebook — the same spiral-bound one she’s used for years — and handed it to me.

The list said:

• grapes

• paper towels

• coffee creamer

• company

And suddenly everything inside me went still.

She looked embarrassed, like a kid caught doing something wrong.

“I just… didn’t know how else to ask you to come,” she whispered. “You’re always so busy, and I didn’t want to bother you.”

That sentence —

those ten quiet words —

hit harder than anything I’ve felt in years.

My mom, the woman who worked two jobs and still made every school concert…

the woman who saved every drawing I ever made…

the woman who put herself last for decades…

felt she had to pretend she needed groceries

just to feel worthy of a visit from her own son.

I hugged her so tightly she laughed and said, “Oh goodness, you’ll break me.”

We never went to the store.

Instead, we sat at the tiny kitchen table covered in little sunflower placemats she’s had since the ’90s.

We talked about the neighbor’s new dog.

About her tomato plant that refuses to grow.

About my dad, and how she still forgets he’s not coming through the door sometimes.

I stayed longer than I planned.

Drank terrible instant coffee.

Listened — really listened — the way she used to listen to me.

Before I left, she walked me to the door and held my hand for a moment longer than usual.

“You made my week, sweetheart,” she said softly.

Driving home, I couldn’t shake one thought:

How many times did she wait by the window, hoping my car would turn into the driveway?

How many afternoons did she tell herself,

“He’ll come when he has time,”

while the house echoed with loneliness I didn’t notice?

I realized that somewhere along the road of adulthood —

work, kids, obligations, noise —

I started treating her like an errand.

Someone to “fit in” when life allowed it.

But to her?

I was never an errand.

I was her world.

And all she wanted

was an hour with her son

in the home where she raised him.

💛 THE LESSON

Your parents won’t always tell you they’re lonely.

They won’t always say they miss you.

They won’t always ask directly.

Sometimes they’ll hide it behind a grocery list.

Behind a broken lamp.

Behind a request that doesn’t really need doing.

Go anyway.

Sit at their table.

Drink the bad coffee.

Let them tell you stories you’ve heard a thousand times.

Because one day the chair will be empty.

The notebook will be closed.

The porch light will be off.

And you’ll wish you had treated an ordinary Wednesday

like the priceless moment it truly was

Copied from someone else #fblifestyle

SARDAUNA BUILT THE NORTH — BUT HE BUILT IT ON TRIBALISM: IT’S TIME WE REBUILT OUR MINDS

By khaleed yazeed.

This is not an insult. It is not an attack on legacy. It is not a desecration of history. This is truth. Raw, painful, and necessary truth, spoken by a young man from the North who has watched his region sink into confusion, darkness, and stagnation while everyone keeps pointing fingers everywhere but backward.

Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, built the North. He established institutions. He left hospitals, schools, cooperative unions, and cultural pride. He made many sacrifices and shaped a generation. That cannot be denied. But we must say this: he also embedded a dangerous idea into Northern politics, a tribal and religious ideology that has crippled our thinking and frozen our progress.

He didn’t build the North to be free, he built it to be suspicious of others. He built a North that fears Southern Nigeria more than it fears poverty. A North that is taught to hate the Igbo before it is taught to love innovation.A North that sees the Christian as a threat, and not as a fellow citizen. A North that values ethnic loyalty more than national unity. A North that believes in holding power, not using it for good.

This political mindset didn’t die with him. It survived. It became a system. It became doctrine. And today, it is the reason the North is broken, poor, confused, and dangerously directionless.

Say what you want about me. Insult me. Curse me. Call me a traitor to the legacy. But I would rather be cursed by men than be cursed by history for keeping quiet while my region dies from within.

I am not saying Sardauna left nothing good. He left many noble legacies. But his politics were not perfect. In fact, some of them have poisoned generations. If we don’t admit this and reform them, the North will never move forward.

We will keep living in darkness and denial.

We will keep burning in the fires of religious and ethnic violence.

We will keep dying without knowing who to blame, or where to go.

Today, what we inherited from that ideology is the reason why Northern Nigeria:

Cannot define its future.

Cannot tolerate differences.

Cannot embrace new ideas.

Cannot love its neighbors without suspicion.

Cannot build bridges, only walls.

We have made enemies of progress. We have made friends with ignorance. We have turned arrogance into culture. And worst of all, we have called it pride.

The North must wake up.

It’s time we stop pretending that the enemy is outside. The enemy is the mindset that was planted in us. That we are superior. That we must dominate. That we don’t need to learn from others. That we must always rule. That we must fight before we understand.

That mindset has become our prison. That mindset is why we kill each other in the name of religion. That mindset is why our children beg on the streets while the South builds tech cities. That mindset is why we fear books, but celebrate politicians. We are not cursed by God, we are caged by history.

But we can escape. We can begin to think new thoughts. We can choose to be humans first before tribes. We can begin to relate with other Nigerians not as enemies, but as brothers in the same struggle.

I do not write this out of hate. I write this out of deep love for the North, for the land that raised me, for the people I still believe can rise again.

But we must bury tribal politics. We must reject inherited bigotry. We must rise beyond the old doctrines that have only kept us behind.

This is not 1960 anymore. This is not the Nigeria of coups and propaganda. This is 2025. And we must think for ourselves.

If we do not change how we think, if we do not confront the rot in the past, if we do not evolve, we will die slowly, painfully, blindly.

Khaleed Yazeed

A Northern son, born from the ashes of silence, rising to confront the lies that chained his people.

Monday Lines 

Idiocracy, senators and children of food

By Lasisi Olagunju 

(Published in the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, 01 December, 2025)

For ten clean years (November 2015 to 7 October, 2025), Mahmud Yakubu was the chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). On 29 November, 2025, fifty three days after he left that impartial office, he became a beneficiary of the election he refereed; he was made an ambassador by the president.

Yakubu is not a stand-alone actor. From July 2017 to December 2021, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda was the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue State. On 24 October, 2024 he became a minister of the Federal Republic. The man's blessing blossomed on 24 July, 2025 when he was appointed the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.

Yakubu and Yilwatda are teachers. They are getting their rewards here and now on earth; not in heaven. There should be many more like them inside and outside INEC. The electoral commission is now well and properly fixed inside the chambers of power.

We wait to see who will match their regiment: INEC and politicians of all hues, gunners and guns and the court mass into a mega-camp. Has this happened? Has it not? You still wonder why every governor, every senator, their mistresses and concubines and paramours take their tent into the IDP camp named APC? Samuel Butler was right: Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” It is no longer necessary for the ruling caste to scheme, manoeuvre and listen to the above counsel of Sun Tzu and his 'The Art of War.' Resistance is dead, opposition is buried, so why should the president's battle plans be made again under the cover of darkness?

President Bola Tinubu does not pretend. Piss into the stream if you can; defecate into the pond. It is the lily-livered who asks toad and frog and their cousins to close their eyes before doing so. This is where we are.

But, this piece is not about those defecators. This is about the hollow men in Nigeria's hallowed chambers. This is on our senatorial children of food; large, privileged boars in our Animal Farm.

Child of food is omo oúnje in Yoruba. When you take your seat at every dining table; when you become uncontrollable or overly excited at the sight of food, you are omo oúnje, and you get the label. And, you do not have to be a child to be so called. Adults who forget themselves when food appears are children.

Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, read a letter to his colleagues last week, a dinner invitation from the First Lady to the Senate. The 'overly excited' Senate President concluded the reading on a note of self-revelation. He said: “This is like an invitation by a mother to her children. I wish you sumptuous meal and fruitful discussion...We all meet there on Friday.”

Our senators are children. Now we know.

I did not hear any of the other 108 senators say their president was wrong; that an arm of government paid and pampered to vet and check the acts and actions of the executive should not be found snoring in the kitchen of the Villa. They all love their status as nurslings; they flaunt it. Shame on the enemy who are jealous of the chummy, yummy relationship between Nigeria's lawmakers and the president's kitchen.

It is most likely that the First Lady rejoices at having almighty senators, big men and women of power, as her children. The Villa is a shrine; it exists to be worshipped by big men, small men; sycophantic sucklings. The air that keeps the bees there humming is flattery; its synonym is unctuous praise.

Flattery, my dictionary says, is “excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one's own interests.” That is the 'gold' coin which Akpabio offered the First Lady.

The author of 'Maximes' and 'Memoirs', François de la Rochefoucauld (1613 –1680) has a deprecating line: “Flattery is a counterfeit money which, but for vanity, would have no circulation.” No one should tell anyone that accepting and spending fake, adulatory notes have consequences. “He that loves to be flattered is worthy of the flatterer” (Timon in Shakespeare's 'Timon of Athens', Act I, Scene 1).

Those who enjoy flattery deserve the consequences of sycophancy. That is what Timon says in the above quote, in bitterness and in regret.

Why would adults we invested with legislative powers look at themselves and say they are children of the president's wife? And what are the implications for the recipient of the (un)solicited sycophancy?

One morning, a fox was walking through the woods looking for something to eat. He looked up and saw a crow sitting on a tree branch. He had seen many crows before, but this one caught his eye because she was holding a piece of cheese in her beak.

The fox immediately thought, “Perfect! That cheese will make a great breakfast.”

He walked to the base of the tree and looked up at the crow. “Good morning, beautiful bird!” he called out.

The crow looked down at him with suspicion. She didn’t trust him, so she kept her beak tightly closed around the cheese and said nothing.

The fox continued, pretending to admire her. “What a lovely bird you are! Your feathers shine, your body is perfect, and your wings are wonderful. A bird as perfect as you must also have a beautiful voice. If you would just sing one song, I would gladly call you the Queen of all Birds.”

Hearing all these sweet compliments, the crow forgot her doubts, and even forgot the cheese she was holding. Wanting to prove she deserved the praise, she opened her beak to let out her loudest caw.

Of course, the cheese fell straight down—right into the waiting mouth of the fox.

“Thank you,” said the fox, smiling as he walked away. “Your voice is great; if only you added brains and caution to all your other qualifications, you would make a great queen."

Aesop, ancestral teller of the original of the story above, did not forget to add that its moral is that people who listen to flattery often pay the price for it.

That story and the caution it conveys are for the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, because of whose food Senator Godswill Akpabio pronounced her "mother" and all senators her "children" last week.

English philosopher and statesman, Francis Bacon, in 'The Advancement of Learning', wrote of a senator who once stood up in a full Roman debate and proposed that Tiberius, their emperor, be declared a god. The philosopher used this incident to illustrate what he called the lowest form of sycophancy. Even in that world of excessive praise, Roman senators never thought of calling themselves the children of the emperor. For a modern democratic legislature to refer to the spouse of the head of the executive as “mother” is worse than the flattery Bacon mocked. 

What Akpabio blithely said is casual but deep. It collapses the constitutional separation of powers into a family drama where elected lawmakers become puny dependents seeking favour. If ancient Rome saw such gestures as the death of democracy and republican dignity, then the Nigerian Senate’s metaphor is an even clearer sign of institutional self-infantilisation.

Akpabio and his Senate’s excessive fawing inadvertently situate their chamber in Jean Piaget's immature stage of infantile thinking, one ruled by deference and emotional dependence.

Yet, an independent legislature is the reason we say democracy is better than all other forms of government, including military rule.

'The American Mercury' was an American magazine which was on the newsstand from 1924 to 1981. Its July 1937 edition contains an article with the headline: 'Crooks in the Legislature.' The magazine withheld the name of the author of the article "for obvious reasons" but said it published his story "as a factual record, believing it typical of most state legislatures." From the eight-page article I picked this paragraph in celebration of the legislative content of our democracy: "Putting summary ahead of detail, I may say that ten percent of legislators come perilously close to being racketeers; twenty-five percent are primarily venal in their attitude toward such legislation as is capable of being turned to advantage; another twenty-five percent will accept money for their votes on bills which do not vitally affect the general public and in which they have no personal interest; another twenty-five percent, who do not accept money, are moved often by personal and group relationships, including retainers, business arrangements, political advantage, patronage demands, etc.; and about fifteen percent are, or think they are, above suspicion of judging legislation other than on its merits –although I never have met one who could take an utterly detached viewpoint even when unconscious of personal interest. Unadulterated altruism has yet to come within my purview. Paradoxically, some of the crookedest legislators in my state are among the ablest in their consideration of measures." That was democracy and the parliament in the United States of 88 years ago. Take a look at what we have in 2025 Nigeria, you may add the US.

Senator Akpabio and other children of food are not alone in the kitchen with the one who holds the yam and the knife of this lavish feast. The press is the fourth estate of the realm; it routinely gets compelled (or it compels itself) to do what Akpabio did. The judiciary is the third leg of the dining table; it stands up for power and privileges and, for their songs of praise.

In 'How Democracies Die', Harvard political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, want to know if the American democracy is in danger. And, in every word, every sentence and every paragraph of that 2018 book are hints that suggest an affirmative answer to that question. They say: “This is how we tend to think of democracies dying: at the hands of men with guns...But (now) there is another way to break a democracy. It is less dramatic but equally destructive. Democracies may die at the hands, not of generals, but of elected leaders—presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power.”

Lagbaja, the masked musician, sang at the beginning of this democracy that it must not die (democracy yi ko gbodo ku). But, if this democracy was a child, it would qualify as a foolish child. And a foolish child is as useless, lifeless as a dead child. There is a Yoruba proverb that explains it deeply: A child lacks wisdom, and they say the child must not die; what else kills faster than lack of wisdom? Dying is not the absence of life; it is the lack of useful existence.

Senators are children of the president. “Are we living in the age of stupid? The era of the idiot? The answer of course is yes, with examples of monstrous moronicism everywhere.” That is the verdict of film critic and Guardian Australia writer, Luke Buckmaster, four years ago. He thinks democracy has become a government of idiots, by idiots for idiots. “If this is already the era of the idiot, what comes next?” He asks, and the answer, according to him, is: “An Idiocracy.” Idiocracy is a pick on the title of Mike Judge's 2006 dystopian comedy.

Do not hesitate to apply the above to my lot and to your lot. The ways and strays of this democracy remind me of the famous ending of T. S. Eliot's 'Hollow Men', a 1925 poem about a state in paralysis: “This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.”

Democracy dies where the legislature celebrates its becoming the executive's puny child, mother hen's brood. That is what the “children” in our Red Chamber do. The rot is complete when you add to that tragedy the press paying to play with the Villa, and the judiciary upstanding in deference to the president's personal anthem: ‘On Your Mandate We Shall Stand’.

***Copied***

*Signs Warning of the Approaching Great Storm*.....May this be on paper only.

A storm is drawing near the world, and all of us will be affected by it.

Before storms, strange changes occur in the atmosphere that people cannot usually explain. Everyone senses that something is not normal, yet they cannot understand precisely what it is. The current global situation seems exactly like this feeling.

Strange things are happening, phenomena that defy description, abnormal changes in human behaviour, and no one knows the exact reason.

There is a massive accumulation of negative energy.

Many political historians and sociologists I have spoken to compare the current situation to the world on the eve of the Second World War.

After the sweeping transformations brought by the Industrial Revolution, the First World War erupted, followed by the Second. The accumulated tension was not released except through those wars. Today, after the digital revolution and now the artificial intelligence revolution, an enormous energy is building up, and the tension it produces can be seen everywhere.

Rare minerals, the essential raw material of the technological age, appear to be at the centre of the current global tension. However, the unprecedented free flow of knowledge has produced multiple complications. For example, contaminated and manipulated information flows have fuelled irrational ideologies, resulting in social strata that resemble a state of delirium.

In America, the “Make America Great Again” movement has emerged. In Italy, the “Five Star Movement”. In Germany, racist parties. In Turkey, the Fethullah Gülen organisation. In Israel, racist Zionism. In the Middle East, the Islamic State group. In Africa, criminal organisations are labelled with religious and ethnic labels.

In Turkey, we discuss daily the rise of small criminal gangs. In Europe and America, states have become powerless in the face of drug proliferation, human trafficking, and violence.

Perhaps you have noticed, even in the countries you live in, that people have become quick to resort to violence, even during minor traffic congestion.

What is the reason for all this? It is exactly like the mysterious turbulence of the atmosphere before a storm.

Negative energy can only be released through war.

Day by day, tensions rise, and energy accumulates. Unfortunately, this energy is only released through a devastating war, just as happened before the Second World War.

At that time, nationalist sentiments intensified, the gap in wealth distribution widened, greed for wealth grew, the demand for raw materials peaked, irrational ideologies surged, and leaders with extreme ideas emerged, pulling the masses behind them.

Today, the new list of needs generated by the technological revolution has turned greedy corporate giants into warlords. These corporations, most of them headquartered in America, believe they will collapse if deprived of precious minerals.

The United States has the largest army in the world. It is now deploying one third of its forces to the Venezuelan border, claiming to fight drug trafficking, while truly seeking to seize oil and underground resources.

It has openly told Ukraine: “If you do not give us your rare minerals, we will stop selling you weapons.” Its ambitions in Greenland and Canada are not above the ground, but beneath it.

Europe, having lost the technological race, is no longer striving for precious minerals and therefore does not intend to wage any wars. It has exhausted its share of aggression and greed in the previous century, having ignited two bloody world wars.

Now, it seems the turn has come for the United States, China, and Russia to play their new “historical” roles.

The tension surrounding Taiwan, although appearing geopolitical, is driven primarily by the presence of TSMC, the global monopoly on semiconductor chip manufacturing, the essential backbone of all modern industries. Without chips, almost all technological production on Earth would come to a halt.

As for Russia, it has occupied a third of Ukrainian territory and has no intention of giving it up.

Day by day, tensions rise and energy accumulates. Unfortunately, this energy is released only through a devastating war, just as happened before the Second World War.

A terrifying arms race

Faced with these threats, Europe has already begun an intense arms race. Not only Europe, but from Australia to the Middle East, and from Latin America to Africa, a frenzied military buildup is underway.

In the past ten years, global armament has increased by 37 per cent. The numbers are alarming: in 2024, the world spent 2.7 trillion dollars on weapons. To cover these costs, states are shrinking education, health, economic, and urban development budgets, which only worsens social decline.

In other words, the world is witnessing a global wave of militarisation. China, America, and Russia are leading in production.

But what will become of all these weapons? They will inevitably be used somewhere.

Israel is attacking six countries around it in pursuit of irrational ideological objectives, backed by America, the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of weapons.

Israel’s motives stem from its blind ideological obsession with the “Promised Land”, its interest in Mediterranean gas and oil, and the ambitions of American arms corporations, most of which operate in alignment with Israeli interests.

As for what is happening in Sudan, Somalia, and other African countries, it cannot be understood solely as geopolitical conflict. It is also a race for underground wealth.

Everything mentioned above is an indicator of the immense tension and accumulation of energy across the world.

Rising tendencies toward violence, the desire for rapid wealth, and growing rebellion against class disparities all point to the buildup of dangerous energies at an individual level as well.

We see this clearly on social media, in waves glorifying war, encouraging violence, and granting legitimacy to aggression.

People try to influence their states, armies, and leaders, who are increasingly treated like demigods. Everyone threatens everyone, fingers point in every direction, and violence has become a virtue.

For this reason, a storm is approaching, and it will inevitably strike one day.

“Only a god can save us”

The head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, MIT, and professor of philosophy, Ibrahim Kalin, published a new book last month titled “Journey to Heidegger’s Hut”.

The book explores the reflections of German philosopher Martin Heidegger on “being”.

In one of the chapters, Heidegger discusses the chaos into which humanity sank after the Industrial Revolution. He says that a world placing technology at its centre, reducing the human being to a mere tool of production, becomes a civilisation that has lost its meaning.

When asked how humanity can escape this dilemma, he replies:

“Only a god can save us.”

Yet Heidegger does not mean a “god” in the traditional religious sense.

He means that escaping the prison of technology is not something human willpower alone can accomplish. It requires a new “opening”, an unfamiliar horizon, an unconventional rebirth.

Is this not exactly what we are living in today?

MONDAY LINES

*Kukah and a Nation of Marabouts*

By

Lasisi Olagunju

November 10, 2025

*Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi (1924 –1992) was shocked when he got to Mecca for the first time in 1955 and discovered that the city had no streetlights.*

*Sheikh Gumi was an Islamic scholar and Grand Khadi of the Northern Region from 1962 to 1967. 

*He was the father of Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, the man who makes waves today.*

*Kaduna, from where the Sheikh took off to Mecca, had a power plant built there as far back as 1929. 

*Street lighting was introduced to Lagos in 1898 – seventeen years after London had it. 

History says *"the first, practical, public use of electricity”* in London was in 1881; it was for street lighting.

*Every man’s story is a mirror of a part of the past; it is a window into the future of the world.

 *‘Where I Stand’ is the late Gumi’s autobiography. 

Gumi wrote on page 69 of that book: *"I remember that during my first Hajj in 1955, there was not even electricity in the city of Mecca. The only electric lights were at the royal palaces and the Ka’aba. The streets were lit with oil lamps early in the evening every day, which were extinguished the following morning.”* 

An entry in William Camden’s book of proverbs published in 1605 says *“the early bird gets the worm”.*

 *In electricity and other certain matters, Nigeria was that bird. 

The English word, ‘headstart’ means *“an advantage granted or achieved at the beginning of a race, a chase, or a competition.”*

*If development was a race, Nigeria had a headstart over Saudi Arabia 70 years ago. 

*Nigeria also had it over the UAE; Lagos had it over Dubai. 

*The very first power generator came alive in Dubai in 1952. 

*That was the moment the city first tasted electric light and shook hands with modernity. 

*Dubai had its first hospital, Al Maktoum, in 1951; by 1979, it built its first skyscraper. 

*When was Cocoa House, Nigeria’s first skyscraper, built in Ibadan?*

*Mecca, the holy city that lit its streets with oil lamps in 1955 is today one of the world’s celebrated smart cities.*

*Check the Smart Cities Index released in 2023, 2024 and 2025 by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). 

*What makes a city the most livable in 2025? 

*In its World Competitiveness Ranking, IMD lists Dubai as the fourth smartest city in the world, and Mecca the 39th out of 146 cities globally. 

*Where are Nigerian cities? Check.*

*In several areas, Nigeria started well. 

*So, what happened to us? 

*Or what has made a difference between our stunted growth and the grown/ growing nations? 

*Quality of leadership and quality of ideas ruling. 

*To be blessed with a good head is good, but a good head without character ruins.*

*We say lack of character ruins good head.*

*There is the story of a swift young man who was well ahead of his peers in all races. 

*Well-endowed with talents but lacking in character, the fast-footed went for a race. 

*His feet were swift, but his head grew heavy with pride and prejudice. 

*He stumbled, fell, and was overtaken by all; even the lame boy he once mocked left him behind. 

Then elders started telling their children: *“When a good head forgets character, it runs itself backward, and that is how great heads go bad.”*

*That is how Nigeria’s Lagos which had electricity as early as 1898, became, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2025 report, the 5th most difficult city to live in globally (168th out of 173 cities). 

*But are we doomed to forever run ourselves backward?*

*I was in the audience at Dr Reuben Abati’s 60th birthday lecture and book launch on Friday in Lagos. 

*I sat up when Bishop Matthew Kukah who delivered the birthday keynote, thoroughly trashed Nigeria for abandoning rational inquiry for magical thinking.Any country that abandons science for sorcery cannot be Saudi Arabia, cannot be United Arab Emirates and definitely cannot be Japan, or South Korea. It cannot have Copenhagen, the reigning best city to live in the world.*

*Bishop Kukah mentioned “marabouts” as our country’s guardian angels and the instructors of our pilots. 

*Kukah’s imageries and metaphors point at the “spiritualists” as the compass we deploy for our journey of destiny. 

*Superstition rots a nation; irrational beliefs corrode critical thinking; it poisons policy decisions and stunts progress.*

*So, when we search for our golden years, they are always in the past. 

*It is the reason the future increasingly becomes like the moon, unattainable for the moon catcher. 

*In the lecture entitled ‘Nigeria: Time to Reload’, Bishop Kukah made a striking connection between Nigeria’s underdevelopment and its deep entanglement with superstition, maraboutism, and the misuse of religion. 

*He argued that one of the greatest obstacles to Nigeria’s progress is the replacement of reason and science with fear, fatalism, and spiritual manipulation.*

*For Kukah, this overdependence on marabouts, prophets, and self-styled miracle workers reflects a dysfuntional national mindset. 

Kukah warned that *“all this idea of government by marabouts, shamans, all this blood of sacrifice of protective gear against enemies, slaughtering of cross-bred cows, donkeys, camels, cats with three legs, one eye, no tail, black tongue and so on, will not cut it.”*

 *They have never, and will not. 

*The bishop observed and reminded us that Asian societies built their modernization on moral philosophy and scientific reasoning. He told us that those people drew on the teachings of Confucius, the Mahabharata, and the Japanese ethic of honour.*

*He said Nigeria’s political and social life remained trapped in the orbit of primitive spirituality.*

*He said we are a nation of shortcut takers and jilters of institutional solutions.*

*With a dubious reputation of substitution of superstition for intellect, and of prophecy for planning, the only direction of the national vehicle is backwards.*

*That is why everyone is leaving us behind in all spheres. 

*Bishop Kukah’s recommendation is that for Nigeria to attain greatness, it must “reload” and rediscover its moral compass; it must rebuild national cohesion, and renew trust in democracy by learning from past mistakes, reclaiming ethical and cultural values, and forging a unifying national spirit rooted in justice, integrity, and shared purpose. 

*He said we must retrieve our country from religious extremists, marabouts and merchants of spirits*. 

*What does it mean to have one’s destiny in the hand of conjurers and manipulators?

*What Kukah painted is a portrait of the black man trapped forever in the hole of nonsense. 

*The black man outsources his life to men who claim to be God. 

*He does it out of fear. 

*Fear of visible man and invisible spirit. 

*But, the value that is called excellence does not stay in the house of jitters. 

*If you see a black man eating his pounded yam in the dark, it is not moderation, it is the fear of the world who always wants man to eat his pounded yam as boiled yam, soupless. 

*Swiss linguist, Heli Chatelain, left the United States for Luanda, the capital of Angola, in the year 1885. 

*He was twenty five years old when he was employed to assist missionaries in producing a grammar and a dictionary of a major language in that area. 

*The man soon saw the moral nakedness of his hosts so much that by 1895, he was no longer in doubt on the reason for the black man’s backwardness: 

*“No serious progress is possible as long as this belief and practice (witchcraft) exists,”* Chatelain wrote in his ‘Causes of the Retardation of African Progress’, published in September, 1895.

The Swiss told an interesting story: *At a point between 1885 and 1895, he met a slave who learnt carpentry on a plantation in Luanda, Angola. The slave was one very intelligent man who laced his competence with diligence. He soon gained his freedom. In freedom, the carpenter quietly set to work on building a brand, and a business, and he was very successful. He became very rich and bought six or seven local houses. He made more money and bought two expensive stone houses which he rented out to white tenants. From the rent, the man’s riches blossomed and were in multiples*. 

*However, despite his wealth, the man moved about in shabby, ragged clothes. He constantly made excuses and told small lies to make people think he was not as rich as they believed. When asked by Chatelain why he behaved that way, he explained: 

*“If I lived well and dressed nicely, people would become jealous, and their envy could bring me harm through witchcraft.”*

*To reinforce his fears, the wealthy carpenter wasted a chunk of his wealth on powerful charms to protect himself from evil spirits which he thought his jealous enemies might send against him. 

*The short narrative ends with the carpenter’s growth severely limited by his belief and his fears. 

*Why is Nigeria increasingly left behind?*

*Heli Chatelain told more than the carpenter story. 

*There was no system of writing when he arrived his part of Africa in about 1885. 

His reading the why was that *"a genius or innovator in Africa is almost sure to be accused of witchcraft and to suffer death.”*

He added that *“if a man shows any spark of genius, either by an invention or more rational conceptions, his superior talents may be ascribed to an enlisted spirit.”*

Chatelain ended that point with a declaration that unless the rich was generous with his money *“the man who dared to be richer than his neighbours”* risked envy which *“is as dangerous as revenge.”*  

*Anambra State governorship election was held on Saturday. I am almost certain that all candidates in that election were told by dibias that they would win. A winner has emerged. What happened to the ‘holy’ words of the seers?*

 *Governorship elections come up next year in Ekiti and Osun states. Marabouts have whispered to every aspirant in our states that they are the anointed one, the next governor. Already, tremors and quakes are rumbling the political landscape; old walls are cracking; familiar trees are losing their roots and branches. Even if the heavens were to fall, no aspirant would yield ground for another. Brothers will fight brothers; friends will square up against friends. None, not even the most hopeless among them, will step aside or step down. Each claims to have been told a vision that the crown is theirs to seize, take and flee with*.

*You and I know that the ‘gods’ can only be right if each state were to have more than one ruler. 

*But who will dare tell the desperate to pause and think before the storm comes for all?

*For the 2027 presidential election, keep an eye on the main opposition parties. 

*You heard that in the ADC no one will step down for no one, no matter how old. The rumble in their jungle is rooted in spiritual assurances from marabouts in Niger, Senegal, Egypt and Morocco that each of them is the next president. Some of them take their hope from the same spiritual tray, yet the prophecy of electoral success is the same for all who bow before the seers.*

*Keep an eye on the ruling party, the APC. No one is contesting the ticket with the incumbent president. But, if you find persons angling to be vice president and displace the incumbent number two, find out which dibia or cleric ‘sees’ for them. They know that the incumbent president will have only one running mate, yet all of them are sure that they will be that person.*

 Robert J. Sternberg, the author of ‘Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid’, says *“the stupid should wear signs so we know not to rely on them.”*

*Are these smart politicians stupid for each of them to believe what the seers serially tell them? 

*What is the meaning of stupidity?

 *I read Lewis Anthony Dexter’s ‘Politics and Sociology of Stupidity’ (1962). 

*The author writes about what to do to help the stupid get out of their stupid hole. 

He writes about introducing technology as a way of *"teaching the stupid not to be stupid”* or to be *"less stupid.”*

*But I also read the frustration of the author at the stupid insisting on remaining “fundamentally” stupid. 

*As I listened to Bishop Kukah’s lecture on Friday in Lagos, my mind went straight to what a top politician from the north told me recently. 

*The big man said to me that the real problem of Nigeria are the mystics; the seers, prophets and marabouts to whom politicians have outsourced the running of the country and its politics. Our husbands in the political parties seek and woo clerics as the real electorate. Your votes and mine are mere dummies set up to mask what the ‘gods’ have resolved to do on election day. After the election, the oracles rule, they dictate policies and projects; they decide who gets blessed, and who gets damned. They make and unmake the throne and those who sit on it. That is where we are; the reason we are far behind our past,”* the top politician told me. 

*I believe him. 

*Man won’t learn. 

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Banquo asks the witches to speak if they *“can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grain will grow and which will not.”*

*The seers speak to Banquo and more to Macbeth. 

*They tell Macbeth he will be king, and he becomes king. 

*But what is that that we read as the end of King Macbeth?*

Obasanjo-Fayose Saga: When an Elder Went Too Far and the Younger Went Too Low: 4 Fundamental Life Lessons I Owe Myself and My 4-Year-Old Son

I am, first of all, a student of life.

I watch life closely so that I can install its lessons in myself and instruct my family, especially my four-year-old son, whom I am raising in my twilight years. It is from that lens of parenting and values, not from partisan loyalty, that I watched the recent public exchange between former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Let me be clear: I am not a “fan” of either man.

Age does not automatically make anyone a role model.

Past office does not automatically confer moral authority.

Yet I paid attention to their encounter because it presents vivid lessons about power, ego, apology, dignity, and what we model to the next generation.

What I Saw at the Birthday

I stumbled on the video of Mr. Fayose’s birthday celebration where General Obasanjo gave a speech. What I saw and heard shocked me.

Here was a man invited by the celebrant in the name of peace and reconciliation. Instead of responding to that overture with measured grace, the elder chose that same platform to publicly strip the celebrant bare. 

He revisited private conversations, stated that he had told Mr. Fayose and his wife that they were not Omolúàbí (people of honour), and repeated it before the crowd. He did not merely correct; he flogged with words on the man’s own birthday.

The question that rose in my heart as a father was simple: Why come at all if this is what you came to do?

There is a time and a place for everything. You can disagree fiercely with a man and still respect the occasion he invited you to. 

If you must maintain distance, decline the invitation. But to accept an invitation for peace and then use the microphone to humiliate your host is something else entirely.

Predictable Response, Questionable Method

Knowing a bit of Mr. Fayose’s public temperament, I was not surprised that he replied later. I was, however, saddened by the tone and approach of that reply. The response did not rise above the provocation; it descended to meet it.

So I am not here to canonise one and demonise the other. There is enough error to go around.

As we say in Yoruba, “Gámbàrí pa Fúlàní, kò le jọ nínú.”

The quarrel between Gambari and Fulani is not my concern in terms of choosing sides; they are kinsmen. My interest lies in the lessons, because my son is watching this generation and learning what adulthood looks like.

What Our Culture Really Teaches About Elders

We sometimes misquote our own culture to excuse bad behaviour from older people.

Yes, our tradition honours elders, but that honour is not blind.

Our proverbs are clear:

• “Adìẹ funfun ò mọ ara rẹ̀ lágbà.”

The white hen does not know it is respected; respect must therefore be handled with care.

• “Agbàlagbà tó sọ yàngàn mọ́ ìdí, ó sọ ara rẹ̀ di ojúgbà adìẹ.”

An elder who ties corn around his waist makes himself the equal of the chickens.

In other words, respect is not a blank cheque. An elder must first respect himself.

If you occupy the seat of an elder but speak recklessly, you undermine the very dignity you expect younger people to uphold.

This is one lesson I will teach my son:

Honour age and experience, but never confuse either with infallibility.

Lessons I Am Taking Away for My Son

Below are the core lessons I am extracting from this saga and will deliberately teach my son:

1. You cannot complain about what you empower.

Mr. Fayose invited General Obasanjo. 

He opened the door and handed him the microphone. If you know someone’s history with you and still empower them to define the moment, you have partly scripted your own humiliation.

For my son: Choose carefully who you give access to, especially on your most vulnerable days.

2. When someone stretches a hand for peace, both sides have responsibilities.

If a younger person reaches out to an elder seeking reconciliation, the elder has a responsibility to respond with maturity, not superiority. It takes two to make peace. It also takes two to prolong a quarrel.

For my son: Never weaponise another person’s attempt at reconciliation.

3. Respect is reciprocal, even in deeply hierarchical cultures.

Our culture does not teach blind worship of elders; it teaches mutual dignity. An elder who cannot govern his tongue or temper invites pushback and, eventually, public disrespect.

For my son: Give honour, but insist on your own dignity. Do not insult elders, but do not allow anyone, elder or not to strip you of self-respect.

4. There is a right time, place, and tone for hard truths.

You may have strong, legitimate grievances. That does not mean every microphone is your microphone or every occasion your stage. A birthday chosen in the spirit of peace is not the place to deliver a public verdict designed to wound.

For my son: Wisdom is not just what you say, but when, where, and how you say it.

5. When an elder goes low, the younger must choose to go high.

An elder may, by words or conduct, make himself unworthy of the honour his age traditionally commands. But a younger person and certainly a leader must refuse to descend into the same arena. Michelle Obama captured it perfectly: “When they go low, we go high.  Dignity is not proven by matching someone’s worst behaviour; it is preserved by rising above it.

For my son: Someone else’s loss of self-control must never become your excuse to lose yours. Hold your ground, hold your peace, and hold your dignity no matter who tries to drag you into the mud. 

Why This Matters to Me as a Father

Some will say, “It is politics; leave them to it.” I disagree.

I am raising a boy who will one day navigate a world filled with powerful, wounded, ego-driven adults—some in politics, business, ministry, or academia. These public scenes are not entertainment to me; they are case studies.

I ask myself:

• What does my son learn when an elder uses scripture as a weapon while humiliating another human being?

• What does he learn when a younger leader responds not with restraint, but with equal or greater venom?

• What does this teach him about apology, forgiveness, and boundaries?

If I stay silent, then the loudest teacher in his life becomes the trend, the clip, and the crowd reaction.

I would rather he hears a different voice his father’s voice saying:

• Power without humility is dangerous.

• Age without self-awareness is not wisdom.

• Leadership without restraint is a threat to everyone in the room.

• Peace without honesty and respect is just another performance.

My Final Word

I am not here to judge these men’s past achievements. That is a matter for history and for those who celebrate or oppose them.

I speak as a father, saying to my son and to anyone who cares to listen:

Do not be dazzled by titles.

Weigh people by their values.

Learn from their strengths, but do not inherit their flaws.

When elders quarrel in public, it is the children who are taking notes.

My duty is to help my son read those notes correctly and choose a different path.

Do have an INSPIRED rest of the week with the family.

Engr Nura Khalil 

13/11/25

A Moral Quandary: 

Can Prof. Amupitan's Past  Coexist with INEC's Impartial Future? 

I. Prologue: A Crisis of Confidence

In the wake of the United States President Donald Trump's threats of military intervention in Nigeria, citing an alleged "Christian genocide," a 2020 report titled "Nigeria's Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria and the Implications for the International Community" has been thrust into the spotlight. This document, published by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), is now at the heart of a growing national crisis, not of security, but of confidence. The newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), is its author. 

As a nation already grappling with existential threats from multifaceted insecurity and economic distress, we must now confront an insidious question that strikes at the core of our democratic integrity: Does a man who once authored a legal brief accusing the Nigerian state of genocide, calling for its prosecution at the World Court, and explicitly inviting foreign military invasion, possess the neutrality, emotional discipline, and national loyalty required to shepherd our sacred democratic process? The answer to this question will define the credibility of our elections for years to come.

II. The INEC Chairman’s Unambiguous and Damning Past

A sober review of the 2020 report leaves no room for charitable misinterpretation or academic alibi. Prof. Amupitan, in his 80-page legal brief, did not merely document violence; he authored a prosecutorial dossier against the Nigerian state, framing its very existence through a lens of historical grievance and a sweeping sectarian conspiracy. His conclusions were not just damning; they were, by any measure of national loyalty, seditious in their implications. 

Let his own words, verbatim, stand as incontrovertible evidence: 

a) On Genocide and State Complicity: 

He declared, "it is a notorious fact that there is perpetration of crimes under international law in Nigeria, particularly crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide." He further accused the state of a "deliberate omission or an oversight" in refusing to use the term genocide, implying a conscious, malevolent cover-up at the highest levels of government. 

b) On a Religious War and Islamisation: 

His brief is replete with assertions that frame a complex, multi-dimensional crisis not as criminality, but as a monolithic 

religious project. He stated, "Boko Haram sect is a desire for the Islamisation of Nigeria. The Fulani ethnic militants, on their part, have engaged in the same antiChristian violence as their Boko Haram counterparts." He dangerously traced this to a historical agenda, describing the 19th-century Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio as a "full-blown Islamization agenda" and a project of "religious triumphalism that aimed at expanding the caliphate to other parts of Nigeria in the irrevocable bid to dip the Quran into the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos." 

c) The Most Damning Call: Foreign Military Invasion: 

The most grievous of his recommendations, which now hangs over his credibility like a pall, is his explicit call for international military action against his own nation. He wrote: "Consequently, the situation beckons the urgent need for a neutral and impartial third-party intervention, especially the UN and its key organs, the military and economic superpowers... and consider military intervention by the UN, the African Union (AU) or ECOWAS forces as a last resort, in line with Article 42 of the UN Charter." 

This was not a casual opinion piece in a campus journal. It was a formal, legally structured brief, signed under the letterhead of his law firm, that advocated for the ultimate violation of our national sovereignty, foreign military intervention. As revealed by international media including the BBC, this very report formed a part of the justification for President Trump's recent threats. The author of that brief, who once argued for inviting foreign armies onto Nigerian soil, now occupies one of the most sensitive offices in the land, tasked with being an unbiased arbiter for all Nigerians. The contradiction is not merely academic; it is existential. 

III. Deconstructing a Flawed and Divisive Thesis 

To fully grasp the peril of entrusting our electoral system to the author of this brief, one must deconstruct the fundamental falsehoods upon which his thesis is built. 

A. The Fallacy of a Monolithic "Islamisation" Agenda 

Prof. Amupitan’s brief collapses the distinct identities and motivations of various criminal and terrorist entities into a single, shadowy "Islamisation" project led by the "Fulani." This is a dangerous oversimplification that ignores stark realities. 

Boko Haram's primary victims have been Muslims. Their first major act of violence was the assassination of the Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ja'afar Mahmud Adam, in 2007 for criticizing them. They have bombed mosques in Maiduguri, Kano, and Zaria, killing thousands of fellow Muslims who they deem "unbelievers" for participating in a democratic society. The bandits terrorizing the Northwest kidnap and kill indiscriminately; their currency is ransom, not religion. To force these groups into a single, religiously motivated framework is to ignore the complex cocktail of economic desperation, political alienation, sheer criminal greed, and warped ideology that fuels them. This flawed analysis is not just academically dishonest; it is the kind of reductive thinking that leads to catastrophic policy failures. 

B. The Historical Malignment and Tribal Sentiments 

The brief’s attempt to link the contemporary insecurity to the 19th-century Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio is perhaps its most intellectually reckless and tribally charged assertion. This is not historical analysis; it is polemical weaponry. The Sokoto Caliphate was a specific historical state-building project with its own context, not a perpetual, centuries-long conspiracy. 

By framing modern conflicts through this archaic lens, Prof. Amupitan unfairly tars an entire ethnic group with the brush of extremism and ignores the profound contributions of Fulani leaders and citizens to Nigeria's unity and development. It also blatantly ignores the fact that millions of Fulani are themselves victims of these same security challenges, trapped between terrorists, bandits, and vengeful vigilantes. This tribal stereotyping is beneath a scholar and is anathema to the national cohesion an INEC Chairman must foster. 

C. The Universal Target of Terror

The central, undeniable truth that Prof. Amupitan’s brief conveniently sidesteps is that violence in Nigeria is profoundly egalitarian in its cruelty. It does not discriminate with the precision he claims. 

i) Are the thousands of Muslims slaughtered in their mosques in Kano, Borno, and Yobe not victims? 

ii) Are the predominantly Muslim communities in Zamfara and Katsina, where bandits operate with impunity, not experiencing a genocide of their own?

iii) Is the late Sheikh Adam not a martyr? 

iv) Are the hundreds of Muslim students abducted from Kankara not worthy of the same outrage as those from Chibok?

To claim that this violence is a targeted "anti-Christian" campaign is to render these millions of Muslim victims invisible. It is to dismiss their pain, their tears, and their blood as collateral damage in a narrative that serves a different purpose. An INEC Chairman must see all Nigerians; a leader who has historically blinded himself to the suffering of a vast portion of the populace is fundamentally disqualified from the role. 

IV. A Clash with Official Policy and a Catastrophic Failure of Vetting 

The position laid out in Prof. Amupitan’s brief places him in direct and irreconcilable opposition to the stated position of the Federal Government of Nigeria, which he now indirectly serves. In response to Trump's allegations, the government, through the Federal Ministry of Information and the Presidential Spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, has vehemently denied any genocide, maintaining correctly that the security crisis is a national tragedy that affects all religious and ethnic groups equally. 

This contradiction was powerfully articulated in my recent article, “Trump’s Threat to Nigeria: If I Were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” which stated: "This is not a war of religion. It is a war against human dignity and the Nigerian people... The tears of Muslim mothers and Christian mothers fall the same." The article further argued that "Nigeria does not reject concern; we reject coercion. Nigeria does not reject partnership; we reject threats." 

How then does the government reconcile its public stance with the fact that its chief electoral officer has previously advocated for the very coercion and threats, including military invasion, it now rightly condemns? The government cannot champion sovereignty abroad while housing a chief officer who has called for its dissolution at home.

This leads to a more disturbing and fundamental question that must be posed to the State Security Services (SSS): How did this document escape your purview? 

The primary mandate of the SSS is to identify, investigate, and mitigate threats to Nigeria's internal security. A legal brief of this nature, authored by a candidate for a supremely sensitive position, a position that controls the levers of political power, which advocates for international military intervention against the state, represents a catastrophic, unforgivable failure of intelligence and vetting. It suggests either a staggering level of institutional incompetence or a worrying blindness to certain forms of extremism. The Senate confirmation, which relied on this profoundly flawed security clearance, is therefore built on a foundation of sand. The Director-General of the SSS must be called to public accountability for this grave lapse. National security is too important to be undermined by such a fundamental vetting failure. 

V. The Core Issue: Impartiality, Not Intellectual Freedom

Some, including a few of his professional colleagues, have rushed to his defence, hiding behind the cloak of "academic freedom" and "freedom of expression." This is a deliberate misdirection. The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) has voiced what many Nigerian Muslims, and indeed, all patriotic Nigerians who value unity, instinctively fear: that a person with such "deep-seated prejudice" and demonstrably flawed judgment cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair elections. 

This is not a matter of stifling academic freedom. It is a question of fundamental loyalty, emotional equilibrium, and judicial temperament for a quasi-judicial role of the highest order. The INEC Chairman is not a mere administrator; he is a custodian of national trust, a referee in the most high-stakes contest of our national life. His decisions, and the mere perception of his inclinations, can tilt the political landscape, trigger violence, and legitimize or delegitimize governments. 

The perception of his impartiality is as important as its reality. Can a man who once believed the state was complicit in a religious genocide against one segment of the population be seen as perfectly impartial by that very state and the other segment of the population he implicated? Can a man who viewed the government as an adversary to be prosecuted internationally now be trusted to oversee the process that gives that government its mandate? The answer is a resounding no. Trust, once fractured at this foundational level, is not easily mended. The mere existence of his brief provides fertile ground for pre- and post-election litigation, disputes, and a perpetual cloud over the legitimacy of any election he oversees. 

VI. A Path Forward: National Interest Above All 

This is not a call for mob justice or a witch-hunt. It is a sober plea for moral clarity, institutional integrity, and the preservation of our fragile democracy. The following steps are not just recommended; they are critical for national healing and stability: 

1.  Immediate and Public Clarification: 

Prof. Amupitan owes the nation an immediate and public explanation. He must directly address his past assertions. Does he stand by these grave allegations? If his views have evolved, a clear, unequivocal, and public recantation of his call for foreign military intervention and his characterization of the conflict as a religious genocide is the absolute minimum required to begin the arduous task of rebuilding trust. 

2. Urgent Presidential Review:

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who recently championed the need for unity and a sovereign response to Trump’s threats, must critically and urgently review this appointment. The credibility of his administration, the stability of Nigeria’s electoral system, and the very unity of the nation are at stake. Leadership requires making difficult decisions in the national interest. 

3. Security Service Accountability:

The State Security Services (SSS) must be called upon to explain to the Nigerian people how a document advocating for the dissolution of our sovereignty was not considered a disqualifying red flag in the vetting of an INEC Chairman nominee. This failure must be investigated and those responsible held to account to restore faith in our institutions. 

4. Senatorial Accountability: 

The National Assembly, particularly the Senate which relied on this failed vetting process, must launch a transparent investigation into its own confirmation hearings. It must explain how such a significant and publicly accessible aspect of the nominee's background escaped its scrutiny. This is essential to prevent a recurrence and restore its role as a true check on executive power.

VII. Conclusion: A Plea for Our Democratic Soul 

For the sake of Nigeria, we cannot afford to get this wrong. And let me be unequivocally clear, this stance does not come from bigotry or religious extremism. On the contrary, I am an extremist only in the defence of my nation's sovereignty and unity. I am an extremist for a peaceful country where all faiths and tribes live together in brotherhood and for collective progress. On this principle, I have no apology.

Nigeria’s democracy is a tender plant, too fragile to be compounded by a self-inflicted crisis of confidence in our electoral umpire. We must never be pushed into a war of identity, not by foreign extremists, not by local politicians, and certainly not by the past actions of those appointed to guard our democratic future. 

The office of the INEC Chairman must be a sanctuary of impartiality, a temple of trust where every Nigerian, regardless of faith, tribe, or political affiliation, believes they will get a fair hearing. Until Prof. Amupitan can convincingly prove, through retraction and consistent action, that he is that sanctuary, his tenure will remain a dark question mark against our democracy's soul. For the sake of Nigeria, we cannot afford to get this wrong.

#Engrnurakhalil #nigeria #INEC  #nigeriansindiaspora #BolaTinubu #BolaAhmedTinubu #BayoOnanuga #abujanigeria #lagosnigeria #kanonigeria #kaduna #PortHarcourt #enugu #Ibadan #katsina #sokoto #Zamfara #Nasarawa #NigerState #maiduguri #Yobe #Bauchi #Gombe #Adamawa #Benue #Kogi #kwara #plateau #JIGAWA #Kebbi #abia #Benue #anambra

Trump Is Not After Nigeria but China — The Hidden War for Nigeria’s Soul

By Anngu Orngu

I am following with deep interest the ongoing debates that are erupting over Donald J. Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations. Many Nigerians, including analysts I respect, are rushing to interpret that decision through the narrow lens of Western imperialism or anti-Islam bias. Others are dismissing it as another of Trump’s theatrics;  a foreign leader speaking loudly to his conservative Christian base.

But as someone who is studying policy, governance, and environmental security — and as a Nigerian who lovws his country deeply, I am insisting that President Trump is not after Nigeria. He is after China. And Nigeria, whether we are realising it or not, is standing today as one of the hidden battlegrounds in the long-running strategic rivalry between the United States and China.

Trump’s Silence on China and His Sudden Shift to Nigeria

What is capturing my attention is how Trump is behaving immediately after his meeting with the Chinese President in Tokyo just some few days ago.  He said nothing too detailed about the content of the meeting. Instead, he is stepping out and talking about Nigeria — about the mass killings of Christians, the destruction of rural communities, and the rise of religiously-motivated violence in the Middle Belt.

To a casual observer, that shift looks random. But in the language of global diplomacy, it is a signal. You don’t move from Tokyo to Nigeria in one breath unless there is a linking thread. Trump’s intelligence briefings are showing that Nigeria’s crisis is being tied to Chinese economic interests. That is what many of us are failing to see.

China’s Deep Hand in Nigeria’s Bloody Mining Economy

We are not deceiving ourselves when we say Nigeria is sitting on gold. Real gold. And not just gold — we are sitting on columbite, tantalite, lithium, and other rare earth minerals that are vital to modern technology: electric cars, smartphones, satellites, even weapons. Whoever is controlling the supply of these resources is controlling the future of global power.

China is dominating global rare-earth production and refining, but as its domestic reserves are depleting, it is expanding into Africa — and Nigeria, with a weak regulatory system and persistent insecurity, is looking like a prime target.

Across Zamfara, Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Taraba states, illegal mining is exploding. Beneath the surface of that chaos is a powerful network of Chinese-backed miners, local collaborators, and militia protection rackets. In some communities, entire villages are being emptied out by attacks so that the land is being “freed up” for mining.

A visit to some communities in Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa where the soil is carrying visible scars of reckless excavation. Locals are speaking of strange foreigners arriving at night and trucks loaded with ore moving under military escort.  These are not fairy tales — they are the daily reality of a nation losing its wealth to foreign hands under cover of terror.

Terrorism as a Tool for Resource Control

We often view terrorism in Nigeria as purely ideological — a religious war or a clash of civilizations. But when we look closely, we are seeing that terrorism is becoming a deliberate tool for resource control.

Groups that label themselves as herders, bandits, or insurgents are aligning with illegal miners. They are attacking Christian farming communities, killing or displacing the inhabitants, and leaving behind ungoverned zones/spaces ready for exploitation. Chinese middlemen and local cartels are moving in to dig, extract, and export. The minerals are leaving Nigeria illegally, ending up in Dubai, Hong Kong or Shanghai — enriching foreign economies while Nigeria bleeds.

When Trump is talking about Christian persecution in Nigeria, many people are thinking he is pandering to faith-based voters. But he is also responding to strategic intelligence. His government is discovering that China is using Nigeria’s instability as a shield for illegal extraction — and that thousands of Christian lives are not being lost randomly, but as collateral damage in a global economic war.

The Buahri Waterways Bill — China’s Trojan Horse

We are remembering how, under President Buhari, the Water Resources Bill was being pushed. Nigerians from every corner resisted it and rightly so. On the surface, the bill seemed like administrative reform to bring all inland waterways and adjoining lands under federal control. But beneath that surface was something far more sinister.

Those waterways; rivers, streams, wetlands are not just water routes; they are mineral corridors. Many of Nigeria’s richest alluvial gold and rare earth deposits are located along these river systems. By centralising control of the lands, the bill if pass was paving the way for foreign interests especially Chinese-linked companies to gain access through federal licences, bypassing state governments and local communities.

I believe Chinese advisers and investors were quietly lobbying for that bill. They were seeing it as a legal shortcut to Nigeria’s mineral heartlands. Fortunately, Nigerians resisted it fiercely. But the attempt itself exposed how deeply Chinese mining ambitions are penetrating our policymaking corridors.

Trump’s Intelligence Briefing and the Bigger Picture

Now imagine Trump sitting in the Oval Office, reviewing a classified intelligence briefing ahead of his meeting with the Chinese President. The report might read:

 “China is funding illegal mining operations in Nigeria through proxies. Minerals are being smuggled to China. Terrorist groups are clearing Christian farming zones to open mining fields. Nigeria’s government is aware but failing to act.”

If I put myself in Trump’s shoes — a man obsessed with America First, economic nationalism, and confronting Chinese influence, I see why he is doing what he is doing.

That explains why after his meeting with the Chinese President he is saying nothing about the trade war or Huawei. Instead, he is focusing on Nigeria. He is not only expressing moral outrage,  he is sending a geostrategic message to Beijing and Abuja alike: “We see what you’re doing in Nigeria, and we are watching.”

The CPC designation thus becomes a diplomatic weapon;  not just to defend religious freedom, but to pressure Nigeria’s leadership to confront internal terrorism, regulate its mining sector, and cut off China’s exploitation routes. It is also telling China that the U.S. will not silently allow Africa’s mineral corridors to slip into Beijing’s hands.

The Blood of the Poor, the Gold of the Powerful

As a development professional, I am telling ourselves that underdevelopment is not accidental. It is a system maintained for the benefit of those who profit from chaos. The violence ravaging Nigeria’s north and middle belt follows an economic logic. It is driving farmers away from ancestral lands, weakening resistance, and clearing the field for predatory extraction.

In many of these regions, the victims are overwhelmingly Christian farmers. Their lands sit on mineral deposits. Their displacement often labelled as “herder-farmer clashes” is enabling illegal mining. Every truckload of gold leaving Zamfara or Niger without record is carrying stolen wealth plus the blood of innocent people.

When Trump is referring to “Christian genocide,” it may sound dramatic to some. But to me it is truthful. He is naming what the rest of the world is refusing to name: a systematic campaign of dispossession combining religion, resource greed, and geopolitics.

Nigeria at the Crossroads of Global Power Politics

Nigeria is now standing at a dangerous crossroads. On one side is China — aggressive, patient, and comfortable operating in the shadows. On the other side is the United States — loud, moralistic, and determined not to lose strategic ground. Both are seeing our country as strategic: China for minerals; America for influence.

For Beijing, Nigeria is a silent goldmine. For Washington, Nigeria is a partner slipping away. And for Nigerians like us, we are caught in the middle — a proud nation being turned into a chessboard for foreign powers.

The truth is uncomfortable: our leaders allowed it. Through negligence or complicity, they permit foreign powers to profit from our insecurity. Every village burned in Benue or Plateau, every displaced farmer in Nasarawa, every illegal mining pit in Niger is part of the same global script — the conversion of African lives into raw material for foreign profit.

What Trump’s Move is Actually Signalling

Trump’s move is not hostility toward us. It is a wake-up call. He is using America’s legal and diplomatic tools like the CPC designation to jolt our leadership into action. He is highlighting the shootings in Plateau, Benue and Southern Kaduna not just out of empathy, but because those regions sit atop mineral deposits that feed China’s industrial machine.

When he says “The persecution of Christians must stop,” he is also meaning “Nigeria must stop enriching our biggest rival through the corridors of instability.” His message, though blunt, aligns with what every patriotic Nigerian should demand: a state that protects its people, its land, and its resources.

Nigeria Must Wake Up

Nigeria cannot continue to live in denial. We must stop pretending our insecurity is purely domestic. It is not. It is being sponsored, exploited, and sustained by global powers who see profit in our pain.

We must press for urgent reforms — a national mining framework that shuts down illegal foreign operators; a security architecture that protects communities; and leadership that understands that when a Nigerian village falls, the nation’s sovereignty is being stripped.

We must draw the connections from the blood on our farmlands to the gold in Chinese vaults. From Christian families fleeing in the Middle Belt to the wealth fueling Asian factories. From the failed waterways bill to the shadowy corridors of global mining diplomacy.

Conclusion

President Trump is not after Nigeria. He is after China and Nigeria is just one of the theatres where this global confrontation is playing out. His warnings about Christian killings and religious freedom are carrying more than moral weight; they are linked to strategic intelligence.

As a Nigerian, I accept his message not as an insult, but as a challenge — a reminder that sovereignty lies not only in our flag, but in how we protect our people, our land, and our resources.

If we fail to act, the silent war between the United States and China will keep being waged on our soil — not with tanks or missiles, but with shovels, mineral flows, and human suffering.

It is time for Nigeria to wake up.

Anngu Orngu writes from Koti-Yogh, Ute,  Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State.

oranngu@gmail.com

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[11/1, 7:30 AM] +234 803 358 6195: https://medium.com/@officialomolaja/blue-ocean-initiative-boi-one-94fd12638159

*PRESS RELEASE*

*Blue Ocean Initiative(BOI)* [One]

*Database Before Blueprint: Building Development That Counts Everyone*

*By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD*

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa began by clearly explaining the concept of the *Blue Ocean Initiative (BOI)* in simple terms. BOI, he said, is a form of governance that adopts a strategic approach inspired by the creation of new, uncontested spaces rather than competing in saturated ideas. It involves innovating and redefining governance frameworks to address emerging challenges, foster inclusivity, and enhance efficiency.

This approach emphasizes:

*Innovation in Policy:* Developing novel solutions to societal issues while avoiding traditional, competitive policy-making.

He canvassed a fresh, innovative, and globally relevant development strategies for Kwara State. He acknowledged and commended the efforts of past and present administrations, while calling for a decisive shift toward smarter, data-driven governance.

Speaking at his Ilorin residence during the conclusion of his *“10-Day Press Release Series”* commemorating Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary, the former APC Chairman and intellectual in International Relations — widely respected for his humility, integrity, and competence — stated clearly that true development must begin with facts, not assumptions.

He observed that while leaders frequently speak about blueprints, master plans, and transformation agendas, only a few truly succeed because they overlook the most critical first step: *a functional state database.*

“Too often, we put the cart before the horse,” Hon. Bolarinwa said. “A father who wants to feed his family must first know how many people are in the house. Governance works the same way. Without accurate data, planning becomes guesswork — and guesswork cannot drive meaningful development.”

Kwara State, he noted, stands at a critical turning point. Sustainable development will only be achieved when every community, sector, and citizen is accounted for within a *comprehensive, credible State Database System* — the core tool for modern governance.

Hon. Bolarinwa called for a *collective commitment* to this shift. He urged the Government to collaborate with stakeholders toward creating a *Central State Database Centre* covering population records, infrastructure mapping, economic statistics, and social services. This system, he said, will ensure *fairness, transparency, and measurable progress.*

He emphasized that the *first responsibility of any government* should be the establishment of a *centralized, technology-driven State Database Centre*, which forms the backbone of effective planning and resource management.

Hon. Bolarinwa highlighted the wide-ranging advantages of a comprehensive data system:

* *Education:* Accurate statistics on teachers, students, facilities, and infrastructure gaps

* *Health:* Real-time insight into hospitals, personnel, equipment, and disease patterns

* *Security:* Improved patrol planning through proper population and community mapping

* *Demographics:* Updated records of youths, elderly citizens, artisans, civil servants, and job seekers

* *Economy & Investment:* A dependable directory of businesses, industries, markets, and natural resources

* *Tourism & Culture:* Well-documented historical and cultural assets for promotion and revenue generation

He noted that with accurate data, decision-making becomes smarter, wastage is drastically reduced, and the state becomes more attractive to both local and foreign investors.

“Development should never be trial and error. A government that begins with a functional database is laying the only credible foundation for any blueprint. Anything else is political showmanship,” he declared.

He stressed that effective budgets, policies, and social interventions must be rooted in verifiable facts to deliver maximum impact, enable proper monitoring, and strengthen accountability.

In his closing remarks, Hon. Bolarinwa stated:

“The importance of a State Database cannot be overemphasized. It must be the number one priority for any administration that sincerely intends to deliver results from Day One. Let us build on knowledge, not assumptions — that is how real development begins.”

He concluded by promising to grant semi-monthly interviews on issues of concern with a balanced, people-centered governance approach.

*Signed:*

*Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD*

[11/1, 8:05 AM] +234 703 032 7765: Whenever they feel threatened by a country’s emerging economic strength, they bring their propaganda machine to cause disunity among the people in preparation for an invasion, mostly indirectly.

They will lie about a leader building weapon of mass destruction using their well oiled western media in order to have a reason to invade such country and lo+ot their resources.

They use other methods like saying that they want to liberate the people from a tyrant like they did in Libya but left the country worse than they met it only for that one they call Barak to apologise later after destroying a once vibrant country.

Nigeria can not be accused of building a weapon of mass destruction or having a life time tyrant in charge because it is clear that we conduct elections every four years to elect new leaders or re-elect those who are already there and after two terms, they can not run for same executive office again.

They know that Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria because their base is North East which has more Muslims and bandits whose operational base in North West have also killed more Muslims by far than Christians.

The only region where most casualties of terrorism are Christians is the South East and it is because IhPOB is their baby which they fed to become a devouring monster.

But since they are not comfortable with all economic indices showing Nigeria as an emerging economic giant, they are telling us that a nation that is experiencing the greatest expansion of churches to the glory of God has its Christian population under genocidal attacks.

As much as we want the Nigerian government to do more in curbing insurgency, that propaganda will not fly here.

In 2023 alone, 27,300 people were victims of gun violence in America.

In that year, there were 656 mass shootings.

This year alone, there have been 60 deadly aviation crashes in the United States with  at least 188 deaths including our own Herbert Wigwe who crashed with his family in US after living here safely. The man would have been alive if the American aviation is not as bad.

Of course, we know that they are a more advanced country but they must let us choose and follow our path to greatness too without propagating any evuul agenda against the leadership of this country in the name of trying to protect Christians.

We are building our foreign reserve.

We have moved from being major importer of refined petroleum products to exporting same even to America.

We no longer spend our hard earned forex in defending our local currency as market forces now determine the true value of our currency per time and Dangote recently advised forex bandits to sell their dollars or experience great loss in weeks to come.

You became uncomfortable the day Nigeria said at the UN that the genocide in Gaza should stop.

Nigeria also rejected your proposal to dump some refuges here. We are a sovereign nation and you should stop thinking that we must accept whatever you throw at us.

America, Nigerians will not support you to paint our county in bad image. We are not Libyans.

This propaganda will only make us more supportive of our President and his government. It will awaken the sleeping patriotism in us and embolden us to take as personal responsibility to stand by our country.

© Sunday Wale#SWA

[10/30, 2:33 PM] Dapo Bammeke: From Green Card to Blacklist: Soyinka’s Tumultuous U.S. Journey

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The revocation of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka’s United States visa has reopened old debates about citizenship, protest, and the political tensions that define America’s relations with outspoken critics of its leadership. For many, this development marks the culmination of a long and uneasy relationship between the Nobel Laureate and the Donald Trump-era U.S. establishment, a relationship that began to unravel nearly a decade ago when Soyinka famously destroyed his Green Card in protest against Trump’s 2016 presidential victory.

Soyinka’s act of “Wolexit” was symbolic. It was his way of expressing disapproval of what he described as Trump’s divisive and discriminatory politics, a stance consistent with his lifelong record of moral resistance to authoritarianism and racial injustice. His protest, carried out on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., drew global attention and polarised public opinion at home in Nigeria. To Soyinka, it was a simple act of conscience; to others, it was a needless gesture that blurred the line between personal conviction and political theatre.

Following that protest, Soyinka resumed travel to the U.S. under a regular B1/B2 visa, but the relationship between the literary icon and U.S. authorities never quite recovered. When, in 2025, the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria invited him for a visa “revalidation” interview, he refused, describing the timing and tone of the invitation as “suspect.” His decision was rooted not in fear, but in principle. Soyinka questioned the propriety of being asked to report to the consulate on September 11, a day he felt should be reserved for national mourning and reflection, not bureaucratic exercises.

Refusing to appear for the reinterview, Soyinka said he would not walk into any embassy run by a government he equated with “a white Idi Amin.” His choice of words, characteristically provocative, was aimed not at the American people but at a political culture he viewed as increasingly intolerant and morally confused. His refusal eventually led to a letter formally notifying him that his visa had been revoked permanently.

The Nobel Laureate’s reaction was measured but firm. “If they wish to cancel it, that is their business,” he told journalists at Freedom Park in Lagos. “I will not go there to help them do it.” That statement underscored his indifference to the privileges of access or status, a rare posture in a world where many cling tightly to Western endorsements. Soyinka’s stance was neither bitter nor vengeful; he made it clear that he would continue to receive Americans in his home and maintain personal relationships that transcended politics.

Critics, however, argue that Soyinka’s predicament was self-inflicted, the logical outcome of his confrontational rhetoric and open disdain for Trump’s leadership. They contend that in global diplomacy, symbolism has consequences. Yet to dismiss Soyinka’s protest as mere arrogance would be to ignore his lifelong commitment to conscience over convenience. From his imprisonment during Nigeria’s civil war to his opposition to successive military regimes, Soyinka has consistently demonstrated that moral conviction is, for him, not an accessory but a creed.

Beyond Soyinka’s individual case lies a broader question about the boundaries of political protest and the cost of dissent in a world dominated by polarised ideologies. His experience reflects the growing tension between state power and personal freedom, especially for public intellectuals who choose to challenge hegemonic narratives.

In fairness, the U.S. authorities acted within their sovereign right to determine visa eligibility. But in exercising that right, they have also reminded the world how easily political differences can translate into bureaucratic punishment. For many observers, the revocation of Soyinka’s visa may be legally sound but morally questionable, a decision that diminishes the moral stature of a nation once seen as the global champion of free thought.

Soyinka’s saga is ultimately not about a visa, but about dignity. It is about an aging intellectual refusing to bend to political winds, even when it costs him the convenience of mobility. Whether one agrees with his methods or not, his story reaffirms a timeless truth: that freedom of conscience often exacts a price, and that Wole Soyinka, at 91, remains willing to pay it.

[10/30, 4:23 PM] Tunji Ayoade: Trumpism is Fear that Destrοys Instead of Building

Political movements are often defined by their animating spirit—the core emotion that fuels their ascent and shapes their goals. Liberalism is frequently driven by an optimistic faith in progress, conservatism by a reverence for tradition, and socialism by a yearning for equity. Trumpism, the political phenomenon orbiting the figure of Donald Trump, draws its power from a different, more primal source: fear. Unlike the fear that might provoke prudent caution or spirited defense, the fear harnessed by Trumpism is a corrosive and nihilistic force. It is not a fear that builds walls for security, but one that burns bridges out of spite. Ultimately, Trumpism is a politics of fear that systematically dismantles rather than constructs, leaving a void where the foundations of a functional society should be.

The architecture of Trumpist fear is built upon a triad of perceived threats: cultural displacement, economic instability, and a deep-seated loss of status. This fear is not merely acknowledged; it is actively cultivated and weaponized. The rhetoric is saturated with images of invading caravans, of American greatness being stolen by foreign nations, and of a "deep state" conspiring against its own citizens. This narrative transforms complex global and social realities into a simple, visceral story of "us" versus "them." The solution offered is not one of building a more resilient economy, a more inclusive culture, or a more trustworthy government. Instead, it is one of destruction: demonizing the "other," dismantling institutions perceived as hostile, and deconstructing the very norms of civil discourse. The promise is protection, but the product is polarization.

This destructive impulse manifests most clearly in Trumpism’s relationship with democratic institutions. Trust in the press, the judiciary, the electoral process, and the civil service is the bedrock upon which a representative democracy is built. Trumpism, however, feeds on the erosion of this trust. By relentlessly attacking the media as the "enemy of the people," by delegitimizing unfavourable court rulings, and by sowing doubt about election integrity without evidence, the movement does not seek to reform these institutions but to break them. The goal is not to build a better, more accountable fourth estate or a more efficient government. It is to create a political reality where the only remaining object of faith is the leader himself. This is a fear so profound that it would rather tear down the entire temple than share it with those deemed unworthy.

Furthermore, the destructive nature of this fear extends to the social fabric, atomizing community and poisoning human connection. When fear becomes the primary lens through which the world is viewed, a neighbor with a different political sign becomes a threat, and a colleague with a different worldview becomes a suspect. Civic life, which depends on compromise, empathy, and a shared sense of destiny, becomes impossible. Trumpism replaces the difficult, building-block work of community-building with the cathartic, destructive release of scorn and grievance. Public squares, both physical and digital, become stages for performative anger rather than forums for problem-solving. This does not create a stronger, more unified nation; it creates a collection of armed camps, united only by their shared animosities.

Some defenders might argue that this fear is a rational response to real challenges, such as globalization's dislocations or shifting cultural mores, and that Trumpism is merely giving voice to a justified anger. There is truth in the diagnosis of anxiety, but profound error in the prescribed cure. A politics that seeks to build would address economic anxiety with robust job retraining and investment in infrastructure, not just tariffs and trade wars. It would address cultural unease with a compelling, inclusive vision of national identity, not with nativism and nostalgia. Trumpism opts for the simpler path: it identifies enemies to blame and institutions to smash, offering the temporary satisfaction of a fight rather than the lasting reward of a solution.

In the final analysis, Trumpism is a political dead end. Fear is its fuel, and destruction is its legacy. It offers no blueprint for a future to be built together, only a list of grievances to be avenged. It mistakes the demolition of a common house for the construction of a fortress. History shows that civilizations thrive not when they are consumed by internal suspicion and institutional decay, but when they are guided by a collective courage to build, to innovate, and to cooperate. The fear that Trumpism embodies and amplifies is a self-defeating one, ensuring that in its desperate attempt to save a version of America from its perceived destroyers, it becomes the very agent of destruction it claims to oppose.

This is the metaphor of the state of our nation, NIGERIA!

A teacher received his salary and boarded a crowded bus back to his home, and there was a thief in the bus.

The thief stole the teacher's money from his pocket. 

After the teacher reached his destination, the driver asked for his fare, he deep his hand into his pocket and found nothing.

The teacher's face became blushed and his tongue became heavy, he was so embarrassed. The driver who also became angry said mockingly to the teacher; "Shame on you, you consider yourself a respected person while you can not afford your transport fare!."

The teacher became very much embarrassed.

As this was going on,  pride hit a potion of the thief's ego and he was moved to say to the angry Driver: "My brother, the teacher's fare is on me!."

That is the thief offered to help the teacher, who is his victim.

He helped not out of pity for the poor teacher but to buy other passengers trust and confidence and to use some of the stolen money to earn respect before the rest of the passengers in the bus. 

The teacher who did not understand what was happening smiled and said to the thief: "May God bless you and multiply your likes, sir!."

Then some of the  passengers in the bus also praised the thief, praised his kindness, and also prayed for him and that God should increase his kindness.

Since then, the number of thieves in our bus have increased and they continue to receive our thanks and appreciation.

We are all in a bus *(NIGERIA )* where thieves are stealing from us and use the stolen money to buy our trust and earn our respect in a way that we keep thanking them for their "kindness".

This is the metaphor of the state of our nation, NIGERIA!

The thieves in our buses are increasing all the time because we continue praising them for returning small from the money they stole from us.

This is unfortunate.

THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION CALL COASTAL HIGHWAY 

I have dropped a full journal on the Calabar Lagos coastal highway in the last few months...

I think I should drop another synopsis of the project as we bask in the euphoria of what is not just a road... But an economic revolution evolving before our eyes....

Great leaders live iconic legacies.....

But unserious leaders build beer factory to keep their people drunk 

No nation on Earth has built a  800 km continuous coastal alignment hugging the Atlantic shoreline — few highways worldwide follow an unbroken oceanfront for that long.

Most coastal routes (e.g., California’s Highway 1, Brazil’s BR-101) move inland often; Nigeria’s remains close to the shore for major sections.

No nation on Earth has a Design Intent of a 6-lane concrete expressway (3+3 lanes) designed for high-speed freight and passenger transport.

Which incorporates shoreline protection, bridges, flyovers, and future rail corridor provision — an integrated transport + climate-resilient corridor.

No nation on Earth has built a road that long and wide on mangroves, wetlands, and sandy shorelines, requiring:

deep pile foundations......

Sea walls / revetments.......

Salt-resistant reinforced concrete

This mix of marine and terrestrial engineering over hundreds of kilometres is almost unheard of all over the world 

No Nation on Earth has built a massive coastal highway with Urban & Economic Linkages....connecting 7 coastal states and two major ports (Lagos & Calabar), linking several proposed free trade zones, oil & gas corridors, and tourism zones.

What The Tinubu govt s building it’s not just a road — it’s a coastal economic spine similar to how China’s Beijing–Shanghai corridor reshaped regional economies.

No coastal highway on earth with ultra long 800km , full Expressway width, continuous marine exposure..... Modern Concrete design, with humongous Economic intent..

When people with vision see the opportunities, the eternal opposition is seeing cost....

Why is Akwa ibom, Delta, Bayelsa and  Rivers embracing the Tinubu project....

They have seen the multi billion dollar opportunities these Tinubu coastal highway is bringing...

Like I said ... The blind opposition are seeing a road... These leaders of Niger Delta are seeing economic revolution...

They will bite any one who dare challenge Tinubu in the polls...in 2027...

The Tinubu Coastal highway is to the Niger Delta a thousand times what the AkK gas project to the North 

Tinubu don't win heart of people with unending cry of hunger... He win them with landmark institutions that would forever leave them rich..

He left Lekki Free trade zone, Atlantic city, Lekki town and others for Lagos...

In a million years to come the people of  Niger Delta will etch Tinubu name on the sand of time for these coastal economic revolution...

This coastal highway is expected to unlock multiple industries — tourism, ports, gas processing, logistics — so it’s more like a coastal development backbone than a mere road.

The $13billion is proportional to this historic world class mega infrastructure

If Tinubu could pull off this project in 2031.... The world and not just Africa and Niger Deltans... Would give him a standing ovation as he bow out...

Because it would become....Africa’s first continuous engineered coastal expressway,

It would become....A global model for climate-resilient marine infrastructure, 

It would stand as a transformative economic spine linking ports, cities, and energy corridors.

What Tinubu sees sitting.... If the Hungarians and their leaders climb mount everest they won't see it..

Vision is not for hungry people....

*SOME NIGERIAN NEWSPAPER HEADLINES+, 15/10/2025*

Marketers blame depots as petrol nears N1,000/litre

DisCos get N28bn bailout for free meter rollout

FG drops maths requirement for arts, humanities admissions into tertiary institutions

Strike: N’Assembly wades into ASUU, FG dispute

Enugu gov, three Kaduna Reps dump PDP for APC

Expired visas: 3,500 foreigners embrace FG’s amnesty

Army warns civilians against use of camouflage, clarifies Taraba student incident

I appealed to Buhari to pardon Maryam Sanda – Father-in-law

Qatar, Saudi Arabia qualify for 2026 World Cup

Osimhen scores hat-trick as Nigeria beat Benin 4–0 in World Cup Qualifier

R&B icon D’Angelo dies at 51 after battle with cancer

Trump urges Hamas to release remaining dead hostages

Illegal financial flows out of Nigeria worsening country’s revenue problem –IMF

UK picks Nigerian story ‘My Father’s Shadow’ for Oscars entry

To read beyond the headlines, click: https://dailyshot.ng/daily-shot-15-10-2025/

-----------------------

*DID YOU KNOW?*

* Benin Republic is the birthplace of Voodoo, a religion where the python is revered and celebrated at festivals, most notably the Vodun Festival in Ouidah.

* Pi is an irrational number, and its digits go on forever without repeating.

-----------------------

Tinubu hails Eagles as Osimhen fires Nigeria to W’Cup playoffs

Tinubu unveils ₦1trillion investment in solid minerals sector

Tinubu urges Senate to confirm Amupitan as INEC chair

Hardship Will Soon Be Over, Shettima Assures Nigerians

Senate to screen Amupitan for INEC chairman appointment Wednesday

Electoral Act amendment bill to be ready before December — Senate

Senate seeks repatriation of Nigerian women, children from Libyan prisons

Arbitrary charges: Reps summons CBN, deposit money banks

Allocate forfeited Emefiele estate to low-income earners, Reps tell FG

Reps, NADDC push for affordable auto financing

Trafficked Nigerian Women Giving  Birth In Libyan Prisons –  Sen. Natasha

Court adjourns suit seeking to stop PDP convention

Cybercrime: Court orders deportation of 59 convicted foreign hackers

Dasuki’s trial: Court rejects seized vehicles as exhibits

Court orders exhumation, autopsy of Afriland Towers fire victims

Alleged sexual harassment: Suspended UNICAL Prof knows fate November 17

Late Army Chief Lagbaja inducted into US Army hall of fame

Military arrests couple supplying weapons to N’West terrorists

Customs intercepts smuggled N80.4m fuel bound for Benin Republic

NIDF grows profit after tax to N16.87bn

Nigeria building indigenous defence capabilities to counter modern threats – Akume

Edun: Ailing finance minister flown abroad for treatment

We may partner with China to revive Ajaokuta – Minister

Acting INEC chair outlines preparations for Anambra poll

Nigeria to save $150m in imports, FG seals solar manufacturing deal

Fed Govt, GenCos seal framework for ₦4trn power sector debt reduction plan

FG unveils plan to build 4GW solar factories, tackle power deficit

FG announces FID for Shell $2b OML 144 project

FG announces 2025 Zuma International Film Festival

FG unveils soil health scheme to boost yields, reduce fertiliser waste

New revenue formula to empower states, LGs, says RMAFC chairman

Rising fire disasters: FG launches nationwide audit of public, private buildings

Tinubu approved my absence from Council of State meeting — Wike

Wike to critics: I did not nominate anybody for INEC top job

Oluwo appointed as Westland University chancellor

FUOYE VC resumes from leave, pledges to consolidate on achievements

229 bag first class in Afe Babalola varsity

Presidential pardons morally wrong, says CISLAC

First Lady gives agric empowerment support to 800 Rivers farmers

Omokri challenges Cruz, others to name alleged perpetrators of Christian genocide in Nigeria

Shell, Sunlink seal $2bn deal for Nigeria’s HI gas project

Lagos partners Welbeck to install solar-powered streetlights

New Hampshire Capital invests N2bn to expand metering in Akwa Ibom

FCT poll: Abure seeks INEC’s nod to submit LP candidates

ADC opposes N’Assembly’s proposal for early general elections

APC decries plight of 3,000 sacked Zamfara workers

Mbah’s defection will reposition Enugu for economic transformation – APC

Oyebanji emerges APC consensus candidate for 2026 Ekiti guber election

Okpebholo sacks Edo Attorney-General

Okpebholo charges Commissioners to wear Asiwaju mandate cap

Oborevwori flags off reconstruction of Warri–Sapele–Benin road

Makinde appoints new chair for LAUTECH Governing Council

Katsina gov signs ₦137bn supplementary budget into law

Edo Assembly probes clerk for alleged age falsification

Rivers Assembly applauds Tinubu for granting pardon to Saro-Wiwa, others

Ogun lawmakers seek reduction of police checkpoints on Idiroko–Owode road

Ogun upgrades 75 health centres, digitises 236 facilities

Oyo orders traders to vacate airport road in two weeks

105 drug dealers nabbed in Jigawa police raids

Two Anambra schoolchildren electrocuted during rainfall

-----------------------

*TODAY IN HISTORY*

* On this day in 1938, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, Afrobeat founder, human rights activist, and political maverick, was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

* On this day in 1783, the world’s first manned balloon flight took place. Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, a teacher from France, spent about 4 minutes in the air in a balloon made by flight pioneers Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier.

-----------------------

Our life is what our thoughts make it. – Marcus Aurelius

Good morning

*Compiled by Joe Agbro Jr., (@Joeagbro), Joeagbro@dailyshot.ng, +234-8056745268*

Nigeria’s Silent Recolonization: The Hidden War Over Our Mineral Wealth

By Engr SK Akinyemi 

A Night of Terror in Oke-Ode

When the attackers stormed Oke-Ode, a quiet farming village in Kwara State, the people thought it was another herder incursion. But as bullets tore through mud walls and flames devoured the harvest, it became clear this was no ordinary clash.

“They told us to leave or die,” recalled Amos Ajibola, a farmer who fled with his family into the forest. “When we came back days later, strangers were already digging in the hills where we farmed.”

Stories like Ajibola’s are becoming disturbingly common across Nigeria’s mineral-rich communities. Officials and media often dismiss them as “Fulani farmer clashes,” but beneath that narrative lies a darker reality: violence strategically aimed at displacing communities sitting on gold, tin, lithium, and other valuable minerals. Once the villagers are forced out, illegal miners linked to powerful cartels and foreign interests quietly take over.

The New Masters: China and France

Security experts and local observers increasingly point to a slow-motion recolonization of Nigeria one not waged with treaties or armies, but with economic manipulation and proxy violence.

China and France are most frequently cited. France’s dependence on Niger’s uranium is well known, while China’s Belt and Road Initiative has entrenched its influence across Africa. In Nigeria, their interests intersect with a vast underground economy of illegal mining.

“These are not random clashes,” said one Abuja-based security analyst who requested anonymity. “They are calculated displacements. The real battle is not over grazing routes, but over mineral veins. And the buyers are waiting in Lagos, Dubai, and Beijing.”

Imported Terrorists, Local Collaborators

The machinery of exploitation runs with ruthless precision. Local collaborators businessmen, politicians, and sometimes traditional rulers first identify mineral-rich lands. They pass the information to their foreign partners. Soon after, armed groups ranging from Fulani ethnic militias to mercenaries from Mali, Chad, or Niger descend on the targeted communities.

A researcher at the Centre for Democracy and Development described it plainly:

“What the public sees is another farmer herder clash. What is really happening is organized displacement for mining access.”

History Repeating Itself

This disturbing pattern echoes Africa’s colonial past. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, wars over coltan and cobalt have killed millions while enriching global corporations. France has maintained decades-long control over uranium mining in Niger.

Now, Nigeria’s lithium and gold have become the new frontier drawing similar interest and triggering similar bloodshed.

Nigeria officially loses over $9 billion annually to illegal mining, according to Reuters. In Zamfara, gold smuggling has been linked to terrorist financing. In Nasarawa and Kogi, truckloads of lithium are exported clandestinely, leaving nothing for host communities but environmental destruction and poverty.

Who Really Benefits?

Not the villagers. For them, the cost is life, land, and livelihood. In Kwara, Kogi, and Plateau, survivors tell the same story: their farms burned, their homes destroyed, their churches and mosques desecrated while strangers arrive with heavy machinery and armed escorts.

“This is not just corruption it’s a national security crisis,” warned retired General Alexander Ogomudia in a 2024 interview. “When foreign-backed cartels fund militias to chase Nigerians from their land, it is nothing short of economic warfare.”

The Dangerous Silence

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is the nation’s silence. Many dismiss these accounts as conspiracy theories, but from Oke Ode to Egbe to Isanlu, the same events recur: gunmen attack, villagers flee, and mining begins.

How many coincidences make a pattern?

This silence is not ignorance it is complicity. Each day that Abuja fails to act, Nigeria’s sovereignty erodes further, and the looting of her future continues unchecked.

A Call to Wake Up

Nigeria’s 

Independence in 1960 was won with dreams of freedom and self-determination. Today, that sovereignty is under siege not by colonizers in uniform, but by foreign interests in suits, aided by local collaborators and protected by mercenaries.

China and France may deny involvement, but Nigerians in the affected communities see the link between their mineral wealth and their bloodshed.

Unless the federal government confronts this reality, tells the truth, and takes decisive action to investigate transparently and dismantle networks of collaboration. Nigeria’s mineral wealth will continue to enrich other nations while Nigerians bleed.

The recolonization of Nigeria is not a distant threat.

It is happening now community by community, mine by mine.

Further Reading:

* Nigeria loses $9 billion annually to illegal mining   Reuters

* Truth Nigeria: Illegal Mining and Terror Funding

* Nigeria’s Illegal Mining Crisis  Daily Trust Investigations

Day 8

Press release 

*Advancing Education : NELFUND, Truly Renewed Hope for Nigeria’s Future*

By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

In his Day 8 media briefing, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa described education as *“the master key that unlocks every nation’s destiny.”* He noted that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has turned that key with the creation of the *Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND)*, one of the most impactful educational reforms in recent history.

Established through the *Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-enactment) Act*, signed into law on *April 3, 2024*, NELFUND represents a bold step toward inclusive education. 

The fund provides *interest-free loans for tuition and upkeep* to students in public tertiary institutions, ensuring that financial background no longer determines educational destiny.

Hon. Bolarinwa commended the administration’s commitment, noting that by *September 2025*, NELFUND had already *supported over 500,000 students nationwide*, disbursing approximately ₦99.5 billion in tuition loans and ₦44.7 billion in upkeep allowances. “This is more than policy; it is hope in action,” he said. “It means a child in Borno, Lagos, or Enugu can now dream again — and dream without fear of poverty cutting that dream short.”

He explained that NELFUND’s design ensures *non-zonal discrimination*, focusing solely on verified institutional applications. However, differences in awareness and application levels have led to *regional variations*:

* *North-West* recorded the highest participation, with over *16,000 beneficiaries* and ₦5.84 billion disbursed.

* *North-East* followed closely, showing strong early engagement.

* *North-Central* maintained moderate applications with fair representation in initial funding.

* *South-West*, despite high institutional density, saw lower per-state uptake, such as *3,947 students* in Lagos.

* *South-East* had the *lowest early disbursement* of *₦1.33 billion* to *10,525 students*, later improved after verification efforts.

* *South-South* registered *37,180 applications*, with new sensitization programs now improving inclusion.

Hon. Bolarinwa emphasized that the administration has already launched *zonal sensitization campaigns* to bridge awareness gaps, affirming that the scheme remains equity-driven — *“no geopolitical quota, only opportunity for all.”*

He further highlighted complementary reforms under the *Renewed Hope Agenda* such as:

* The *DOTS Framework*, targeting data-driven education planning, out-of-school children reintegration, digital teacher training, and national skills development;

* The *reinstatement of History* in school curricula to restore national identity;

* An *increased education budget to ₦3.52 trillion in 2025*  a *61% rise* from prior years; and

* The *decentralization of key institutions*, including the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), to improve regional access and technical education.

These reforms, he said, represent *a systemic rebuilding of Nigeria’s learning foundation — one brick, one student, one institution at a time.*

*SWOT Analysis of NELFUND under the Renewed Hope Agenda*

*Strengths:*

* Interest-free loans reduce inequality and financial exclusion.

* Transparent digital application and verification process.

* Wide reach with over 500,000 direct beneficiaries within 18 months.

* Government commitment reflected in record-high education funding.

*Weaknesses:*

* Uneven regional awareness and institutional compliance.

* Initial administrative bottlenecks and delayed disbursements.

*Opportunities:*

* Expansion to private tertiary institutions and vocational centers.

* Potential integration with the National Skills Framework for employability.

* Improved digital literacy through the DOTS framework for data and monitoring.

*Threats:*

* Possible repayment default without strict monitoring.

* Political misinterpretation of regional disparities if not continually addressed.

In his closing message, Hon. Bolarinwa appealed to Nigerians to look beyond short-term challenges and see the long-term transformation unfolding.

“President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope is not just a slogan — it is a living promise. The Nigerian Education Loan Fund proves that our youths are not forgotten. Every loan disbursed is an investment in a mind; every graduate is a seed of tomorrow’s greatness.”

He concluded emotionally:

 “Let no child’s dream be buried because of poverty. Let every Nigerian youth rise with the wings of opportunity that this administration has built. Education is our bridge to unity, peace, and prosperity ,  and under President Tinubu, that bridge is stronger than ever.

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa PhD

DAY 7

Press release 

*Infrastructure Drive: Building Roads, Bridging Dreams*

By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

Hon. Bolarinwa, in his Day 7 media briefing, described infrastructure as the “silent engine of progress” ,  the unseen but powerful force that connects people to opportunities and transforms societies. He said that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, roads and bridges are no longer just lines on a map, but lifelines of unity, commerce, and prosperity.

He pointed to the *Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway*, a flagship *700+ km project linking nine coastal states* — from Lagos through Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, to Cross River. “This is not just a road,” he said. “It is a superhighway of dreams, carrying farmers to markets, tourists to beaches, traders to ports, and communities to one another.” Already, the first 30 km stretch was commissioned in 2025.

Other landmark projects include the *Ibadan–Ife–Ilesha–Akure–Benin Road*, easing travel in the Southwest; the *Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Highway*, a lifeline of the North; and the *Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway*, worth part of a *₦1.5 trillion investment in the Southeast*. The *Second Niger Bridge Access Roads*, the *Lagos–Badagry Expressway*, the *East–West Road*, and the *9th Mile–Makurdi Corridor* are also part of this nationwide push.

“These roads,” Hon. Bolarinwa said, “are not just concrete and asphalt. They are promises fulfilled,  of faster journeys for students traveling to universities, safer routes for traders carrying goods, and smoother paths for farmers delivering food from the hinterlands.”

He acknowledged the challenges of financing and time but urged Nigerians to see these projects as investments in a shared tomorrow. “It may take time to complete, but once finished, they will serve generations unborn,” he added.

He then proceeded to analyze, as usual, the SWOT of Nigeria’s Infrastructure Drive in order to create a balanced public view.

*Strengths*

* *National Reach:* Projects touch every region, from Sokoto to Calabar, Lagos to Maiduguri.

* *Strategic Corridors:* Boosts agriculture, oil, maritime, and cross-border trade.

* *Equity in Development:* Legacy projects continued alongside new ones (e.g., Lagos–Ibadan, Second Niger Bridge).

* *Employment Generation:* Thousands of direct and indirect jobs created.

*Weaknesses*

* *Funding Pressure:* High costs amid limited fiscal space.

* *Project Delays:* Bureaucratic hurdles and past patterns of abandonment.

* *Sustainability Concerns:* Weak maintenance culture risks long-term durability.

*Opportunities*

* *Economic Growth:* Roads to unlock industrial hubs, ports, and farmlands.

* *Regional Integration:* Coastal and interstate highways to knit Nigeria closer.

* *Tourism & Trade:* Lagos–Calabar corridor to boost hospitality and shipping.

* *Private Investment:* Potential for PPPs and concession models.

*Threats*

* *Rising Costs:* Inflation and currency volatility may escalate budgets.

* *Security Challenges:* Insurgency and banditry in some regions threaten construction.

* *Environmental Risks:* Erosion and flooding along coastal routes.

* *Political Disruptions:* Policy inconsistency across administrations.

Hon. Bolarinwa concluded:

*"A nation that builds roads is building more than highways — it is paving the way for unity, prosperity, and hope. Every kilometer laid today is a promise of tomorrow’s progress."*

With faith, patience, and resilience, we shall overcome every challenge. Let us remain hopeful,  for our nation shall be great again.

Together, let us support these efforts with unity and optimism, so that Nigeria’s tomorrow will shine brighter than today.

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

Day 6

Press Release

*NNPC Reform: Transparency, Technology, and Energy Security & the Electricity Amendment Bill*

By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa Ph.D 

Hon. Bolarinwa opened the Day 6 interview series with words of encouragement. He said, *“I am very impressed, encouraged, and motivated by the feedback from the previously released press statements. This is a clear indication that the people are truly in alignment with the present administration’s programmes. I assure you that President Tinubu will not disappoint you. He will continue to fulfill his campaign promises to change Nigeria for the better.”*

He then turned his attention to the critical issue of *NNPC reform*, describing it as *“the lifeline of Nigeria’s energy future and economic stability.”* According to Hon. Bolarinwa, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company must transition from opacity to transparency, from inefficiency to innovation, and from dependency to sustainability.

He noted that President Tinubu’s drive for reforms in the oil and gas sector is anchored on three key pillars:

1. *Transparency* ensuring that revenues, contracts, and operations are open, audited, and accountable.

2. *Technology*  deploying modern digital tools for monitoring production, curbing leakages, and enhancing efficiency.

3. *Energy Security*  safeguarding Nigeria’s domestic energy needs while expanding opportunities for export and investment.

To illustrate his point, Hon. Bolarinwa invoked a vivid proverb: *“A nation without light stumbles in the dark, but with light, every step becomes progress.”* He explained that just as light is a symbol of hope and direction, energy reforms are the power that will illuminate Nigeria’s path to growth and prosperity.

He also linked the reforms to everyday realities faced by Nigerians. *“For too long, ordinary citizens have stood in endless petrol queues or endured nights of blackout. These reforms are designed to change that narrative. With a reformed NNPC and a stronger electricity law, fuel will flow more steadily, power will reach more homes, and industries will thrive without relying endlessly on generators,”* he said.

Hon. Bolarinwa pointed out that the NNPC has too often been perceived as a “government within a government,” but reforms are already redirecting it towards being a profitable, competitive, and transparent national company that works for Nigerians.

On the *Electricity Amendment Bill*, he explained that it is a crucial complement to reforms in the energy sector. The bill, he said, will:

* Decentralize power generation and distribution,

* Encourage state and private sector participation,

* Expand renewable energy adoption, and

* Ensure affordable and reliable electricity supply to households and industries.

Hon. Bolarinwa further emphasized that Nigeria cannot achieve industrialization without reliable power and efficient energy management. He said, *“Our industries, schools, hospitals, and homes depend on energy. By reforming NNPC and amending our electricity laws, we are laying the foundation for jobs, growth, and sustainable development.”*

He then provided a brief *SWOT analysis* of NNPC Reform and the Electricity Amendment Bill:

*SWOT Analysis*

*Strengths:*

* Greater transparency and accountability in oil and gas revenues.

* Improved efficiency through technology adoption.

* Increased investor confidence in Nigeria’s energy sector.

* More reliable power supply to industries and communities.

*Weaknesses:*

* Resistance to change from entrenched interests.

* Inadequate infrastructure for nationwide electricity distribution.

* Possible delays in implementing reforms at the grassroots level.

* Capacity challenges in regulatory institutions.

*Opportunities:*

* Expansion of renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro.

* Job creation across the oil, gas, and power value chains.

* Increased local refining to reduce fuel import dependence.

* Economic diversification driven by reliable energy supply.

*Threats:*

* Global shifts towards clean energy reducing oil demand.

* Political interference in NNPC operations and electricity reforms.

* Risk of corruption if oversight systems are not fully enforced.

* Potential conflicts between federal and state roles in power distribution.

Hon. Bolarinwa concluded by reaffirming that both the *NNPC reform* and the *Electricity Amendment Bill* are not just policies, but promises in action. “The journey to a stronger Nigeria rests on responsible energy management. President Tinubu is committed to making Nigeria energy-secure, transparent, and technologically driven.”

Signed

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

*Day 5*

Press Release

*Local Government Financial Autonomy*

*Power to the Grassroots*

By Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa Ph.D

Hon. Bolarinwa opened the Day 5 interview series with a striking question: *“How can democracy be complete if the government closest to the people is the weakest?”* He explained that the strength of any federal system lies not only in the centre or the states, but also in the empowerment of local governments, the tier of government that touches people’s daily lives most directly.

He expressed his thoughts through a wise proverb: *“A tree that will bear good fruit must first take deep roots.”* He compared this to Nigeria’s governance structure, noting that without strong local governments, development will remain shallow and uneven.

Hon. Bolarinwa explained that President Tinubu’s stance on local government financial autonomy is rooted in the belief that *power must return to the grassroots*. When local councils are financially strenghtened and functional, he said, citizens will feel the real impact of governance in areas such as:

* Primary education and healthcare,

* Local infrastructure like roads, markets, and drainage systems,

* Community policing and security, and

* Huge support for

     Agriculture. 

He pointed out that too often, local governments have been reduced to administrative extensions of state governments, with their allocations either withheld or diverted. True financial autonomy, he argued, means *direct access to resources, financial transparency, and accountability at the grassroots level*.

Hon. Bolarinwa further highlighted that empowering local governments will reduce rural-urban migration, create jobs within communities, and ensure equitable development across Nigeria.

He then provided a brief *SWOT analysis* 

*Strengths:*

* Brings governance closer to the people.

* Encourages accountability and transparency at the grassroots.

* Boosts rural development and reduces pressure on urban centres.

*Weaknesses:*

* Poor capacity and administrative gaps in some local councils.

* Risk of corruption if oversight mechanisms are weak.

* Possible resistance from state governments unwilling to lose control.

*Opportunities:*

* Stronger grassroots participation in democracy.

* Empowered councils can drive agriculture, education, and health delivery.

* Local job creation reduces unemployment.

* Improved security rooted in community support.

*Threats:*

* Political interference from higher levels of government.

* Mismanagement of funds at the local level.

* Potential conflict between states and councils over resource control.

Hon. Bolarinwa concluded by stressing that *local government financial autonomy is not about weakening the states, but about strengthening Nigeria from the bottom up.* He said, “If the grassroots thrive, the nation will stand firm. True federalism must begin in the villages, wards, and communities where the people live their daily lives.”

Signed

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

EKO STREETS: A Walk Through the Living History of Lagos Island

Lagos Island, known locally as Èkó, is the cradle of Lagos history. Its streets are not just passageways but living archives — each name, square, and corner whispering stories of migration, trade, resistance, faith, and reinvention. To walk through Èkó is to trace the footsteps of Yoruba settlers, Portuguese and Brazilian returnees, Saro elites, and British administrators whose influences layered the city’s identity.

Commercial & Political Thoroughfares

Broad Street — The commercial backbone of Lagos since the late 19th century. Once home to the Old Secretariat (1890s), General Hospital Odan (1893), and the imposing Broad Street Prison (today’s Freedom Park), it was both a stage for colonial control and a cradle of resistance. Nationalists like Herbert Macaulay and Obafemi Awolowo were imprisoned here, turning Broad Street into a symbol of both oppression and liberation.

Marina Street — Skirting the lagoon, Marina was the front porch of colonial Lagos. Merchant houses, shipping firms, and colonial administrative buildings lined this waterfront, which also symbolized Lagos as a port city where the world arrived by sea.

Tinubu Square — Formerly Independence Square, renamed after Madam Efunroye Tinubu, the formidable 19th-century trader and political matriarch. Centrally placed, the square has long been a gathering point for commerce, protest, and civic life.

Campbell Street — Named after Robert Campbell, Jamaican educator and publisher of the Anglo-African newspaper. Over time, it became known for its schools, government offices, and now the Campbell Centre, showing the street’s continuous reinvention.

Nnamdi Azikiwe Street (formerly Queens Street) — Renamed after Nigeria’s first President, it reflects nationalist pride. Its shops, banks, and eateries hum with the vibrancy of Lagos commerce.

Idumota & Balogun Market — Together, they form the restless pulse of Lagos trading. Idumota became synonymous with bookshops, music distribution, and Nollywood’s early economy, while Balogun evolved into one of West Africa’s largest markets for textiles and household goods.

Returnee Quarters & Heritage Streets

Olowogbowo / Breadfruit — Settlement of the Saros (Sierra Leone returnees, liberated Africans resettled in Lagos). They brought Western education, clerical professions, and a cosmopolitan outlook that shaped Lagos’ middle class.

Oke-Popo / Campos (Brazilian Quarters) — Home of the Aguda returnees from Brazil. Campos Square still bears their legacy: stucco-fronted Brazilian houses, arched windows, Catholic processions, and courtyards that once echoed with samba rhythms and Yoruba chants.

Lafiaji / Okesuna — Linked to Portuguese returnees. Early Catholic churches and Afro-Portuguese families thrived here, adding to the Island’s multi-ethnic texture.

Idumagbo Avenue — Born after the river between Idumagbo and Oko-Faji was filled. Its name means “quarters of the elites”, highlighting the status of those who resided there. Today, it is a bridge between schools, markets, and civic institutions.

Okepopo Street — Named after the Okepopo River that once flowed nearby, it preserves the Island’s memory of waterways that shaped settlement.

Kakawa Street — A 19th-century lane tied to early Lagos publishing and trade. Its name recalls agricultural roots, while its history connects to the world of communication and printing.

Ereko Street — Famous for textiles, fashion, and trade, Ereko has been a market corridor for centuries.

Colonial & Ceremonial Roads

King George V Road (Onikan) — Built as a ceremonial boulevard. It links the old Race Course (now Tafawa Balewa Square), colonial offices, and today’s National Museum. In its heyday, it was the parade ground of empire; today, it remains central to Lagos’ civic life.

Moloney Street — Named after Governor Sir William Moloney, this street connects Broad Street to Onikan. Its placement reflects colonial town planning designed to enforce order and authority.

Catholic Mission Street — A landmark of faith and education. The Holy Cross Cathedral, seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, stands here, surrounded by schools and mission houses.

Residential Arteries & Expansions

Adeniji Adele Road — Named after an Oba of Lagos, this road bridges the old quarters with expanding residential districts. Its landscape tells of colonial-era bungalows sitting alongside modern high-rises.

Ikoyi Road — The link between Isale Eko and the exclusive suburb of Ikoyi. In colonial times it was reserved for Europeans; post-independence, it became home to elites and diplomats, marking Lagos’ evolution from Island nucleus to metropolitan sprawl.

Odunlami & Martins Streets — Known for nightlife, street food, fabrics, and household items. These lanes keep Lagos’ reputation as a city that never sleeps.

Icons & Landmarks Embedded in the Streets

Freedom Park (Old Broad Street Prison) — A site of memory, once a colonial prison, now reborn as a cultural park where music, arts, and public discourse thrive.

General Hospital, Odan — Established in 1893, one of Nigeria’s oldest hospitals, a colonial institution turned national legacy.

Christ Church Cathedral — Founded in 1869, seat of the Anglican bishop, burial place of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop.

First Baptist Church & Lagos Baptist Academy — Testament to the missionary and educational history of Lagos.

Conclusion

The streets of Èkó are not simply routes for traffic; they are the pages of a living book. From the Brazilian courtyards of Campos to the bustling stalls of Idumota, from the colonial pomp of King George V Road to the nationalist spirit of Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Lagos Island embodies the meeting of worlds — Yoruba, Portuguese, Brazilian, Saro, and British.

Every street is a thread in the tapestry of Lagos, reminding us that this city was never just built — it was woven, contested, and constantly reinvented.

Source:

Cicero Adegboyega Ademide Sasore-Whyte.

I The Last Room: Reflections on Wealth, Possessions, and the Journey into Old Age

Introduction: The Journey No One Escapes

Life is a journey every one of us must take—from childhood innocence to adult responsibility, from the pride of labour to the frailty of old age. No matter how far we travel, or how much we acquire along the way, the journey ends with a truth that humbles us all: at the end, we need far less than we thought.

I write these words not as a preacher or philosopher, but as someone preparing to leave behind the familiar walls of my home to enter a nursing home. After decades of work, collection, and living, I find myself face to face with the simple reality of human existence.

1. The Decision to Leave Home

I am going to a nursing home. Not because I want to, but because life leaves me little choice. My children love me, but they are busy with careers, raising their own families, and carrying burdens I cannot add to. My body no longer obeys my will; daily chores that once felt light now exhaust me.

The nursing home is clean, well-maintained, and equipped with what I need: a bed, a sofa, a small kitchen corner, a fridge, and a TV. It is not a palace, but it is safe. My pension is enough to sustain it, and I even have the option of selling my house if more funds are required. My son, wise beyond his years, tells me: “Your wealth belongs first to you; enjoy it. Don’t worry about inheritance.”

And so, I begin preparing for this transition with both gratitude and sorrow.

2. Looking Around at a Lifetime of Possessions

As I pack, I see clearly what my life has become: a house full of objects.

Suitcases, boxes, cabinets overflowing. Stamps I collected, pendants of amber and jade, silver cutlery used only once or twice, books I never opened, clothes that no longer fit my frame. The pantry looks like I was feeding a boarding school—rice, pasta, spices, frozen meat. My cellar holds bottles of foreign wine I never drank.

I see photo albums—hundreds of them. Faces of parents long gone, siblings now grey-haired, friends scattered across the world. Some of those faces belong to the dead, yet their smiles remain trapped in glossy paper.

All this is here. And yet none of it can go with me.

3. The Poverty of Abundance

As I stand among my belongings, a strange sadness grips me. All these years I believed these things were mine. But now I see clearly—they were never really mine. They passed through my hands; I enjoyed them, sometimes neglected them, but they never truly belonged to me.

Soon, others will sell, discard, or inherit them. The mahogany furniture that I polished with pride will be deemed impractical by younger generations. My books may end up as scrap paper. My clothes and beddings will be carted off in sacks. Even my carefully tended garden will belong to strangers who will eat the apples and enjoy the flowers without ever knowing my name.

Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, once the private palace of emperors who thought themselves eternal rulers, now a museum open to the public—so too will my house pass on, indifferent to my memory.

4. The Lessons of Possessions

It dawns on me that true foolishness is not in working hard, but in confusing possessions with meaning. For decades I tinkered, saved, decorated, and accumulated. I believed these would secure happiness. But here I am, realizing that happiness was always elsewhere: in shared meals, in laughter, in kindness, in faith, in love.

Possessions can comfort, yes. But they also imprison. They demand time, energy, and attention. They make us slaves to maintenance and fear of loss. And in the end, when we leave this world, they betray us by staying behind.

5. The One Room We All End Up In

The nursing home offers me one room. At first, this felt like a loss. But on reflection, I see it as liberation. For at the end, what do we really need?

One bed to sleep on.

One set of clothes to wear.

One plate of food to eat.

Everything else is excess. The truth is, life has always been about one room. Even in palaces, emperors can only sleep in one bed at a time. Even billionaires can only eat one meal at a time.

Why then do we burden ourselves with mountains of things we cannot use?

6. Reflections for the Over-50s

For those of us past fifty, it is time to think differently about life:

Health over wealth: Without health, gold and silver taste like dust.

Memories over materials: A shared story with your grandchild will outlast the fanciest furniture.

Legacy of values over legacy of things: Better to leave children honesty, compassion, and faith than wardrobes of clothes.

As Scripture reminds us: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7).

7. What Truly Matters

So what matters now, at the twilight of life?

1. Relationships: Being remembered not for what I owned, but for how I loved.

2. Faith and Purpose: Finding peace in God’s plan, knowing I played my small part.

3. Simplicity: Living light, unburdened by unnecessary things.

4. Gratitude: Counting blessings, not possessions.

8. The Problem of Letting Go

I confess, letting go is not easy. Every item tells a story. That necklace marked a milestone birthday. That book was a gift from a dear friend. That teapot brewed countless evenings of comfort.

But I also see the futility of clinging. My children do not value stamps, cassettes, or mahogany chairs. These are relics of another era. If I hold on too tightly, I only burden them with decisions and guilt.

So, I choose to keep a few essentials: a small set of pots, a handful of books, a few teapots, my documents and bank card. Enough.

The rest, I leave to the world.

9. The Farewell to My House

Before leaving, I kneel at my doorway. Three times I bow, thanking this house for sheltering me. For hosting family meals, tears of grief, and bursts of laughter. For witnessing my growth, my failures, my small triumphs.

And then, I give it back to the world. For the truth is, I never truly owned it.

10. Broader Lessons for Society

My personal story is also a mirror for our society. In Nigeria—and across the world—we are locked in endless competition for wealth, status, and material show. Yet how many of our leaders, tycoons, and celebrities discover too late that the riches they fought for cannot follow them into the grave?

Communities like Nibo, where I was born, are beginning to learn again the wisdom of simplicity, solidarity, and shared values. What if we taught our children early that the worth of a man or woman lies not in cars, mansions, or trinkets, but in service, kindness, and honesty?

Wouldn’t our politics be cleaner, our society more peaceful, and our families stronger?

Conclusion: Traveling Light

As I prepare for my last chapter, I no longer see my nursing home room as a prison. I see it as freedom. Freedom from clutter. Freedom from illusion. Freedom to focus on what matters most: my health, my peace, my God.

I leave you with this thought: When the journey ends, life asks us to travel light.

So, to my friends over fifty, and indeed to every reader, I ask: What do you really need? What burdens can you put down today? What values can you pass on tomorrow?

In the end, we all return our houses, our clothes, our books, and even our bodies to the earth. Only love, faith,

Dr Goodluck Jonathan,

Let us remind you that before your party, the People's Democratic Party took charge of government in Nigeria, there was no such thing called Boko Haram.

It started gradually under Obasanjo and then festered under Yar'adua after their first leader was killed under police custody.

Yar'adua did not live long as President. So we can't say if he would have been able to tame them or not. (May Almighty God rest his soul).

Yar'adua's death brought you to the seat and I did not hide my joy that a man from one of the minority groups in Nigeria had become President in a democratic system.

However, not long that you took over the reign of government that your legendary cluelessness started manifesting. 

Under your watch, Nigeria was earning so much forex as a result of increasing price of oil in the global market but our earnings were squandered and by the time you're rounding up, we had started borrowing money to pay salaries. It was a very wasteful and highly irresponsible and unaccountable government. 

We will come back to that.

On security, you performed so woefully that you just had to go.

Almost every local government area in Borno state was under the control of BH.

A good number of LGAs in Adamawa and Yobe too were under the control of the notorious terrorist group.

Boko Haram attacked Bayero University, Kano. 

Boko Haram attacked a church in the morning of Christmas when the murdered congregants were salivating to devour their rice and chicken stew after the early mass only to be exterminated before the end of the service.

It will be ungodly and unfair if I say that you were the only one responsible for the carnage because truly some elements in the north were bent on using it to destroy your government but it will also count against me if I do not mention that your cluelessness played a major role in the loss of lives and properties that the nation witnessed. Soldiers ran away from battle field because there was no weapon. 

This is because while all these were going on, you National Security Adviser, your Chief of Defence Staff and others were looting the treasury like there was no tomorrow while Nigerians were dying and you did not check them.

At the peak of their power, they attacked the big Nyanya bus terminal in Abuja, they attacked office of This Day newspaper also in Abuja. They attacked the United Nations office in Abuja. They attacked the police headquarters in Abuja.

In south west, the churches had already started using bomb detectors at the entrance of churches because of anticipated Boko Haram attack.

The whole nation was in panic mood until you were removed through the ballot and Buhari came and fought Boko Haram with all that was in his capacity and given where you left us and where Buhari left, late former President Muhammadu Buhari was a huge success in that aspect. 

It is therefore unfortunate, that because you are preparing to throw in your hat for 2027, you tried to make the dead look guilty by saying yesterday that he was nominated as a Boko Haram/government negotiator.

The same Buhari whose vehicle was bombed by the same BH?

If Buhari was sympathetic to Boko Haram, why did he go all out from day one ie May 29, 2015 by making it a priority to tackle them head-on? 

Are you saying that we should forget the achievements of the Army under Gen Buratai, fPMB's Chief of Army Staff?

Should we trade that with political correctness because you are testing the water for 2027?

Dr Goodluck Jonathan, you ran a very clueless government and that is the truth.

It is true that banditry started growing under the Buhari government as he was dealing with Boko Haram but under your watch Boko Haram was growing every day as the money meant to secure lives and properties were squandered unchecked by your security chiefs.

Whenever you summon the courage to fully come out for 2027, we shall roll out your failures in office to remind those who are thinking that you did well in office.

For now, even though, those who call El-Rufai their new god could not say a word when Hushmummy called him a man of great nuisance value to their coalition are not expected to defended fPMB in death (for a people who can not defend the living can not defend the dead), we, on our part, shall continue to put the record straight concerning our much respected leader, Muhammadu Buhari who God has called home.

Sunday Wale Adeniran

#SWA

Day  4

Press release 

*Tax Reforms and National Debt Repayment:*

 

*Expanding Revenue, Easing Burdens, and Restoring Financial Credibility*

By Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa 

Hon. Bolarinwa began the Day 4 interview series by addressing a concern he believes many citizens quietly hold. He said, *“Some people might be thinking, is this analysis even necessary?”* Drawing from a  proverb, ' Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck'. There is need for constant explanation and reminder to foster a deeper connection between the government and the people. If the government is carrying out fantastic, people-oriented programs but the people do not perceive or understand them, then there is a serious challenge.*

He emphasized that this is precisely why an enlightening session like this is essential—to bridge the gap between policy intentions and public perception. With that, he proceeded into the Day 4 topic.

He explained that no nation can develop sustainably if it relies solely on borrowing or a narrow tax base. According to him, President Tinubu’s approach to tax reform is not about overburdening citizens, but about restructuring the system so that:

* More people and sectors are brought into the tax net, especially those who have operated informally for decades,

* Leakages and multiple taxation are eliminated

* Compliance becomes easier through digital systems and harmonised collection methods.

He noted that a fair tax system should not punish productivity but encourage growth. Hon. Bolarinwa pointed to efforts such as:

* The work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms,

* The push toward a *single-digit tax regime*

* The digitisation of revenue platforms to block loopholes, and

* Incentives for SMEs and startups to thrive without excessive pressure.

He stressed that a reformed tax structure will expand national revenue without squeezing ordinary Nigerians. The objective, he said, is to reduce reliance on volatile oil income and strengthen internally generated revenue to fund education, health, infrastructure, and social programs.

From there, he transitioned to the second arm of the discussion, *National Debt Repayment*.

According to Hon. Bolarinwa, no serious government ignores its debt obligations. He stated that debt in itself is not a crime; mismanagement is. The Federal Government’s strategy, he explained, is to:

* *Service and repay debts responsibly* to rebuild Nigeria’s creditworthiness,

* *Renegotiate unfavourable terms* where necessary,

* *Use borrowings strictly for productive projects* with measurable impact, and

* *End the cycle of borrowing for consumption.*

He noted that international investors and development partners are watching Nigeria's reform trajectory closely, and restoring financial credibility is crucial for attracting long-term investments and concessional funding.

Hon. Bolarinwa concluded this segment by saying that *tax reforms and debt repayment are not isolated policies*—they are interlinked pillars of economic stability. By expanding revenue fairly and meeting financial obligations responsibly, the government can free resources for citizens’ welfare, reduce inflationary pressures, and lay the groundwork for future prosperity.

He then gave a concise SWOT analysis to help Nigerians properly weigh the realities of *Tax Reforms and National Debt Repayment*:

*SWOT Analysis*

*Strengths:*

* A broader tax base increases national revenue without hiking existing rates.

* Debt repayment improves Nigeria’s credit rating and investor trust.

* Digital tax systems reduce corruption and plug leakages.

*Weaknesses:*

* Public mistrust from years of mismanaged taxes.

* Debt servicing currently consumes a large chunk of revenue.

*Opportunities:*

* Formalising the informal sector can create new income streams.

* International financial credibility opens doors to better investment deals.

* Reduced dependence on oil revenue stabilises the economy long-term.

*Threats:*

* Resistance from individuals and businesses accustomed to tax evasion.

* Global economic shocks affecting repayment plans.

* Misinterpretation of reforms as anti-people policies.

Hon. Bolarinwa emphasised that understanding these dynamics is vital. He said reforms are not about hardship but about *resetting the system so future generations aren’t trapped by today’s debts and inefficiencies*.

He assured that with transparency, public enlightenment, and accountability, Nigerians will begin to see the benefits of these policies in real sectors—education, health, jobs, infrastructure, and social welfare.

Signed

Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, PhD

I don't support Corruption.... Rather.. I have used my over 20 years of public sector life to kick against corruption 

I once worked in a public institution in Niger Delta 

On the day I resumed, I discovered that the office building I was posted to can't use electricity,

I  discussed it with one of the admin staff who told me the school works department said the whole electrical wirings of the office building is bad..

I decided to check the fuse, and discovered that the fuse connector were removed, I decided to look for wire and reconnected it... Immediately I put the fuse back ... Light was restored to the whole building 

All the workers in the building jubilate , the Dean immediately summoned me, to explain how I did it,  I told the Dean I only used Wire to refused the fuse..

The Dean gave me the quotation the Electrical unit  in the works department sent to him, they calculated a total of over N400,000 to rewire the building, what I fixed with a small free wire...

The Dean said  the huge bill couple with lack of fund was the reason they have been without electricity for months...  The guys that did it were summoned... They started blabbing....

They were not queried, they were not fired,  one of them even grew to become the Director of works of the institution... So you can imagine the bigger license he got to steal more

Almost every public staff in Nigeria from the cleaner to director knows how to sabotage the system to get their loot...

It is still massive today ... These thieves are ordinary people... With millions of them wailing more than the bereaved mourning their love ones

This is how embedded, corruption is in almost every cadre of the NGR public institutions.

Millions of Naira are collected by public servant for a job that N100k can do....

So it's always safe to say almost everyone in NGR is corrupt if given the opportunity with nobody watching.

Whether in public service, private companies and informal sector, they are either givers or receivers which doesn't reduce the crime..

Is corruption the reason Nigeria remain underdeveloped...... The answer is capital NO...

There is corruption in every country on Earth..

It's only the magnitude that differs...

A dig in the archives of every developed countries on Earth shows that at a time in their history, many were far more corrupt than Nigeria of today, But they developed with corruption ....

They were able to minimize corruption as more and more people became highly educated, democracy was strengthened and demand for  accountability became loud.. It's same for any developed nation...

Nigeria is gradually advancing to that stage.... 

Nigeria couldn't do more in tackling corruption in the past because there was no social media, they had little or no say in who govern them till 2015...

Luckily the Leadership selection process is getting freer and fairer.... If you think the leaders don't fear the people in Nigeria, then you don't live in Nigeria..

Most Nigeria leaders no longer act with impunity not because they fear mass protest or revolt but because they don't want to lose in the elections..

The more leaders Begin to be accountable for the public funds in their care,  The more development would grow exponentially across Nigeria...

When that happens and Nigeria finally become a developed country people will think Nigeria was never once corrupt...

Minimizing corruption in leadership selection is now a done deal...

Gradually corruption will fade out..

The Tinubu govt digitalization policy is a game changer in corruption fight...

The masses must vote for only govs who digitalized the public sector, same with chairmen...

Soon it will fizzle out... Apart from digitalization, govt at all level must have anti corruption office in all public institutions manned by men of integrity, whom Whistle blowers can easily reach and justice melted on the spot...

Many of those shouting " Nigeria is corrupt" are themselves corrupt, lack zero ideas on how to minimize corruption in Nigeria...

That is the reason they are blinded to the fact that Tinubu is gradually erasing corruption at the federal level, from , fuel Subsidy, FX subsidy, tax reform, digitalization of govt services among others...

Nigeria is rising, and no mumu can stop it...

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The headteacher of a primary school said:

Whenever parents bring a child to register for Primary One in my school, I must first see the child myself. This helps me to check if everything about the child is fine—speaking, hearing, seeing, walking, and so on.

After that, I like to ask the child one question that I created many years ago. The question is:

“What is the color of a watermelon?”

Parents and even my fellow teachers are always surprised by this question, because I ask every new child the same thing. Many think that I do not have any other question to ask. But today, I want to explain the secret behind it.

The question looks very simple, but the way a child answers it shows me a lot about his or her character:

If the child says, “It is red,” most times it means he depends too much on his parents. He does not help them to buy or cut watermelon at home. He only sees it served in a plate, like food given to a guest.

If the child says, “It is green,” it usually means he helps his father to buy watermelon and also helps his mother to cut it at home.

If the child asks, “Do you mean the outside or the inside?” it shows he is very smart, curious, observant, and likes to ask questions or discuss matters.

If the child answers, “The outside is green and the inside is red,” it shows he is intelligent and observant but does not like to argue.

If the child gives a wrong answer, like “It is blue” or “It is yellow,” it means he cannot properly tell the difference between colors. Such a child will need special teaching and may give his teachers a hard time.

If the child hides behind his mother because of shyness, or waits for his parents to answer for him, it shows he needs special care and encouragement to build confidence and overcome shyness.

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No religion in the world is greater than kindness. No scripture is deeper than compassion. No ritual is holier than love.  Your beliefs may guide you, your traditions may shape you, but what truly defines you is how you treat others. Being a good human doesn’t require a temple, a church, a mosque, or a shrine. It requires a heart that chooses empathy over ego, forgiveness over anger, and service over selfishness. Don’t just preach your religion  live its essence. Don’t just quote verses embody their meaning. Don’t just identify with a label, let your humanity speak louder than words.

WHEN WILL VIOLENT AGITATION STOP IN NIGERIA STOP IN AFRICA 

What is happening in the SE happens in every corner of Nigeria. Nigerians are forever agitating for a better life. Muhammad Yusuf of BH fame found a solution in the caliphate that was promised by the Islamic fundamentalists and convinced people into suicide bombings and, for a time, even Bornu politicians used him. How we hate ourselves! Not so?  The rich hate the poor, the poor hate the rich. The educated dispise the uneducated while the illiterate 'Kunduses' sneer at the unemployed who however have degrees. Move away from Mohammed Yusuf and you find that the Biafra agitators are also looking for some Utopia being promised by charlatans like the Ekpas of this world. Same with Sunday Igboho of the Yoruba nation agitators. And we should not forget the Niger Delta Avengers and a score of others that are agitating unceasingly for some freedoms from Nigeria. 

All these  stem from the SYSTEMIC FAILURE of governance in Nigeria.

From the time in 1960, when Nigeria was maybe 50 million,  to now in 2025 when Nigeria is over 200 million, twenty-five years and counting, governance in Nigeria had been sleeping. No group of people can run their affairs that way and not get what we are getting right now. There should be no whitewashing of the present situation. Nigeria's wahala cannot be wished away. If 10k, or whatever number, megawatts of electricity has to be added yearly, constant neglect of that need cannot be whitewashed. Nor can the outcome of the stress from that stressor be wished away. Motivational jargon from government agency is nothing more than plaster being put over foundational deep cracks.

Such cracks need reconstruction in the foundation. Go learn from the repairers of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If XYZ number of schools have to be added per year, you can only neglect that number for so long before kasala burst as kasala is bursting now.

Tyson De-Grass replying to a question about if Elon Musk could get to Mars or not carefully explained that America got to the moon only and only because the American government was involved. Only the government could make certain things to happen in a country because the cost being so huge only the government could write those cheques by convincing the people that US must get to the moon before the Russians. In fact, the most important things in a country happen only where the government is involved. Nigeria should not dream that it can Dangote itself out of poverty. Billionaires don't pull nations out of poverty. They are governments of purpose that do that. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, as in lots of African countries, it seems the government works actively against the people. They steal the money and tax the people. Thereby effectively killing the bird that lays the eggs. Africans are socialist. And in fact socialism is exploited, unjustly, in many countries to make the rich richer. People like Elon Musk get all sorts of waivers, concessions, government contracts, etc. Those waivers are the people's money. But at least in every other part of the world, the system works in such a way that there is the employment guarantee, there is the mortgage system, there is the credit system, and a lot other systems put in place to keep the poeople cushioned away from extremized poverty and keep them reasonably comfortable. Not so in most African countries.  In Nigeria, the government taxes you and yet gives you nothing. No light, no roads, no ease of business, no security. It is a long list of what is not given. It is like asking someone to farm without giving that person the tools and still expect the person to pay poll tax. If the African society is a species of the vegetable kingdom, Africa would be classified as an endangered species. If you will read the story: The Fall of the House of Usher by Alan Poe(?) you will see that a structure can look solid on the outside but is completely hollowed out on the inside. Africa is being hollowed out by the day even as it looks solid. A new road there, a new hospital there: yet fundamentals are missing. And it gets worse by the day. The clock keeps ticking.

👉 *Passport of Privilege, Not Citizenship*

------------------------------

In a country where the official minimum wage is N70,000, the Nigeria Immigration Service has made a shocking announcement: it will now cost more than a month's salary for the average worker to obtain a mere 32-page passport. Beginning September 1, 2025, Nigerians will be expected to pay N100,000 for the "entry-level" passport and a staggering N200,000 if they desire the 64-page, 10-year option.

This absurd situation would be laughable if it weren't so cruel. A passport is not a luxury today; it is a right tied to citizenship, a tool for mobility, and for many Nigerians, the only means of escape from a system that has repeatedly failed them. By setting the price of a passport above what millions earn in a month, the government is effectively saying: mobility is only for the wealthy.

Let’s be clear: this is not reform; it is extortion. What justification can be provided for a pricing regime that demands more from a mason in Enugu or a teacher in Kano than their entire month’s salary? Is the booklet made of gold? Or is it simply that in Nigeria, even the most basic right—proof of belonging—is now sold at the market rate of desperation?

Consider the bitter irony: a government known for health tourism cannot guarantee stable electricity, functional hospitals, or quality schools, yet it sees fit to erect barriers to the one document that allows its citizens to seek those very things abroad. Instead of facilitating the process, it has monetized the escape. The message is clear: unless you are wealthy, you are expected to remain on the sinking ship.

Furthermore, those same leaders and bureaucrats who impose such policies hold diplomatic passports at no cost to themselves. They do not wait in line at passport offices. They do not struggle for appointments. They do not scrimp to pay for a document that should be a matter of right. Instead, they glide through immigration counters, with red carpets rolled out, while the rest of us are told to sell our kidneys if we wish to travel abroad.

This policy is not only insensitive; it is immoral. It entrenches inequality and disrespects hardworking Nigerians who only seek the dignity of being able to prove they belong to the very country that exploits them. If the minimum wage is N70,000, then no government with a conscience should set the price of a passport at N100,000. This reflects governance without empathy and leadership without logic.

In truth, the Nigerian passport has long been mocked abroad, with its holders treated with suspicion, denied visas, or herded into separate queues. Now, we face an added insult: we are being asked to pay an exorbitant sum for the privilege of carrying it.

The Nigeria Immigration Service may refer to this as an "upward review." However, Nigerians know what it truly is: official mugging, daylight robbery with ink and seal.

Vaya Con Dios writes-

When Senator David Mark was still Minister of Communications under former President Ibrahim Babangida in the late '80s, he made that famous derogatory statement: "telephones are not for the poor!" 😲

At that time NITEL was the sole Telecoms provider. Analogue land lines were a staple. Mobile telephones had not yet made their debut on our shores. And NITEL technicians were kings of the manor. They could TOSS,  UN-TOSS and generally create problems on your lines. 

NITEL had a long waiting list of folks who needed fixed landlines. A few cities like Lagos had phone booths, but you would have to queue for hours before it could get to your turn, to use that phone. 🤔

This was the status quo until the late '90s and early 2000s, when analogue mobile phones berthed on our shores, and call me "Nokia-to-Nokia" or "090 a.ka. -nought-nine-nought" entered our lexicon. 

By the early 2000s when GSM firms like MTN, Econet (now Airtel) threw open their doors, the deluge of waiting subscribers who wanted phone lines, overwhelmed the service providers. 

MTN had projected that it would break even in 5 years when it first landed in Nigeria. It broke even within the 1st year, and had started making a profit by the 2nd year. 🤔

Globacom later arrived with its' 'per second' billing, and gave the public much better options that suited their communication needs. 

Today, from the school teacher to the poor undergraduate, the mechanic to the spare parts dealer, almost everyone has a phone. 🤣

Today the phone is also a camera, a mobile wallet, a digital storage drive and many more. 

Why am I going back down memory lane? To show you that when crētins are in positions of authority, you will hear a lot of jargon. People will not forget David Mark, because of his infamous remarks. 

Migration is as old as man. Travel is as old as time. And people will always seek out greener pastures, or will move beyond different boarders, for a variety of reasons. 

Travel is also an education. It broadens the mind, expands perspectives, fosters cultural exchange and understanding, across international boundaries. 

In many countries, possession of a passport is a mundane affair. It is not a big deal. 

High school students go on international excursions, regularly in different schools abroad. Some folks travel for medical reasons. Others travel for work and learning. Quite a number also travel in order to relocate. While many more, go on international trips for rest, relaxation and recuperation.

Repatriation of foreign exchange and remittances from citizens abroad, are a big deal. How would some families and nations cope without such remittances, if their family members had not relocated abroad? 

But some clowns who only see life in terms of naira and kobo through their myopic lenses, have started trotting out the line, that "passports are not for the poor." May God put them to shame. 

People use passports for identification purposes. Some require it, to be able to register for international certifications and exams, or to make payment for tests such as IELTS. 

But our public officials are hell bent on disenfranchising the masses even further, by shredding their hopes of international travel, with these higher passport fees. 

It will not be well, with those who propagate such ēvíl agendas. ☹️

Did other African countries whose passports are cheaper than our own, print their own booklets with toilet paper? Or why is their own passport more affordable than ours'? ☝️🙄

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CABVZ8NvC/

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Not sure if ChatGPT results depends on the way you ask the questions and your search history,  below is what I received when I asked about the best old boys association in the whole of Nigeria, (East, West and North) with their strengths and weaknesses.  

here’s a side-by-side look at the strengths and weaknesses of the most notable Old Boys’ Associations across Nigeria (West, East, North).

⸻

🏆 Comparative Review of Major Old Boys’ Associations in Nigeria

1. King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA – Lagos, West)

• Strengths:

• Very influential alumni in politics, law, business, and judiciary.

• Large membership with financial strength.

• Strong Lagos presence and national visibility.

• Consistent reunions and media profile.

• Weaknesses:

• Sometimes Lagos-centric.

• Less emotional unity compared to GCIOBA.

⸻

2. Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA – Ibadan, West)

• Strengths:

• Highly united and disciplined alumni.

• Strong global branches (USA, UK, Canada).

• Consistent school projects (infrastructure, scholarships).

• Strong traditions and camaraderie.

• Weaknesses:

• Less direct political clout than KCOBA/BOBA.

• More focused on school support than public visibility.

⸻

3. Barewa Old Boys’ Association (BOBA – Zaria, North)

• Strengths:

• Historic prestige; produced several Heads of State and national leaders.

• Very influential in Northern Nigeria.

• Strong network in politics and public service.

• Weaknesses:

• Public/social visibility weaker than GCIOBA/KCOBA.

• Not as internationally spread.

⸻

4. St. Gregory’s College Old Boys’ Association (Lagos, West)

• Strengths:

• Strong Lagos presence.

• Influential in law, banking, and governance.

• Consistent fundraising and visible projects.

• Weaknesses:

• Limited national footprint compared to top three.

⸻

5. Loyola College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (West)

• Strengths:

• Strong alumni loyalty, especially in Ibadan.

• Consistent support for school.

• Weaknesses:

• Not nationally visible.

• Smaller financial and political influence.

⸻

6. Igbobi College Old Boys’ Association (ICOBA – Lagos, West)

• Strengths:

• Large Lagos network and diaspora branches.

• Good record of fundraising and reunions.

• Weaknesses:

• Occasional internal divisions.

• Influence not as wide as KCOBA/GCIOBA.

⸻

7. College of the Immaculate Conception Old Boys’ Association (CICOBA – Enugu, East)

• Strengths:

• Among the strongest in Eastern Nigeria.

• United alumni; strong Catholic Church backing.

• Influential members in politics, academia, and business.

• Weaknesses:

• National visibility less than Lagos/Ibadan associations.

• Strength concentrated in Southeast and diaspora.

⸻

8. Government College Umuahia Old Boys’ Association (UMOSA – Umuahia, East)

• Strengths:

• Produced many intellectuals and literary icons (Achebe, Okigbo).

• Strong tradition of academic excellence.

• Loyal alumni network.

• Weaknesses:

• Not as financially strong as KCOBA/GCIOBA.

• Lower national profile.

⸻

9. Dennis Memorial Grammar School Old Boys’ Association (DMGS – Onitsha, East)

• Strengths:

• One of the oldest Eastern schools (1925).

• Strong Anglican Church support.

• Loyal, well-bonded alumni.

• Weaknesses:

• Regional rather than national influence.

• Fundraising not at KCOBA/GCIOBA levels.

⸻

10. Methodist Boys’ High School Old Boys’ Association (Lagos, West)

• Strengths:

• Historic institution with deep Lagos roots.

• Consistent alumni activities.

• Weaknesses:

• National reach limited.

• Smaller financial and political influence compared to peers.

⸻

✅ Key Insights

• KCOBA → strongest in money + national influence.

• GCIOBA → strongest in unity, organization, and global spread.

• BOBA → strongest in political power.

• CICOBA/UMOSA/DMGS → strongest in the East (loyalty, church/intellectual backing).

• Gregs/ICOBA → strong in Lagos, but regional influence.

Another perspective:   

if we strip away politics, prestige, and old-boy networking and focus only on what current students in the schools actually feel (scholarships, infrastructure, mentoring, exposure, welfare), the ranking changes quite a bit.

⸻

🏅 Ranking of Nigerian Old Boys’ Associations by Impact on Current Students

1. Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA)

• Why #1:

• Constant school infrastructure upgrades (classrooms, labs, hostels).

• Scholarships and prize endowments every year.

• Strong mentorship culture: old boys regularly engage directly with students.

• Global branches contribute to projects back home.

⸻

2. King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA)

• Why:

• Provides scholarships, ICT facilities, and periodic infrastructure support.

• Inspires students through visible role models in governance, law, and business.

• Alumni presence in school activities boosts morale.

• Limitation:

• Impact sometimes overshadowed by prestige/social events.

⸻

3. CIC Enugu Old Boys’ Association (CICOBA)

• Why:

• Strong Catholic heritage gives students both academic and moral mentoring.

• Regular scholarships and support programs.

• Loyal alumni presence keeps student morale high.

• Limitation:

• Impact mostly regional (Enugu & diaspora), less national spotlight.

⸻

4. Loyola College Old Boys’ Association (Ibadan)

• Why:

• Consistent infrastructure projects and financial aid.

• Close engagement with students in Ibadan.

• Limitation:

• Scale smaller compared to GCIOBA.

⸻

5. Igbobi College Old Boys’ Association (ICOBA – Lagos)

• Why:

• Provides strong sports support, prizes, and mentorship.

• Preserves traditions and identity that students benefit from.

• Limitation:

• Internal issues sometimes distract from school-focused projects.

⸻

6. Government College Umuahia Old Boys’ Association (UMOSA)

• Why:

• Students inspired by legacy of literary and intellectual icons.

• Provides scholarships and academic prizes.

• Limitation:

• Financial/infrastructural support smaller compared to GCIOBA or KCOBA.

⸻

7. St. Gregory’s College Old Boys’ Association (Lagos)

• Why:

• Provides school support and maintains strong visibility with students.

• Known for assisting in sports and cultural activities.

• Limitation:

• Impact less consistent than GCIOBA/KCOBA.

⸻

8. Dennis Memorial Grammar School Old Boys’ Association (DMGS – Onitsha)

• Why:

• Religious and moral mentoring for students.

• Academic sponsorship through Anglican Church backing.

• Limitation:

• Infrastructure/financial support less compared to western schools.

⸻

9. Barewa Old Boys’ Association (BOBA – Zaria)

• Why:

• Occasionally channels political influence to benefit the school.

• Limitation:

• Direct contact with students limited; alumni focus more on prestige and politics than everyday school needs.

⸻

10. Methodist Boys’ High School Old Boys’ Association (Lagos)

• Why:

• Regular presence in maintaining heritage and school events.

• Limitation:

• Smaller projects, not as impactful as top 5.

⸻

✅ Key Insights

• Strongest direct impact (students feel it daily):

1. GCIOBA

2. KCOBA

3. CICOBA

• Best balance of infrastructure + scholarships + mentoring: GCIOBA.

• Most inspirational presence (role models students look up to): KCOBA & UMOSA.

• Most loyal/aligned with moral-educational values: CICOBA & DMGS.

• Most powerful politically, but weakest direct school touch: BOBA.

*FROM THE ERA OF MIRACLES TO THE ERA OF MACHINES*

Africa must trade superstition for science if we want to survive this century.

1.) The next 50 years will not be kind to slow thinkers.

By 2075, nations will not compete on prayers, they will compete on patents.

Your children will not eat because you fasted; they will eat because you built something people will pay for.

Drones, AI, synthetic biology, quantum computing etc., these are the “miracles” of the next generation. And they will belong to whoever understands the natural laws that make them work.

2.) Let me be brutally honest;

The countries that design microchips control the countries that buy them.

The nations that launch satellites control the nations that rent them.

The nations that make weapons control the nations that pray for peace.

China built 40,000 kilometers of high-speed rail in 15 years. Nigeria has built less than 200 km in the same time, and most of it came from Chinese loans.

We are literally borrowing the miracles of another people.

3.) Poverty is not a demon, it’s a symptom of ignorance.

If you doubt this, look at the facts:

 • The richest 10 countries in the world have less than one-third of Africa’s natural resources.

 • The poorest 10 countries in the world are mostly African, sitting on gold, oil, gas, and fertile land - Congo DR, Nigeria, etc.

Our problem is not resources, it is thinking.

We treat corruption like a spiritual curse instead of a legal and systemic failure.

We treat underdevelopment like witchcraft instead of bad planning.

We treat success like luck instead of the result of predictable processes.

‘Life is predictable’ - 

4.) The miracle economy is killing us.

We celebrate pastors who buy private jets while our children study under trees.

We shout when we hear of “divine healing” while our hospitals have no oxygen.

We dance when we hear testimonies of “miraculous debt cancellation” while our GDP per capita is collapsing.

A miracle can change one person’s life.

A principle can change a nation.

That is why South Korea, a war-torn, resource-poor nation in 1953, is now richer than almost every African country.

Rwanda is following in same steps.

Not because they prayed more, but because they worked the laws of nature - principles.

5.) In the 21st century, the natural is your only passport to relevance.

The nations that will dominate the next century will be those that can:

 • Build their own machines

 • Process their own raw materials

 • Write their own code

 • Launch their own satellites

 • Cure their own diseases

If you cannot do these things, you will be a servant-nation.

You will supply raw cocoa to Switzerland and import back chocolate at 10 times the price.

You will export crude oil and import petrol.

You will supply rare earth minerals and import back smartphones like Congo DR.

You will sit on gold and crude oil, and still be very poor like Nigeria.

This is exactly what is happening now.

6.) Heaven has already given Africa everything we need.

We have the sunlight to power our homes.

We have the soil to feed our people.

We have the rivers to electrify our cities.

We have the people to build our industries.

The problem is not God. The problem is not demons. The problem is us.

We refuse to think.

We refuse to learn.

We refuse to build.

Instead, we fast for breakthroughs in areas where God already gave us brains.

As I write this, Nigerians are everywhere gathering and praying for ‘breakthroughs’. 

We have numerous prayer meetings but no ‘thinking meeting’.

7.) Every African leader should have these three words on their desk:

PROCESS BEFORE PRAYER.

You do not build a functioning airport by anointing the runway.

You build it by studying aerodynamics, investing in engineering, and enforcing safety laws.

You do not fix an economy by “decreeing prosperity.”

You fix it by building industries, and encouraging innovation.

8.) The miracle generation must give way to the machine generation.

Your child should know how to code before they know how to quote 1,000 “miracle scriptures.”

Your village should have a solar farm before it has another 5,000-seat crusade ground.

Your town should have a clean water system before it has another 50 “prayer mountains.”

I am not against prayer. I am against using prayer to cover for laziness and ignorance.

Faith without works is dead.

That was true in the first century, it is still true in the 21st century.

Works here, mean science, technology, engineering, innovation.

9.) Africa’s future is in the hands of the builders, not the beggars.

It lies with the thinking warriors, not the prayer warriors.

No nation has ever been developed by donations, aid, or imported miracles.

The British did not build the Industrial Revolution with foreign prophets.

The Americans did not reach the moon by “divine vision”. 

They did it with math, physics, and courage.

The Chinese did not lift 800 million people out of poverty by “miracle offerings”, they did it by manufacturing.

10.) The next time you pray for a miracle, ask yourself:

“Is there a principle I could learn that would make this miracle unnecessary?”

If the answer is yes, close your eyes, not to pray, but to think.

The earth is a giant machine with rules written into its code.

Those who learn the code will rule.

Those who ignore it will kneel, even if they spend their entire lives praying. 

The 21st century will not reward those who wait for miracles.

It will reward those who become the miracle, by mastering the natural laws that run this planet.

We need thinking leaders and a thinking followers, not miracle seekers, gaulible followers called loyalist repressed from thinking

1. If you want to live longer, mind your business.  

2. If you want to live longer, sleep well.  

3. If you want to live longer, eat healthier.  

4. If you want to live longer, forgive quickly.  

5. If you want to live longer, drink more water.  

6. If you want to live longer, walk daily.  

7. If you want to live longer, avoid toxic people.  

8. If you want to live longer, think positively.  

9. If you want to live longer, reduce stress.  

10. If you want to live longer, exercise regularly.  

11. If you want to live longer, rest when tired.  

12. If you want to live longer, cut down on sugar.  

13. If you want to live longer, avoid overthinking.  

14. If you want to live longer, laugh more.  

15. If you want to live longer, be content.  

16. If you want to live longer, avoid envy.  

17. If you want to live longer, spend time with loved ones.  

18. If you want to live longer, let go of grudges.  

19. If you want to live longer, trust God.  

20. If you want to live longer, protect your peace.  

21. If you want to live longer, eat fruits and vegetables.  

22. If you want to live longer, avoid arguments.  

23. If you want to live longer, reduce screen time.  

24. If you want to live longer, keep learning.

25. If you want to live longer, live simply.  

26. If you want to live longer, quit smoking.  

27. If you want to live longer, avoid comparing yourself to others.  

28. If you want to live longer, have regular checkups.  

29. If you want to live longer, avoid unnecessary drama.  

30. If you want to live longer, get enough sunlight.  

31. If you want to live longer, limit processed foods.  

32. If you want to live longer, avoid revenge.  

33. If you want to live longer, help others.  

34. If you want to live longer, meditate often.  

35. If you want to live longer, stay faithful.  

36. If you want to live longer, don’t bottle up pain.  

37. If you want to live longer, manage your emotions.  

38. If you want to live longer, love genuinely.  

39. If you want to live longer, protect your mental health.  

40. If you want to live longer, avoid living to impress others.

*Encouragement:*  

The secret to long life isn’t hidden—it’s in how you live each day. Let peace, health, discipline, and joy be your daily choices. You don’t have to be perfect—just be intentional. Your future self will thank you.

Ministerial reflection.

BEING A PREACHER IS THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB ON EARTH!!!

Not because of demons.

Not because of persecution.

But because of ACCOUNTABILITY🤔

Every time you step on the pulpit,

Every time you handle the SACRED Word,

HEAVEN is WATCHING.

The WORLD is watching.

And the JUDGE is TAKING NOTES.🤔

You are not just speaking about the Bible—

The Bible is silently speaking back to you.

> “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” — James 3:1

You preach purity?

Do you live pure?

You preach holiness?

Do you hide sin?

You talk about sacrifice?

Do you cling to comfort?

You shout about truth?

Do you manipulate behind closed doors?

The scariest part of ministry is this:

You can preach a Word that saves others—

While you yourself are on the road to destruction.

> “After I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” — 1 Corinthians 9:27

God is not impressed by sermons.

He’s watching your secret life.

He’s not moved by how loud you shout.

He’s measuring how deeply you obey.

Every time you open your mouth and say, “Thus says the Lord”—

You sign a spiritual contract with heaven.

And one day, you will answer for every word.

You will answer for every soul you led right—

And every soul you led wrong.

This calling is not a career.

It’s a crucifixion

It is not for applause.

It is for accountability.

It is not for platforms.

It is for eternity.

So before you chase the mic—

Ask yourself:

– Am I living the Word I preach?

– Would I still follow Christ if no one saw me?

– Is my heart pure, or am I performing?

– When I stand before God, will I be found faithful—or famous?

Because the same pulpit you stand on to preach truth…

Can be the same evidence used against you on Judgment Day.

Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers —

This is the most DANGEROUS JOB.😳

And the weight is real.

So tremble.

Repent.

And preach like a dying man to dying people.

Not for applause.

Not for influence.

But for the honor of standing before God and hearing:

> “Well done, good and faithful servant.” — Matthew 25:21.

…………………………………………………………..  *I found this too important to keep. For the love of God and His Christ whose painful sacrifice on the Cross is becoming like something else now, for the Church of Christ, for many who will be saved through this message, for how joyful Heaven will be because you did the work of a watchman in sounding this alarm as you share this, let it reach all*.

DISCOURSE:

​This is an interesting theological interpretation that connects several distinct events to a central theme. Let's break down your points to analyze the reasoning.

​The Shift from Physical to Spiritual

​Your point about the destruction of the temples lending credence to a shift from a physical temple to a spiritual one is a well-established theological view, particularly within Christian thought.

​Destruction of the Second Temple: Many Christians interpret the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE as the fulfillment of Jesus's prophecy (e.g., Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). This event is seen as the end of the old covenant and the sacrificial system, which were centered on the physical temple.

​The Church as the New Temple: The New Testament speaks of the Christian community as the "spiritual temple" or "the body of Christ." For example, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?" and Ephesians 2:20-22 refers to believers as "living stones" being built into a spiritual house. The physical temple's destruction is seen as a powerful sign that God's presence is no longer confined to a single building but dwells in the hearts of believers.

​"Emptying the Gathering"

​You're suggesting that this shift from physical to spiritual is achieved by "emptying the gathering." This is where your interpretation introduces a new, non-traditional phrase to explain a biblical concept.

​The Literal "Emptying": The destruction of the temples did, in a very literal sense, "empty" a physical gathering place. It dispersed the Jewish people and ended the temple-based sacrificial worship. This literal "emptying" created a void that was filled by a new form of worship.

​A New Kind of "Gathering": Instead of a physical gathering at a single location, the new "gathering" is a spiritual one that transcends geography and is centered on faith in Christ. Believers "gather" in communities (churches) and spiritually as the body of Christ, but they no longer need to travel to Jerusalem to be in God's presence.

​So, while the phrase "emptying the gathering" is not a biblical one, it could be used as a metaphor to describe the historical and theological process that occurred. The old, physical gathering was "emptied" to make way for the new, spiritual one.

​John on Patmos

​You also connect this to the story of John being alone on the island of Patmos.

​John's Isolation: In the book of Revelation, John is exiled to the island of Patmos "because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9). He is physically isolated from the Christian community he served.

​The "Attitude of the Spirit": You suggest that John's isolation "indicates the attitude of the spirit of God." This is a powerful point. The Spirit of God meets John in his solitude, not in a large group or a temple. This event reinforces the idea that God's presence is not dependent on a physical gathering. The most profound revelation in the New Testament is given to a single, solitary individual.

​Conclusion

​Your argument synthesizes these points into a coherent theological interpretation:

​The physical destruction of the temples "emptied" the old gathering place.

​This "emptying" was a necessary step for the transition to a new, spiritual temple, where God's presence is in believers.

​The solitary experience of John on Patmos further reinforces that God's Spirit is not confined to physical gatherings and can communicate with individuals in isolation.

​The phrase "the design is to empty the gathering" is a novel way of describing this process, but it is not a biblical phrase. However, your reasoning for why the historical events of temple destruction and John's exile "lend credence" to this concept is a valid theological interpretation. You are using the phrase as a metaphor to describe a theological process, not as a direct quote from the scriptures.

Dear Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo,

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Ordinarily, we do not respond to social media commentaries or controversies. However, we consider it necessary to address your recent statements, which have been widely circulated on your social media platforms, for the following three reasons:

1. Scriptural Justification — The Bible permits us to respond wisely to folly to prevent arrogance (Proverbs 26:5).

2. Clarification of Truth — To correct the misleading narrative you are promoting about ministry and wealth.

3. Defense of Legacy — To address the inaccurate claims you’ve made regarding the life and ministry of Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola, the first General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church.

In one of your trending messages on YouTube, you acknowledged that Apostle Babalola was highly anointed but "had no money", and then went on to ask sarcastically, “Where are his children?” — a question that was both insensitive and ill-informed.

To equate anointing or ministerial success with material wealth is biblically flawed. The words of Jesus are clear:

"Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." — Luke 12:15.

Yet, your teachings suggest otherwise.

In doing so, you promote what the Bible refers to as Simony — the monetization of spiritual gifts (Acts 8:18–24). The Scriptures do not teach that money is a sign of anointing. Rather, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Which Bible do you read and preach from?

On the Question of Apostle Babalola’s Children

Ethically speaking, Apostle Babalola had children. Simple arithmetic should help you understand that they would be advanced in age by now — possibly your grandparents' age. What did you hope to achieve with the mocking question, “Where are the children of Babalola?”

Your statement reflects more on the kind of company you keep, but as a preacher of the Word, shouldn’t your conduct and utterances be guided by Scripture?

Where in the Bible does your brand of prosperity theology originate — one that demeans people for not being wealthy? Isn’t such a message encouraging greed, corruption, and godlessness, especially in a nation already struggling with moral decay?

Setting the Record Straight

For the sake of truth and posterity, let me correct the public misrepresentations you’ve made regarding Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola:

1. Calling

Apostle Babalola was called by God on October 10, 1928, at the age of 24. His ministry spanned Western and Midwestern Nigeria, and extended to the Gold Coast (now Ghana), marked by undeniable signs and wonders.

2. Wealth and Lifestyle

He was blessed — but not materialistic or greedy. He gave lands to the Church, supported the education of many, fed the poor, and lived sacrificially. He housed more people than just his biological children.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria in February 1956, Apostle Babalola was among the honored guests. Would a man in rags be granted such recognition by a colonial government? Certainly not.

He was no fundraiser, yet God supplied his needs. His diaries are filled with divine provisions like: “Ipese Olorun loni: £100.00, £50.00...”

He lived in a befitting home, drove one of the best Ford Jeeps of his time, and funded weddings, education, and apprenticeship programs — all without exploiting the pulpit.

3. Family

His children — Mama Eunice Wuraola Ogini and Apeke Adeniyi — are alive, blessed, fulfilled, and quietly serving the Lord in their respective churches. They are not loud, ostentatious, or greedy.

4. Legacy

Apostle Babalola’s anointing impacted generations. More than 66 years after his passing, his legacy continues to inspire and bless countless lives and ministries. That is true impact.

Let me pose a question to you:

When Peter said in Acts 3:6, “Silver and gold I do not have…” — was he still anointed or not?

I leave that for you to ponder.

5. Conclusion

The measure of a believer’s anointing is not in material accumulation, but in sacrificial service.

"For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." — Romans 14:17.

Jesus taught:

 “Whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” — Matthew 20:25–28.

Once again,

 “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” — Luke 12:15.

May God give us all the grace to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and to walk in humility, reverence, and godly wisdom.

Pastor Ade ALAWODE (Director of Publicity, Christ Apostolic Church)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CATTGetrP/

Bolaji Akinyemi responds to faceless Yorùbá Elders Progressive Council

- Asks Gov. Sanwo-Olu to speak up as his silence is encouraging Igbophobia

=====

Lagos Is a Land of Law, Not Tribal Lords: A Rebuttal to the So-Called Yoruba Elders Progressive Council (YEPC)

I read with deep concern the unsigned and shameful document issued in the name of “Yoruba Elders Progressive Council (YEPC)” titled “Our Land, Our Identity: Lagos State Government Must Act Before We're Made Strangers at Home.” It is unfortunate that in 2025, in a democratic Nigeria where the Constitution reigns supreme, some cowards cloaked in the name of Yoruba elders still find it acceptable to publish ethnic bile and incite division without the courage to sign their names.

As a proud Yoruba son, a senior citizen, and a disciple of the progressive school of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, I cannot keep silent while these masked agitators try to drag the Yoruba identity into the mud of tribal bigotry and reckless political opportunism.

Let me now respond, point by poisonous point, to their disturbing and dangerous narrative.

1. The Igbo Presence in Lagos Is Lawful, Not Provocative

To suggest that Ndigbo are provoking anyone by living, working, or acquiring property in Lagos is contrary to the Nigerian Constitution. Lagos is not a tribal empire — it is a federated state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Every Nigerian has a constitutional right to live, own property, and vote in any part of the country.

The suggestion that Igbos are "excessive, disrespectful and provocative" for exercising this right is not only false, it is evil. It is this same thinking that once led to pogroms, and eventually, civil war. Do we want to return to that dark path?

2. Property Ownership Is Not a Declaration of War

The alarmist claim that the Igbos are buying up land in “clusters” to dominate Lagos politically is mischievous and misleading. Are we now criminalizing commerce and development? Is it only when Yoruba buy land that it is called investment, but when Igbos do, it becomes an ethnic threat?

Let us be honest: Lagos thrives today because of the inclusive spirit that allowed diverse people — Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Efik, foreigners — to bring their best to this city. To attack people for being industrious and successful is nothing but the politics of envy, not indigene interest.

3. “Co-ownership” Is a Constitutional Reality, Not a Cultural Threat

The Constitution does not recognize “ancestral ownership” of federated states. The law recognizes citizenship, residency, and legality, not tribal roots. When Igbos — or anyone — say “Lagos belongs to all”, they are affirming constitutional truth, not rewriting history.

No matter how loud YEPC shouts, they cannot wish away Section 43 of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantees every Nigerian the right to own immovable property anywhere in the country.

4. The Land Tenure Proposal Is Xenophobic and Illegal

To propose that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for non-Yorubas be reduced from 100 years to 25 is not only illegal but ethnic apartheid disguised as policy. It is a direct attack on the Nigerian Constitution and cannot stand in any competent court of law.

What will happen if Anambra or Enugu enacts the same policy against Yoruba living there? What happens to Yoruba traders thriving in Sabon Gari, Aba, Onitsha, or even in Accra and Johannesburg? Must they now be punished for the crimes of land ownership?

This policy proposal reeks of the same mindset that once inspired Rwanda’s genocide.

5. Lagos Certificate of Origin Cannot Be Ethnically Weaponized

The idea of revoking Lagos Certificates of Origin unless “lineage” is traced is a laughable descent into ethnic nativism. It violates every tenet of modern governance, federalism, and democratic equality.

If Lagos wants to create a new form of tribal passport, then it must also create a new constitution — because the current one guarantees every Nigerian full citizenship rights wherever they live.

This proposal is not only unworkable, it is dangerous. It sets Lagos on fire under the false guise of heritage protection.

6. "Legal and Cultural Safeguards" Are Not Justifications for Prejudice

Using language like “guests claiming ownership of their host’s house” to describe fellow Nigerians is insulting, dangerous, and unpatriotic. The Igbo are not guests in Lagos. They are stakeholders — builders, contributors, citizens.

Indigbo are Nigeria citizens residing in Lagos, with the right to vote and be voted for, they pay taxes, run businesses, and contribute to the State's IGR. What else defines citizenship if not contribution?

7. The Call to Action Is a Call to Tyranny

YEPC says Lagos must not become a "no-man’s land." Let me respond clearly: Lagos is every-man’s land, as far as the Nigerian Constitution is concerned.

The attempt to romanticize tribal dominance with words like “ancestral identity” and “cultural preservation” is simply the old wine of ethnic supremacy in a new bottle.

8. On History and Heritage: Stop the Weaponization of Culture

History should enlighten, not inflame. Lagos was built by the collective sweat of many. From the Benin kingdom’s influence to the Awori and Ijebu settlers, the Brazilian returnees, to the colonial powers — Lagos has always been cosmopolitan.

The Yoruba are foundational to Lagos, but not exclusive owners of its future. Any group that claims otherwise seeks to build walls in place of bridges.

9. The Comparison with the East and the North Is Hypocritical

It is hypocritical to say, “In the East or North, others can’t own land,” while crying foul when people lawfully own property in Lagos. That is the same feudal mentality that has hindered progress elsewhere.

Lagos must lead by example, not regress into ethnic tribalism. We must not copy what is backward elsewhere; we must be the model of modern civility and legal fairness.

10. The Yoruba Elders Progressive Council Are Neither Progressive Nor Elders

Real Yoruba elders, the Omoluabi, are defined by wisdom, justice, and honor. Not anonymous hate speech. Not cowardly propaganda. 

The historical records of labour of heroes past in Lagos speaks against the position of this Elder of hate.

Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946) – Though not a formal governor, he was a nationalist and key indigenous political actor in Lagos. A Democrat who founded the NNDP (Nigeria's first political party) in 1923. Dr. J.C. Vaughan, Dr. Kofo Abayomi, and Sir Adeyemo Alakija – Were all key members of the Lagos elite who influenced policy through the Lagos Town Council. There is no record of a threat from them to other tribes residence in Lagos.

Under Regional Era – Western Region (1954–1967)

Lagos was the capital of Nigeria but still part of the Western Region until it became a separate federal territory.

Obafemi Awolowo (Premier of the Western Region, 1954–1959) — Though based in Ibadan, he had indirect administrative influence over Lagos.

Bode Thomas, Samuel Akintola, and others from the Action Group shaped policies affecting Lagos in this era. Federal Territory of Lagos & Military Era (1967–1979)

With the creation of Lagos State in 1967 under General Gowon, the state began to have Military Governors:

1. Brig. Gen. Mobolaji Johnson (1967–1975)

First Military Governor of Lagos State

Highly respected, helped develop early infrastructure.

Indigenous Lagosian, widely regarded as fair and progressive.

2. Commodore Michael Adekunle Lawal (1975–1977)

Continued the administrative structure post-Gowon.

Someone need to tell the bunch of Jokers that Ndigbo were among men who built morden Lagos.

1. Commodore Ndubuisi Kanu (1977–1978)

An Igbo man governed Lagos during Obasanjo's military government.

2. Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (1978–1979)

Another Igbo, handed over power to civilian administration in 1979.

Civilian Era Begins – Lateef Jakande (1979–1983)

Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande

First Executive Governor of Lagos State (1979–1983) under the UPN.

An Awolowo disciple who implemented populist policies without discrimination, in education, health, housing, and transport. Widely regarded as the most impactful governor in Lagos history, he stood for equity and fairness, not ethnic exclusion.

The Labour of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu began the exploits of the 4th Republic in Lagos State, a citizen allegedly with ancestral roots originally from Iragbiji in Osun State, he was followed by Babatunde Raji Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, who did their best and left the rest to Babajide Sanwo-Olu under whom ethnic sanderling seems to be a political strategy of the political elites.

Is Mr Governor's body language suggestive of the support this uncanny Elders are offering? Mr Sanwo-Olu must issue a statement to dissociate himself and his administration from a bunch of cowards who published such a document without a signature. A proof of guilt. If you are bold enough to peddle hate, be bold enough to put your name to it.

Conclusion: We Must Not Let Tribal Madness Become State Policy

Let me be clear: the Lagos State Government must distance itself from this dangerous document. It must not allow tribal entrepreneurs to drag our state into the pit of ethnic cleansing through policy.

This is not a time for silence. All true Yoruba sons and daughters — the Omoluabi — must rise and publicly disown this tribal gang.

Let me end with the words of our sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo: “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression.” Yet, he spent his life building unity across that geography. He never advocated exclusion or hatred. Those hijacking his progressive legacy to propagate tribal hate are retrogressive opportunists.

I call on the media, civil society, the Lagos State House of Assembly, and every peace-loving Nigerian to reject this tribal nonsense.

If we fail to act now, we may soon wake up in a city where fire rages and nobody knows who lit the match.

Signed:

Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi 

Yoruba Elder, Democrat, and Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Awake Now Tv 

@top fans

Why Athletes Get Paid Millions — While Scientists & Doctors Struggle to Get Funding & Patriotic citizens only get recognitions.

A man kicks a ball and makes $50 million.

Another spends 15 years studying cancer—and has to beg for a grant.

Unfair?

Yes.

But not accidental.

Let’s break down why the world pays more for distraction than it does for discovery:

1. It’s Not About Value. It’s About Visibility.

Athletes entertain.

Scientists innovate.

Doctors save lives.

But the system doesn’t reward contribution.

It rewards attention.

In today’s world, the bigger your spotlight—

The bigger your paycheck.

2. Science Changes the World. But Quietly.

Think about it:

→ Vaccines

→ AI breakthroughs

→ Renewable energy

→ Cancer treatments

These things came from minds working in silence.

But they’re not easy to package, market, or monetize immediately.

And that makes them easy to ignore.

3. Sports = Global Influence

Sports is not just fun.

It’s emotional fuel for billions.

→ Nations pause for the World Cup

→ Families bond over games

→ Fans cry over victories and defeats

→ Billions flow through ads, merch, and sponsorships

Athletes don’t get paid for their talent.

They get paid because they hold your attention.

4. The System Doesn’t Want You to Focus on What Matters

Let’s be honest.

Modern society is addicted to:

→ Sports

→ Celebrity gossip

→ Drama

→ Viral content

It’s not random.

The more distracted people are…

The less they ask real questions.

The world doesn’t empower thinkers.

It feeds distraction.

5. Who Actually Pays Athletes?

Not governments.

Not communities.

But companies like:

→ Nike

→ Adidas

→ ESPN

→ Betting apps

→ Beverage and telecom giants

They use athletes as walking billboards.

And your attention funds it all.

6. Doctors vs Pharma: A Silent Disparity

Doctors save lives.

But they’re drowning in debt.

→ Average doctor debt in the U.S.: $250,000

→ Big Pharma CEO salaries: $20–50M/year

→ Pharma lobbying budget: $374M/year

The system profits from illness,

Not from healing.

7. Education Was Never Designed to Pay You

Teachers, professors, researchers—

Most are underpaid.

Universities charge six figures…

Then push students into decades of debt.

A distracted, under-educated population

Is easier to tax, easier to control, and easier to distract.

8. The Harsh Reality: Attention Has Replaced Merit

In this economy:

→ The loudest wins

→ The most viral earns

→ The most seen gets paid

Not the most skilled.

Not the most meaningful.

Just the most watched.

9. The Final Truth

The world doesn’t reward truth.

It rewards traffic.

That’s why athletes sign $100M deals

While researchers have to crowdfund projects that could save lives.

If you want to change it—

Don’t just complain about it.

→ Build your own platform

→ Support those who think differently

→ Fund those who are solving real problems

Because if not,

The system will keep choosing distraction over progress.

Follow for more deep dives into wealth, systems, and truth behind power.

We don’t sell hype.

We show you what’s really happening behind the scenes.

Disclaimer: 

This content is for educational purposes only. We study public moves, economic systems, and elite behavior patterns to encourage critical thinking—not to promote hate, fear, or conspiracy. Always do your own research. Stay curious. Stay aware.-richthinkdaily Threads 20 July 2025.

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Just a friendly reminder that a decent two bedroom apartment in Lagos is now 3.5m. We all earn above 70K minimum wage now???

By Friday, you can no longer afford that car. Cars are going to be a lot more expensive. Customs will hike everything “arbitrarily.” 

Besides exchange rate & subsidy removals, the Nigerian Customs is one of the major reasons why inflation is killing the living. There will be no more determination of “value” via invoices.

From Friday, the value of goods like cars will be determined by Nigerian Customs themselves.

To add to that, you will pay duties, levies, VAT, & FOB as well. Nigeria will traumatize you. At 40: no car, no house, you can’t afford japa, you can’t even afford to marry. Nigeria traps its young people, it wastes your productive life.

No country placed revenue generation ahead of welfare of the masses, except Nigeria. Customs NG will continue to declare huge profits at the expense of your livelihoods. Importers are crying on the timeline. Just be ready to pay more for those goods; cars most especially.

Do remember that between 2010-2014, GEJ reduced customs duties, & put together the policies that energized local manufacturing. Then a bunch of people who back then could afford these cars, went to Ojota & messed up the country. The rest they say, “is History!”

Again, I will remind us, just in case we forgot:

[The Constitution of Nigeria “Schedule One” reads that the Welfare of Nigerians is the primary responsibility of the government].

But they’ve observed that mostly in breach.

We know who the real tax collector is. We know who is urging the Nigerian Customs to rake in more taxes. The over-fixation on IGR, less HDI. The Lagos Template is countrywide now.

“Reduce their purchasing power, & further slow down the economy. Let’s widen the tax net.”

True to his words, he has kept his promise. Tax them like USA, deliver the economy of Congo. There are no middle class in Nigeria anymore. You’re either rich or poor, no middle ground!

That’s the kind of country they built.  💔

*Forward as received* 

Let's the people in Government help us confirm!

*How the Next Awujale of Ijebu Land Will Be Crowned 👑*

*Title: Game of Thrones: Ijebu Edition*

Let me explain how one of Nigeria’s most revered thrones is about to get a new landlord. Spoiler alert: It’s more organised than your local government elections. Let’s go 

Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale who reigned for over 65 years, has joined the ancestors. May he rest well. He was from the Anikinaiya Ruling House, and took over from Oba Daniel of the Gbelegbuwa House

Now, according to the 1957 Chiefs Law, and Ijebu customs (which by the way are older than most constitutions), there are FOUR ruling houses.

Let’s meet the royal Big Four 👇

•Gbelegbuwa

•Anikinaiya

•Fusengbuwa

•Fidipote

Each house takes turns like responsible siblings waiting for amala at a wedding. Oba Adetona’s Anikinaiya house just had their turn.

This traditional arrangement follows the general systems in Western Nigeria with the exception of Ibadan Stool (which is by Upward Movement between 2 family LINES)

By this permutation it is the turn of Fusengbuwa House. 

Now, before you go applying on LinkedIn, calm down. Not just anyone can be Awujale. You must:

(a) Be from the ruling house in turn

(b) Be of the male line

(c) Preferably be an Abidagba, meaning born while your father was king

So the family calls a serious family meeting (not the ikokore kind), and they nominate 1 or more princely candidates

These names are passed on to the Odi chiefs, who act as the royal HR oyomesi

The Odis now submit the list to the Thirteen Kingmakers.

Yes, 13. Not 12, not 10. Thirteen traditional chiefs from four sacred classes.

This is where it gets interesting… 👇

Unlike Oyo Mesi (7 king makers) of OYO, Ijebu has 13 kingsMakers.

*1.  lamuren Class*

•Olisa

•Ogbeni-Oja

•Egbo

•Apobi

•Olotuofore

•Olotu-Olowa

These guys are like the Senate, senior, deep-rooted, traditional High Chiefs in Ijebu Land.

*2. Odi Class*

•Ogbeni-Odi (Imesi)

•Ekeji-Odi (Itetu)

Yes, the same Odis that shortlist names. Multi-tasking elders 

*3. Osugbo Class*

•The Oluwo (Apesin Ola)

Don’t play with Osugbo people. They carry spiritual power and cultural weight. 

When they speak, even politicians behave.

*4. Pampa Class*

•The Agbon

•The Kakanfo

•The Lapokun

•The Ba’ogun(Remember Balogun Kuku) 😎

Warriors. Enforcers. Imagine your traditional FBI agents/gladiators with agbadas.

The 13 Kingmakers now meet. If they all agree on a candidate, no INEC, no rerun, that person becomes the next Awujale.

Unanimous decision or nothing. It’s like Big Brother, but with ancestral backing.

So, in summary:

•The throne rotates.

•The next turn might be  Fusengbuwa House.

•Only qualified royal males (*or Abidagba females*) get considered.

•13 Kingmakers decide who rules next.

No campaign posters. Just legacy, lineage, and deep tradition. 👑

So next time you hear someone shouting “why can’t Nigeria work?”, remember Ijebu’s royal system has been rotating power peacefully since the 19th century. No wahala, no impeachment, No Court Case, no DSS raid.

Respect tradition,.our African Forefathers used it to maintain and even conquer Lands

*Africa is the cradle of Civilization*

Got this piece from another platform & felt it's worth sharing....

ZANGA ZANGA BOYS FROM SUDAN.....

Sudan was Africa lesson of easy and cheap life...

Sudan had some of the most subsidized  people on earth...

Dictators especially in Africa use this subsidies to keep themselves in power perpetually..... Chop I chop economy....

Nobody cares about the future... As long as today stew...

Sudan subsidized Electricity, University education, health, food, petrol, their currency...these subsidies kept Al Bashir in power for 30years...

The people were happy and the dictator was happy..

They had massive Crude oil and Gas until the South seceded from Sudan...

Things started falling apart from 2012 after the South went away with their oil...

Inflation rate rose sharply from 15% in 2012  to over 369% in 2020...

External Reserve was annihilated from $28billion in 2012 to less than $1billion in 2019...

Al Bashir was scared of telling the people that the honeymoon was over and welcome them to reality..

To cover up the empty treasury.. he increased tax..

The people resisted him.... They are now too used to easy life... Nothing must touch their easy life..

Al Bashir was dying in Silence... He couldn't tell the people there is no dollar to defend the Sudanese pounds.. he kept maintaining the Sudanese pounds at SDG40 = $1.... Even when the black market is already selling a dollar at almost 2000 Sudanese pounds...

Importers could no longer get dollars at the official rate... Black market was the only hope..

Soon Sudanese couldn't afford any basic commodities...

Like Nigeria in 2023... Al Bashir no longer have the revenue to pay subsidies and Salary...

Instead of taking the bold decisions of ending the subsidies... He resorted to printing moneys to  solve domestic expenses... This compounded inflation....

Those who enjoyed and ate their tomorrow with Al Bashir through needless subsidies... Decided to riot... Fueled by the Sudan and Other ZANGA ZANGA leaders..

Revolution was the official slogan... This people who call themselves activists who were not looking at economic figures were promising heaven on earth ..

Even when they were obviously living in fools' paradise...

Like bees the people listened to them and swarm into the streets...

Al Bashir was dethroned, War broke out, Sudan and other Zanga ZANGA leaders fled to America, Europe and Asia to enjoy the fruit of destroying Sudan ..

The poor who said they can't endure subsidies removal are now enduring Bombs, Gunfires, Rockets and Artillery shelling,

They are now enduring smell of human dead bodies everywhere....

When economy faces challenges rational people listen to economists but not Activists and Politicians...

Today Sudanese are paying the price of listening to politicians and Activists instead of listening to Economists...

It is better to born a rogue  than to born a mumu - Urhobo proverb...

Staying relevant in academia means knowing where the money goes 

By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu 

May 29, 2025 

In today’s academic world, whether in Nigeria or abroad, relevance is no longer guaranteed by the number of degrees you hold or how well-aligned your qualifications are across disciplines. What truly sustains an academic career is the ability to follow the money. In other words, the best way to remain visible, productive and valuable in academia is to understand where research investments are going and to align your work accordingly. In my experience working in the Nigerian university system, I found that the conversation around research relevance rarely focuses on the flow of funding. This is perhaps because our academic environment is structurally uncompetitive. Unlike in many developed countries, hard work in Nigeria’s academia does not often yield commensurate rewards. Promotions, grants or career progression are rarely tied to performance or innovation. Those who go above and beyond are often driven solely by their internal motivation to self-improve rather than any structured incentive. 

In the Nigerian system, I was once advised by a senior professor to follow a linear academic path: a bachelor’s degree in geology should be followed by a master’s in geology and a PhD in the same field. The advice was well-meaning, but outdated. The assumption was that any deviation from a strict disciplinary path would spell doom for one’s academic career. But in the real world, this rigidity has no place. Take, for example, Professor U.R. Sumaila of the University of British Columbia, a world-renowned expert in ocean and fisheries economics. He began his academic journey with a degree in quantity surveying, which is far removed from the oceans or fisheries. Today, he leads global discussions on marine fisheries. His success is proof that relevance is not about your starting point, but about where and how you position yourself along the way. 

Academic disciplines are not static and research funding does not remain fixed. Funding is fluid. It appears in one field, gains traction for a few years and then shifts to a new area. Climate change, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, hydrogen energy and carbon capture are recent examples of where the money has gone, and where researchers must go if they want to stay relevant. The most successful academics and institutions understand this and move with the current, not against it. You do not need a new degree to move into a new field. What you need is intellectual curiosity and the willingness to engage deeply. Let us say a new funding wave is directed toward geothermal energy or hydrogen storage. If your current research is remotely related, say, you are a geologist, chemist or engineer, you are already halfway there. What remains is for you to immerse yourself in the literature and catch up with the latest thinking. One practical approach is to download 250 to 300 relevant papers in the emerging field, read five papers daily and take notes. Within two months, you will not only understand the language of the field, you may even begin to generate original ideas and write your own papers. 

There is no way you will study 300 papers in a new field and remain clueless. Quite the opposite: you will find yourself at conferences, workshops and proposal review panels contributing meaningfully. You will find collaborators. You will get invited to contribute chapters or reviews. This is how mastery begins, not always with a certificate, but with boldness and deliberate curiosity. During my time collaborating with researchers at the British Geological Survey, I saw firsthand how researchers evolve with funding trends. Many began their careers as geologists in the 1980s. Over time, they moved into geochemistry, radioactive waste management, gas hydrates, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen storage, and geothermal systems. Their titles, departmental names and institutional affiliations changed along with them. That is how dynamic researchers survive by adaptation. 

In the developed countries, universities themselves also evolve. Departments rebrand. Faculties restructure. New centers emerge, often in response to global funding trends. Why? Because universities must stay competitive in research funding, global rankings and partnerships. It is no accident that you find research clusters today on climate resilience, AI ethics or sustainable energy. These clusters did not exist twenty years ago. In the developed countires, universities follow the money because it is necessary for institutional survival. Researchers should do the same for professional survival. The lesson here is simple. You cannot afford to spend your entire academic career locked into a single field, publishing the same kinds of papers you did during your PhD and expect to remain relevant. The world is moving and you must move with it. That movement may be tangential, not radical. But it is movement nonetheless. The reward is not just more publications but also more funding, more impact and more invitations to shape the future of your discipline. 

Another common myth in academia, especially in Nigeria, is that you must wait for the world to come to you. You assume that your specialty will one day attract attention and funding. But that is not how research ecosystems work. You must take initiative. You must venture out. You must show up where the money is already going and make yourself useful there. Once you establish credibility, the grants will follow you. Until then, you must follow the grants. This principle is even more critical for academics in developing countries. In countries like Nigeria, where research budgets are limited and local funding for innovation is scarce, the only way to maintain global relevance is to connect with international funding opportunities. These opportunities are not going to fund your nostalgia for a field that is no longer in demand. They will fund what solves today’s problems. The good news is that intellectual versatility is easier to develop today than ever before. With access to open-source journals, webinars, online courses and global networks, any curious academic can pivot to a new field in record time. You do not need to enrol in another university or sit through three years of classes. You need internet access, time, discipline and a genuine hunger to learn. 

As academics in Nigeria, and more broadly, in Africa, we must unlearn the idea that a person’s value in academia is measured by how closely their degrees align. That logic made sense in the past, when information was scarce and change was slow. But we live in a dynamic era and our approach must reflect that. Your credibility comes not from the title on your certificate but from the substance of your ideas and your ability to contribute to the pressing issues of our time. So, if you are an academic who seeks to self-improve, remain globally relevant and attract funding and collaboration, remember to always follow the money. You should also stay curious, read widely and be bold. You should publish in emerging areas, partner across disciplines and reinvent yourself every few years. Because in academia, as in life, stagnation is the enemy of relevance. 

Mohammed Dahiru Aminu (mohd.aminu@gmail.com) wrote from Abuja, Nigeria.

THE TRUTH GANI DARED TO SPEAK: Revisiting the Courageous Legal and Moral Battle Against Tinubu’s Identity.

Aare Amerijoye DOT.B

“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the heat of 1999, as Nigeria staggered out of the long night of military dictatorship into the hazy promise of democracy, a storm was already brewing. The streets of Lagos buzzed with whispers. Newspapers flooded with conflicting biographies. A new governor had emerged,chest out, agbada flowing, eyes sparkling with ambition,but behind his rise stood a towering question: Who exactly is Bola Ahmed Tinubu?

The man had claimed prestigious education, named schools that denied him, brandished records that seemed forged, and yet, a nation wearied by dictatorship clapped for a mystery. But not everyone clapped.

In that critical moment, when many bowed in silence, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), the titan of Nigerian human rights law, rose like a blazing torch in the fog of deceit. His voice, already thunderous in the courtroom of conscience, became a sword in the battle for truth. Gani dragged Tinubu to court over forged academic claims and identity fraud. It was not a mere lawsuit,it was a crusade. A moral revolt against the compromise that had become Nigerian politics.

Though the law’s cold armor of constitutional immunity shielded Tinubu from prosecution, the people saw what had been done. The case pierced the armor of myth. Gani did not win the case. He won the truth.

“You may silence a man, but you cannot silence his truth.” – Gani Fawehinmi

But Gani was not alone.

Long after his legal fire was put out, others picked up the flame. The late Comrade Yinka Odumakin, one of the finest minds of Yoruba resistance, never allowed the deceit to sleep. A committed spokesman of Afenifere, Odumakin called Tinubu’s story a “suspicious mosaic of forgeries, falsehoods, and shifting identities.” His voice was unrelenting. He cried for justice. He warned that Tinubu’s politics was built on a foundation of fraud that would end in disgrace.

And then came the band of legal warriors, bold as eagles and dangerous to the comfort of lies.

Alhaji Seriki and Dr. Balogun, men of honour and conscience, took Tinubu to court. The charge? Forgery. They demanded that truth be measured not by power, but by the yardstick of fact. They saw through the opulence and challenged the paper trail.

Dr. Dominic Agboola, a man better known for saving lives in hospitals, decided it was time to rescue the nation from a dangerous precedent. He filed a forgery lawsuit against Tinubu too,because in the Nigeria he dreamed of, no one was above the truth.

So did Mike Enahoro Mbah, a vigilant legal mind who refused to be cowed by status. His suit against Tinubu over forgery joined the growing army of Nigerians who had finally said, Enough is enough.

Then came 2023. The presidential race. The stakes were global. And once again, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and the PDP’s torchbearer, picked up the gavel of truth. In an extraordinary legal move, Atiku subpoenaed Chicago State University in a U.S. court, seeking verification of Tinubu’s alleged academic claims.

What they found was staggering. Conflicting records. Ambiguous transcripts. Names that didn’t match. Files that raised more questions than answers. It was no longer about politics,it was about the credibility of Nigeria in the eyes of the world.

“Justice delayed is justice denied.” — William E. Gladstone

The story deepened.

Dr. Femi Aribisala, a renowned theologian and piercing columnist, called Tinubu a “master illusionist.” He stripped down the cloak of invincibility and exposed what he described as a travesty of statesmanship, a man of contradictions, cloaked in carefully-crafted lies.

David Hundeyin, the fearless journalist whose pen burns hotter than fire, dropped a bombshell dossier: a deep dive into alleged drug-linked money forfeiture in the United States, multiple identities, mysterious origins, and forged academic documents. His work shook the global scene and forced a long-muted scandal back into the light.

And then came the oracles of reason, those whose names alone send tremors of reflection through the corridors of power.

Femi Falana (SAN) did not stay silent. He echoed Gani’s warnings and affirmed the legal merit of the forgery cases. He lamented how immunity, that legal parasite, killed the infant truth in its cradle.

Ayo Adebanjo, the indomitable leader of Afenifere, warned that the Yoruba race had been hijacked by fraud, and Tinubu stood as the chief hijacker. A man, he said, whose path to power was littered with inconsistencies and betrayal.

Omoyele Sowore, with the might of Sahara Reporters, pulled the mask off Tinubu’s empire. He revealed how his control of Lagos finances, questionable land acquisitions, and questionable past painted a dark mural of elite impunity.

Prof. Wole Soyinka, though often cautious, warned Nigerians to beware of those who rewrite history and shroud their pasts in silence. His subtle commentary was a moral thunderclap in an age of deaf governance.

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.” – Che Guevara

And even those who once occupied the highest seat in the land could not stay silent.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President and elder statesman, wrote pointedly in his memoir My Watch about Tinubu’s murky record, raising unsettling questions that still echo across Nigeria’s political landscape. Obasanjo wrote:

“Where and how did Tinubu make all the money he is said to have? How can Lagos State be so rich and yet so poor in terms of infrastructure and living conditions of its people?”

In that brutally honest reflection, Obasanjo did not mince words. He alleged that Tinubu had turned Lagos into his personal kingdom, subverting democratic norms, and controlling its resources with unchecked imperial power. He painted a picture of a city governed by one man’s whims, a political fiefdom masquerading as a democracy.

On Tinubu’s moral qualifications for higher leadership, Obasanjo posed the ultimate question

 “If there are allegations of drug crimes, forgery, and identity manipulation hanging on someone’s neck, and such a person refuses to address them transparently, is that the kind of leadership Nigeria deserves?”

To Obasanjo, Tinubu was not just a politician; he was a cautionary tale. A stark warning about what happens when a country trades truth for power, and allows mystery to eclipse morality.

 “He has turned Lagos into a kingdom of one man. He decides who becomes what, and how state resources are used.”

This wasn’t a partisan attack,it was a presidential reckoning.

By referencing Tinubu’s alleged entanglements with drug-related forfeiture in the U.S., his controversial educational claims, and the tight political grip on Lagos, Obasanjo called for national vigilance. His words were not whispers, they were thunder.

And now, here we are. Twenty-six years later. A nation still ruled by a man whose true story remains a puzzle. Questions have not been answered. Allegations have not been cleared. History has not been cleaned.

This article is not an accusation. It is not a condemnation. It is a chronicle, a meticulous journey through time, voices, and evidence. It is a mirror held up to a nation that chose silence over scrutiny, and loyalty over logic.

Why are we ruled by questions, and not answers?

The time to speak was yesterday. The time to act is now.

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

Aare Amerijoye DOT.B

Director General 

The Narrative Force 

honamerijoye.b@gmail.com

*Written By An SS3 boy Named Uren, GSS Manguna, Plateau State.* 

 *An eye witness account:* 

They say the world only burns when the fire reaches your doorstep. Otherwise, it is just another spectacle, a far-off smoke, a sound you can sleep through. It is all right, they say, all right to watch violence swallow others, so long as it is not us. So long as the ash does not settle on our roofs and the blood is not the colour of our kin. Some even say it is acceptable if it is our own doing the burning. Then, the silence is justified. The gain is holy. 

But what happens when the flame forgets its lane?

It will. It always does. 

My name is Uren. I am from Hurti, a small village in Daffo, Bokkos LGA of Plateau State. I am in SS3 at GSS Manguna. 

In Bokkos LGA, we farm potatoes, maize and whatever the land agrees to yield, because that is what we know best. That is how we survive. Occasionally, we trade. But it is the land that feeds us. 

At the weekend, my people, the Ron and Kulere, held our yearly festival. People came from all over. Not because everything was all right, but because the festival gave us strength. It reminded us that we are still here. We are still alive. And even though we keep losing people, we cannot stop living. Besides, we know everyone will die someday. 

On Wednesday morning, before the sun rose, my mother reminded me that we needed to head to the farm early, before the heat turned cruel and our energy, too drained to respond. There is always work to be done on the farm; come rain, come sun, dry or green. Life in our village follows that rhythm. 

For some reason, that morning, I woke with the weight of Oswald's Nightfall in Soweto pressing heavily on my chest. Mr. Mallo, our literature teacher, had painted it vividly when he taught the poem. “Feel it. Poetry is meant to be felt,” he had said. 

I felt it, all right. The fear. The dusk falling like judgment. I felt it because it was no longer just poetry. It was no longer Soweto. It was Plateau. It was Bokkos. It was home. It was real. 

My classmate, Ukambong, told me that in their village, Josho and even in Ganda and Manguna, they no longer slept at night. Their fathers and brothers had taken to spending the night on the trees, like hunted animals. They went up there not to fight. Who brings a bow and arrow to face fire-spitting metals? They went there to act as sirens. Human alarms. 

When the raiders came, they were the voices screaming, Run!

And the raiders? They always came. 

In our history class, Mrs. Mafwil told us that once upon a time, invaders galloped in on horses, with spears, bows and arrows slicing through the air with ancient rage. Today, they arrive on iron horses humming death and  machines that spit fire and thunder. 

They come knowing they will not be stopped.

They come knowing their mission has been carved into the silence of complicity.

They come. They slaughter.They leave. And they come again, at will. Their faces are not hidden. Their names are whispered. Their language betrays who they are. Yet, they remain unknown. Somehow, always unknown. 

That Wednesday, they walked into our morning as we worked on the farm—my mother, father, five siblings and I, clearing the land so we could plant soon. We were engrossed in tearing up weeds with calloused hands, brushing the earth off our feet, when we heard the buzzing of motorbikes, many of them, and the cracking of gunfire all around. 

It was loud and close. A rhythm now too familiar. First at night, now in broad daylight. A group of attackers was moving in on our village and the nearby ones too. 

We froze, not knowing what to do. Smoke began rising, big, black clouds. Houses were burning. We saw people running, screaming. It was not near yet, but the land is flat; we could see everything. We were certain the attackers had seen us. One cannot hide easily out there. My mother’s face twisted. “Home,” she whispered and broke into a run. But my father ran after her and held her back. She began to shiver. “My children, my children,” she said, as tears welled up in her eyes. 

My two younger sisters were at home, one sick, the other left to look after her. The ground where my mother stood turned wet. She had urinated on herself out of fear. The sky was no longer blue. It had become a sheet of thick black smoke. In the distance, homes coughed fire and people ran like ants from an overturned nest. Screams scattered in the wind. The attackers chased those who ran toward our farm. They were coming. We had been seen. The land offers no cover here. It is flat and wide. It betrays you. 

My father’s mind raced faster than the bikes. He pointed to a narrow hole. It looked like one of those where something was mined from. The opening was wide enough for us to squeeze through and we did. We did not ask what was inside. We did not think where it led to. We just entered. 

The smell around was of damp and death. We squeezed in, my siblings and I, while my parents and one of my brothers covered the hole with dry leaves and  grass. They stayed outside. There was no room for all of us. From that tiny breath-hole, I watched. 

The men on bikes came. Five of them. Guns slung carelessly like tools of a craft they had effortlessly mastered. But they chose to use knives instead. Long, rusted, personal. They circled my parents and brother like wolves around a tired prey. They chanted a God is great prayer to a God they no longer feared. And then, they cut wherever their razors could reach. Blood. 

My father begged, his voice cracking like old wood. My mother shrieked as they cut, and then they cut and struck my brother down with the butt of a gun. 

They spoke in Hausa with a Fulani accent: “Shegu jamu kakashe dukan ku!”

Then more chants of “God is great,” and more bikes revving into the distance. Their glee carried by gunshots and war cries: Eeehhuuhuuuuu! rent the air as they made their way to join the others. And then, there was silence, except for my mother’s wail. It was sharp and soul-piercing. She crawled to my brother’s lifeless body and pulled it close as though she could tuck him back into her womb. 

My father just sat there, blood pooling around him. His eyes were vacant. He was staring, like he could see a world we could not. When I could not take it in anymore. I blacked out. My young mind gave up. 

By the time I finally came around, I learnt that my father did not make it to the next day. My two sisters who were left at home were slaughtered. With knives. My mother is still in shock. My other brothers and I are just hanging in there. 

We saw the assailants, what they looked like, the language they spoke how they prayed to the god they prayed to. We also know that their kind occupy many of the villages around that were razed before now. 

It is said that when people are pushed to the wall, they will push back, not out of bravery, but out of necessity. I fear what will happen now that we are at the edge of that point. Survival is not cowardice. It is instinct. But how long do you stay law-abiding while the law does not see your blood as worth avenging?

How long do you bow to a system that rewards those who live outside it? 

First it was Jos, now christened “Jos crisis”, then Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Mangu, Wase, Kanam. Everywhere on the Plateau is getting a taste of the 21st-century jihad. I hear that there are people who gain from the fire. People who watch it from high windows and sip their tea. People who call for peace but fund the bullets. And then, there are people like me, Uren, who only ever wanted to farm, to live and to love my land. 

Toh!

The invaders have awakened something dangerous, not just pain, but memory.

And memory, when soaked in blood, never forgets.

"PROFESSIONS IN NIGERIA THAT END IN POVERTY — AND HOW TO ESCAPE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE"

This one hits hard, exposes painful truths, makes people emotional, and offers real escape plans. It’s designed to go viral, especially with Nigerian audiences.

“35 YEARS OF SERVICE AND NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT

A painful post about teaching, civil service, healthcare, and other respected professions that leave people broke after retirement.

Have you ever seen a retired teacher in Nigeria?

Bent back, faded glasses, walking to a ministry office every Monday with a pension file tucked under one arm, hoping and praying that this will be the day his name finally enters payment batch.

Ever watched a civil servant who once wore sharp suits and supervised millions now begging his son for ₦2,000?

Have you seen a nurse who worked night shifts for 30 years  now sitting in her one room apartment, sharing malaria drugs with her neighbors because she can’t afford to refill her own prescription?

This post is for them.

This post is for anyone still believing that passion, loyalty, and salary alone will protect them from poverty.

In Nigeria, some professions will give you respect while you’re working and regrets when you retire.

And here’s the painful part:

 It’s not the job that’s the problem.

It’s the mindset people carry while doing it.

1. TEACHING – THE POVERTY HEADQUARTERS IN NIGERIA

Let’s not even sugarcoat it.

Teaching is 001 when it comes to professions that give you a big heart and an empty account.

You build nations, raise presidents, shape doctors and engineers

Yet when your legs grow weak, and your voice gets tired, the same system throws you into silence.

Let’s talk facts:

Starting salary Between ₦75k to ₦80k.

Transport fare and food ₦1,500 – ₦2,000 per day.

What’s left after family, contributions, and survival? PEANUTS.

You wake up by 5 a.m., go teach stubborn students, mark 120 scripts, attend endless meetings, go home with headaches, and repeat it 5 days a week.

Only to retire and depend on pension money that doesn’t even come regularly.

Reality:

Teachers get respect not results.

Teachers are praised in speeches but punished by salary structures.

Teachers retire tired and often broke.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Monetize what you know: Start online tutorials, digital lesson notes, or eBooks for students.

Private coaching: Set up home lessons for rich kids. They’ll pay you more than government ever did.

Start educational businesses, Lesson centres, daycare, education consulting.

Don’t wait for pension start investing in land, side businesses, or even digital products now.

> "You can die for education in Nigeria and still die poor."

2. CIVIL SERVANTS – OGA IN OFFICE, STRUGGLER AT HOME

You see them every day:

They dress sharp, hold titles like “Chief Planning Officer” or “Deputy Director”

But many civil servants are just surviving on loans and promises.

You spend 30 years working then 3 years chasing your pension.

By the time you retire, your firstborn is already feeding you.

Why does it happen?

Blind loyalty to government.

Zero investment mindset.

Living above their means just to “look the part.”

ESCAPE PLAN:

Use your salary as seed, not your source.

Invest in small businesses, land, or trade.

Learn financial literacy.

Budget, save, and plan your exit before retirement catches you unaware.

Build side income: farms, rentals, retail, even POS.

3. NURSES & HEALTH WORKERS – YOU SAVED OTHERS, BUT WHO SAVED YOU?

Long nights. Ward duties. Emergency calls. Saving lives every day.

But in Nigeria? Nurses retire to high blood pressure, unpaid pensions, and hospitals they can’t afford to enter.

You worked for the system—but the system didn’t work for you.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Start private elderly care or mobile health services.

Build an online brand: health tips, consultations, and products.

Create health coaching services for busy professionals.

Learn to turn your medical knowledge into a product or service.

4. POLICE & MILITARY – “RISKED LIFE, REWARDED WITH POVERTY”

You carried gun. Protected lives. Slept in bush. Fought robbers.

But guess what?

When you remove that uniform, you’ll see that poverty has no respect for bravery.

Many ex-officers are suffering. Not because they didn’t serve—but because they didn’t build.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Start a security consulting firm.

Offer VIP protection services or training programs.

Invest in logistics, transport, or real estate while still in service.

Don’t spend all your salary drinking at mess = buy land.

5. CLERGY WORKERS – “GOD’S WORKER, YET HUNGRY”

Many preach for 40 years and still die broke. Why?

No financial plan.

No personal investment.

Total dependence on unpredictable offerings.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Write devotionals, run counselling, or record online teachings.

Sell books or branded spiritual journals.

Use your influence to raise partnerships for income projects.

6. ENGINEERS, DOCTORS, LAWYERS – IT’S NOT BY TITLE

Yes, you read that right.

In Nigeria, title is not equal to success.

There are engineers begging for jobs.

Doctors borrowing transport fare.

Lawyers trekking to court.

Why?

Because school taught them how to be professionals but not how to build wealth.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Learn business. Learn branding. Learn packaging.

Use your knowledge to offer premium services online.

Start side hustles that fund your future—don’t wait for “better job offers.”

Network with business minded people, not just fellow professionalism.

7. FARMERS – THE PEOPLE WHO FEED THE NATION BUT CAN’T FEED THEMSELVES

No jokes.

Farmers work from dawn to dusk only to sell at bad prices, face middlemen, and lose harvests to lack of storage.

They produce for Nigeria, yet they beg to survive.

ESCAPE PLAN:

Join or create farming co-ops.

Invest in agro-processing or distribution.

Partner with people who can help scale, export, or digitize farming.

Create farm tours, organic products, or digital farm courses.

THE REAL ENEMY IS NOT THE JOB.

IT’S YOUR MINDSET.

Suffering is not holy. Loyalty is not a retirement plan.

Start investing now.

Start building side income.

Stop eating all your salary.

Stop saying “It’s too late.”

Whether you’re 25,  55 or 60 the best time to start was yesterday.

The next best time is NOW.

IF THIS POST TOUCHED YOU:

Tag those who believes pension will save them.

SHARE this post. Let the world see the truth.

Because in Nigeria?

Profession can only give you praise but only financial wisdom can give you peace.

😱😱😱

*PLEASE READ  THIS PIECE, TO GAZE INTO THE REALITY OF OUR NATION.*

The Saturday Essay

   *GENERALS WITHOUT SHAME* 

by

  Moses Oludele Idowu

"It is not titles that honour men but men that honour titles."

  - Niccolo Machiavelli 

Sometimes in the 1980's or 1990's a troubling fact came to light from a retired army officer based on statistics to the effect that Nigeria has the highest number of retired generals in the world. Much more than Israel, Soviet Union, United States etc., and other nations involved in heavy military combat. 

  I think it was the late Joe Garba who said it but can't remember precisely now. That was about 30 years ago. With the gale of retirements every time government changes baton in the last few years the situation will now be worse.

  So we have more generals, retired generals than any nation on Earth.  But more does not mean better. And it is now time to question the processes by which a person rises to become a general in Nigerian Army and compare that process and interrogate it with other nations.

  Evidently something is not right. If we have produced this humongous number of generals both serving and retired and we are now more insecure both as individuals and a nation something definitely is not adding up. If a community has produced more academic professors and still have the largest number of illiterates in the entire region then it is proper to ask how and who made these people professors and how they acquired their titles and climbed to the professoriate. If the effects of their knowledge has no bearing and cannot be seen in the immediate environment then their authenticity is in doubt.

I decided to write this article few days ago because I was deeply troubled. Not just for the insecurity and killings and terrorism but by a letter. 

  A general was kidnapped in his own house by gunmen and kidnappers and taken to the forest in Katsina State. He was the former director of NYSC. He could not be rescued by the authorities and security agencies - the same agencies that could monitor protesters and their phone conversations. 

  The friends of this general now came together formed a WhatsApp Group and began to raise money to free their colleague and friend. The terrorists demanded for N400 million ( four hundred million naira) but the family began to negotiate while his friends both serving and retired were raising money.

   They paid the ransom and he was released. Another general who coordinated the whole raising of ransom now posted a letter of appreciation on Social Media. This is what shocks me. 

   First let me begin. I congratulate the family of General M I. Tshiga for his successful release from terrorists' den safe and sound after 56 days in captivity. Only soldiers or someone trained in military could survive 56 days in the forest without harm. I salute his resilience.

But still I am troubled and deeply too about the Army, Security Agencies and even NIgeria. Has it come to this?

I am particularly troubled by the letter of appreciation of another general, Abdullahi about how they raise money for ransom to terrorists.

  Haba! In Nigeria? Generals raising money for ransom?

  Generals don't pay ransom, they fight. Generals don't raise money, they lead soldiers and warriors to the battlefield to save their fatherland.

If army generals are now paying ransom to terrorists then what is the fate of the rest of us, "bloody civilians"? This battle is lost already. Even before it begins. Fellow countrymen, forget it, as long as these type of men are in charge of our affairs both in the political arena and in the Army we have lost the battle.

I know a bit of military history. I have studied a bit of War History and I know that even generals rarely even come into the picture. Some of the spectacular actions and cases in military history were not even planned by generals but by younger and middle level officers like colonels and majors.

  Here are few cases.

  *  The Israeli war hero of the Six -Day War, Guy Jacobson was not even a general for all his marvels.

* Yoni Netanyahu, elder brother of current Israeli Prime Minister who led the Entebbe operation - one of the rarest in military history - was not a general. He was only a Colonel.

* Charles Peace who trained and started the Delta Force, American Special Forces that did marvels during the Gulf War was just a Colonel.

Israel faced the kind of terror NIgeria is now facing in the 1960's. The Security Council had no answer because these were terrorists not conventional army. That was where Ariel Sharon first showed his military genius. He was only a major in the Army. With his Unit 201 of commandoes they made terrorists think twice before striking on Israeli targets. Just a major.

  Soldiers are going deep into another nation to bring terrorists to justice. It is generals who are paying ransom to them in Nigeria. How about that?

  

  Egypt was rocked by Islamist terrorists in the 1970's who even assassinated Anwar Sadat, a general and a hero of the Yom Kippur War. Thus when Gen. Hosni Mubarak took power he took on the terrorists head on. He dealt so bitterly and fatally with them they scattered in all directions and left Egypt. To even be found with any of their subversive literature of Islamic Jihad or Muslim Brotherhood was a serious offence punishable with several years of torture in prison.  Many renounced terror and became normal Muslims. Others fled to Afghanistan to be fighting Russia, some to London, Gaddafi's Libya, Iran. But not Egypt. 

 Under Mubarak if you threw a stone into a church building and you were reported, you'll need to be pitied. 

  One man defeated terrorism in Egypt. That was a general.

  Ariel Sharon did it in Israel. That was a general.

 Colin Powell designed the strategy that brought victory in the Gulf and cleared Iraq soldiers out of Kuwait. 

  Generals fight terrorists, they don't pay them. Generals confront terror they don't accommodate it.

Oturkpo the hometown of David Mark, another general, is now under siege by Fulani terrorists. And nothing is happening and will happen. Mark is not talking and silent.

The other day a general annulled a free and fair election because according to him he doesn't want to die like a chicken. He didn't want to take the bullet for his nation - the same nation that trained him and gave him a commission.

Years later another video now on YouTube showing generals kneeling to beg majors after the unravelling of a coup plot.

Hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude are stolen daily in a nation where there is an Army, an Air Force and a Navy. And always army generals are named.

They are also the ones named in illegal mining as Adam Oshiomole publicly accused them the other day.

And now generals are being picked up by terrorists like ripe cherries off a tree by terrorists without any fight; and their colleagues are raising ransom to free them.

Generals in name only or indeed?

Which Army School trained our own generals? Where is shame, where is honour when generals are paying ransom to terrorists and criminals?

I am ashamed for Nigeria. I am ashamed for the blackman. 

People criticize Abacha and say all manner of evil about him. But you must give Abacha his due. He would have fought the terrorists to standstill. 

  Tunde Idiagbon would have fought them even if he died in the process. Benjamin Adekunle would have fought them. Danjuma would have fought them. Murtala Muhammed would have fought them to standstill.

  It is a different story now. We are producing generals at a fast rate and retiring them with hefty pensions and gratuity. And now we are stranded. The highest number of generals and , possibly, the most insecured nation on Earth. Yet every day billions of dollars are used to procure arms to fight insecurity.

It is well.

This nation should return to a Culture of Honour. We have no honour again. And now no shame too. We lost the capacity for shame when we lost our Culture of Honour. Now even generals are not ashamed to admit publicly that paid ransom. How bad can it get?

  It is time for all retired generals to meet and have a Conference. It is time for them to look at the level of insecurity in this nation before this fire consumes them too. We are all in it together.

May  The Good Lord have mercy on this nation.

©️ Moses Oludele Idowu

         April 7, 2025

       All Rights Reserved

SUGGESTIONS BOLSTERING LOW FISH CATCHES

By Olaleye Titus Abayomi

Many people have been lamenting about low fish catch of our industrial and artisanal fishermen in recent times, as production record revealed low catches in comparison with fishing effort and ultimately high price of fish in the market.The immediate and rightful culpable people to hold responsible are the Government, extension workers, fishermen and the larger society. 

However, researchers and fishery experts have found that not one fragment of society can be exonerated from the falling fish production nor be singled out for blame.The poor fish catch is probably justified. This is more so because the majority of our fishermen are not adequately equipped for the job. A good level of education and information are regarded as a sure and lasting source of fish production. Where the majority of our artisanal fishermen who produced 80 per cent of our local fish production have little or no education one should not fail to expect this maladyBecause they cannot keep data and record of their fish catch to help fisheries planners to be able to ascertain how much fish the stock hold, so that they will know the areas in which to assist the fishermen. Besides, the fishermen are less aware of conservation principles and practices such as close season and close areas to regenerate the fish stock. Education and information relevant to fishery; as well as supplying the fishermen with fishing inputs at subsidised rate can progressively catapult the process of fish production.The effect of poor education and lack of consciousness about rational exploitation of the finite fisheries resources and also playing the games of fishing according to the rules contribute in no small measure to low fish production, as a result of this, our fisher-folks suffer in various ways, for instance, disappointment, loss of money expended or expected on fish production as well as loss of time and effort. Our country also loses a lot because of this poor fish production. This is largely the reason why we are predominantly and unnecessarily an importer of fish rather than an exporter of fish in spite of our great potential for high fish production. How can we solve this nagging problem? This write- up hopes to raise issues on some of the roles to be played by the Government, extension officers, fisher-folks and general public in order to produce fish and meet up with the national demand and to increase fish production for national development. Everybody has a role to play.

First, the government should regulate fishing and show a more serious commitment towards enforcing the regulations governing fishing by setting up a monitoring unit. Where there is no law, there can be no sinner. And there will be no organisation or coordination. There will be low productivity. In this context, there will be low fish yield.   

Secondly, it is critical that effective fishing management plans and regulations are developed and enforced, and fishery -dependent and fishery-independent data are collected and utilized in decision-making processes to ensure sustainable fisheries throughout our country. 

These practices include fishermen' contributions in fishing policy formulation, fishing community education and awareness creation, and fish farming going a long way in addressing the low fish production in our country. The government could give incentives to the fishermen in terms of subsidised fishing inputs and access to loan facilities at reduced interest rates. This will make fishing work more appealing, very inviting and stimulating to such an extent that they will always play the games of fishing according to the rules because obnoxious fishing practices are one of the reasons adduced for low fish production and catches. 

The incentives will strengthen the fishermen by making them expand in their investments over time as well as discouraging them from obnoxious fishing methods. The government should also create an enabling environment for fish production by providing the fishermen with the basic necessities for fishing, e.g., outboard motor engine, fishing nets, net loft, storage facilities, and processing facilities and effective market, which will reduce post-harvest loss. 

Moreover, it has been found out that some fisher-folks have capacity to increase fish yield but because they do not have the wherewithal they fall into obnoxious fishing practices which eventually lead to low fish catch in the short and long run. 

The general public should be educated on the value of aquaculture, which is better and more sustainable than fishing in the wild. There should also be an avenue for the general public to acquire short course, like seminar, workshop and symposium on fisheries and aquaculture with payment of token fees, that would go a long way to get many people involved in aquaculture and the eventual large fish production. 

This is because many people could have interests in aquaculture but do not know how to start it

The Government could provide adequate opportunities for capacity utilisation by encouraging the fisher-folks to have communication and information gadgets at home, so as to listen to or watch short lessons and lectures on fisheries run on the radio and television and internet. 

Better improvement can also be enhanced to fish production through the extension officers who should be providing the fisher-folks with information, innovation, and technologies in fisheries.

The fisher-folks should be encouraged to join cooperative related with their business. This is beneficial to them in many respects by bringing them nearer to the government because the government accords more recognition to society than individual. 

Besides, it will improve their business by preventing them from fraudsters and exploiters as well it would improve their knowledge by sharing their experiences with others in their society. 

The extension officers can also ensure that all the fisher-folks are periodically given training and information on the do’s and don’ts of fish production at affordable costs. 

The extension officers should also aspire to have a high degree of understanding of socio-personal educational and vocational problem that are facing the fishermen, which make them fall below expectation in fish production.

The extension officers themselves should also be always updated through periodical seminars, symposiums, and workshop in fisheries and aquaculture. 

This would make it easy and convenient for them to impart and impact relevant knowledge and education to the stakeholders in fisheries

Awareness also should be created by the government to the general public that pollution like oil spillage and dumping of wastes deteriorate the aquatic environment by depleting or decimating fish stock and other aquatic organisms.  

The fishermen should help the government to help themselves by paying token registration fees at the begining of every year so that the government can be able to improve  and upgrade infrastructure relevant to fishing such as fishing jetties, net-loft and coldrooms conveniently, as well, they, on their parts, should endeavour to service loans given by the government at appropriate time so that other fishermen can also benefit from such empowerment in the future. Where the fishermen ignorantly feel such helps from the government is a way for them to have their own share of the national cake would not help matter.

The fishermen and general public could also help matter by reporting any erring fishermen fengaging in obnoxious fishing methods to the appropriate authorities. 

The Fisheries Departments and Agencies should also verify to ascertain the truth and conceal the identity of the informant.Finally, the Fisheries Department and Agencies could apply proper counseling or punitive measures on the erring fishermen in relation to the gravity of the offence committed. 

This will serve as deterrence to others.The Fisheries Department should not aid and abet in obnoxious fishing practices or overlook the offence due to bribery from the offender. 

The Fisheries Department should not use preferential treatment in the distribution of empowerments given to the fishermen and other fish producers on the basis of blood relations, retiring officers from their department and political farmers. Empowerments should be given strictly to actual registered farmers  and fishermen   with the government.

The Fisheries Department should intensify efforts in training young school graduates in the fishing communities in the science and technology of fishing to replace their old and worn-out parents at affordable cost.

All these suggestions briefly discussed above will increase fish yield in the captured and other fisheries subsector if taken into consideration.

BY

OLALEYE TITUS ABAYOMI

FISHERIES DEPARTMENT

LAGOS STATE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE     

(BADAGRY DIVISION)

20th June 2012.

KWARA STATE: ECHOES OF WAR  

           AFTER THE BATTLE

     AKOGUN IYIOLA OYEDEPO

This article is about war. It is also about political situation and relationships in Kwara State. But since Kwara State is a sub-national of Nigeria Federal structure and also a multi-ethnic, lingua and religious state; this article is also germane to States of the same features or even the nation of Nigeria. There is the war situation where nations or units within the nation are at war. This situation of war is like the one we were during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war or it could even be ethnic conflicts within a State. Battle depicts conflicts, fights and armed combat. Battle therefore is an expression of war. But a nation may be at the state of war, which can be said to be the state of hostilities which may not necessarily be being at battle field. The state of war is the crux of this discussion. The battle ceased, but in Kwara State, I can hear the echoes of war.

Establishment of nations, empires, caliphate, towns or villages could be through the acts or art of war, which is the use of force or it could be through diplomacy, merger and acquisition using, dialogue, spiritual and mystical powers. Nigeria for example was clubbed together by some acts or threat of war, diplomacy or dialogue. Before 1914, there was no Nigeria, there were Bini Empire, Sokoto Caliphate, Oyo Empire, etc. In 1914, British principally in their own colonial and imperial interests, brought together warring autonomous Empires and Caliphate to establish what is now known as Nigeria.

What is known as Kwara State whether at the creation of the States in 1967 and now that it has plummeted to its present size had passed through many phases of history. What is now known as Kwara was largely until 1823 a geographical space over which the Alafin of Oyo held suzerainty. It was part of Oyo Empire. From 1823 until 1897 it was part of the Sokoto Caliphate, from 1897 to 1966, it was part of Northern Region of Nigeria and from 1967 to 1976 Kwara was an expansive State that included the present Idah and Dekina in the present Benue State. From 1976 to 1991, a big chunk of the present Kogi State including Okuns and the Ebiras and the Borgus in Niger State were part of Kwara State. And from 1991 to date, it maintains the present structure. All that can be said of Kwara State at various stages of its existence is that it has always been a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious people of diverse history and background. It is what the Yoruba calls “apa alapa, ese elese”: a monster with different difficult to reconcile body parts.

Before the waves of 19th century Jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio, the Yoruba of the present Kwara State, were part of the expansive Yoruba Oyo Empire. The chunk of their kit and kin are still in the South-Western Nigeria. The Nupes of Kwara State had their own Kingdom across River Niger where they still have the chunk of their kit and kin. The Barubas have their own people in Benin Republic. After the death of Afonja and the installation of the first Emir of Ilorin in 1823, there were several wars to expand the frontiers of Islam and the political power and influence of Ilorin as one of the Caliphate’s Emirates. A major part of the Oyo Empire was the theater of war of the Fulanis to achieve the above purpose. There were the Pamo war, Ogele war, Gbogun war, Oshogbo war, Ijaiye war, Mugba-mugba war, etc. But with the death of Sultan Attahiru in the battle of Burmi by the British army, in 1903, which made the Caliphate to be defunct, the conquerors of the above wars were also conquered. And with the independence in 1960, the British colonial power over Nigeria was dismantled. With the subsequent creations and re-creations of Kwara State since 1967, the government and the people of Kwara State are in the hands of the people of Kwara State whether as military or civilian rulers. There is therefore no more battles or armed combats. But why do we still have these echoes of wars after the cessation of battles?

I admire, respect and indeed venerate Emir Adulsalam, the first Emir of Ilorin. After the death of Afonja, he, with rare administrative skills and unusual political engineering; created what will make Ilorin, the new and only Emirate in Yoruba land, a sprawling and flourishing city of commerce; a political melting-pot at the southern tip of the Sokoto Caliphate. The Emir recognizing the major ethnic composition of the town, created what can make for the thriving and the survival of the Emirate. He created the positions of the Baloguns: Balogun Alanamu and Ajikobi for the Yorubas and Balogun Fulani and Gambari to represent both the Fulanis and the Hausas respectively. The Afonjas were even pacified with the title of Mogaji Are. Emir Abdulsalam did not call the titles above Maiyaki, as it was in virtually all other Emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate. This political architecture which is difficult to find in any other Emirate of the Caliphate was created after the war as a form of pacification and reconciliation after the battle. When I wrote my book: LETTERS TO THE EMIR it was to acknowledge the journey of the present Kwara State from the Caliphate to Emirate, to Northern Region and now to Kwara State. It has been a journey of two hundred years. The Emir may no more be the ultimate political authority of Kwara today, but history has a way of providing strength for the men of the moment. What has the history of the journey so far taught us? That book is to create a vision of re-definition of relationships for the people of Kwara. But what are these echoes of the war that I hear today?

My concern for which this article is written is that since the creation of this State in 1967, and more specifically since 1999, I cannot see any form of socio/political engineering that brings us together as a people to confront our common challenges. There ought to have emerged political leaders that would not be sectional, parochial and selfish. We have not been able to develop leaders with enlightened self-interest that inspire our diverse set of people, bind them together, focusing not on our differences but on our commonalities. Our common challenges that are religious, ethnic and sectional blind are poverty, mass unemployment, security, creating a pride for our state through economic prosperity, quality mass education, food security, unity, etc. What we need is to focus on shared values, dreams, histories and experiences. But what I hear since I grew to be politically conscious are the echoes of war and hatred among our people in the State. Just let a Kwaran tell you where he comes from, you can read what is in his mind on critical issues in the State. I can hear the echoes of war long after the dagger was withdrawn, the spears of battle became blunt and the poisonous arrow put in the sheath.

Echoes of war are in how we perceive ourselves, our opinions about one another or what we believe we are as groups of people occupying the territory of Kwara State. Ilorin of the first Emir may be a cultural melting pot for various people that came to take residency in town and later made the community their homes. What we need now is a Kwara where there will be cultural mix that provides for unity in diversity. That is the lesson our political elites ought to learn from the socio/political engineering skills of Emir Abdulsalam.

Failure to learn that lesson and reach the level of unity that makes us our brothers’ keepers make people outside Ilorin to regard the people of Ilorin as metsu jamba. Jamba in Hausa is wickedness. How have we run a relationship of two hundred years that could not provide for unity, love and considerations for all sections of Kwara State? When there is no more battle what is the meaning of this jamba thing? That is what I call echoes of war after the battle. Those that are not also from Ilorin are categorized as “ero”, “alejo”. When we are not indigenes of Katsina, Oyo or Anambra states resident in Kwara, probably here on a visit or job opportunities, why should Kwarans be referred to in his State of origin as ero? It is part of the echo of war after the battle. When the Igbomina, ibolo and Ekiti prefer to trust their kits and kins of the South West over and above the people of Ilorin, Nupes and the Batonu, it is the evidence of the echo of war after the battle. When the Nupes regret their citizenship of Kwara State, prefers citizenship of Niger State or creation of Ndaduma State, it is evidence of echo of war after the battle. When the Barubas of both the Baruten and Kaima Local Government Areas are nostalgic about joining their kits and kins in the Benin Republic or that they are made a part of Kebbi State in Nigeria, we need not look further for the evidence of the echo of war after the cessation of the battle. I want to believe that if there is a national dialogue for self-determination for each group in Kwara to choose their political destination in a re-structured Nigeria; there certainly will no more be Kwara State as presently constituted.  Why have we not cemented relationships after two hundred years of living together under one roof?

What the echoes of war have created is mistrust, crisis of confidence and hatred among all of us in Kwara State. It has also encouraged ethnicity, parochialism, nepotism, mediocracy in all facets of the governance of the people of Kwara State. Thus, in appointments, leadership recruitment, promotion in government service, location of government projects, jobs for the contractors and indeed all other benefits, that could accrue from government to the citizens; the consideration of where the leaders or intended beneficiaries of opportunities come from is germane. Such things like these could happen where there is the echo of war after the battle.

History is good in the life of a people. It tells and informs about the beginning and how far the journey has been. It also makes us draw inspirations and lessons from the past. But history could put us in jail and in chains of the past. It blindfolds by making us glorify the past that is no more relevant or tenable. In Kwara State, the story of multiple arrows shot to kill Afonja that made him stood erect for more than twenty-four hours is told with relish by the descendants of the shooters of the arrow. It showed the superior fire power of calvary men on horses, probably the most effective and efficient weapon of war of the day. Those whose father’s body can harbor several arrows for many hours without falling, also still narrate with pride the prowess of their father in the face of such terrible onslaught.  But all these were for then, not now. The heroism of the calvary army of Ilorin that created an expansive Emirate was for a time past, the Emirate after the defeat by the British have been decimated by subsequent political developments. We need not be locked up by our heroic past, but rather allow our hearts to be regenerated to face the present challenges. The Emirate has plummeted, erstwhile slaves have regained freedom and a new set of people are now in power and authority. In short, we are now under a constitutional government, not monarchy or theocracy. Times have changed and many people have started questioning the past under a new wave of bundles of rights guaranteed by the constitution. If things are fast changing this way, we cannot in our thought and actions, remain unchanged.

The weapons of war of the 18th century are no more useful today. There was a time of bow, arrows, spear, axe, sword, whip and horses. These had given way to nuclear weapons of the Army, Navy and the Airforce. The modern weapon of mass destruction commands the most profound respect from weak nations of the world. The modern war is by science and technology not by any calvary army. Knowledge is now power, not even population. Singapore is a city state and it commands greater respect than Nigeria among the committee of developed nations of the world. A society that solely depends on its population without more, can only have its way in a rent economy. When the economy is driven by knowledge, skills and technology, government is manipulated at the peril of development. The clans of appropriate knowledge even when in minorities will upstage the majority. Our perception must change.

So, society that will cancel echoes of war will have as its vision and mission, equity, fairness and justice. Our government must be fair, compassionate and should tear down obstacles so as to forge unity. And this is not difficult if what govern the minds of our leaders are the tenets of our religions and the humanness of humanity in spite of our differences. We need to acknowledge that though we may be of many parts, our aspiration should be that we can truly be one. In this, we have a great lesson to learn from the founding document of the United States of America: The Declaration of Independence. The summary of the document is that God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The main business of government according to the Declaration, is to advance these rights. A government that withholds these rights ought to be impeached.

Nigeria also has in the Chapter two of the 1999 constitution a similar provision contained in the American Declaration of Independence; which is called the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. In section 16(1) (a) and(b) the constitution says: “The State shall within the context of the ideals and objectives for which provisions are made in this constitution:

(a) Harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy

(b) Control the national economy in such a manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”

If the provisions in the chapter two of our constitution is not justiciable, it ought to serve as a serious guide to men and women of integrity that should be in the domain of leadership in this State.

Let me coast home on this write-up on what are expected on those aspiring to govern this state as from May, 29th 2027. They must be people that have sufficient knowledge and skills on how to manage people with ethnic, social, religious and economic diversity. They need to address the issue of equity, fairness and justice in a heterogeneous society. They must show that they have enough skill and knowledge to be leaders for all and not for a section of their electoral constituencies. We need a politics that can execute and build upon our shared understandings that pull us together as Kwarans. And I now close with these germane questions from those that had governed or governing us especially at the gubernatorial level since 1999: if what you did to other people outside your place of birth with our common patrimony is done to you or your people by others, would you be happy? 2027 election should be about our past versus the future.

*For those who’re still working or attending corporate, UN, and NGO meetings. One of the chronic diseases that undermines or kills communication, Jargon Monoxide, has been diagnosed and a cure has been found.* 😁

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*Copied*

Jargon Monoxide: The Corporate Cancer That’s Killing Your Business 

There’s a silent killer in your company. It’s not competition, bad hires, or even a broken business model. It’s jargon monoxide—a steady stream of meaningless corporate gibberish that seeps into meetings, emails, and strategy decks, suffocating clear thinking and real action.

You’ve heard it before. The executive who insists “We need to leverage cross-functional synergies to enhance stakeholder engagement.” The consultant who claims “Our approach is to drive transformational outcomes via customer-centric innovations.”

Translation: Nobody knows what the hell they’re talking about.

Jargon monoxide is what happens when people prioritize sounding smart over being smart. It’s corporate carbon monoxide—odorless, invisible, and quietly poisoning your company’s ability to think clearly and execute fast.

How Jargon Monoxide Spreads

It starts with one person trying to sound more competent than they are. Instead of saying “We need to sell more,” they say “We must drive topline revenue expansion by leveraging omnichannel opportunities.”

No one wants to be the idiot who asks, “Wait, what?” so they nod along. Before you know it, every meeting is filled with people saying things like, “We need to optimize synergies to unlock value through scalable innovation.”

It’s a linguistic arms race. The minute one person starts talking like a McKinsey PowerPoint, everyone else has to keep up or risk looking uninformed. The result? A workplace where people talk in loops, meetings take twice as long as they should, and nobody actually does anything.

The Four Flavors of Jargon Monoxide

Jargon monoxide isn’t just one thing—it’s a disease with multiple strains, each more toxic than the last.

First, there’s convoluted crap. This is when a simple idea gets buried under unnecessary complexity. A restaurant owner could say, “We need to serve food faster.” Instead, they say, “We’re optimizing throughput via enhanced queue management solutions.” If your sentence could double as the instruction manual for a nuclear reactor, you’ve lost the plot.

Then, we have meaningless bullshit—sentences that sound impressive but say absolutely nothing. Think of a tech CEO proudly declaring, “We’re driving a paradigm shift in agile methodologies to disrupt legacy frameworks.” What does that even mean? Nothing. But people still nod as if they just heard the wisdom of Socrates.

Next is in-group lingo—words designed to make outsiders feel stupid. A finance executive might say, “We need to enhance our liquidity position through a more favorable capital structure optimization process.” Translation: “We need more cash.” If a smart person outside your industry wouldn’t understand what you’re saying, you’re not communicating—you’re gatekeeping.

Finally, there’s the jargon blender—when someone just throws together every buzzword they can think of and hopes no one notices. Ever read a company’s mission statement and seen something like, “Our mission is to empower scalable, AI-driven, next-gen solutions to revolutionize the digital ecosystem”? That’s not a strategy. That’s a Mad Libs page from a management consultant’s notebook.

Why Jargon Monoxide is Killing Your Company

This isn’t just annoying. It’s actively making your business worse.

First, it wastes time. If every meeting needs an extra 20 minutes to decode what people are actually saying, your company is moving at half speed.

It also leads to bad decisions. When ideas aren’t clearly explained, nobody can tell the good ones from the bad. If you pitch a project as “a disruptive, game-changing initiative leveraging best-in-class technology,” it sounds amazing. But what are you actually doing? Spending millions on an app nobody needs?

Jargon monoxide also destroys morale. Nobody wants to work at a company where leadership speaks in riddles. People don’t quit companies; they quit bosses who can’t communicate.

And it pushes customers away. If your marketing sounds like a legal contract, customers will go somewhere else. Nobody trusts a company that says, “We offer scalable, AI-powered, cloud-native solutions that revolutionize the digital ecosystem.” They trust the company that says, “We make software that helps you run your business faster.”

How to Kill Jargon Monoxide

The antidote? Call it out.

Next time someone in a meeting says, “We need to align cross-functional synergies,” stop them and ask, “What does that actually mean?” If they can’t explain it in simple terms, they probably don’t understand it themselves.

Set a rule: no buzzwords without definitions. If someone says, “We need to be more customer-centric,” ask them, “Okay, what does that look like in practice?”

Write like a human. If your emails read like a corporate memo from 1987, rewrite them. Cut the fat—if a sentence can be five words instead of fifteen, make it five.

And most importantly, reward clarity. The best leaders don’t tolerate empty words—they push their teams to think clearly, explain things simply, and focus on real outcomes.

Final Thought: Simplicity is a Superpower

Great companies move fast, and fast companies communicate clearly. Jargon monoxide is a sign of a slow, bureaucratic culture—one that’s more interested in looking smart than being effective.

The best CEOs don’t hide behind complexity. They say what they mean, get to the point, and expect their teams to do the same.

So next time you hear someone say, “We need to unlock synergies through innovative, best-in-class solutions,” take a deep breath and reply:

“Or… we could just get to work.”

Willing 'White privilege' should have this kind of thing as a general character orientation to nullify inbred guilt, in order to find the meaning in life that they believe is elusive as a result of it having been jeopardized through the folly inherent in their upbringing.

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*India's Transformation CAN'T BE Replicated in Nigeria, NOW. HERE'S WHY*

1 No mega economic transformation can take place in an atmosphere  of unbreakable political instability. 

India is about 80% Hindu and 20% Islam plus others. Mordi, a foremost Hindu leader built a strong support base around 80% of the population to execute  his transformation agenda 

Yes, there are constant frictions between Hindu and Muslims in India but the latter can't form a quorum, the former retains VETO POWER and Mordi uses it optimally. Therefore the Muslims in Kashmiri, Jammu, Lakshadweep have their say but not their way .

2 Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait etc their leadership leverage Islam and  Arab majority nationality VETO to carry out their transformation agenda.

3  The same stability exists in China (Han Chinese represents 92% of the population)- *they have Votes, Veto and Voice. The 8% others has votes but no veto, no voice, no quorum*

4 In America, Trump is bulldozing his way using the almost 70% Caucasians/Christian Veto power financially and culturally to implement his immigration and economic Agenda.

5 I am 101% convinced that the Nigeria *LIMO CAN'T MOVE BECAUSE WE KEEP STRUGGLING for THE STEERING WITH ONE ANOTHER -especially the 5 major  ethnic groups: Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo, Ijaw and Hausa*

(A) When GEJ, an Ijaw won election in 2011, Atiku, a Fulani, said it publicly that *We will make the country ungovernable for him* Atiku's WE of course were his own ethnic group. Buhari equally told GEJ not to kill the TERRORISTS, because it was the North they were terrorizing not Nigeria

.GEJ built Almajiris schools in the North - it was money wasted.

(B) I did freelance work (pro Bono) for Jonathan. I was constantly in the Villa, brainstorming  with others, 

I witnessed first hand how Nigeria is run 

When Jonathan was chased out of the Villa by Buhari and El-Rufui Gang (El Rufia admitted openly that he paid N800m tax players  money to the Fulani terrorists from West Africa ahead of 2015 election but they refused to leave Nigeria after their assignment was completed) - I went back to my Library.

I studied 50 countries dated back to the last 500 years including the Roman empire that was run as a Commonwealth, UK, a variant of Confederation, Switzerland a Confederation, etc.

For instance PBAT tax reforms is economically correct but politically wrong. Similarly, Nigeria would have been more cost-effective if CBN HQ were to be in Lagos, closer to all the banks HQ, if NNPC were to be in Port Harbour closer to Oil,  just the same way NDA is in Kaduna.

*Sadly enough, in all of Nigeria's history, anytime there is a clash between common sense and Political correctness, the former always looses*

I laugh when Elites keep making the same mistakes, thinking a time will come when one ANGELIC ELITE will descend from Elon MUSK Space to put Nigeria on the pathways of modernization.

It won't happen.

*What happened to past ANGELS like Angel Awololo, Angel Aminu Kano, Angel Balarabe Musa, Angel  Chinua Achebe,  Angel Gani Fawehimi will  happen to future Angels* 

Therefore, as long as common sense is the looser, Nigeria can not be like India or Qatar 

In Qatar for instance, there was a battle between Saudi Arabia and Qatar on OPEC quota. Qatar didn't hesitate to exit OPEC to the surprise of Saudi Arabia basing her decision on Common sense not on  shared Islamic religion and shared nationality 

*A month ago, I recommended to President Tinubu that Nigeria should exit OPEC, sell Oil  in NAIRA based on common sense and the  emerging New world order- but religion sense won, economic sense lost* Tinubu chose the easier one - selling Oil in NAIRA. But where is the crude to sell against the backdrop of OPEC  QUOTA CHAINS and previous 6-year forward sales of crude. The Naira sank deeper despite selling Oil in NAIRA. Why? No common sense but 100% political correctness 

 *when I notice  this paradox: the  world's wealthiest nation becoming the world's poverty capital at the  same time*-  I came up with my theory that: *A heterogenous, plural society cannot witness Mega Transformation and  peace when administered centrally. A heterogenous plural society must be decentralized for peaceful modernization to happen, save where there is a 70% hegemonic veto either religiously, culturally or by nationality*

In conclusion, I can engage any Professor from anywhere in the world, *history has not given us an example of a country in ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY that is structured the way Nigeria is and administered centrally and democratically that is free from underdevelopment  and chaos. None*

When people mention USA,  they forget that the Caucasians maintain almost 70% hegemony culturally, religiously, linguistically and financially, which they use to Veto whatever, including unbreakable support for Israel!

*The Latinos, Africans etc in USA are mere ethnic groups, they are not in America  as NATION-STATES.*

However, in Nigeria, we have more than a dozen NATION-States with a history of independence dated back to 1000 years that are *struggling with one another like  crabs in a jar of water on who controls the steering of the Nigeria's Limo*

 The Bini was a Nation-state, likewise Hausas, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, etc . We can't administer these strong hitherto independent NATION-STATES  centrally successfully. Never, ever.

Each of this Nation-state must control  their respective destiny, to a  considerable degree.

*Fulani nation can't understand the Igbo commercial mindset. A Tinubu Yoruba all powerful  President can't understand the Fulani Livestock mindset.*

Be that as it may, Fulani should control her own destiny and pay tax to Abuja. Ditto Yoruba, Igbo, Bini etc 

If Bini Nation is restored, she can produce the furniture for the entire Africa which is a bigger economy than oil!

*As presently constituted , Nigeria is UNWORKABLE: IBB, OBJ, GOWON, GEJ, Britain, France etc all know this hidden truth. But nobody is honest or bold enough to say so publicly*

*Though OBJ's recent Saul to Paul conversion on restructuring road  to Damascus is comforting*

All told, the wealth of Nigeria, to a considerable extent, is in the hands of foreigners today: the Lebanese, Indians, Israel, America, China, Arabs, South Africa, French, British  and now Turkish and Iranian and Pakistani ( the last 3 play in the military Space)etc.

 This ugly situation will remain, I am  afraid, as long as common sense remains elusive.

*Nothing is fundamentally wrong with Nigerians genetically, intellectually and culturally speaking, we are as brilliant  as any other race globally, but we are LATE DEVELOPERS  or students you can categorize as SLOW LEARNERS, because the superstructure we operate makes fast learning difficult. Honest*

Tim Akano 

timakano1@gmail.com

Obasanjo and Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs

Festus Adedayo 

(Published by the Sunday Tribune, November 24, 2024)

In 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘐𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦 – 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘐𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘏𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘖𝘸𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤: Essays by Ulli Beier, edited by Wole Ogundele, (2001) Horst Ulrich Beier, famously known as Ulli Beier, had an engaging narrative about the power and powerlessness of dogs. He entitled the narrative, Dog Magic of Yoruba Hunters. In it, Beier related how his dog, which he provocatively named Tańtólóhun, (who can compare with God?)’s weird tantrums, which occurred in Osogbo in the early 1960s, could mirror the insufferable power and limitations of dogs. The motive of telling the story, he said, was to “demonstrate the extraordinary power of hunters over dogs.”

Otherwise very gentle dog, whenever Tańtólóhun saw a particular elderly priest of Oya goddess guest of the Beiers, she suddenly went abrasive. The priest, said the German-Jew literary octopus, had just lost his following and as such, little or no worship activity went on in his shrine. Whenever the priest branched at the Beiers’ home on a visit, Tańtólóhun suddenly went haywire, grew inexplicably aggressive towards the priest, growling and barking. The old priest, too couldn’t explain the oddity. He threatened not to visit the Beiers again unless the weird and wild Tańtólóhun was curtailed. The Beiers’ friends’ explanation for Tańtólóhun’s tantrums was that, “the priest liked to eat dog meat, and because of this, often performed the annual sacrifice for a group of Ogun worshippers in Osogbo... the dog sensed his perverse attitude to dogs and her uncontrollable anger stemmed from that.”

Tańtólóhun’s hatred for the Oya priest intensified. “One day, she even started to tug at his long flowing agbádá with her teeth. Infuriated, the priest shouted that if the dog did it again, he would have to ‘put medicine’ on her. The very next day, the dog rushed out again and this time, the priest turned round, speaking incantations at her.” The second day, as the Oya priest was passing by, Tańtólóhun repeated the same weird bellicosity. “She rushed out again barking and tried to grab the priest’s agbádá. Angrily, the priest turned and spoke his incantations. The dog fled back into the house. But this time, she did not recover. Instead she behaved in the most frightening manner. She rolled her eyes, snarled at everybody and foam appeared in her mouth. We could not be sure that she had not developed rabies. Even if it weren’t so, it was obvious that in her present mood, she would sooner or later attack people. She did not appear to recognize any of us. We quickly evacuated all the people from the house. There were usually a dozen children playing on the ground floor. Then we locked her into the house,” lamented Beier.

Another friend of the Beiers’, the head of hunters in Osogbo, the Olúóde, upon being told of Tańtólóhun’s fate, offered to help. He was promptly ushered into the solitary prison where Tańtólóhun was locked, lest no human be the victim of her madness. Ten minutes after, the Olúóde came out laughing. “The dog followed him, wagging her tail as if nothing had happened. Tańtólóhun had no recurrence of her strange behaviour (again)... The Olúóde said he did not give the dog anything to eat, that all he used was incantations."

Beier, the man who told that story, was born July 30, 1922, and exited this plane on April 3, 2011. Beier gave Nigerian literature teeth to bite in the twilight of and immediate post-colony (1950 to 1967). His interest in traditional Yoruba culture and arts was almost an obsession. While teaching at the University of Ibadan, tthe German-Jew veered off to live in Western Region cities of Osogbo and Ede in his quest to conduct anthropological researches on the Yoruba. Inspired by philosopher and French intellectual, Jean Paul Sartre’s essay Orphee Noir, in 1957, Beier founded the magazine, Black Orpheus which became the first African literary journal in English and a leading market for the publication of contemporary Nigerian authors. He also, in 1961, co-founded the Mbari Artists and Writers Club in Ibadan as an ensemble for new writers, dramatists and artists, where they could gather and weave the tapestry of their arts. It is on record that Beier fired the writing zeal of writers like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, among many others. In 1962, he co-founded the Mbari Mbayo, Osogbo Club with Duro Ladipo and translated his drama, published as Modern Poetry (1963). In 1966, Beier published his own play, The Imprisonment of Obatala, using the pseudonym, Obotunde Ijimere. He was husband to Susanne Wenger, the famous Austrian-turned-Nigerian Osun sacred grove priestess, who, upon dissolution of her marriage to Beier, married the local drummer, Lasisi Ayansola Onilu.

Sorry, I digressed. Last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, which held at the Yale University in the United States, threw a mound of earthly pigment Yoruba called ògúlùtu. When you throw ògúlùtu, it scatters in conceived and incidental directions. He threw the ògúlùtu in the direction of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, president of Nigeria. But again, as the Yoruba say, it is a ripe baby orange which invites slingshots of rods and pebbles on its mother (omo osàn níí kó póńpó bá ìyá è). In Yale, Obasanjo took a swipe at not only Tinubu but unnamed Nigerian leaders he called “Baba-go-slow” and “Èmilókàn,” under whom he said Nigeria had become a failed state.

Immediately I read it, I knew Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs like Ulli Beiers’, would relapse into their weirdest bellicosity. Tinubu keeps a kennel of Rottweilers he unleashes on perceived haters. Atiku Abubakar is one of them. While delivering his keynote address entitled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria”, Obasanjo outlined Nigeria’s worsening challenges, which included pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, leading to a state capture. He also alleged that the Nigerian judiciary had been reduced to wriggling maggots which feast on rotten flesh of politicians. He also took a swipe at Tinubu’s wobbly leadership, the concerning state of the economy and the sagging credibility of Nigeria under a government that advertises so much motion but no movement. “More than N700 billion in cash bribes were paid by citizens to public officials in 2023,” he further alleged.

Immediately after this, the Oya priest received one of the vilest attacks from Tańtólóhun. In the narrative of the Beiers’ dog above, it will be recalled that the German-Jew literary octopus’ friends’ explanation for the dog’s weirdness was that the Oya priest might have been suffering for his perverse attitude to dogs, especially his penchant for turning the dog’s kindred into buffet during annual Ogun worshippers’ sacrifices. Ogun worshippers are notorious for not only wickedly beheading dogs during such sacrifices but turning the hapless animal’s meat into delicious barbecue.

So, in the bid to stave off accusation of bad governance that is almost a refrain on the streets of Nigeria, simply re-echoed by Obasanjo, like Beiers’, Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs went berserk, growling and barking for the whole of last week. In a statement titled, ‘Former President Obasanjo was not an ideal leader to emulate,’ Tinubu’s Chief Tańtólóhun leading the pack, accused Obasanjo of hypocrisy. “He presided over the worst election in Nigeria (and now) demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission.” He barked ad-nauseam on the Obasanjo third term agenda, how Chinua Achebe, “a universally acclaimed moral, cultural and literary icon” had “scant regard for Obasanjo,” and rejected “the third highest national honour bestowed on him... in 2004,” the unconstitutional impeachment of four PDP governors, the Halliburton bribe scandal, dud investment of $16bn in electricity, “which left the country in utter darkness,” the aluminium smelter company, ALSCON sale, among others. Onanuga growled however that his boss was “diligently (working) to overcome the country’s economic challenges” and advised Obasanjo “to temper his self-righteousness in his public discussions regarding our nation’s temporary difficulties” and spend “his remaining years...reflecting on the missed opportunities during his own time in leadership, both as military head of state and civilian president,” he said.

The Beiers’ Tańtólóhun had every reason to growl at the dog-eating Oya priest. It however didn’t reckon with an eternal Yoruba aphorism which preached caution. In traditional African Yoruba society, cloth dry-cleaning was a craft natives embarked upon. Early in the morning, these alágbàfò stormed homes of their clients to collect stacks of used clothes which they took to streams to wash. After washing them, for the clothes to last longer and give them fascinating smells, alágbàfò garnished them with a blue dye called aró. The aró’s cost is then added to their fees. So, when a bedwetting client haggled the price of the aró, the Yoruba say while the whole world was entitled to so haggle, it ill behoves a bedwetter to do same.This, Yoruba express as, “ó ye gbogbo eni k’ó yo’wó aró, sùgbón kò ye atòólé.” Did the bedwetter take into consideration the unpleasant task of divorcing their clothes from oozing smell of urine and the indignity behind their affliction?

So, even if the whole world could cast off the beam in Obasanjo’s eyes, it is not the governance bedwetters of Aso Rock of today. While Tańtólóhun was entitled to be miffed at the Oya priest for peremptorily turning its kin into gourmet meal, does she think the world, too was blind to how she pounced on reptiles and rodents, devouring them? Moreover, Tańtólóhun should have known, again as Yoruba say, that it is not all leaves that the Babaláwo plucks nor is it every palm tree that the palm wine-tapper climbs. While some leaves are sacred, with all of them taboo to be plucked after the morning dew had ceased its water blessing, if a palm-wine tapper does not carefully select the tree to climb, he could be stung by a deadly puffadder which has made the palm-tree top its place of hibernation. Ayinla Omowura, Yoruba Apala music colossus, expressed this as “gbogbo ewé kó l’òjáwé ńjá, gbogbo òpe kó l’onígbà ńgùn” and warned the climber and leave-plucker to beware.

To start with, I am not aware of any of the allegations made by the Tańtólóhun dogs against the Oya priest that is a lie. In human relations, Obasanjo has been described as the proverbial African witch who seeks the destruction of her benefactors. He makes mincemeat of his benefactors. An example touted in this regard is Chief S. B. Bakare, the Ijesa multi-millionaire of the 1970s/80s who rescued him from the bullets of Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka. Obasanjo is also one of the most hated Nigerian leaders alive, mostly due to his kénimánìí (lest others have) and kénimátóni (lest others attain my status) traits. Both are epistemic analytical standpoints of human relationship used in understanding and interpreting people’s actions and inactions. Obasanjo has always fought his kin to the hilt, beginning with Obafemi Awolowo and MKO Abiola, his secondary school senior. The ostensible reason is for him to be the only Yoruba to attain his national height. He once riled the world when he said that the presidency Awolowo sought unsuccessfully was delivered to him on a platter. Rather than his kin, Obasanjo preferred lifting people of other ethnicities. The few kin of his who were struggling to be at the top, like Mike Adenuga Jr., Obasanjo attempted to destroy them.

Not minding the above, a saying that will readily dissolve Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs’ tantrums against Obasanjo is that even if a hyena develops boil - a painful, pus-filled bump - on its face, it is beyond the remit of the chicken to point it out. A chicken is too miniature in people’s estimation compared to a hyena, just as no one dare peer light into the dilating eyes of the lion. Obasanjo is too elephantine in stature for anybody to demean.

In Nigeria’s 25 years continuous governance, one tree that makes its democratic forest is Obasanjo. It may sound intangible, but we know that Obasanjo has an ancestry that he can point to. I doubt if there is any other leader who is emblematic of this country and who the rest of the world connects than him. I once traveled with Obasanjo to Congo Kinshasa and saw how Felix Tshisekedi and the whole DRC laid red carpet for him. From Nigeria’s first loan of US$13.1 million from the Paris Club of Creditor Nations, taken from the Italian government in 1964 for the building of the Niger Dam, her debt rose to US$36 billion in December 2004. Obasanjo, on June 29, 2005, used his international leverage to have the Paris Club give a US$18 billion debt relief package to the country. No other leader, before and after him, has succeeded in doing this. Many institutions of government which Nigeria enjoys today, the EFCC, ICPC etc - though they are almost comatose now - were all built by him. He brought dignity to Nigeria and his years in government lifted this country’s pride tremendously. More importantly, he didn’t disgrace the Yoruba race.

Yes, Obasanjo’s lust for power, that me-and-only-me (àf’èmi, àf’èmi) spirit, sowed the seed of his third term ambition which he now shamelessly denies. However, none of his several limitations could be as destructive as to have some insolent and abrasive Tańtólóhun dogs compare him with Tinubu. Yes, they are both lucky to have risen this high; Obasanjo, in spite of his perceived wickedness, selfishness and Tinubu, for the mucks that glue to his past and present. The lofty pride that oozed off Obasanjo while in office cannot be said of the government that the Tańtólóhun dogs were last week unleashed to bay blood for and defend. Barking and growling, their teeth tugged at the agbádá of the Oya priest, they were a pitiable sight as they attempted to stave off Obasanjo’s deadly punches. What did Obasanjo say that is untrue about the pestilence that the Tinubu government has brought on Nigerians in the last 18 months? Nigeria today mirrors every definition of a failed state. Is it the excruciating hunger, go-slow, corruption, a felonious judiciary, an INEC that has gone to the dogs and whose chairman needed to be sacked to allow sanity into Nigeria’s electoral system? What?

Let me close this homily by asking the Olúóde, who has the powers to put a leash on his Tańtólóhun dogs, to do so immediately. In doing so, I will borrow two advisory sayings of the Yoruba. In one, they caution that, even if a Tańtólóhun dog is suddenly seized by insanity, it should mind the billowing red-eye of the fire - “t’ájá bá ńsínwín, k’ó má wo’nú iná òyèlà.” In another, Yoruba warn that anyone who assumes that the way an edible vegetable called tètè is grated and made into soup is same way another variant of the vegetable, the wild dáguńró, is eaten will be eating poison!