SUNDAY 19TH MARCH 2023

Tinubu’s Camp Nominated INEC Boss, Yakubu, Amaechi Claims Laments total failure of governance in Nigeria

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt Former Minister of Transportation and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday revealed that a

member of the camp of the President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, nominated the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, for his reappointment for a second term.

After voting in his hometown,

Ubima Ward 8 Unit 14, Amaechi expressed dissatisfaction with the polling, decrying what he called a total failure of governance in Nigeria.

He stated that his party did not contest against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

in the state but against the INEC and the police.

According to him, Yakubu also worked with the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, when the Rivers governor was the Minister of State for Education with the INEC boss

as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

“There is a total failure of governance in the country complete failure. Police are helping PDP to arrest APC members and SDP members.

“Gongs are being beaten about in the whole communities asking people who will not vote PDP not to come or they would be beaten. People are being beaten, the governor (Wike) has declared Continued on page 5

Go After Thugs Now, Jonathan Tells Security Agencies… Page 8 Sunday 19 March, 2023 Vol 28. No 10203

www.thisdaylive.com TR

UT H

& RE A S O

N400

N

Elections: IPC Condemns Attacks on Journalists in Rivers, Lagos, Ogun, Demands Investigation… Page 5

Buhari: APC will Triumph at Governorship, House of Assembly Polls Urges Nigerians to vote according to their conscience Ruling party will win not less than 28 states, Lawan boasts Deji Elumoye, Sunday Aborisade in Abuja and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin President Muhammadu Buhari

yesterday predicted victory for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship and state of House of Assembly elections across the country.

This is as Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, said the president is committed to a peaceful transition on May 29.

The President of the Senate, Dr.

Ahmad Lawan, has also expressed confidence that the APC will win not less than 28 states.

Speaking with journalists after casting his vote at Ward A, Sarkin

Yara Polling Unit, 003 in his country home Daura in Katsina State, Buhari said: “I am sure we are going to win, again.’’

According to him, “Nigerians

trust us because we mean what we say and say what we mean.

We have maintained that trust. We Continued on page 5

Violence, Apathy,Voter Suppression Mar Governorship, State Assembly Elections 17 feared killed in Lagos, Rivers, Delta, A’Ibom, others Nigerians discouraged by outcome of presidential poll, say Obi, Wike Governorship, state assembly elections worst ever, LP cries out Political thugs attack voters, ARISE NEWS crew in Lagos Our Correspondents No fewer than 17 people were killed in various acts of electoral violence in Delta, Lagos, Rivers, Cross River, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Osun, and Benue states as violence, apathy, and disenfranchisement of voters marred yesterday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

Explaining the low turnout of the voters, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the February 25 presidential poll, Mr. Peter Obi, argued that Nigerians did not come out in large numbers because the results of the presidential poll did not reflect their wishes.

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, also noted that the people were discouraged because they did not get what they wanted in the presidential poll.

LP has also described yesterday’s poll as the worst ever conducted in the country.

Despite the security architecture the Lagos State Police Command

and other sister agencies supposedly put in place, sponsored hoodlums overran the state as they unleashed violence on voters and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

From Surulere to Oshodi, Mile 12, Ejigbo, Bucknor, Oke-Afa, Bolade Oshodi, Surulere, Amuwo Odofin, Berger, Ojo, Agiliti, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Mushin, Igando, Ibeju Lekki, Alimosho, Ijegun, Ijesha, Ikeja, Magodo, Elegushi, Fadeyi, and many other areas, these thugs ran amok unchecked.

Backed by local militia and touts, the hoodlums brutalised and maimed voters who were not out to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

While three people were suspected to have been killed in different parts of the state, including 68-year-old man, who was allegedly killed at a Somolu polling unit, hundreds of others, including celebrities, were brutalised, with their properties destroyed, before Continued on page 5

#;HɃ[THB[HW Ƀ a

CASTING HIS LAST BALLOT IN OFFICE… President Muhammadu Buhari casting his vote during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections at Ward A, Sarkin Yara Polling Unit, 003 in his country home Daura in Katsina State…yesterday

#ªô ɃûÊéÙɃ éÝåÊ ÙÝɃ¡Ù Ƀ ÝÝɃåÊɃûÊéÙ õ ݪå Ƀqªå§Ƀ#¼ÊɃ[ÖÊÃÝÊÙ Ƀ å ɃT ¹ ¢ Ɉ

BHqɃwHeWɃ e[aHA W[Ƀ B [(HTɃHBɃwHeWɃq [+a Ƀ p B +"Ƀa( wɃ HBɸaɃ( p Ƀ a "HWɃAHW Ƀ+B"HWA a+HBɊ pªÝªåɃõõõɈ¢¼ÊõÊÙ¼ Ɉ ÊÂɃåÊ ûɈ

2

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

3

4

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

5

MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

NEWS

Elections: IPC Condemns Attacks on Journalists in Rivers, Lagos, Ogun, Demands Investigation Wale Igbintade in Lagos, Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City and Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia The International Press Centre (IPC) has condemned the attacks on journalists and other media professionals that covered yesterday's governorship and House of Assembly elections in some parts of the country, including Lagos, Ogun and Rivers states.

In a statement issued yesterday by its Press Freedom Officer, Melody Lawal, the centre described the report of attacks on journalists as

highly disturbing.

It urged the security agencies to thoroughly investigate the various attacks and ensure that the perpetrators face the consequences of their illegal and actions The statement added that some journalists faced mob attacks by political thugs who equally reportedly assaulted INEC officials with axes and allegedly destroyed ballot boxes, while others were rough-handled and beaten in the presence of a political chieftain.

The statement read: "The International Press Centre (IPC) is

highly disturbed by the reported incidents of attacks on journalists and other media professionals covering the governorship and House of Assembly elections in some parts of the country, including Lagos, Ogun and Rivers states.”

IPC’s Journalists' Election-daysafety-alert-desk has confirmed that AIT Reporters and cameraman, including Henrietta Oke, Amarachi Amushie and Nkiru Nwokedi were molested and prevented from covering the elections at some polling units in Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ijaiye and Amuwo Odofin

local government areas by political thugs and hoodlums.

"Journalist Nwokedi temporarily lost her phone before it was recovered with the help of Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) men while Journalist Amushie was rough handled, her camera damaged and the cameraman beaten in the presence of a political chieftain.

"The Alert Desk also established that ARISE NEWS Channel’s crew comprising a Reporter, Oba Adeoye, Cameraman, Opeyemi Adenihun and driver, Yusuf Hassan was attacked while covering voting

in Elegushi area of Lagos.

"The cameraman, Adenihun, suffered facial injuries, while drones and equipment were seized" according to the news medium.

"In Ogun State, a News Agency of Nigeria's reporter, Adejoke Adeleye, was among journalists molested in Itori Odo Area of Abeokuta South Local Government Area where they faced mob attack by political thugs who equally reportedly assaulted INEC officials with axes and allegedly destroyed ballot boxes.

"The details also include the denial of access to journalists

who tried to capture voting in the polling unit of PDP Governorship candidate in Rivers State by some "overzealous police officers".

“The policemen refused passage despite the proof of identity provided by the journalists" the report from Rivers State stated "IPC strongly condemns these unacceptable attacks which constitute both the violation of the fundamental rights of the affected journalists and media workers and major assault on press freedom.

Continued online

VIOLENCE, APATHY, VOTER SUPPRESSION MAR GOVERNORSHIP, STATE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS they were prevented from voting.

An unidentified suspected hoodlum was also feared killed by a security agent after he allegedly snatched ballot papers at Startime Estate, Jamtok, Ago Palace Way. However, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, has debunked a social media report that a thug was shot dead in a polling unit, saying there was no such incident in the state.

Before the attacks on voters by hoodlums, CP Owohunwa, gave an assurance that the police had made adequate deployment throughout the state and assured the voters of their safety.

The Lagos CP said: “We have deployed officers and men to areas where there were problems during the last presidential and National Assembly elections.”

But despite this assurance, thugs had a field day, snatching BVAS, disenfranchising voters, and unleashing violence on those suspected of sympathising with the state’s opposition parties.

The thugs also attacked and brutalised the crew of ARISE NEWS Channel, including the cinematographer, Opeyemi Ademihun, who was operating the drone.

Ademihun and other crew were brutally assaulted at Ikate around Elegushi’s Palace.

CP Owohunwa has, however, disclosed that the police had made some arrests and recovered weapons and sensitive election materials.

Owohunwa said this while speaking with journalists after monitoring the elections in the state.

The police commissioner said some persons were also arrested over various electoral offences in different parts of the state.

Expectedly, the violence elicited widespread condemnation.

In their separate reactions, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and the candidate of the LP, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, expressed displeasure over the violence which engulfed the election in the state.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said: “I want to reiterate that this contest is about peace and prosperity for our people. Everyone should have a right to express themselves peacefully.”

On his part, Rhodes-Vivour raised the alarm that thugs were attacking LP supporters and preventing them from voting.

He also lamented the late arrival and, in some cases, the

non-arrival of election materials in LP strongholds.

Also reacting, a former Nigerian Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, expressed outrage at the coordinated criminal gangs responsible for the violence and mayhem that plagued the Lagos State elections.

She wrote in a series of tweets on her Twitter handle: “In your desperation for power, you designed a coordinated web of criminal gangs to kill and maim your citizens who did no wrong whatsoever, and tomorrow you’ll go into a Church to call the name of God? I assure you that chewing concrete as a salad would be child’s play.”

In his message of peace, the paramount ruler of Iwoland, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi Telu1, in a statement made available to THISDAY, condemned the acts of violence, insisting that “law enforcement agencies should make sure Lagos is safe and secure with zero tolerance to lawbreakers and inciters of violence.”

However, in its reaction, the spokesperson of the state APC, Seye Oladejo, called on the security agencies to note what the party described as Rhodes-Vivour’s threat to set Lagos on fire.

“Should there be any breakdown of law and order in any part of our state, law enforcement agencies should know who to grab - Mr Rhodes-Vivour. We are compiling reports of how APC supporters were harassed and attacked today.

Some of the reports are really scary,” Oladejo added.

Meanwhile, following their inability to vote in some polling units in the state, INEC has postponed the governorship and state assembly elections in 10 polling units in the Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki, to Sunday, March 19 (today).

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Segun Agbaje, announced this when he addressed reporters at the VGC. In Osun State, the APC and the PDP were trading blame over the killing of a member of the ruling PDP in the state.

While the PDP accused a member of the APC of killing one of its state officials in Ila Orangun, the Chairman of the Ila Orangun LGA chapter of the APC, Mr. Joseph Adedokun, said in a statement that it was a PDP thug that mistakenly killed the PDP member when he fired at APC members who were protesting

the over-voting recorded in one of the polling units in Ward 4.

In Delta State, there was violence in Mosogar, Ethiope West Local Government Area, as two persons were reportedly shot dead, and the house of a former Chairman of the local government area, Dr. Wilson Omene, was set ablaze.

They were shot dead by military personnel as they allegedly tried to flee a polling unit with snatched ballot boxes.

One of the two persons who disrupted the polling exercise at Utagaba-Uno in Ndokwa West Local Government Area was also reportedly killed.

During yesterday’s elections in Niger State, a middle-aged man was shot dead in the Sauka-Kahuta area of Minna, the state capital.

According to an eyewitness, the man was shot when he and others were throwing stones at security operatives deployed to the area to ensure the orderly conduct of the elections.

In Busu, Lavun LGA of the state, thugs reportedly invaded the Gbadagbadzu polling unit, destroying ballot boxes and scattering the votes already cast.

The thugs also injured three people who had cast their ballots and were waiting for the votes to be counted.

In Rivers State, no fewer than five people were feared killed in separate incidents.

Three persons were feared killed in Ogbakiri Community, Emohua LGA of the state, when the gunmen invaded Elibrada Community, shooting sporadically.

The Chairman of the APC, Chief Emeka Beke, disclosed this after casting his vote at Ward Three in Elibrada Community, Emohua LGA Beke noted that the three victims, with a sitting lawmaker in the state, had hijacked ballot boxes before the military arrived.

He said the three were killed while attempting to make away with the sensitive materials.

Two other persons were killed during a heavy shooting at Bori, the headquarters of Khana LGA in the state, when voters trooped out en masse to protest alleged irregularities.

The voters alleged that materials were transferred to the homes of top politicians, while materials meant for Ikwerre LGA were sent to them.

No fewer than 22 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines were reportedly missing in Rivers State.

TINUBU’S CAMP NOMINATED INEC BOSS, YAKUBU, AMAECHI CLAIMS people wanted, and nobody has spoken.

“The governor has no right to declare anybody wanted. The IG (Inspector General of Police) is doing nothing, and nobody is doing anything - complete failure. There is voter apathy in Rivers. Nobody wants to come out because people are scared.

“INEC is a complete failure.

There are those of us who opposed the reappointment of Yakubu Mahmood. The person who nominated him is a member

of Tinubu’s camp. So what are you expecting?

“Here in Rivers State, Mahmood worked under Wike as Executive Secretary of TETFund; so what you are having in Rivers is that APC and other parties are contesting, not against PDP, but against INEC, against police.”

Speaking earlier on ARISE NEWS Channel, Amaechi had narrated how Wike instigated the arrest of many members of the opposition political parties on election day, and declared

many others wanted, wondering where he derived the powers to declare people wanted.

He noted that the actions of the Rivers State governor was because of the total failure of governance in the country.

However, Governor Wike, who was accredited at his Obio Akpor Ward 9 Unit 7 and voted at 11:16 am, said, “I can say they (INEC) have done very well, unlike what we had on 25 February. They have improved more than what we had in February.”

In Cross River State, a member of the APC was also shot dead at Ogoja in the northern senatorial district of the state.

The victim, who was simply identified as Joe, was allegedly shot dead by a soldier for causing a crisis at a polling unit.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, said, “that is the information we got.”

In Akwa Ibom State, two persons, whose identities were unknown, were reportedly shot dead by security operatives while approaching the INEC office at Oko Ita headquarters of Ibiono Ibom LGA for an undisclosed mission.

The governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Senator Bassey Albert, told journalists at his country home that the corpses were immediately taken away in an official government vehicle.

Senator Albert from Ibiono Ibom LGA expressed shock over the incident and called on security operatives to properly investigate the killing.

However, the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, while speaking with journalists after voting in his area, Awa Iman, ward 1, unit 1, Onna LGA, decried the invasion of the state by fake police personnel.

Emmanuel said he knew of a woman who came to the state as Commissioner of Police with a truckload of fake policemen to disrupt the elections.

In Benue State, a suspected ballot box snatcher was gunned down at a polling unit in Gboko LGA. An eyewitness said the young man was shot dead while another sustained gunshot injury when they

tried to snatch a ballot box at a polling unit in Gboko South.

Chairman of Gboko LGA, Isaac Mtom, said he got information that one person was shot while trying to cart away electoral materials.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP. Catherine Anene said she was yet to receive the report.

Some men who allegedly dressed in Army uniform also beat up a member of the House of Representatives, representing Buruku Federal Constituency in the state, Kpam Jimin Sokpo.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Sam Egwu, has, however, announced the postponement of the governorship and state assembly elections in Kwande LGA of the state.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has confirmed the arrest of scores of suspected thugs in the Nsukka axis of Enugu State.

The spokesman of the Enugu State Command of the corps, Danny Iwuchukwu, who confirmed the arrest, said that the operation was carried out in the early hours of yesterday.

He said that the thugs, numbering over 100, were arrested by officers of the Nigerian Army providing security in the Nsukka axis after an intelligence tip-off at a popular hotel in Nsukka.

He noted that the thugs, who were arrested with AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons, including axes, clubs, and matchets, have since been handed over to the Nigeria Police in Nsukka In Taraba State, hoodlums stormed the distribution centre of INEC in Akate and Asibiti Wards of Donga LGA, where they

vandalised the electoral materials.

In Kano State, security personnel averted attempts by thugs to disrupt the voting process at polling unit 02 Charanchi Ward, where the state Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Abbas, was casting his votes.

In Imo State, INEC confirmed the kidnapping and rescue of 19 members of its ad hoc staff while on their way to conduct the elections in Ideato South Local Government Area of the state.

INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Imo, Prof. Sylvia Agu, disclosed this in a statement in Owerri; however, they noted that the election materials, including BVAS machines, were still missing.

In Kaduna State, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who lamented the low turnout of voters, also noted cases of intimidation of voters in the southern parts of the state.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State also lamented that the turnout of voters was below expectation.

In Kogi State, the Senator-elect for Kogi West Senatorial District and a two-term member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Sunday Steve Karimi, also stated a low turnout of voters compared with the large turnout witnessed at the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Low turnout also marred the exercise in Kwara State yesterday.

In an interview with ARISE NEWS Channel, the Vice Presidentelect, Senator Kashim Shettima, also noted that the turnout of voters was not as impressive as was expected.

Continued on page 8

BUHARI: APC WILL TRIUMPH AT GOVERNORSHIP, HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY POLLS told Nigerians that we will work for them, and we have done our best in education and health facilities, and Nigerians appreciate our efforts.”

The president urged the electorate to follow their conscience in choosing the right leaders, both state executives and legislatures, admonishing that the era of vote buying had been diminished.

“I am aware that the money is not there like before for people to sway voters like they used to do. And if they bring out money now, the people should pocket it and still vote their conscience,’’ he said.

President Buhari noted that he was not surprised at the results of the presidential elections on February 25, 2023, which saw Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerging as President-elect since the APC campaigns were thorough and detailed.

The president noted that the APC followed the constitutional procedure for the entire electoral process, choosing a party Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who had served as a two-term Governor in Nasarawa State, and legislator in the Senate, with experience that would secure the electoral value and relevance of the party.

On deepening the democratic culture and rising awareness among Nigerians, President Buhari said

the media had played a major role in empowering people with information on their rights and providing a platform for voters to challenge leaders on promises and records.

He said: “The media is doing very well creating awareness and enabling the right conversation.

You can hear the tough questions for leaders during interviews on TV, radio, and other platforms, and the journalists always press for answers.”

Meanwhile, President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Gambari, said the president is committed to a peaceful transition on May 29.

Speaking after casting his vote at Polling Unit 004 Akanbi ward, in Ilorin, Kwara State capital. Prof.

Gambari expressed delight about the peaceful conduct of the election, commending voters at the polling unit, which hosts fourth booths, for their orderly conduct.

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo Osinbajo, yesterday voted at the Egunrege Polling Unit 14, Ward 1 in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, where he expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election.

Speaking afterward with journalists, the vice president said: “From here at my polling unit, it is excellent. The whole process has

been conducted very well, and I just hope and pray that this is how it is being carried out across the nation.

“It has been a very pleasant experience. I am glad that I can cast my votes, and so many others who want to cast their votes have been able to do so,” he added.

In a related development, the president of the Senate, Lawan, has expressed confidence that the APC will win not less than 28 states.

Lawan spoke while responding to questions from journalists at the Katuzu ward polling unit in Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State, where he cast his vote during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

In a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi, the Senate president said: “We are in control of the National Assembly. We have won the presidency. We will win nothing less than 28 states at the end of this election.”

“The APC and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari deserve credit that we have allowed the process to be entirely determined by the guidelines and regulations of INEC. That we don’t use our incumbency factor to stop other political parties or opposition from winning in areas that are strong APC enclaves,” he added.

6

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

7

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • MARCH 19, 2023

8

NEWS

VOTING FOR CONSOLIDATION...

GETTING READY TO VOTE...

President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, and his wife, Oluremi, when he arrived to cast his ballot during the governorship Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, being accredited during the 2023 governorship and state and House of Assembly elections at the Sunday Adigun Street Polling Unit 085 Ward C in Alausa, Ikeja…yesterday House of Assembly elections in Lagos… yesterday…. SUNDAY ADIGUN

Go After Thugs Now, Jonathan Tells Security Agencies Says the world is watching Nigeria Atiku scores INEC below expectation Abdulsalami charges candidates to accept outcome of elections in good faith Chuks Okocha in Abuja, Laleye Dipo in Minna and Daji Sani in Yola Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday challenged security operatives to go after the miscreants that used violence to disrupt the governorship and state assembly elections in some areas and undermined Nigeria’s democratic process.

This is as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, berated the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the general election.

However, a former military

Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), charged the candidates who contested the governorship and state House of Assembly elections to accept the results in good faith.

Jonathan also urged them to be professional by maintaining law and order and ensuring perpetrators of violence are brought to book.

Jonathan, who spoke after casting his ballot at his Otuoke polling unit in Bayelsa State, where only the House of Assembly election took place, also condemned the violence and voter suppression recorded in some parts of the state and

VIOLENCE, APATHY, VOTER SUPPRESSION MAR GOVERNORSHIP, STATE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS vote.

Nigerians Discouraged “When the first election came

by Presidential Poll’s and went - if people didn’t get what Outcome, Say Obi, they want, they’re discouraged.

Wike And you can’t force people to

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the LP, Obi, who voted at his Amatutu polling unit in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, at around 11:20 am, said that he observed voter apathy and “transactional politics,” unlike in the February 25 presidential polls.

He also condemned a situation where politicians buy votes at all costs.

He said: “The electorate was discouraged from coming to vote because of what happened in the last poll that did not reflect the people’s wish.”

Obi said: “People have felt that their votes did not make sense after the previous one they voted for. A situation where over 90 million voters but only about 30 per cent come out to vote shows that they believe their votes will not count.

“Vote buying will not solve the problem of Nigeria. I don’t do transactional politics, but because people no longer see money in the banks, they should collect the money corrupt politicians give them and use it to eat.

“We are talking about our country and how to save it because it is already collapsing,” Obi added.

On his part, the Rivers State Governor, Wike, noted that the people were discouraged because they did not get what they wanted in the presidential election, adding that nobody can force anyone to

vote,” Wike said.

Yiaga Africa, CDD Raise the Alarm over Violence, Vote-buying

Yiaga Africa, a pro-election civil society group, in its preliminary report, said yesterday’s elections were marred by vote-buying, intimidation of voters, and thuggery across the states.

In its preliminary report released in Abuja, Yiaga Africa said, “party agents also attacked election observers in Kano and Ebonyi states. Party agents attacked Yiaga Africa observers for observing the election in Kano State.

On its part, CDD has raised doubts over the credibility of yesterday’s elections following alleged cases of the sale of votes, violence, and intimidation of voters.

While the group commended improvements in the conduct of the elections, especially in the deployment of logistics leading to the prompt arrival of INEC officials, the group noted that there were still occasional issues of non-functionality of the BVAS machines.

Briefing journalists, the Executive Director of the group, Idayat Hassan, said data from its 1,500 observers deployed across the country showed there were more cases of vote-buying compared to the presidential poll of February 25.

other parts of the country.

The former president noted that Nigeria has been recording progress in her democratic journey, adding that miscreants should not be allowed to undermine the gains.

He said: “Nobody should be allowed to mess up our electoral system. Those kinds of criminal acts took place in the past, but the country is moving forward, and some criminals cannot push us backward. The world is watching Nigeria, and we cannot allow criminal elements to push us backward,” he explained.

Jonathan expressed concern over the reported crisis in the State Constituency Two in the Anyama part of Ogbia in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, where miscreants allegedly burned election materials.

He called for the arrest and prosecution of the troublemakers, stressing that: “The police must arrest all those involved and prosecute them. If the police fail to do so, I will be highly

disappointed. The world is watching Nigeria.”

Speaking on the voting process and his experience with the voting exercise, Jonathan said: “Judging from my voting unit, election materials arrived earlier today than three weeks ago, and if that reflects in 70 - 80 percent of the country, then we will be very happy that INEC is improving in terms of the early arrival of voting materials.

Speaking further, Jonathan commended all Nigerians for their commitment and resilience in the 2023 elections cycle, beginning from their interest during the voter registration exercise sustained up to the primaries and days of voting.

He said: “I believe that Nigerians have decided that we must all participate in selecting our leaders. Any country where the ballot paper cannot help the leadership selection process is doomed. We must run a system where the ballot, not the courts, will decide who leads us, either

at the levels of the president, the governor, council leaders, or parliamentarians.”

Jonathan also debunked a recent report, which alleged that he asked those not satisfied with the outcome of elections not to seek redress in courts, stressing that the legal system is part of our democratic process, which helps to check the excesses of politicians and the errors and misconduct of the electoral umpire.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of PDP, Atiku, has berated INEC for the conduct of the general election.

Shortly after casting his voting at about 11:25a.m. at his Ajiya Ward polling units 012 in Yola North, Adamawa State, Atiku said he has no confidence in the exercise and scored the commission below expectations.

The former vice president said he was disappointed at INEC because it has not taken any step to improve on its performance since the conduct of the recent presidential and

National Assembly elections.

On his part, a former military Head of State, Abdulsalami, has charged the candidates who contested the governorship and state House of Assembly elections to accept the results in good fate.

Abdulsalami stated this shortly after casting his ballot at the Uphill Polling Unit in Minna, Niger State The former military leader, also the Chairman of the National Peace Committee, said, “so far, the elections seem to be free and fair.”

“So far, from what I have seen, everything is going smoothly. I was captured within a minute. I hope everything goes peacefully,” he added.

He commented on the alleged poor voter turnout and said he could not confirm emphatically “since I have not gone around to see things for myself.”

“I have not gone around, but it should be expected because people get tired of voting; I hope it will be peaceful throughout,” he added.

Unpaid N93m Debt: Court Grants Request to Take over Firm’s Asset Wale Igbintade A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted an order directing a financial institution, FundQuest Financial Services Limited, to foreclose and sell a property located at 42 Adeoye Adeyemi Street, Peace Estate, Maryland, belonging to NF Branding Nigeria Limited, over unpaid debt amounting to N93,071,739.7.

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa made the order while delivering judgment in a suit marked: FHC/L/CS/2220/2022 filed

by FundQuest Financial Services Limited against NF Branding Nigeria Limited, Olufela Joseph Seton, and Oduola Oladele.

The plaintiff, NF Branding Nigeria Limited, had approached the court through its lawyer, Mr. Adetunji Adedoyin-Adeniyi, seeking a declaration that the defendant’s failure to comply with the terms of the offer letters dated May 14, 2021, and July 8, 2021, between the plaintiff and the first defendant, vis-à-vis, the failure of the first defendant to liquidate the

loan facility, as agreed in the said offer letters constitute a breach of the contract validly entered between the plaintiff and the first defendant.

The plaintiff is also praying for a “declaration that the second and third defendants’ failure to comply with the terms of the Guarantee and Indemnity bonds dated May 17, 2021, and June 8, 2021, executed by each of them in favour of the plaintiff by liquidating the first defendant’s indebtedness despite express demand for same, is a breach of the contract validly entered and consummated between the plaintiff and the second and third defendants respectively”.

Consequently, the plaintiff prayed the court for an order mandating, compelling, and directing the defendants to immediately liquidate their outstanding indebtedness to the plaintiff, in the total sum of N93,071,739.07 million, as on March 21, 2022, by the Working Capital Facility offered to the

first defendant and Personally Guaranteed by the 2nd & 3rd defendants vide the plaintiff’s offer letters dated May 14, 2021, and of July 8, 2021, at a contractual interest rate of 3.00 per cent flat per month.

However, during the pendency of the suit, the defendants failed and refused to file any counter to the suit despite being served with all processes and Mareva Injunction earlier granted by the court.

Delivering judgment, Justice Lewis-Allagoa, held that despite service of the originating processes on the defendants, they failed to file a counter affidavit or respond to the claims.

The court stated that the law is trite that where an affidavit is filed to ascertain facts and the other party failed or neglected to file any counter affidavit to controvert or challenge the averment in the affidavit, those averments in the affidavit which are unchallenged are deemed to have been admitted by the other party and the court is bound

to act on it.

“I have examined the originating processes filed pursuant to this application, including all the exhibits attached to the affidavit, and I note particularly that the defendants, despite service upon them of the originating processes in this matter, have either neglected or failed to file any counter affidavit and the law is trite that where an affidavit is filed ascertain to facts therein contained and other party has failed or neglected to file any counter affidavit with a view of controverting or challenging the averment in the affidavit, those averments in the affidavit which are unchallenged and deemed to have been admitted by the other party and the court is bound to act on it.

“Consequently, I also have no reason to question the argument of counsel pursuant to those averments in the affidavit, the originating summons has merit, and all the prayers therein are hereby granted as prayed,’’ Justice Lewis-Allagoa held.

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

9

10

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • MARCH 19, 2023

NEWS

VOTING FOR CONTINUITY… Nasarawa State Governor, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, and his wife, Farida, casting their votes during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections at their Gudi Motor Park Polling Unit in ENOCK REUBEN Akwanga Local Government Area in the state…yesterday

Reports on Zoning of N’Assembly Leadership Positions Fake, APC Insists Sunday Aborisade in Abuja The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday insisted that the

widely reported news that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had zoned the various leadership positions in the National Assembly was fake.

Cash Crunch: Catfish, Poultry Farmers Lament Low Patronage Dike Onwuamaeze Catfish farmers have lamented low patronage due to the cash crunch across the country occasioned by the cashless policy and naira redesign of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

On its party, the Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria (PAN) said its members lost more than N30 billion worth of over 15 million egg crates due to the naira scarcity in the country.

The Catfish farmers said this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend in Lagos.

The Chief Executive Officer of Simple Aquaculture and Standard Resource Farms, Mr. Anthony Hammed, lamented the low demand for catfish despite the acceptance of the cashless policy.

“The issue of low demand for catfish in recent times is of real concern to us.

“The people are no longer buying catfish; fishes are just in the water consuming feeds and increasing our cost of operation.

“Although we accept mobile transfers, we noticed that sales just dropped suddenly since the Naira scarcity.

“Even now, we are slashing our prices just to sell our products even though the cost of ingredients and fish feed is skyrocketing daily,” Hammed said.

He noted that despite the high cost of feed materials, they had to slash prices to stay in business.

“Groundnut paste (GNC) soya fish meal is getting very expensive now, and people are not buying.

“Just to sell, we have to drop the price, we do not break even, but we still have a little margin of profit with which we keep body and soul together and to be in business,” he said.

Another farmer, Mrs Kemi Egbucha, said many farmers had closed their farms due to low patronage.

“In fish farming presently, many farmers opt out of the trade due to increased fish feed.

“Most times when fish farmers order feed from companies, they have their supplies delayed for up to a month, resulting in losses.

“We used to buy a bag of fish feed for N11,000 before but now it goes for as high as N20,600 per bag.

“Even at that, we still experience low demand,” Egbucha said.

On its part, PAN said its members lost more than N30 billion worth of over 15 million crates of eggs due to the effect of naira scarcity in the country.

The National President of PAN, Mr. Sunday Onallo-Akpa, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja.

“The poultry farmers in the country have lost over 15 million crates of eggs being unsold and are damaged; the average loss to the poultry industry as of this press release is more than over N30 billion,” he said.

Onallo-Akpa described the poultry industry in Nigeria as one of the most consolidated subsectors of Nigeria’s agriculture, contributing about 25 per cent of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and employing over 25 million Nigerians direct and indirect.

Adamu clarified while addressing journalists after casting his vote at his Keffi, Nasarawa State, country home.

He was reacting to a news report claiming that Senator Barau Jibrin was favoured to emerge as the Senate President because the NWC of the APC had allegedly zoned the Senate Presidency to the North-west.

But Adamu wondered why politicians would be engaging in wishful thinking instead of awaiting the official

pronouncement from the party.

He said: “The report about the zoning arrangements for the 10th National Assembly is fake news. We have not done any zoning.

“I have said it several times since Monday. I am still saying the same thing. No zoning has been established yet and agreed to.

“No zoning has been made public. Anybody who is saying anything to the contrary is spreading a rumour. It’s a wishful rumour,” he explained.

In a statement issued on Friday, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka described the stories of the zoning of leadership positions as false and misleading.

Morka said: “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to a report circulating on social media on purported zoning of key positions of the incoming 10th National Assembly. The report is false and misleading and should be disregarded in its entirety.

“The party has not decided on the zoning of positions or offices of the 10th Assembly.

“As soon as a decision is made on zoning, it will be made public through the party’s official communications channel.”

The misleading reports published by major newspapers yesterday claimed that the APC NWC had finally opted to zone the Senate Presidency position to the North-west geopolitical zone, making the “odds to favour Senator Barau Jibrin clear.”

Abuja Natives Seek Participation in Guber Elections, Condemn Discrimination

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants and Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO), have condemned the alleged discrimination against the citizens of the FCT who were prevented from participating in the governorship election held yesterday as enshrined in Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution.

President of the indigenous organisation, Ambassador Isaac David, in a press briefing held yesterday on behalf of the natives in Abuja, lamented that during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections, all eligible Nigerians trooped out to elect their leaders in the 36 states, except in Abuja, where millions of citizens were denied the right to vote and be voted for.

According to David, “meanwhile, the 1999 Constitution gives the FCT this right in Sections 42 and 34 (I) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and Articles 2, 3, 5, 13, 19 and 20 of the African Charter

on Human and Peoples’ Rights Ratification and Enforcement Act. Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

He lamented that the only Nigerians who are indigenes of the FCT are the only people who do not enjoy representation in the state government with a legislative body akin to the state House of Assembly and an executive body akin to that of a state governor.

David further said that the citizens of Nigeria who are indigenes of FCT are the only people in Nigeria that are not accorded the privilege and right to participate in elections to vote and to stand for elections into the legislature and executive like their counterparts in the 36 states of the federation.

“Citizens of Nigeria who are natives of Abuja are the only people in Nigeria that are subjected to the practical application of Federal Laws, Federal Executive and Legislative bodies and administrative or executive actions of the federal government under section 299 (a)(b), 301, 302 of the 1999 Constitution and

the Electoral Act (as amended) as such a flagrant violation of their fundamental rights to the dignity of a person, freedom from discrimination.

“The indigenous people of the capital city are the only people who a minister governs as a governor acting for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No minister has ever been appointed by the president, particularly the minister of the FCT, who have been non-indigenes since its creation in 1976.

“The people of Abuja are the only people who have been deprived of a 2nd tier system of government in a country practicing federalism.

So, it is highly disturbing to see that the Nigerian citizens who are natives of Abuja are the only people because of their place of origin and ethnic background not accorded privilege and rights, particularly those that flow from a 2nd tier system of government and dividends of democracy like their counterparts in the country.

David, therefore, said with the foregoing, they are telling the world about this flagrant and total violation of their rights,

which amounts to a denial of the FCT indigenes’ right to dignity of their person and freedom from discrimination as enshrined in sections 34, 42 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the African Charter on Humans and Peoples’ Rights.

“We, therefore as a citizen in dire political straits, want the President and National Assembly to exercise their legislative duty to go the extra mile by extra-constitutional civil means such as applying the ‘Doctrine of Necessity” in consideration of the exigency to protect the well-being of the indigenes of FCT, Abuja.

“They should pass a ‘Resolution’ providing for a political arrangement for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) such as the executive and legislative bodies equal to the states of the federation for elections into such offices as a matter of “necessity” to end the discrimination against these peace-loving and law-abiding indigenes before the inauguration of the new government comes May 29 this year,” he said.

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

11

12

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • MARCH 19, 2023

NEWS

THIS IS OUR REPORT… L-R: Director, Democracy and Governance, Mr. Njoku Emmanuel; Chief Executive, CODE, Mr. Hamzat Lawal; County Director, Accountability LAB Nigeria, Mr. Odeh Friday and Executive Director, ENOCK REUBEN DEAN Initiative, Mr. Semiye Michael, during the situation report on the gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections in Abuja…yesterday

Guber Polls: EFCC Arrests over 65 Persons for Voters’ Inducement Operatives attacked, injured in Kaduna

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin No fewer than 65 persons were arrested yesterday by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) across the 28 states where governorship and state House of Assembly elections were conducted for alleged voter inducement.

They also intercepted 35 bales of fabrics meant for voter inducement in Sokoto State.

However, the commission’s operatives on election monitoring duty in Kaduna State attacked School Road, Unguwan Rimi Kaduna, while attempting to arrest a suspected vote buyer.

The bales of fabric allegedly belonged to a principal officer of the Sokoto State House of Assembly.

The items have been moved to the Sokoto Zonal Command of the commission, pending the conclusion of the investigation.

In nearby Kebbi State, precisely Argungu Local Government Area, the EFCC team on election monitoring duties also intercepted a suspect with a vehicle fully loaded with fabrics and other items suspected to be earmarked for voter inducement.

The suspect was handed to the Police Area Command at Argungu

for safekeeping alongside the vehicle and the items while the team proceeded with election duties.

In Kaduna State, the team led

by ACE II Esmond Garba arrested one Buhari Muhammed in PU 002 Dogara Yaro Dagari area. He was arrested with voter coupons, which he confessed would be used to trace and pay those who voted for his party.

Furthermore, the team monitoring the voting exercise around LEA Kabala Doki, Kaduna, led by CSE Wakilu Omokide, also arrested two suspected of buying votes.

Upon their arrest, a total sum of N67,500, a list containing voters’ names with their PVC numbers and bank account details, amongst others, were recovered from the suspects.

In Port Harcourt, the election monitoring teams arrested 10 suspects in Port Harcourt alleged to be involved in voter inducement at Moscow Road, Elekahia, Township, Mile 2, Ward 2 polling Unit 2 and 30, Ogbum, PHALGA, Port Harcourt.

The suspects were arrested with A4 papers with the names, telephone and account numbers of persons suspected to be voters.

Also, two youths who were alleged to be involved in voter inducement were arrested at Ward 2 Polling

Unit 2 and 30, Ogbum, PHALGA, Port Harcourt City.

The vigilance of the monitoring teams also paid off in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where two ladies and six men were arrested at different locations (Moscow Road, Elekahia Township, and Mile 2) for alleged involvement in voter inducement.

The suspects were arrested with A4 papers with the names, telephone and account numbers of persons suspected to be voters.

The suspects have volunteered statements to the anti-graft commission.

In Kwara State, operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Office paraded 20 persons for alleged vote-buying during yesterday’s poll.

During the governorship and House of Assembly elections, the commission said the suspects were arrested in parts of Irepodun, Ilorin West, and Ilorin South Local Government Areas of the state.

Parading the suspects, Acting Commander, Ilorin Zonal Office of the commission, Mr Michael Nzekwe, said the commission acted on credible intelligence to carry out the operation.

Nzekwe added that “most people arrested were directly involved in vote-buying. Our mandate at the commission is to eradicate money’s influence in politics.

“We got credible intelligence, and we acted on the intelligence.

Some arrests were made in OmuAran, Ilorin South, and Ilorin West.

We were all over the 16 local government areas.

“We recovered huge amounts of cash and Point of Sales (POS) machines. We are still investigating the matter,” he explained.

He, therefore, said: “After the investigation, we will strictly follow the provisions of the law.”

The four persons arrested at different locations in Calabar by the team from Uyo Zonal Command, led by CE Binta A. Rano, are currently volunteering their statements at the Criminal Investigation Department, Cross River State Police Command.

The team arrested one Esther Asuquo Edem, the Woman Leader of one of the political parties for Ward 11, Calabar South, Cross River State, and two others, Edet Okon Etim and Asanwana Peter Eyo, for alleged vote buying in Calabar.

The Woman Leader, who had a list of suspected voters, their account numbers, and Thousands of Naira in cash, was apprehended inside an uncompleted building beside her Ward in Calabar South. At the same time, Etim and Eyo were arrested at Ward 12, Unit 11, at Kings Memorial School by Inyang

Military: Video of House Majority Leader, Doguwa Firing AK-47 Rifle Misrepresented Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said yesterday that the viral video depicting the Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa, firing an AK47 rifle guided by soldiers was misrepresented.

The viral video accentuated claims that the lawmaker allegedly used a rifle to open fire on voters, prompting his arrest and prosecution by the Nigeria Police.

But a statement issued by the Acting Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig Gen Tukur Gusau, said contrary to the impression created by the authors, the viral video was taken at Falgore Forest Military Training Camp during the 3 Brigade Nigerian

Army Training Exercise where he was invited as a special guest.

"The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to a viral video circulating on social media platforms, where the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, was seen firing an AK 47 rifle guided by military personnel.

"The Defence Headquarters wishes to state that the video is a calculated attempt by mischief makers to discredit the Armed Forces of Nigeria and dent its image before the good people of this country and the world at large," it said.

The statement said the video was taken at Falgore Forest Military Training Camp during the 3 Brigade

Nigerian Army Training Exercise, where the federal lawmaker was invited as a special guest.

"It is worthy to state that when senior citizens and special guests are invited for such exercises, they are accorded the honour to participate in the firing exercise as a ceremonial firing party without any intention in making them trained gunners or to master the use of firearms.

"Ceremonial firing in such an exercise is the practice in the world over and is not new in the Armed Forces of Nigeria as several other senior citizens have participated in such exercises in the past," the statement explained.

The military high command insisted that the viral video was posted with the intent to dent the

image of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, especially at this period when the role of the Armed Forces in the last presidential and National Assembly elections was hailed by Nigerians and the international community.

"In addition, some clerics have equally released audio clips containing wrong interpretations of the Majority Leader's speech at the occasion.

"This doctored interpretation of the speech is capable of instigating a crisis, thus leading to heightened tension as the country prepares for a smooth transition to another elected government," it said.

It said the military would not train or arm any individual or group to take up arms against the citizenry.

Street, Abasi Obori, Calabar South.

The duo of Etim and Eyo had with them their lists and money they allegedly used to buy votes.

In Gombe State, the Zonal Command, led by ACE Faruk M. Dogondaji, made 10 arrests for alleged voter inducement and recovered 43 pieces of wrappers and N 1 923,900 cash.

Investigations are still ongoing to determine the culpability of each suspect.

However, some operatives in Kaduna State attacked School Road, Unguwan Rimi Kaduna, while attempting to arrest a suspected vote buyer.

A statement by EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the team, working on intelligence on the alleged activities of one Kabiru Musa

who was seen in an amateur video allegedly inducing eligible voters by using his phone to transfer money into their accounts as they cast their votes, had mobilised to the scene to arrest the suspect.

However, immediately after the operatives accosted him, Musa became unruly and screamed to attract the attention of his syndicate members, who descended on the operatives, using all weapons that left some of them injured. It took great restraint for the operatives to ignore the unprovoked attack but insist on arresting the suspect.

As the team drove away with the suspect, their vehicle was pelted with stones and other dangerous objects that damaged the windshield. Three operatives suffered varying degrees of injuries in the process.

UK Earmarks £10m for Energy Solution in Sub-Saharan Africa Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The United Kingdom has earmarked a £10 million grant for innovators in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and South East Asia to address the energy situation in the benefitting countries.

Speaking at an energy catalyst meeting yesterday in Abuja, Knowledge Transfer Manager for the Innovate UK Nigeria, Mr. Joshua Adedeji, said the programme was designed to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

He added that it was one of the UK’s biggest energy access focused grant funding initiatives, stressing that the objective of the programme was to look out for innovations that could end energy poverty in benefitting countries.

Adedeji noted that the mission of the energy catalysts was to accelerate the intervention needed to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 by providing financial and advisory support to innovators.

He explained that transforming energy access was to speed up access to affordable, clean energy services for poor households, enterprises and social institutions in Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible countries.

Adedeji said: "One thing we

do with this programme is to ensure that organisations are able to bring in their ideas, their solutions and utilize the funds that are available. It is a £10 million fund that people can apply for. The fund is open till June this year."

He said to qualify for the grants, innovators must look for partners from the UK and present their proposals, stressing that the project must address transforming energy access and clean energy.

Adedeji added: ‘’We are particularly keen to receive projects which focus on the IndoPacific region. It must support the development, testing or scale up of innovative technologies or business models. A clear social or economic benefit in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the IndoPacific Region is required.

"Creating new energy access in unserved regions, improving existing access to provide a more reliable service."

On his part, the President of the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ayo Ademilua, said the intervention would boost clean energy access in the country.

He said the association would mobilize its members across the country and connect them with partners in the UK to benefit from the grant

SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023 • T H I S D AY

13

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

14

NEWS

News Editor: Gboyega Akinsanmi E-mail: gboyega.akinsanmi@thisdaylive.com,08152359253

VICTORY WALK… Former Chief Executive Officer/Head of Lagos State Law Enforcement Training Institute, Mr. Adewale Ojora (second left) and the immediate past Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem (second right) flanked by chieftains of All Progressives Congress in victory walk after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu won Ward B1 Polling Units on Lagos Island... yesterday

Senior Lawyer Canvasses Fresh Amendment to 1999 Constitution Gboyega Akinsanmi Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari signed 16 Constitution Amendment Bills into law on Friday, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Joseph B. Daudu (SAN), canvassed fresh amendments to the 1999 Constitution that will decisively reduce the power of the federal government.

Daudu, also a former SecretaryGeneral of the International Council of Jurists, observed that comprehensive restructuring should be the main thrust of the next amendment to the constitution to adopt a six-region federal structure.

He made the recommendations in response to THISDAY’s inquiries on the constitutional amendment that allowed states to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid.

Buhari had signed the constitutional amendment that allowed states to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid.

The President had assented to 19 bills, 16 of which altered some provisions of the 1999 Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution,

now Fifth Alteration Bills 2023.

Reacting to Buhari’s assent to Fifth Alteration Bills 2023, Daudu noted that the constitutional amendment “is a welcome development.”

According to him, nothing should be taken away from fully commending the National Assembly and President for bringing to a conclusion such a much-discussed and financially expensive exercise.

The senior lawyer, however, observed that the problems with the federation “do not lie in the letter of the law per se, but in the mentality of the persons administering those laws.

“Now that the 1999 Constitution has been further amended, let us wait and see the impact it will have on the society and how they will be implemented,” Daudu emphasised the need to ensure full implementation of the Fifth Amendment.

Beyond the 16 amendments to the 1999 Constitution, Daudu canvassed the need to determine the governmental structure that is cost-effective and efficient for Nigeria While he agreed that Nigeria should continue to practice federalism, Daudu noted that the critical question “is whether it is politically

Oyebanji Mourns as Ex-Ekiti Dep Gov Dies at 79 Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has expressed condolences on the passing of the immediate past Deputy Governor of the state, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi.

Otunba Egbeyemi died on Friday evening after a brief illness.

He was 79 years old.

Egbeyemi, a renowned teacher and lawyer, served as Deputy Governor between October 16, 2018 and October 15, 2022. He had earlier served as a legislator in the old Ondo State. He later served as chairman, Ado Local Government Council and Commissioner for Education.

Oyebanji, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode, described the late Deputy Governor as a statesman of repute, respected community leader and a great lover of his people, who made

very significant contributions to the growth and development of the state.

He described the late Egbeyemi as a distinguished leader who served Ekiti State meritoriously in different capacities and continued to contribute to the development and stability of the state out of office, till he breathed his last.

Oyebanji who described Otunba Egbeyemi as a man of Honour, a great leader of his people and a father figure to many, said the late Deputy Governor would be sorely missed for his frankness, deep insight and wise counsel .

Saying that the late Egbeyemi lived a fulfilled life in the service of God, the state and humanity, Oyebanji urged his children, family and associates to be consoled with the fact the late Egbeyemi lived well, served well and ended his journey on this side of the divide on a glorious note.

wise and indeed financially prudent to run the 36 state structures that we are presently practicing.”

For obvious reasons, the senior lawyer observed that restructuring “ought to have been the main thrust of this amendment exercise embarked upon by the ninth National Assembly.

“It requires great political willpower, lacking, to propose and support a venture such as restructuring Nigeria into six regions consisting of the six zones

now entrenched in our political psyche and lexicon.

“The regions are South-west, South-east, South-south, Northcentral, North-west, and North-east, which will be the component zones of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while the centre remains in Abuja,” he suggested.

He explained the benefits of the six-region federal structure proposal, noting that it would reduce the cost of governance and the over-bearing nature of

the presidency in Abuja at the penurious expense of the States.

The senior advocate said: “From this angle, we must examine the potency and cogency of the present amendments.

“The real question is where will these fragmented entities, i.e., the present 36 States raise enough funds to build modern railway infrastructure within the boundaries of their respective territories.

“It is almost impossible to carry out such a venture in a situation

where most of these states cannot pay the salaries or wage bill of their civil servants and run basic amenities,” Daudu explained.

While acknowledging that the amendments “are a step in the right direction,” Daudu explained that the federation needed much more than mere tokenism in the matters of a constitutional amendment.

He thus noted that Nigeria, as a federation, required concrete measures to catapult it to the next stage of nationhood.

Nigeria Recorded 109 Deaths Related to 2023 Elections, CDD Reveals Michael Olugbode in Abuja No fewer than 109 electionrelated deaths have been recorded across Nigeria in the build-up to the 2023 general election, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has revealed.

CDD, a pro-democracy thinkthank, challenged tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to learn key lessons learnt from its conduct of the presidential poll of February 25 to improve the

conduct of the state elections.

This was contained in a statement the CDD released on its website yesterday, noting that its tracker recorded the deaths between January 1 and 10 March.

In its statement, the CDD revealed that highly contested elections in these states “are likely to be sites for election-violence that includes voter intimidation, ballot box snatching and the destruction of election materials.”

It added that states that

would hold gubernatorial polls with the most incidents of political violence since January 1 according to the Nigeria Election Violence Tracker are Lagos, Rivers, Kano, Delta and Anambra, with Kano the state with the most recorded deaths as a consequence at 20.

According to the organisation, Osun, Imo and Ebonyi have also seen a number of incidents in the past three months that could disrupt state house of assembly polls taking place in the state.

It revealed that no fewer than

109 deaths linked to political violence have been recorded from the start of the year to March 10 according to the tracker.

He said: “This is likely to worsen around elections with groups such as Yan Sakai, the Civilian Joint Task Force, Neighbourhood Watch, Amotekun andEbubeagu have been, and can be, armed and deployed by state governors and their allies to perpetrate electoral violence or suppress voter turnout, particular in areas of strong opposition support.

Two Policemen, Masari’s Nephew Die in Auto Crash Francis Sardauna in Katsina A nephew to Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, Amadu Ali and two policemen have died in a fatal road accident involving the convoy of the governor.

The incident occurred on Friday night at Gadar Tsuntsaye near Ji-

kamshi community, Musawa Local Government when the governor’s motorcade was advancing to Kafur for the governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

The police officers who died during the incident were identified as Kabir Adamu and Nura Safiyanu.

Masari, while confirming the

incident to journalists Saturday in Kafur, described the auto crash as terrible and vowed to examine the circumstances that led to the incident.

He explained that it was the last vehicle in the convoy, which lost control and rammed into a bridge “and the river there is deep and rocky as a result two policemen

and a son of my elder brother lost their lives”.

He added: “The other two occupants of the Hilux vehicle are in Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina. It was terrible. If you go inside the village the mode of the villagers is a bid town because of the loss. But then like they say ‘every life shall taste death’.

Pro-Obi Group Asks Buhari to Dismiss INEC Chairman Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja A pro-Peter Obi group, Restoration of Stolen Mandate Assembly (ROSMA) asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for gross misconduct, abuse of office, lack of competence and integrity.

The Director General of the group, Mr. Daniel Gambo made the call while addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja.

He noted that contrary to the clear provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections, 2022, INEC committed the most fundamental, suicidal and unpardonable infractions by

conducting the worst election in the history of Nigeria, which significantly undermined the legitimacy, transparency and credibility of the entire electoral process and the outcome.

Gambo stressed that the purported declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the president-elect and the issuance

of certificate of return constituted the worst abuse of democracy in Nigeria as it did not represent the will of majority of the voters and also falls short of the requirements of the Constitution.

He insisted that Tinubu who had been declared President- elect did not, by INEC’s own result, scored up to 25 percent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory.

15

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

BUSINESS

Editor: Festus Akanbi 08038588469 Email:festus.akanbi@thisdaylive.com

The Return of NLC The unresolved challenges of cash and fuel shortages, the tainted electoral process, and the planned removal of fuel subsidy may be the vehicle being banked upon by the new leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress to return the name of the union into the consciousness of Nigerians, reports Festus Akanbi

I

n what many observers described as a mission largely driven by the quest to test the waters, the new leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) last week gave a seven-day warning strike to the federal government.

Its long list of grievances includes the “surreptitious increase in electricity WDULͿ ZLWKRXW QRWLFH DQG LPSURYHPHQW LQ WKH quality of service.”

Also on the list is the twin problem of the country’s current Naira and fuel scarcity.

The union’s position is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the congress’ Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting held last week. It was jointly signed by its president, Joe Ajaero, and its General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the three major issues deliberated were the presidential/National Assembly elections; scarcity of petrol, and the redesigning of the naira notes and its aftermath.

“Accordingly, CWC resolved to give the government seven working days from Tuesday, March 14, to make Naira notes available to the people, or the congress would be compelled to direct its members to withdraw their services.

“Similarly, the CWC-in-session, after reviewing the fuel supply situation in the country and WKH DUELWUDU\ DWWHQGDQW FRVWV DW ÀOOLQJ VWDWLRQV expressed dismay at the disregard of the NNPC and Government. It accordingly resolved to ask the NNPC/ FGN to normalise the fuel supply situation,” the statement said.

Last month, the NLC, at its 13th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference in Abuja, settled for a consensus candidate in the person ofAjaero, who succeeded Comrade Ayuba Wabba.

Wabba, who served out two terms of four years each, became NLC president in 2015 and UHFHQWO\ ERZHG RXW RI R΀FH DV SUHVLGHQW RI WKH apex labour union in the country. His tenure was largely characterised by docility and compromise.

Although recent developments in the nation’s ÀQDQFLDO VHFWRU SRLQWHG WR D JUDGXDO UHVROXWLRQ RI the current naira scarcity issue, there are concerns that last week’s decision of the Central Bank to re-legitimise old naira notes openly may not be VX΀FLHQW WR DYHUW WKH LPSHQGLQJ ODERXU VWULNH Observers also believe that neither the issue of fuel scarcity, which has been with us for months, nor the poor handling of the presidential and the National Assembly elections could be resolved within seven days.

Show of Force Analysts believe the latest strike notice by the NLC is intended to serve purposes other than compel President Muhammadu Buhari’s outgoing government to resolve the cash and fuel crises. It is believed in certain quarters that the new leadership might be rebuilding its militant image as opposed to the use of negotiation and media campaigns during the period of the immediate past leadership.

Analysts in the labour sector pointed out that, given President-elect, Bola Tinubu’s pledge to end the contentious fuel subsidy when his adPLQLVWUDWLRQ WDNHV R΀FH WKH SODQQHG VHYHQ GD\ notice could be interpreted as a show of force by the new leadership of organised labour.

“The labour union’s position on removing the fuel subsidy is not in doubt. Nothing will stop the NLC from calling Nigerian workers out on a nationwide strike as soon as the new administration settles in,” a Lagos-based analyst told our correspondent.

He believed the anticipated industrial action would be one of the measures the new leadership would like to stamp its authority in the Nigerian space.

Some members of NLC during a protest march Fighting for the Nigerian Workers Shortly after his emergence as the new NLC President, Ajaero had warned employers of labour of the resolve of its leadership to tackle those infringing the rights of the Nigerian workers. Having expressed zero tolerance for issues OLNH FDVXDOLVDWLRQ VWDͿ RXWVRXUFLQJ DQG RWKHU unfavourable labour policies in public and private organisations, one is not surprised that Ajaero and his committee might be planning to test their might by confronting the government over some unpopular issues.

According to NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) representatives, the federal government has not done enough to bring the situation under control. Indeed, labour leaders in the country had alleged that multinationals regularly import ‘expatriates’ to take full-time employment, leavLQJ TXDOLÀHG 1LJHULDQV DV ¶FDVXDOV RU FRQWUDFW· workers with no legal status or employment EHQHÀW Ajaero stated this during a recent familiarisation Ajaero visit to labour unions in Lagos and Ogun states, where he lamented the challenges of outsourcing, over. No time for patience or laziness again. We FDVXDOLVDWLRQ DQG FRQWUDFW VWD΀QJ RI ZRUNHUV are ready to take our rightful place, which is Hepromisedtobringbacktheanti-casualisation why we will engage any government that takes committeeoftheNLC,statingthatworkersshould over,” he said.

QRW EH DW WKH UHFHLYLQJ HQG RI WKH ÁDZHG V\VWHP He also noted a new world of work where contract Change of Approach VWDͿHUV FRXOG EH XQLRQLVHG +H XUJHG WKH XQLRQV According to Executive Vice Chairman of to pencil down defaulting companies, which the Ibadan School of Government and Public disallowed workers to be unionised, stressing Policy, Prof Tunji Olaopa,Ajaero’s small stature is the need to create a Private Sector Negotiating inversely proportional to the immense strength Council (PSNC).

KH EULQJV WR WKH DEOH GHIHQFH RI PDWWHUV DͿHFWLQJ $MDHUR VDLG WKDW FRQJUHVV LV DOVR UHDG\ WR ÀJKW workers’ conditions and welfare. anti-labour governors for neglecting their welfare.

Olaopa, a professor of public policy, said that “This is not an era where any governor Ajaero demonstrates the new generation essence will insult us. Any governor or anybody that RI D VHOI HͿDFLQJ FLYLOLVHG KXPDQH KXPEOH wants to punish workers should be ready for and cosmopolitan leader, the type that Nigeria’s war because we will not allow it. We are out for democratic experiment needs at a time when serious business. All inhuman working condi- it becomes imperative that the Nigerian state tions or anti-labour activities, especially from the must compellingly self-discover and redirect governors, will no longer be acceptable. her development agenda.

“Many organisations have been destroyed as a He maintains that it becomes imperative to take result of anti-labour policies. Workers are always seriously Ajaero’s commencement speech and at the receiving end. Workers create wealth, and the ideological signature that connects his labour it is time for us to enjoy it,” he stated. objective with the plights of Nigerians. He said, Ajaero said the congress is ready to engage “Ajaero’s insistence on reconnecting Nigerians to the incoming government. He said the workers the core objectives of labour movements signals are ready to be involved in governance. to me the willingness of this new leadership to “We will engage any government to come take on the debilitations of elite bargains that up, and the era of sitting down and looking is GLVFRQQHFW 1LJHULDQV IURP WKH EHQHÀWV RI VD\

developmental democracy that the elite could achieve for them.”

Olaopa maintained that IfAjaero could subvert this elite bargain and bet on development, he would have procured a very solid legacy that would write his name and that of the NLC in the annals of Nigerian history.

The professor believed that “Ajaero’s determination to “reconnect more strongly to build greater solidarities with the people of Nigeria’” contains a huge historical content that locates him already in the trajectory of the labour unions’ UROH LQ 1LJHULD·V ÀJKW IRU LQGHSHQGHQFH DQG democratic governance. From the Nigerian Civil Service Union to the Railway Workers Union, trade unions were forceful in their nationalistic contentions for Nigeria’s freedom.”

But are Ajaero and his colleagues in the labour movement aware of the bloody nature of the ÀJKW WKH\ DUH DERXW WR VWDUW" $QDO\VWV VDLG WKH struggle against the establishment would be long and dreary. The Imo State government has already described the recent strike called by the labour in the state as a proxy war by the new labour leader.

7KH VWDWH FODLPV WR KDYH FODVVLÀHG LQIRUPDWLRQ indicating that the President of NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, is in a secret political agreement with VRPH FROODERUDWRUV WR XVH KLV R΀FH WR DFWXDOLVH the governorship ambition of his relative.

The NLC was formally constituted as the country’s only national federation of trade unions in 1978. Before then, four labour centres existed. These are Nigeria Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Labour Unity Front (LUF), United Labour Congress (ULC) and Nigeria Workers Council(NWC).TheemergenceoftheNLCended decades of rivalry and animosity involving the IRXU FHQWUHV DQG XQLRQV D΀OLDWHG ZLWK WKHP The unions, numbering over 1,000, were also restructured into 42 industrial unions. Previous NLCpresidentsincludedWahabGoodluck(1978); Hassan Sunmonu (1979); Ali Chiroma (1984); Paschal Bafyau (1988);Adams Oshiomhole (1999); Abdulwaheed Omar (2007-2011);Ayuba Wabba (2015-2023).

Whether the NLC eventually activates the strike or not, both the outgoing administration and the incoming ones have certainly got the message that the current NLC leadership will have to be courted and carried along in the scheme of things for the sake of industrial harmony.

16

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

FINANCE

Mitigating Risks in Nigerian Banking Sector In this piece, James Emejo aggregates analysts’ perspectives on the US banking crisis and the lessons IRU 1LJHULDQ ÀQDQFLDO V\VWHP VWDELOLW\

T

he collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10, 2023, following a bank UXQ PDUNLQJ WKH VHFRQG largest bank failure in United States history - and the largest since the 2008 ÀQDQFLDO FULVLV DV ZHOO DV WKH VLPLODU GLVWUHVV of New York-based Signature Bank, had VHQW VKRFNZDYHV DFURVV WKH JOREDO ÀQDQFLDO landscape – and elicited reactions across the world.

7KH GHYHORSPHQW KDV DOVR VWUHVVHG WKH 1LJHULDQ ÀQDQFLDO V\VWHP·V QHHG IRU SURSHU regulatory oversight.

According to reports, SVB’s deposits LQFUHDVHG IURP ELOOLRQ LQ 0DUFK WR ELOOLRQ LQ 0DUFK EHQHÀWLQJ IURP WKH LPSDFW RI WKH &29,' SDQGHPLF on science and technology.

Most of these deposits were invested LQ ORQJ WHUP 7UHDVXU\ ERQGV DV WKH EDQN VRXJKW D KLJKHU UHWXUQ RQ LQYHVWPHQW WKDQ ZDV DYDLODEOH RQ VKRUWHU WHUP ERQGV 7KHVH ORQJ WHUP ERQGV IHOO LQ FXUUHQW PDUNHW YDOXH DV LQWHUHVW UDWHV URVH GXULQJ WKH ² LQÁDWLRQ VXUJH DQG WKH\ EHFDPH OHVV DWWUDFWLYH DV LQYHVWPHQWV ,Q $SULO 69%·V FKLHI ULVN R΀FHU stepped down, and a successor was not QDPHG XQWLO -DQXDU\ ³D SHULRG FRinciding with interest rate increases.

6HHNLQJ KLJKHU LQYHVWPHQW UHWXUQV LQ 69% EHJDQ VKLIWLQJ LWV PDUNHWDEOH VHFXULWLHV SRUWIROLR IURP VKRUW WHUP WR ORQJ WHUP 7UHDVXU\ ERQGV 7KH PDUNHW YDOXH RI WKHVH ERQGV GHFUHDVHG VLJQLÀFDQWO\ WKURXJK and into 2023 as the Federal Reserve raised LQWHUHVW UDWHV WR FXUE DQ LQÁDWLRQ VXUJH causing unrealised losses on the portfolio.

Higher interest rates also raised borrowing FRVWV WKURXJKRXW WKH HFRQRP\ DQG VRPH Silicon Valley Bank clients started pulling PRQH\ RXW WR PHHW WKHLU OLTXLGLW\ QHHGV 7R raise cash to pay withdrawals by its depositors, SVB announced on March 8 that it had VROG RYHU ELOOLRQ ZRUWK RI VHFXULWLHV ERUURZHG ELOOLRQ DQG ZRXOG KROG DQ HPHUJHQF\ VDOH RI VRPH RI LWV WUHDVXU\ VWRFN WR UDLVH ELOOLRQ 7KH DQQRXQFHPHQW DQG ZDUQLQJV IURP SURPLQHQW 6LOLFRQ 9DOOH\ LQYHVWRUV FDXVHG D EDQN UXQ DV FXVWRPHUV ZLWKGUHZ ELOOLRQ by the following day. +RZHYHU UDWKHU WKDQ PHUH LQYHVWPHQW PLVVWHSV DQDO\VWV KDYH SRLQWHG WR SRVVLEOH LQVLGHU DEXVH LQ WKH DͿHFWHG EDQNV FDIC Intervention 2Q 0DUFK WKH &DOLIRUQLD 'HSDUWPHQW RI )LQDQFLDO 3URWHFWLRQ DQG ,QQRYDWLRQ seized SVB and placed it under the Federal 'HSRVLW ,QVXUDQFH &RUSRUDWLRQ )',& receivership. $ERXW SHU FHQW RI WKH EDQN·V ELOOLRQ LQ GHSRVLW OLDELOLWLHV H[FHHGHG WKH PD[LPXP LQVXUHG E\ WKH )',& ZKLFK ODWHU UHFHLYHG H[FHSWLRQDO DXWKRULW\ IURP WKH 7UHDVXU\ DQG announced jointly with other agencies that all depositors would have full access to their IXQGV WKH QH[W PRUQLQJ 6HHNLQJ WR DXFWLRQ RͿ DOO RU SDUWV RI WKH EDQN WKH )',& UHRSHQHG LW RQ 0DUFK DV D newly organised bridge bank, Silicon Valley %ULGJH %DQN $OWKRXJK VRPH FKDUDFWHULVHG WKH JRYHUQPHQW UHVSRQVH DV D EDLORXW WKH plan did not entail rescuing the bank, its PDQDJHPHQW RU LWV VKDUHKROGHUV EXW UDWKHU PDNLQJ XQLQVXUHG GHSRVLWRUV ZKROH IURP WKH proceeds of selling the bank’s assets without WKH XVH RI WD[SD\HU PRQH\ 7KH FROODSVH RI 69% KDG VLJQLÀFDQW FRQVHTXHQFHV IRU VWDUWXSV LQ WKH 86 DQG DEURDG ZLWK PDQ\ EULHÁ\ XQDEOH WR ZLWKGUDZ PRQH\ IURP WKH EDQN 2WKHU ODUJH WHFKQRORJ\ FRPSDQLHV PHGLD FRPSDQLHV DQG ZLQHULHV ZHUH DOVR DͿHFWHG 7KLV ZDV the bank of choice for several founders

Emefiele and venture capital backers. Its stock price URXJKO\ WULSOHG IURP WR $OVR D VHFRQG 86 ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQ 6LJQDWXUH %DQN IDFHG D VLPLODU SUREOHP 69%·V FROODSVH SURPSWHG PDQ\ FXVWRPHUV WR ZLWKGUDZ WKHLU GHSRVLWV RXW RI D VLPLODU FRQFHUQ RYHU OLTXLGLW\ ULVN $ERXW SHU FHQW RI LWV GHSRVLWV ZHUH uninsured.

According to reports, while SVB and 6LJQDWXUH %DQN ZHUH FRPSO\LQJ ZLWK UHJXODWRU\ UHTXLUHPHQWV WKH FRPSRVLWLRQ of their assets was not in line with industry averages. $ VLJQDWXUH KDG MXVW RYHU ÀYH SHU FHQW RI its assets in cash, and SVB had seven per FHQW FRPSDUHG ZLWK WKH LQGXVWU\ DYHUDJH RI SHU FHQW ,Q DGGLWLRQ 69%·V SHU FHQW RI DVVHWV LQ À[HG LQFRPH VHFXULWLHV FRPSDUH ZLWK WKH LQGXVWU\ DYHUDJH RI SHU FHQW Need for Enhanced Regulatory Environment The fall of both SVB and Signature Bank has continued to create global ripples with UHDFWLRQV IURP JRYHUQPHQWV DQG EXVLQHVVHV :KLOH UHDFWLQJ WR WKH GHYHORSPHQW WKH *RYHUQRU RI WKH &HQWUDO %DQN RI 1LJHULD &%1 0U *RGZLQ (PHÀHOH DGYLVHG central bankers and regulators worldwide to be vigilant and guard against failures of ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV LQ WKHLU MXULVGLFWLRQV (PHÀHOH ZKR VSRNH DW WKH RSHQLQJ RI WKH $IULFDQ &HQWUDO %DQN &RQIHUHQFH KHOG DW WKH *OREDO /HDGHUVKLS &HQWHU -RKDQQHVburg, South Africa, also advised governors RI FHQWUDO EDQNV DQG RWKHU $IULFDQ ÀQDQFLDO VHFWRU UHJXODWRUV WR LPSURYH WKHLU VXSHUYLVRU\ UROHV WR IRUHVWDOO DQ\ UXQ RQ ÀQDQFLDO institutions in their countries. &RPPHQWLQJ IXUWKHU RQ WKH FXUUHQW JOREDO

G\QDPLFV DQG VSHFLÀF SROLF\ GHYHORSPHQWV LQ 1LJHULD WR DGGUHVV HPHUJLQJ VKRFNV KH DGYLVHG FHQWUDO banks on the continent to draw OHVVRQV IURP WKH UHFHQW IDLOXUH RI Silicon Valley Bank and Signature %DQN LQ WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV RI $PHULFD by putting in place regulations that will prevent any run-on banks in their countries.

7KH &%1 JRYHUQRU VDLG ´$ PDMRU reason that contributes to bank failures is when the bank cannot PHHW GHSRVLWRUV· GHPDQGV IRU WKHLU PRQH\ 7KLV XVXDOO\ UHVXOWV LQ D UXQ There is a need for regulators to LQVXODWH WKH EDQNLQJ V\VWHP IURP collapse. ´7KH GHYDVWDWLRQ WR OLYHV DQG OLYHOLKRRGV FDXVHG E\ WKH &29,' JOREDOO\ $QG DIWHU &29,' ZH VWDUWHG VHHLQJ HFRQRPLHV GHYHORS DJDLQ WKH QXPEHUV ZHUH JRRG DQG ÀQDQFLDO PDUNHW FRQGLWLRQV ZHUH better; suddenly, in 2022, another FULVLV FDPH WKH ZDU EHWZHHQ 5XVVLD and Ukraine that has unfortunately FUHDWHG IRU WKH JOREDO HFRQRP\ ´$OO WKH IRUHFDVWV PDGH E\ WKH IMF and World Bank have begun to JR VRXWK DQG LQÁDWLRQDU\ SUHVVXUH EHJDQ WR FOLPE µ (PHÀHOH KLJKOLJKWHG PHDVXUHV WKH &%1 WRRN DIWHU WKH VXESULPH PRUWJDJH FULVLV WKDW OHG WR WKH FROODSVH RI JOREDO ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV WR DYRLG FRQWDJLRQ HͿHFWV RQ EDQNV in the country.

He also shared Nigeria’s experience in regulating banks, noting that WKH WKUHDWV SRVHG WR WKH ÀQDQFLDO

V\VWHP QHFHVVLWDWHG WKH UHOHDVH RI QHZ guidelines and regulations to tackle potential LQIULQJHPHQWV DQG LQ WKH SURFHVV SURWHFW GHSRVLWRUV· IXQGV DQG SURPRWH JUHDWHU transparency in the sector. $FFRUGLQJ WR KLP UHJXODWRUV PXVW EH alive to their responsibilities by ensuring that banks under their regulatory watch DUH ÀQDQFLDOO\ KHDOWK\ DQG GR QRW VXͿHU D VLPLODU IDWH DV WKH 6LOLFRQ 9DOOH\ %DQN ZKLFK XQWLO LWV FROODSVH UHFHQWO\ FDWHUHG WR PDQ\ RI WKH ZRUOG·V PRVW SRZHUIXO WHFK LQYHVWRUV +H VDLG ´5HJXODWRUV PXVW EH SUHSDUHG IRU WKH UDLQ\ GD\ :KDW XPEUHOOD KDYH \RX built to ensure that depositors don’t face the risk of losing their deposits? That should be a lesson to regulators globally. ´3HRSOH KDYH DOZD\V VDLG WKDW WKH 1LJHULDQ EDQNLQJ V\VWHP LV RQH RI WKH PRVW UHJXODWHG We are not saying there are no cases where banks have a crisis in Nigeria, but we try as PXFK DV SRVVLEOH WR HQVXUH WKDW ZH LQVXODWH WKH EDQNLQJ V\VWHP IURP VHULRXV RFFXUUHQFHV ´,W LV RQO\ LQ 1LJHULD DQG YHU\ IHZ FRXQWULHV in the world that you would hear that if D EDQN FROOHFWV IRU LQVWDQFH IURP D FXVWRPHU DV D GHSRVLW WRGD\ RI WKDW PXVW EH NHSW DW WKH &%1 ´,W LV WR NHHS WKDW IXQG WR PDNH VXUH LQ this situation where they are crisis; we DOVR PDLQWDLQ WKDW EDQN ZRXOG PDLQWDLQ D VSHFLÀHG OLTXLGLW\ UDWLR DQG LW LV RQO\ LQ 1LJHULD WKDW ZH LQVLVW WKDW EDQNV PXVW KDYH D PLQLPXP OHYHO RI FDSLWDO DGHTXDF\ UDWLR ´,W LV 1LJHULD DQG VRPH IHZ FRXQWULHV LQ the world that if you are a young bank, DIWHU GHFODULQJ SURÀW ZH LQVLVW WKDW SHU FHQW PXVW EH KHOG LQ D VWDWXWRU\ UHVHUYH fund to boost your retained earnings and FDSLWDO DGHTXDF\ UDWLR 7KHVH DUH WKH NLQG of things regulators need to begin to look at increasingly. ´6R DV D UHJXODWRU \RX QHHG WR WKLQN RI how to insulate your banking industry.

5HJXODWRUV PXVW EHJLQ WR EH PXFK PRUH responsible. We have often said that in Nigeria, we believe that when there is a FULVLV ZH PDNH VXUH WKDW GHSRVLWRUV DUH protected and that no depositor loses their PRQH\ µ +H VWUHVVHG WKDW EDG ORDQV ZHUH PDMRU IDFWRUV WKDW NLOO ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV UHLWHUDWLQJ WKH QHHG IRU UHJXODWRUV WR EH PRUH responsible. /LTXLGLW\ 2YHU 3URÀWDELOLW\ 6SHDNLQJ WR 7+,6'$< RQ WKH GHYHORSPHQW 0DQDJLQJ 'LUHFWRU &KLHI ([HFXWLYH 'LJQLW\ )LQDQFH DQG ,QYHVWPHQW /LPLWHG 'U &KLMLRNH (NHFKXNZX VDLG WKH OHVVRQ WR ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV LV WKDW WKHUH LV D P\ULDG RI IDXOW\ LQYHVWPHQW GHFLVLRQV WKDW FRXOG collapse their institutions. +H VDLG OLTXLGLW\ RI WKH LQVWLWXWLRQ VKRXOG WDNH SUHHPLQHQFH RYHU SURÀWDELOLW\ %RDUG RI 'LUHFWRUV VKRXOG QRW FRQWULEXWH WR VXFK collapses due to lapses in their oversight functions.

(NHFKXNZX VDLG JRYHUQPHQW SROLFLHV HVSHFLDOO\ PRQHWDU\ SROLF\ VKRXOG QRW VWLÁH ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV DGGLQJ WKDW %DQNV DQG RWKHU ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV VKRXOG DOZD\V KDYH WKHLU H\HV RQ &DSLWDO $VVHW 4XDOLW\ 0DQDJHPHQW 4XDOLW\ (DUQLQJV DQG /LTXLGLW\ &$0(/ +H VDLG ´,Q RQH RI WKH ROGHVW EDQNV in the UK, a 200-year-old Barings Bank, FROODSVHG GXH WR VRPH XQDXWKRUL]HG LQYHVWPHQWV GRQH E\ RQH 1LFN /HHVRQ LQ 'HULYDWLYHV SRUWIROLR WKDW ORVW ELOOLRQ µ 2Q KLV SDUW 0DQDJLQJ 'LUHFWRU &KLHI ([HFXWLYH 6' ' &DSLWDO 0DQDJHPHQW /LPLWHG 0U ,GDNROR *ERODGH VDLG the banking crisis in the US could be atWULEXWHG WR D IDLOXUH LQ ULVN PDQDJHPHQW and the apparent negligence of regulatory authorities to curtail the losses before they EHFDPH LUUHGHHPDEOH

17

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

PERSPECTIVE

Jamoh as Driving Force Behind Nigeria’s Blue Economy Kumuyi Oluwafemi

K

erry Baskins said, “The differentiator in business is when an organisation steps out and creates value from something never tried before”. This can be alluded to the appointment of Dr. Bashir Jamoh as Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 10, 2020, and the strides the agency has recorded under his stewardship.

Many industry players greeted his appointment with high hopes that the industry will thrive and regain its place in the comity of maritime nations, by attracting foreign investors to collaborate and grow the Nigerian maritime sector to align with global best practices.

Interestingly, Dr. Jamoh hit the ground running with his team made up of top management staff of the agency, while setting a three-point agenda to guide the operations of the agency in line with its mandate, which cuts across; Security, Safety and Shipping Development.

The three-point agenda commonly referred to as the ‘3s’ have shaped the direction of the agency in the past three years, with the overall aim of attaining the ideals of the blue economy initiative, a global phenomenon aimed at creating wealth through the preservation of ocean resources, while ensuring sustainability. This is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

In 2022, the NIMASA DG who was part a delegation to South Korea with the President Muhammadu Buhari ceased the opportunity to engage the audience on the viability of the blue economy in Nigeria. The discussion, among other issues, focused on the plans for reactivation of the dockyard, the establishment of foundry, ship repairs and other maritime infrastructural development, which falls under the shipping development initiative of the three-point agenda.

Consolidating on the visit to South Korea, the Deputy Minister for Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs, Republic of Korea, Choi Yeong, led a team to the agency where he disclosed that Nigeria is the gateway to unlocking the potential of the African continent’s blue economy.

Talking about the African Blue Economy, a peep at the Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) 2050 document by the Africa Union (AU), describes it as the “new frontier for African Renaissance”. The document further states that the cliché is the future of Africa and a stimulus for other economic activities.

During his visit, the Korean Deputy Minister, Choi Yeong also commended the sustained and improved situation in the Gulf of Guinea with a strong presence of Nigeria, with a pledge that the Korean government looks forward to continuous partnership with the agency, particularly with reference to information sharing.

“Nigeria is the one of the biggest countries on the African continent in terms of economic size, population and market potentials.

Therefore, Nigeria could be a very important partner to us the People of Korea; Nigeria could be our gateway to the whole of African continent. We are glad to inform you that Korea has scheduled a summit involving the entire African continent in 2024 and we hope it will strengthen relationship with Nigeria and Africa,” he said.

Actualising the blue economy requires collaboration as highlighted by the NIMASA DG during a paper presentation at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, where he pointed out that the NIIA has a critical role to play for Nigeria to harness the blue economy initiative.

Jamoh In his paper titled “Opportunities and Challenges in Harnessing the Blue Economy” at a seminar organised by the NIIA with the theme: “Safety, Security and Development in Nigeria’s Maritime Domain: Problems, Strategies and Prospects.” Jamoh noted that collaboration amongst all organs of government in Nigeria and the organized private sector would accelerate harnessing the blue economy in Nigeria citing the successes of the Deep Blue Project, hinged on collaboration.

Efforts of the current administration to mainstay the blue economy for sustainable development has seen the leadership of the agency under Jamoh meeting with the organised private sector under the auspices of Academy for Maximum Achievement to galvanize their support towards actualising the robust ideas behind the initiative.

Delivering a paper as a guest speaker in a lunch-hour lecture series organised by the academy in Lagos, the NIMASA helmsman called for deeper private sector participation in the initiative to harness the benefits from the maritime industry.

At the meeting, he disclosed that the Deep Blue Project initiative of the federal government has enhanced maritime security, as Nigeria has exited the list of piracy prone countries.

Still on the blue economy, he highlighted key areas such as shipbuilding, ship repairs and recycling as areas that will benefit the economy in the establishment of businesses within the value chain, create employment and boost foreign exchange earnings for government and private concerns. In addition, the vast resources in about 28 coastal states in the country with navigable inland waters will make wealth creation possible, but with much sensitisation, which he says the governors of these states are aware, as the onus lies on the governor’s to educate their indigenes.

To buttress the importance attached to the blue economy ideals, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Kitack Lim visited Nigeria to attend a summit organised by Nigeria International Maritime Summit (NIMS) and supported by NIMASA with the theme focused on “Igniting the Blue Economy”.

At the summit, the IMO Secretary General in his keynote address spoke on the need

for the subject of Blue Economy to be on the spotlight, noting that the world needs a sustainable and efficient shipping industry to enhance global trade, with safety and sustainability in focus. Stakeholders described his participation as important, as it reveals the confidence the IMO has in the country’s maritime administration (MARAD), in this case, NIMASA. In addition, the private sector gave the assurance on the need to support NIMASA’s quest in maximizing the Blue Economy, especially as the initiative of The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides such opportunities.

It is important to stress that the blue economy initiative hinges on sustainability of ocean resources, which requires the efforts of all and sundry to attain it. These resources include; fisheries, tourism, transportation, shipping, among others.

Further to the collaborative importance of the blue economy, and then need to cascade it down to the educational sector of the Nigerian economy, Jamoh in commemoration of the international day of education delivered a paper on the “Overview of the Blue Economy and the African Continental FreeTrade Area (AFCFTA).

This is an avenue to keep the teaching profession abreast of the components and benefits of the initiative, which will be cascaded down to the students, thereby raising their awareness on the huge potentials associated with the mantra.

Suffice to state that ocean’s economy is vital to economic growth and development as it can also help the federal government and its quest for diversification, which is the essence the current management of NIMASA, is vigorously carrying out a vigorous sensitisation and campaign for a better understanding of the initiative.

Speaking during the event, he disclosed that the background on NIMASA’s primary mandate provides the nexus for its role in the blue economy and associated principles.

He stated further that internalising this initiative requires certain measures to be put in place such as; Skills and career development; ocean knowledge, research and innovation; Investment and ocean literacy and planning. The agency is taking these steps; to ensure the blue economy ideals synchronises in other various sectors of the Nigerian Economy.

Interestingly, the discuss on AfCFTA also harmonises with the blue economy mantra as it involves trade, which is part of the focus of the concept of the blue economy.

Recognising the importance of the AfCFTA initiative, Jamoh’s led administration opines that both initiative can help redefine the fortunes of Nigeria in terms of wealth and job creation.

The AfCFTA, described as the world’s largest free trade area brings together the 55 countries of the African Union (AU) and eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs), with the overall mandate of achieving a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion.

The core mandate of AfCFTA is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade.

In particular, it is to advance trade production across all service sectors of the African Economy by enabling investment and job creation, implying that it has the potential to foster industrialisation, job creation and investment; thereby enhancing the competitiveness of Africa in the medium, short and long term.

Holistically, AfCFTA and the blue economy share the similarity of focus on spurring development in a wholesome manner, which allows the most disadvantaged parts of the world to exert a measure of control over their natural resources. This makes the AfCFTA and blue economy indispensable for human endeavours and development.

Jamoh said thus “The teaching profession is critical to actualising the blue economy and there must be a paradigm shift away from unrestrained consumption toward sustainable utilisation of resources. If we are able to articulate this mentality in our youth from the earliest ages, there is renewed hope for a world free of hunger, want and poverty as contained in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs)”.

Invariably, the blue economy concept focuses on building strong and viable economies with the involvement of governments at all levels, both at the national and international levels towards the realization of economic growth and prosperity, by ensuring the preservation of the environment to enhance and achieve the goal for a sustainable ocean, which NIMASA is championing.

On the part of the Federal Government of Nigeria, a committees headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was inaugurated, which includes key stakeholders including the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), Federal Ministry of Agriculture, NIMASA, among other relevant agencies, including state governments of coastal states in Nigeria.

The task of this committee is draft a National Action Plan that will guide the implementation of the blue economy, while also seeking funding mechanisms to realise the ideal of the Nigeria blue economy. Overall, the bigger picture is to create a robust economy that will be less dependent on oil, while also attracting foreign direct investments and creating jobs, thereby resulting to a wealthy and prosperous economy.

With this, it is apt to say that NIMASA’s efforts to drive a diversified economy is gaining traction, as there is more awareness on the mantra of the blue economy; even beyond that, linking it with AfCFTA can be described as the right step in the right direction.

Oluwafemi writes from Lagos.

18

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • MARCH 19, 2023

SOFT FINANCE with AYO AROWOLO The only column you may need to read on everything personal finance, money, investing -and other life matters

EMAIL: AYO.AROWOLO@THISDAYLIVE.COM PHONE: 08086447494( SMS ONLY)

Wisdom Nuggets From the Masters (2) A number of the readers of this column have sent me notes requesting that I share with them tips I picked from the successful people I have interviewed. They want tips they can apply to their careers, businesses and life, generally. In the first part, I decided to pull out one key nugget shared by each of the persons I have had the privilege of interviewing in diverse areas. This is the second part. Please enjoy: SAMSON MAKINWA

mind is not interested, as I have experienced? What if he pretends to be interested, and as soon as you die, he squanders everything? All I can do is tell God to show them where their talents are for them to be successful in life. These are my thoughts and policy because only God knows tomorrow. He owns wealth and gives it to those to whom He wants to give it. All that you can do is just advise them and help them to live an honest life.

Industrialist and Spiritual Leader

WITH A CLEAR VISION NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE Until I was 40, I never believed I could amount to anything. I was after many meaningless pursuits and I was scared that I could die without any meaningful achievement. I discovered later that God created everyone for a specific purpose and nothing would make sense until this is discovered and pursued. It can happen at any age. My discovery came the day I was 40. I was just reflecting on my life generally alone in my room, asking many personal questions, and suddenly, I discovered that I had a passion in me that must be pursued. I was trained as an engineer in India but I had never used that skill until that time. I suddenly began to see that I could start a company that specialises in fabricating machines. The pictures were just coming in flashes.

It was like a sleeping lion in me suddenly came alive. The moment God showed me my vision, I decided to push it with everything inside of me.

At the time, I had just N1000 in my pocket but I discovered something very interesting: When you have a vision that you are passionate about, many obstacles will give way.

I gave my wife N400 out of the money and I used the balance of N600 to rent a shop in an uncompleted building. I had the shop, and I was ready to work, but customers were not coming. I didn’t have money to place advertisements. In fact, it was only Daily Times and Business Times and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) that we had then. There was no way I could get myself into the newspapers or appear on television.

I kept thinking of what to do until one day I just stumbled on the letters to the editor column in Business Times. Some of the letters were actually about people requesting contacts of people who could supply one product or the other. I got hooked on that, and I realised that I could use the maiden name of my wife to write to the editor requesting some products. I did that and it was published. Then, I wrote another letter in my name, positioning myself as the specialist who could supply the equipment I had listed. I put the physical address of my office in the paper and it was published. The following day four rich businessmen who wanted the machines traced my office. Once they were assured that I could produce the machines, they paid money. It was their money that I used to open my First Bank account and open another shop. I was able to deliver the orders to their satisfaction. That opened more doors for me as those people spread good reports about me.

I have never looked back since then. It occurred to me that you have to keep an open mind to receive ideas from God. One single idea can make all the difference in the pursuit of your vision.

TUNDE LEMO

Banker, former CBN Deputy Governor and Chairman, Titan Bank

DO MORE THAN YOU ARE PAID TO DO The first lesson I learnt in my banking career is that if you must make a success of your endeavour from day one, you need to be different from others.

I made up my mind that I would do more than I was paid to do. I saw a lot of my colleagues just putting in the minimum, just getting by. I refused to join the crowd. Interestingly, I was not bothered whether I was rewarded or not. My attitude was that even if my current employer did not reward me, I would have learnt some skills that I could employ to run my own business. I was doing my best, and I didn’t know that those little things were being watched. Ultimately, I made it to the top as I was made the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Wema Bank five years after joining the bank.

BUNMI ONI

CHARLES ALADEWOLU

Industrialist and apostle in the marketplace

Makinwa

Lemo

Oni

Sulaiman

Adedoyin

Aladewolu

Finance Director at all. They admitted this in the report which I only got to see about eight months after. That was handy when I later decided to sue, especially as efforts I made at an amicable resolution failed. It was also gratifying that the company’s public statements confirmed that money was not missing.

Naturally, I went through many emotions, but quickly decided I had to look ahead. Fortunately, I had long chosen a moderate lifestyle and was not a social bird.

The first thing was to extend my stay abroad for several weeks and enrolled in French lessons to occupy myself. That gave me time to reflect on the next steps, including better managing my investments. Retirement is the outset of a new phase of life (something to look forward to), not the beginning of the end of life (something to be downcast about). It’s wonderful to be finally free of school fees. Remember that at 60, you are barely two-thirds of the way through your life. Keep pressing on no matter what, and as one gets older, keep mentally and physically active. Learn something new after you’re done with your career.

George Eliot said: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” By the way, I would rather live by God’s statement in Genesis 6:3 that “...yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” than by what David said in Psalm 90:10 that “the days of our lives shall be seventy years ....”

DOTUN SULAIMAN

Consultant and Boardroom guru

SAM OHUABUNWA

FOCUS ON THE LONG TERM One of the things I learnt from Dick (Dick Kramer, his late boss and mentor) is to focus on the long term.

Dick would always tell us that life is not a 100-metre dash, but a marathon. It is not how you started, but how you finished. So, in everything you do, think of the end. What that teaches you is having much patience, perseverance and doggedness. Once you are focused on your objectives and goals, even when all kinds of challenges come, that focus on your objective is what keeps you going. So, you are mission-driven, and that sets the agenda for all other things you do in life.

Again, something we learnt from Dick is that there is always a tradeoff between being an ‘inch wide and a mile deep’ and being a ‘mile wide and an inch deep’. It is a tradeoff between breadth and width.

I chose depth.

SAMUEL ADEDOYIN

Industrialist and elder statesman

DON’T BOTHER YOUR HEAD OVER WHO WILL SUCCEED YOU As far as I am concerned, only God knows who will succeed who. A lot of us are worried about what will happen when we are no more. What you need is simply to make sure your business is set on the right principles and values. It is not your duty to determine who succeeds you. What if the person you have in

Leadership Coach and former CEO of Cadbury Plc

LIVE READY AND BE PREPARED AT ALL TIMES First, in 2005, I planned to leave Cadbury at 55, which was in 2008. Second, I travelled abroad for a week and so was not present when all of the issues and press were going on in 2006. Third, the UK internal auditors conducted a comprehensive audit in July 2006. As with any audit, they made observations but nothing shattering. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) brought in to audit did not speak to me or the

INTEGRITY HAS CASH VALUE The nature of my business is contract based. You finish one project and you don’t know when the next one will come. That means at the time there is no contract; you would be paying salaries to people who are doing nothing. We prayed and the Lord answered our prayers.

There was an advert for a project. Every time we were putting in our bid, we laid the bid on the floor and prayed over it before submitting it. Seven contractors put in their bids, but we won. We were happy. There was however a big hurdle: according to the terms of the contract, we were to finance the project and be paid 15 days after delivery.

For me that was not a problem; I thought I could just go to the bank and raise the money. Unfortunately, that did not happen as all the banks we approached for a letter of credit refused, insisting that we must have our own cash or good collateral for a loan.

I was about to go back to the customer to tell them sorry, I couldn’t raise the funds to execute the project when the Holy Spirit told me to go to the manufacturers of the equipment abroad and tell them to manufacture them and ship them to me that I would pay them as soon as the customer paid. That didn’t sound possible, especially given the negative reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians. But as a last resort, I made the request and it was granted.

They did the manufacturing and delivered it to us and exactly 14 days after, the customer paid the full amount into our account.

I transferred the manufacturers’ money to them and since then we have been doing business together and they have never asked for a letter of credit.

That is integrity in business. Integrity is money. I have had instances where people started a business without money.

I have also discovered that to be on top of your finances, you have to get accustomed to budgeting.

I budget for everything including the money I give out to charities and benevolence

Consultant, industry leader and former CEO of Neimeth Plc BUDGET EVERYTHING I have also discovered that to be on top of your finances, you have to get accustomed to budgeting.

I budget for everything including the money I give out to charities and benevolence. If you do not budget your finances, you would get accustomed to spending on impulse and that is not the way that leads to wealth. Let me share my experience with budgeting, especially when it has to do with giving. A lot of people think they can just come to you and demand money. What I have learnt to do is to budget how much I want to give per time and once it is exhausted, anyone asking will have to wait till another time. In that way, I don’t allow people to put me under pressure.

Again, a long time ago, I decided I would be saving a portion of my income for each of my children and that has helped a lot in the sense that they were given a head start in life. When they started to grow up they already had something they could build on. They can decide to further their education with the money in their account. Budgeting is a form of control. It enables you to track how you are doing when it comes to money matters. For instance, when you budget for a particular type of expenditure for the month, it would make it possible for you to stick to the items. It does not mean you cannot exceed what you budgeted but budgeting allows you to stop and reflect and ask yourself questions. Why did I exceed my expenditure target? Was the item I spent it on really necessary?

Could I have avoided spending the money? What can I do to avoid such next time? Without a budget, such questions would not arise.

I have also learned that managing money is as important as making it. If you can budget, you will realise that what you thought was not enough can accomplish much. I must warn however that it takes discipline to budget but it can be learnt.

OPI NION

119

T H I S D AY MONDAYSunday MARCH 14, 2022 19 March, 2023 Vol 27. No 10203

opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

BUHARI, YAKUBU, ATIKU AND THE DEATH OF TRUST (1) Mahmood Yakubu, INEC’s chair, performed badly on the job, reckons TUNDE OLUSUNLE

See Page 20

WHY TINUBU NEEDS 25% VOTES IN FCT ANIETIE USEN argues that 25% votes in FCT is a constitutional requirement to be declared the presidentelect

See Page 20

EDITORIAL

GUARDING AGAINST TRAIN CRASHES

See Page 45

IKE OKONTA urges Obi to consider the welfare state as an ideological platform

PETER OBI AND THE LONG GAME

N

igerians woke up in the morning of March 1 to the news that Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had won the presidential election. I live in Abuja, the nation’s capital and I can say that in the city the news of Bola Tinubu’s victory was greeted with profound silence. This is understandable. Several opinions running from September 2022 to early February 2023 had predicted that Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party, would win the election, and many Nigerians had come to expect this prediction to come to pass. Tinubu’a alleged victory therefore came as something of an anti-climax.

Peter Obi has said he would challenge the pronouncement of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in court. This is as it should be. Litigation after elections is part of the democratic process. In fact Nigerians have come to expect judicial challenge to INEC’s pronouncements as a necessary part of elections in the country. However, the Supreme Court has come under severe public censure of late for its decisions in some political cases, and not a few Nigerians have expressed the worry that Peter Obi’s case might suffer fatal injury in the hands of the Justices.

Beyond judicial litigation, however, there is need to examine Peter Obi’s politics and performance, to the extent that they point to the politician’s future prospects. Putting the predictions of the opinion polls to one side, it must be admitted that the Labour Party presidential candidate put up D YHU\ FUHGLEOH ÀJKW LQ WKH MXVW HQGHG presidential election. Sitting governors have a powerful grip on the electorate and their voting behavior in their various states. Consequently, it was expected that the APC and PDP, with several governors apiece going into the 2023 presidential election, would leverage on this and simply shove Peter Obi, who did not have a single governor in his corner, aside. But this did not happen. Obi not only swept the polls in his home base of the south east, he performed very well in the south-south and north-central.

It is only in the north-west, where the combined forces of the emirs, President Buhari’s loyalists, and the APC governors constituted a formidable wall, that Peter Obi and the Labour Party did not perform well. Even so, young Nigerians in the northwest made their voices heard calling for political change even though these voices did not translate into tangible votes at the end of the day. Still, it must be remembered

that Malam Aminu Kano, the Kano-born progressive politician who campaigned strenuously against the grip of the conservative northern emirs on the ordinary people from the early 1950s till he died in 1983, only managed to win over Kano and Kaduna States in the governorship elections in 1979.

Peter Obi must therefore be prepared to play the long game, both in the north and elsewhere in the country.

The ‘structures of criminality’ (to use his own words) which have gripped Nigerian politics by the throat did not begin today. In fact, one can argue that this criminal structure was embedded in the nation’s body politics right from the founding elections in 1959, and have only strengthened their hold with the passage of time. It has been 64 long years of criminal politics in Nigeria, and it will take patience, skill and gargantuan effort to loosen this grip.

The Labour Party on which platform Peter Obi ran for president is actually not a political party, properly so called. Although the Labour Party was established by the Nigerian Labour Congress several decades ago, it was quickly taken over by buccaneers and opportunists who offered the platform WR DQ\ Á\ E\ QLJKW SROLWLFLDQ ZLOOLQJ WR pay their price. When Peter Obi came calling in 2022, he had just quit the Peoples Democratic Party and was on the lookout for any platform on which to stand to contest the presidential election. Even when young Nigerians began to rally to 2EL·V ÁDJ LQ PLG WKH\ PDGH LW FOHDU that they would have nothing to do with the Labour Party but would only support

the presidential bid of Peter Obi. The challenge for Peter Obi going forward is therefore to transform the Labour Party into a proper organization with clearly thought-through policies and programmes that will not only resonate with ordinary Nigerians but also be able to win elections on its own merit. One man does not make a political party. There is a limit to which a presidential candidate can go electorally if he or she does not have the support of a proper political party with countrywide reach. This showed clearly in the just concluded presidential election.

The Labour Party candidates who won seats in the National Assembly only did so riding on the coat-tails of Peter Obi. This is not good enough. Politicians VKRXOG FRQWHVW IRU RIÀFH UXQQLQJ RQ WKHLU personal merit and competence, and only rely on the presidential candidate of their party to formally endorse them publicly.

For Peter Obi, there is also the ‘little’ problem of ideology. Going into the presidential election he stated that there was really nothing that differentiated his platform from that of Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu. This is not good enough. Peter Obi’s support base is largely young Nigerians and the poor.

Young Nigerians are clamouring for jobs and other enabling opportunities. The poor need universal health coverage, free and quality education for their children, and subsidized housing. Social democracy, combining state intervention and free enterprise in a Welfare State, is what enlightened leaders are pressing on their people in Europe, Asia and Latin America. This ideological mix is also what Bernie Sanders, the US senator who ran for the ticket of the Democratic Party against Joe Biden, is campaigning for. I urge Mr Obi to consider the Welfare State as an ideological platform going forward.

Peter Obi has triggered a storm in Nigerian politics. The storm troopers are not only young Nigerians who are rightly disgusted with the incompetence and corruption of the political class, it also embraces the poor in their millions who today are struggling to go beyond deadening ethic and religious barricades and put into power a new class of politicians who will represent their interests and values. Whether this storm will endure and yield fruitful dividends is up to Peter Obi and those who presently support him.

DR OKONTAwas until recently Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics, University of Oxford. He now lives in Abuja.

20

T H I S D AY SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC’s chair, performed badly on the job, reckons TUNDE OLUSUNLE BUHARI, YAKUBU, ATIKU AND THE DEATH OF TRUST (1)

\If anyone had prophesied the retention of Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) in that office to which he was appointed late 2015 by Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, beyond 2019, he would have been pilloried as a false prophet. Yakubu, a professor of political history and international relations was on the staff of the Nigerian Defence Academy, (NDA), Kaduna before his appointment to that office. We run a country which naively confers seriousness, integrity and respectability on people, simply on the basis of their often padded and advertised curriculum vitae. Just being a professor and coming from the geo-religiously “correct” extreme of the country, privileges certain people for consideration and appointment into specific offices, and the accrual of benefits therein.

The 2019 general elections under review, spontaneously donned the regalia of Nigeria’s most controversial and contested polls in all ramifications, in recent political history. It was dogged by systemic tardiness, orchestrated disjointedness and simulated discombobulations. Electoral materials were wilfully conveyed to the wrong states and addresses, as part of a grand script for the authentication of premeditated dubiousness. Despite the mammoth mobilisation of Nigerians, many to their countryside abodes at great individual risks and costs, Mahmood Yakubu and his colleagues blatantly stage-managed the postponement of the polls by one full week. This was a rarity, even in the days of Nigeria’s earlier politics. To be sure, since I became an avid follower of Nigeria’s electoral politics back in 1979, the 2019 elections were the most treacherous and tragic I ever witnessed.

The four-year stewardship of Nigeria’s outgoing president who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), had done more than enough with its gross and aggregate performance, to be determinedly denied a second term.

The hydra of insecurity; crass nepotism; reinvented religious bigotry; widespread unemployment; rudderless governance; prevailing hunger, had collectively LQÁDWHG DQG LQÁDPHG SDOSDEOH DQJHU RQ WKH ERUGHUV RI JDUJDQWXDQ FRQÁDWLRQ It was this level of mass disaffection which propelled Nigerians to the 2019 elections, with the belief that their permanent voter cards, (PVCs), will be deployed convey their collegiate disaffection and to effect the much desired political change.

Nigerians seemed to have been sold on the assurances and reassurances of Mahmood Yakubu and his team, which

promised to deliver free, fair, transparent and credible elections. Mike Igini, one of the more principled and forthcoming resident electoral commissioners, serially admonished Nigerians to keep faith with INEC. Buhari was televised warning thugs and touts who made themselves available to do the biddings of their political overlords, by snatching ballot boxes, to write their epitaphs.

As Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s armed forces, the president had issued explicit orders to the troops to give effect to his pronouncements. Nigerians genuinely thought Buhari, whose pre-election alias in 2015, was *Baba mai gaskiya,* meaning “the honest old man,” could very truly be trusted.

Buhari subsequently retired to his country abode in Daura, Katsina State, to participate in the polls. In response to a question en route Daura about what his reaction would be if he lost the election, Buhari gruffly retorted “nobody can unseat me.” He promised not to return to Abuja after the election, if he was truly trounced.

As poll results began to trickle in, however, there were vivid indications that Buhari was in for a hiding. Technology has availed us the privilege of keeping up real-time with developments across the world, from our handheld devices. Figures filtering in from across the country indicated that the scales might have been tipped in favour of Buhari’s major challenger in that election, Atiku Abubakar. Atiku, Nigeria’s Vice President in the Olusegun Obasanjo regime between 1999 and 2007, flew the flag of the major opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), in that 2019 presidential election. Democracy was being deepened, Nigerians assumed, if a sitting president, from credible figures obtained from the server of the electoral referee, INEC, could be ousted at the ballot for a second time in four years.

Buhari hitherto, held the bragging rights to this feat, having displaced his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, at the 2015 elections.

There were actually celebrations across the land as Nigerians absorbed the plausibility of the incumbent president’s displacement after all. The PDP had hoped for truly impartial declaration of results on the strength of its performance at the polls. The party was, however, shocked by the turn of events.

Ballot boxes had seized in several places; many were stuffed with ballot papers which were previously thumb-printed. Figures had been changed with correcting fluid in several instances; electoral officers had abducted and transplanted in the homes of noveau riche political dons to serve their ends.

There had been shootings, across the country culminating in casualties, the maimed and the summarily despatched.

At least in one instance, a helicopter was procured and deployed to hover over the skies of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital and to fire at voters from the skies! A new expression “inconclusive elections,” was launched into the nation’s political vocabulary. It was the APC’s terminology, borrowing from the parable of the ram which takes a few steps back, to launch out with greater ferocity. It was the party’s disingenuous formula for bidding time, albeit for a few days, for the perfection of its manual for large-scale electoral thievery. Suddenly, INEC’s acclaimed server for which billions of naira was budgeted, which was procured and duly hoisted, magically vanished!

Unknown to the APC and to INEC, the PDP operated a discrete situation room, (SR) from where it downloaded information from the very same disappearing server.

OLUSUNLE, poet, journalist, scholar and author, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE)

ANIETIE USEN argues that 25% votes in FCT is a constitutional requirement to be declared the president-elect

WHY TINUBU NEEDS 25% VOTES IN FCT I am not a lawyer. My first daughter and first son are. But that does not convey to me any scintilla or atom of knowledge of the law and the technicalities thereof. I have two degrees only in political science and have attended many executive leadership courses in Harvard Business School, Oxford Business School, Wharton Business School, Manchester Business School, Boston Business School and of course our own prestigious Lagos Business School. So I can at least lay claim to common sense. By the way, Common Sense was my nickname way back in my University of Calabar days decades ago.

Common sense tells me that many premeditated wrongdoings took place on February 25, 2023, during the presidential election in which Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling APC government, was hastily declared the winner. So much has already been said and written in the local and international media about the embarrassingly abysmal performance of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), and how the hitherto efficient INEC computers and servers mysteriously and disgracefully collapsed in their moment of glory, even as all eyes globally were riveted on Nigeria. The shame is still boldly written on the faces of INEC officials, as they struggled vaguely in vain all week to explain to the world on Cable TV how a phantom computer ‘glitch’ visited them with colossal failure at the edge of their breakthrough.

However, Nigerians and the international community are no longer in doubt of the identity of the ‘glitch’ or ‘glitches’ at INEC, on a day the entire hope of a nation was pinned on the electoral umpire. ‘Glitch’, we now know, is not rocket science or anything hi-tech. Based on video evidence and the plethora of similar complaints from a multitude of Polling Units across the country, the ‘glitch’, many now know, must have been a man and woman in INEC, who simply strolled into the Server Room of INEC and switched off the servers that were connected to the portal of the presidential elections result. In virtually all cases, the Polling Unit officials were able to upload the results of the National Assembly elections stress-free, but curiously they could not upload the results of the presidential elections. I call it ‘selective glitch’, defined as a veritable equivalence of selective amnesia, during which attempts to pull a wool over the eyes of Nigerian electorates floundered.

In any case, the big question for me is: at whose expense should INEC’s so-called ‘glitch’ be? At my expense? Who pays the price for the blundering and fumbling at INEC? The candidates who traversed the length and breadth of the country and their constituencies at great cost to persuade electorates? Or the poor innocent electorates who laboured for hours on end at polling units to cast their votes and their votes were not electronically counted nor transmitted to INEC as required by law? Who pays the high price for the failure or sabotage or both at INEC? Should Nigerians simply look the other way and celebrate the historic failure that INEC and its paymasters wrought? INEC and its cohorts must pay for this mess. Or must the weather-beaten, battered and beleaguered Nigerians continue to pay every day for every mess of their leaders?

This is however not the subject matter of my interrogation. My concern is that in declaring Tinubu as the president-elect, someone obviously dropped the ball and left a fly in the ointment. Tinubu was fortunately or unfortunately denied the required 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as required by the Constitution of Nigeria. He is the first ever president-elect in Nigerian history to score below 25% in the FCT. This put a bold question mark not just on his popularity but also his electability.

Specifically, Section 134 (2) of the Constitution says: “A candidate for an election to the Office

of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election: (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”.

This section of the constitution is written in very simple English. But Nigerians are bracing up for their lawyers to split hairs over it and smile their way to the banks in the process. But common sense tells us that our constitution certainly requires 25% of votes in the FCT for Tinubu or any presidential candidate, to be declared president-elect. To say that the constitution does not require 25% votes from the winner of a presidential election in FCT as some have argued, is to say that citizens and residents of the FCT do not matter in determining a Nigerian president. It means they are irrelevant in such an important democratic responsibility.

It may also cast the FCT people and residents in the image of outcasts, second class citizens or perhaps strangers, with no stake in determining the leader of their country.

The question then is: If their votes are irrelevant in the determination of who rules Nigeria, why for God sake, were they required to register and vote in the presidential election? If their votes would not count in the final verdict, why did INEC provide polling units, ballot materials, election officials and security to ensure that they voted in the presidential election? Why were FCT citizens and residents allowed to spend upwards of 12 hours under sun and thunderstorms just to cast a ceremonial vote?

For me, this ought to be the ultimate injustice and insult to FCT indigenes and residents, if the Nigerian courts are talked into and armtwisted to rule against the fundamental right of its people.

There are more questions than answers to this attempt to disenfranchise bona fide Nigerians in the FCT. Who disqualified the good people and residents of the FCT from being heard? The constitution? Or is someone telling us that FCT indigenes are partial and half-Nigerians after they had sacrificed their God-given land, their livelihoods and their unique identity to host the seat of power in Nigeria? Are they about to be deprived of their equal rights with other Nigerians to matter in the election of their president? Nigerians want to know whether the FCT votes of February 25, 2023, was a mere ceremonial exercise in futility? Why would the votes of other parts in Nigeria be quantified and pecked at 25% and FCT votes would be discarded? Common sense tells me that if there is any part of Nigeria that more than requires these irreducible minimum percentage of votes, it must be the FCT, the seat of the federal government, from where the president rules the rest of the country.

Usen is a multiple award winning

45 T H I S D AY SUNDAY MARCH 19, 2023

EDITORIAL

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

GUARDING AGAINST TRAIN CRASHES The authorities should ensure safety measures are adequate and adhered to

O

ne important lesson straight out of Lagos State enabled blue and red rail lines, strategic driving school is that when an action PDVV WUDQVLW YHKLFOHV DLPHG DW HDVLQJ WKH GDLO\ WUDIÀF is too risky to take, avoid it. But in a nightmare in a city of 20 million people. This is why GDUH GHYLO GHÀDQFH WKH GULYHU RI D LW LV HVVHQWLDO WKH UDLO DXWKRULWLHV PXVW SD\ VLJQLÀFDQW government-owned staff bus in Lagos attention to accidents and the safety of commuters.

State recently refused to heed that All over the world, rail accidents occur at rail warning. He chose to drive through a railway crossing crossings, and other places. In the United States, despite being asked to stop for an oncoming train. In for instance, there were more than 1,600 collisions the process, he caused a catastrophic accident that has between vehicles and freight and commuter trains left no fewer than six people (including a National in 2021, and nearly 500 collisions at transit train Youth Service Corps member) dead and dozens crossings in 2020, resulting in many deaths. Germany of others badly injured. While we commiserate and Poland reportedly record huge numbers yearly. with the families of the deceased and wish speedy But these are countries where train services are recovery for the injured, relevant authorities must active and the most regular means of transportation. do everything to ensure that we do not witness such Even though Nigeria is just trying to revive the avoidable tragedy again. rail lines after decades of Last Wednesday, 66 neglect, the numbers are For cities like Lagos, rail provides a significant escape from patients involved in VWLOO LQVLJQLÀFDQW FDUU\LQJ the train-bus collision perhaps less than one per the potholed-ridden roads and vexatious traffic gridlocks were discharged while cent of the population.

30 others are still on Thus, train accidents are not admission in various as common as road crashes which have become permanent features of the environment hospitals.

“Back-towhich claim thousands of back surgeries are being lives yearly. But they are conducted on patients increasingly becoming a that needed surgeries at LASUTH to ensure everyone PDMRU WKUHDW ,I WKH ÀJXUHV IURP VWDWLVWD FRP DUH is discharged as soon as possible”, said Lagos State correct, then there is a cause to worry. According Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi. That the to the research agency, over 500 train accidents tragedy came barely four months after an Abujaoccurred in Nigeria in 2018 alone, but evidently most bound train rammed into a moving car at a rail ZHUH QRW IDWDO ,W GHÀQHV DFFLGHQWV DV ´FROOLVLRQV crossing in Kubwa, killing the lady, should not be derailments, level crossing accidents, accidents to lost on relevant authorities in our country.

SHUVRQV FDXVHG E\ UROOLQJ VWRFN LQ PRWLRQ ÀUHV DQG Meanwhile, in the past few months, most of the others.” Of these, 222 accidents were caused either country’s rail lines have metamorphosed into a symbol by loss of control or locomotive failure while others of banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery. The Abujacame through detachment and derailment.

Kaduna and the Itakpe-Warri rail services have, for Last week, the Nigerian Railway Corporation instance, become synonymous with fear and anxiety, 15& FKLHI H[HFXWLYH RIÀFHU )LGHW 2NKLULD GLVFORVHG as they were used to expand the frontiers of the reign that it had started the construction of underground of terror in the country. Many stakeholders have also pass and overhead bridges at the 11 level crossings expressed worries over frequent vandalism of rail lines across Lagos State, to avoid accidents. “Before now, which exposes passengers to dangers. Yet, across the we constructed barriers, and they were vandalised; world, rail services are often in high demand. It is not we even constructed automatic barriers which were only cheap and prompt, but also a mass transit vehicle also vandalised. Although we have been repairing for people and goods. them, especially the automatic barriers, they do not )RU FLWLHV OLNH /DJRV UDLO SURYLGHV D VLJQLÀFDQW HVFDSH last for a week after such repairs.”

IURP WKH SRWKROHG ULGGHQ URDGV DQG YH[DWLRXV WUDIÀF While the safety measures needed to rekindle the gridlocks which have become permanent features FRQÀGHQFH RI FRPPXWHUV VKRXOG EH H[WHQGHG WR of the environment. Indeed, commuters in Lagos other areas in the country, the authorities must also and beyond are eagerly awaiting the take-off of the go after the vandals.

Letters to the Editor

Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief(150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive. com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer

LETTERS

HAVE YOU READ THE ELECTORAL ACT 2022?

After the February 2023 Presidential Election, many theories concerning the procedure of transmission of the elections arose. There were insinuations and conspiracy theories therefrom.

Two of the theories deserve our interest. The first theory was by Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who challenged the conduct of the elections at the National Collation Centre, the International Conference Centre, ICC in Abuja, citing Section 50(2) of the Electoral Act 2022. According to Senator Melaye, that section of the Act says that voting at an election and the transmission of result shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission, that is through the BVAS. Therefore, and according to the distinguished Senator, the manual method that INEC resorted to, in announcing the February 2023 Presidential Elections ran afoul of that section of the Act. Together with other aggrieved parties, he walked out of the collation centre.

The second individual who pushed his own version of the transmission of the results was

Senator Ahmed Lawan, president of the Senate.

As president of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmed Lawan said it was he who presided over debates, discussions and the entire processes that led to passage of the Act. When the problems associated with an electronic transmission of the 2023 presidential elections through the BVAS came up, Senator Lawan said, ‘there is nothing like electronic transmission in the Electoral Act. Transmission means when you vote, your vote goes to the server. What we have passed, and I can recollect this vividly, because I read it several times before it was passed, is to transfer after all the paper works like we already do, is for all the party agents and the security people, INEC will then snap and transfer or transmit the record of the election to the BIVAS’, Distinguished Senator Lawan said in a recorded report by Africa Independent Television, (AIT).

Whilst all this was going on, many Nigerians were first stunned and therefore bewildered at the back and forth over the manner of transmission of the result of the elections. INEC

had told Nigerians that with the introduction of the BVAS, every single vote during the election was going to be electronically transmitted to a certain secure server, and in real time, and Nigerians will all have access to the results of the election.

Most of the references was about one document – the Electoral Act – which set the rules for the conduct of the elections. And so, as most Nigerians continued to be angry about the conduct of the elections, I realized that it would be silly to continue to argue back and forth if we know the contents of the Electoral Act 2022. So, this week, I ask: Have You Read the Electoral Act 2022? Do you know exactly what is inside the document beyond being an Obidient, a BAT or an Articulated?

Prior to the scenario created from the electronic transmission of the February elections, I made only one attempt to read the Act. I found it filled with legalese and a put off so I discarded it. But now, I had to plod through it. I found out that the relevant sections are Sections 41 – 63. The first thing that

struck me was the absence of the word BVAS. There was no mention whatsoever of a BVAS machine in the Act. And even though there were references to ‘electronic transmission’ of results, a caveat in a certain section says that the INEC is allowed to transmit the results of the elections in any manner the commission deems fit.

Let me try to analyse these two observations of mine: if the BVAS machine was not mentioned in the Electoral Act, how come INEC spent so much money on a piece of machine that had no effect whatever in ensuring that the elections would be foolproof? I got an answer from a senior lawyer in Abuja. According to him, the BVAS has nothing to do with the transmission of results but with the accreditation of registered voters at the polling units and booths. Therefore, and according to this learned lawyer, if there were any glitches with the transmission of the results, the Electoral Act gives INEC power to transmit results in a manner it deems fit.

Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, Benin City

46

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19, 2023

INTERNATIONAL Retirement Age and Civil Unrest in European Union: The Case of France and Lessons for Nigeria

R

etirement age is when statutory workers in any given stratum of society or country stop working and commence to enjoy superannuation and retirement benefits subject to conditions that vary from one country to the other. In some countries, the conditions are grudgingly accommodated. In some others, they are not. In fact, the conditions may be violently protested against, and by so doing, threatening global peace in their effect.

And true enough threats to international peace and security are increasing with the new dimensions of the crisis of retirement age in France. Put differently, wars do generate migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Fantastic corruption, in the mania of Nigeria, breeds inequality and abject poverty. Disregard for the rule of law raises the issue of discrimination, lawlessness, and intolerance. These are still different from natural problems, like climate change and man-made policies that are, by design, conflicting. The crisis of retirement age in France is threatening national political stability and deepening European regional insecurity.

Without doubt, good retirement is a cardinal objective of civil, public, and private, sector servants, as it ends the hassles of a professional working life. It not only marks the beginning of a new and reduced active life, but also marks the enjoyment of state pension in eking out a better life. However, retirement is a major problem in international relations, especially in a plurilateral setting like the European Union and the ECOWAS. In this case, the integrative character of governance in an association of States necessarily affects the tranquillity in other Member States.

The common services of the regional grouping are always the first to be affected. For instance, one truth is that the more there are persons eligible to enter the retirement cadre, the more money is to be paid by the government. More often than not, the money is not always there. So when the government is not solvent enough to meet the financial burden, the first financial strategy it often embarks upon is to prolong the retirement year of workers. Workers hardly accept to work for additional years before embarking on their new private life. This is the genesis of the retirement age crisis in France and that of many other Member States of the European Union.

TraditionofRetirementAge The origin of retirement age is traceable to the 18th century, but as an adopted government policy, to the late 19th century and the 20th century. German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, the‘iron chancellor,’ was precisely identified to have invented the idea of retirement age in 1889 when he said that‘those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the State.’

In other words, 1889 was the genesis of state pension. Germany is on record to have adopted a national pension programme for the more than 70-year old persons. Later, the retirement year was cut down to 65 in consonance with the general time of payment of social security in many countries.

In terms of non-state pension, the United States is on record to be the originator. For example, the American Express Company started in 1875 to offer‘the first employer-provided retirement plan…

By the 1920s, several American industries, such as banking and railroad companies, started offering pensions to their employees.

The federal government established a plan for its employees in 1920. The pension was offered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The Civil Service Retirement Act became effective on August 1, 1920. The CSRS is a defined Benefit retirement system.’

On when to retire, there is little or no problem in quickly retiring officially and seeking to rest. However, at what time in one’s life should the retirement take place? Coryanne Hicks noted in her‘How to Retire by 40 According to People Who Have Done It’ that‘before the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retirement Early) movement invaded the US, there were iPhones, before there was even the internet (gasp), Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the ripe ages of 38. Now entering their 33rd year of retirement, the Kaderlis have more money than ever.’ In any case, Coryanne Hicks says, ‘while early retirement may be easier today than in the ‘90s, it’s still not easy.’It is against this background of uneasiness and when people should disengage from service that the on-going strike in France is

with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Macron interrogated and understood in its attendant implications.

In Germany, for example, the standard retirement age is 65 years and 7 months. While industrial groups and employer associations want the Government to prolong the retirement age up to seventy years, workers do not agree, hence the socio-political lull is yet to be meaningfully addressed. The projected retirement age by 2031 is 67 years and workers are already vehemently opposed to any increase. One can therefore begin to imagine the dynamics of the likely relationship between workers and Government in between now and 2031. The relationship has the potentiality of frostiness, especially that state pension benefits are payable only on attainment of 65 years of age. Whoever is aggrieved and wants to leave the service can always do so but his or her entitlements will not be paid until the attainment of 65 years of age. In the event of retirement before 65 years of age, payment of entitlements will be reduced.

What is particularly noteworthy about the situation of retirement age in Germany is that, the year 2023, in particular, is expected to witness the retirement from service of more people than people entering into the workforce. This simply means more payment by the German pension system. In fact, one expert has it that in the event there is no quick reform, pensions may account for about 44% of the state budget by 2040. But true, the Government wants to reform but there is a stiff opposition to it.

In Belgium, the pension system is of three types: state pension, occupational pension, and private pension. Pensions are generally paid to residents who are over 65 years. Like in Germany, the Belgian government wants to raise up the retirement age from 65 years in 2020 to 66 years in 2025, and to 67 years in 2030 for reasons of insolvency. The retirement age of 65 years is for persons leaving the service before 31st January 2025, 66 years for those retiring

Consequently, Professor Volker Deville, a demography expert with Allianz, has it that ‘the fact that most people in the developed world can expect to receive a pension when they get older is a huge social policy success… However, one in two older people, mostly in developing nations, still have no pension income. For many, retirement is a luxury they cannot afford.’ Nigeria should learn lessons from this and from other three main dynamics of crisis of retirement age: government’s financial insolvency to shoulder the burden of an increasing number of pensioners when the new number of entrants into the workforce is on the decline; Secondly, the point by a political scientist with bias for labour questions, Professor Andreas Bieler of the University of Nottingham, that ‘in France, those who are currently working pay into the fund that those in retirement are paid from; and thirdly, ‘because there is a change in population and there are more older people in retirement and fewer younger workers who actually pay, thus raising concerns about sustainability.’ This situational reality of problems generated internationally by retirement age is not much different from what obtains in Nigeria. President Macron wants to generate additional 17.7 billion euros in annual pension contributions but workers want alternative ways of increasing government’s needed funds: taxing the ultra-rich and increasing employer payroll contributions.A stitch in time saves nine.

“

“

VIE INTERNATIONALE

between 1st February 2025 and 31st January 2030, and 76 years for those retiring after 1st February, 2030.

To qualify for retirement benefits in Belgium, like what obtains in Nigeria, one must have worked for 35 years in full-time work or have attained 60 years of age.The critical point is that retirement can be on the basis of 60 years or 65 if a worker had spent 35 years in full-time work. Emphasis is on full-time work in this case. Payment of pension depends on the status of the worker. As of the end of year 2022, the average state pension in Belgium was €1,100 for employees, €2,600 for civil servants, and €900 for self-employed workers.

Greek workers can lay claim to full pension benefits if they have contributed, for at least 15 years (equivalent to 4,500 working days, to the pension plan. A worker can also retire at 62 and be paid full pension if they have contributed to the pension plan, for at least 40 years (12,000 working days). Thus, retirement is in itself a business.

In the same vein, the Nordic Cooperation says the retirement age in Denmark is between 66 and 68 years and that retirement benefits are predicated on the number of years stayed in the country from the age of 15 to retirement age, or until one is awarded a disability pension or a senior pension. This also means that there are at least three types of pension in Denmark: length of stay pension, disability pension, and senior citizen pension.

Speaking lato sensu, Michael Buente, the Chief Executive of helpAge Deutschland, has it that‘in most European Union countries, pensions systems as a whole now do more to reduce inequality than all other parts of the tax or benefit system combined… They can also contribute to reducing poverty by increasing the amount families have to spend. State pensions are affordable even in the poorest countries.’

And perhaps more interestingly but disturbingly, ProfessorVolker Deville, a demography expert with Allianz, also has it that ‘the fact that most people in the developed world can expect to receive a pension when they get older is a huge social policy success…

However, one in two older people, mostly in developing nations, still have no pension income. For many, retirement is a luxury they cannot afford.’In this regard, how do we explain the fact that, every time, in every given issue, there are always pointers to a better future for people in the First World, but the pointers for the people in the Third World are always different? Why is about 50% of black Africa not having access to retirement benefits? These questions partly explain why the issue of retirement age should be of a special concern to Nigeria, being the world capital of the black people of the world and self-appointed defender of African interest international politics.

Nigeria should learn from the current French experience.

FrenchExperienceandLessonsforNigeria In a situation of order and counter-order, the immediate outcome is generally an encounter and the ultimate outcome cannot but be disorder.This is why the retirement age crisis in France is of concern in international relations as many countries, particularly Francophone Africa, have special and privileged ties with France. In different ways, Nigeria’s relationship with France is as strategic like France’s relationship with Nigeria’s immediate Francophone neighbours.

First on Nigerian experience, workers hardly protest against retirement age in the public or private outfits.The conditions of retirement and payment of pensions in Nigeria are not as complex as they are in other climes. In 1961, the National Provident Fund (NPF) was established as the first formal pension scheme for the non-pensionable private sector employees. In 1979, the first Pension Reform Act 102 was introduced. From the foundational constitutional provisions, four major dynamics of retirement in Nigeria can be delineated: public interest, compulsory retirement, voluntary resignation, and termination of appointment. Retirement in public interest, which necessarily implies non-usefulness of a worker, is well defined in sub-Section 030601 of Section 6 on Retirement in Public Interest.

As provided in this section, if the Public Service Commission is satisfied that ‘it is desirable in the public interest to do so, it shall retire the officer and the officer’s service shall accordingly terminate on such date as the Commission may specify. In every such case, the question of pension and gratuity will be dealt with under the Pensions Reform Act, 2004.’

Compulsory retirement is provide for under sub-Section 020810(i) which stipulates that the ‘compulsory retirement age for all grades in the Service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.’ It is useful to note that spending 35 years in the service is not really the issue but the requirement that such years must be pensionable. More important, sub-Sections (ii) and (iii) make further clarifications that‘no officer shall be allowed to remain in office after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.’These provisions are, however, not prejudicial to ‘Judicial officers and Academic Staff of Universities who retire at 70 and 65 years respectively.’

And perhaps more significantly, sub-Section (iv) says that ‘provided the officer would not have attained the retirement age of 60 years or spent 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier, a Director shall compulsorily retire upon serving eight years on the post.’Unlike compulsory retirement, voluntary retirement is the direct opposite of compulsory retirement. Voluntary retirement can be for different reasons. It is generally expressed by resignation or absconding, in which case the officer may not be eligible for pension.

Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

47

GLITZ ENTERTAINMENT

Africa Magic Adds More Titles to Content Slate for 2023 Stories by Vanessa Obioha Africa Magic is marking its 20th anniversary with more titles. The premium entertainment destination for everything Africa will be premiering new shows across its channels from April 2023. The content slate is an array of TV shows; from new scripted shows to reality TV shows, documentaries, music and sports.

Unveiling the plan for the 2023 calendar, the Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Dr Busola Tejumola, disclosed that 28 series titles and 20 original Africa Magic movies will be shown on its various platforms.

She also emphasized the channel’s mission to invest more in indigenous programmes. Recently, three indigenous drama series representing the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria: Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa, premiered on the language respective channels on Africa Magic. Tejumola “This year, we intend to break more boundaries and find new frontiers in local storytelling. We look forward

to ensuring Africa Magic remains at the forefront of Nigeria storytelling,” said Tejumola. “We are also investing more in our indigenous productions across our language channels: Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo,” she said.

Some of the new shows coming on the channel include the popular 90s soap opera ‘Ripples.’ “To be clear, ‘Ripples’ is a continuation of the original story with a returning cast,” said Head of Production West Africa, MultiChoice Nigeria, Victor Aghahowa. “It will also be directed by Zeb Ejiro.”

Telenovelas such as ‘Ugwu (Respect)’, ‘Dust’; the drama series ‘Girls Hostel’, and a dramatology ‘Wedding Stories’ are some of the content lined up for the 2023 content slate.

Aghahowa also noted that the channel will now premiere 130 episode series every six months as opposed to 260 episode series every year.

Africa Magic was launched in 2003 as a single channel and has metamorphosed into seven channels on the DStv and GOtv platforms. Tejumola revealed that “From April 2022 to March 2023, we had over 2,500 hours of production and licensed 10,000 hours of authentic Nigerian stories. We have stories in English, and indigenous languages Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, broadcast to over 42 African countries.”

Burna Boy, Rema, Adekunle Gold Grab Headlines He may not have won a Grammy this year, the self-proclaimed African Giant, Burna Boy is still making international strides with his music. The UEFA Champions League announced last week that the ‘Last Last’ crooner will be co-headlining the tournament’s 2023 final kick-off, sponsored by Pepsi MAX on June 10 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

As part of the promotional activities for the kickoff show, Burna Boy teamed up with Pepsi MAX ambassadors, world champion Leo Messi, reigning UCL champion Vini Jr and Euro-winning Lionesses star Leah Williamson; to encourage fans to showcase their best dance moves or ball skills by posting them to TikTok using the hashtag #PepsiKickOffShow.

Rema whose ‘Calm Down’ song has become a global anthem was in the news for two reasons. First, a video of unveiled Iranian girls inTehran’s Ekbatan neighbourhood dancing to the remix of his song ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez went viral.

However, the girls were later detained for dancing in public, an act that is banned in Iran.

Secondly, Rema and Selena Gomez’s ‘Calm Down’ is expected to displace Wizkid and Tems ‘Essence’ in the top 10 on this week’s Hot 100.

‘Essence’ is the highest charting lead Nigerian song of all time. This possibility threw his fans into a frenzy as they hushed about the creativity and passion of the music star born Divine Ikubor.

Last week, Adekunle Gold made his Def Jam Recordings debut with ‘Party No Dey Stop’, featuring Zinoleesky. His international deal with the recording company is facilitated by Def Jam Recordings CEO Tunji Balogun, who is keen on increasing the African roster of the label. The label will also release Gold’s fifth album scheduled for July.

Burna Boy

Rema

Adekunle Gold

Given the cost of data in Nigeria for video consumption, Digital company, MTN has partnered with Amazon’s global streaming platform, Prime Video, to offer Prime Video Mobile Edition – a single-device, mobile-only subscription.

MTN customers who subscribe will have access to Prime Video’s full catalogue of 9,000+ movies and 1,500+ TV shows, in standard definition with an affordable and dedicated data package for streaming and downloading.

“We are excited to offer Prime Video subscriptions to millions of Nigerians providing them with access to

entertainment on their own terms - where and when they want it, “ said Chief Digital Officer at MTN Nigeria, A’isha Mumuni.

“Video-on-demand has become a major part of our lives and this launch offer is important to make every customer’s journey to their desired content more accessible and affordable.”

Subscribers will enjoy a 30-day free trial with 2.5GB of Video Data, exclusively for the Prime Video app.

After the free trial, they can then enjoy Prime Video Mobile Edition for N800 per month only, with their airtime.

Select MTN customers are eligible to sign up for Prime Video and enjoy the first three months, courtesy of MTN Nigeria. Thereafter, for only N2,300 per month, customers can conveniently subscribe with their airtime.

MTN Offers Prime Video Subscription

Khosi and Thabang .jpg

BBTitans Update: Now That Khosi and Thabang Have Shared a Kiss One of the trending stories from Big Brother Titans last week was the passionate kiss that Thabang and Khosi shared. For a while, sparks have been flying between the two housemates but given that Khosi has a love interest in the house, Yemi Cregx and Thabang were sort of involved with Nelisa, the two have tried to keep their feelings under wraps.

But on Thursday, they explored the burning passion by sharing a kiss. A blushing Khosi couldn’t resist asking for more after Thabang kissed her.

With their first kisses, it is still uncertain if Khosi who has a relationship outside the house and an ongoing one with Yemi Cregx will sail away with Captain Thabang. To viewers, their relationship was inevitable as the chemistry between them was visible.

Khosi also was on the lips of Tsatsii and Blue Aiva who thought that she was taking the spotlight from them.

With the housemates playing the games as individuals, tonight’s eviction will mark the first single eviction of the show and will sort of show the nominated housemates’ popularity.

Up for possible eviction are Khosi, Kanaga Jr, Blue Aiva, Yvonne, Nana, Thabang, Tsatsii and Miracle Op.

African Folktales Reimagined Anthology Gets a Premiere Date

The Netflix and UNESCO partnership which aimed at retelling African folktales through the eyes of six emerging storytellers will be launched globally on March 29.

The anthology of six short films was launched to support the next generation of storytellers who were provided with resources including a $90 000 budget and creative guidance by established filmmakers as mentors to bring their stories to life.

The emerging filmmakers were selected in 2021 following a call for submission that resulted in over 2000 applications from 13 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region. The emerging storytellers from Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritania, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will see their respective short films, make their debut on Netflix, globally.

The African Folktales, Reimagined short film collection features a variety of African on-screen talent in stories by emerging African storytellers like Mohamed Echkouna from Mauritania with ‘Enmity Djinn’; Walt Mzengi Corey from Tanzania with ‘Katope’; Korede Azeez from Nigeria with ‘Zabin Halima (Halima’s Choice)’; Voline Ogutu from Kenya with ‘Anyango and the Ogre’; Loukman Ali from Uganda with ‘Katera of the Punishment Island’ and Gcobisa Yako from South Africa with ‘MaMlambo.’

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

19.3.2023

S

RUTH DAVIES-IBIAMU

Unveiling Abuja’s Top Designer and Her Exploits At first sight, one is easily struck by her unique persona. Ruth Davies-Ibiamu, the helmswoman at Ruthies Interbiz Empire, is a proof that intellectualism, calmness, industriousness and stylishness can find a perfect balance in one individual. Recently, the Rivers State-born Abuja top fashion designer unveiled the Ruthies Magazine with a slogan ‘Sophistication and Probity Interlaced.’ Funke Olaode uncovers the story of Davies-Ibiamu in the light of her many exploits.

he is one of the top Abuja fashion designers who have clothed many celebrities including First Ladies and women on the corridors of power. Every of her moves in her career exploits is calculated with one goal in mind: finding purpose. With calmness and effortlessness, you may wonder how she combines her role as a wife, mother, pastor, public speaker, counsellor, leader, and lately a publisher.

“It was my upbringing,” she continued. “I thank my dad for providing everything I needed to blossom as a child. Everything I needed to grow up, he made sure I had them.

Apart from taking care of our needs, he also inculcated discipline and spirit of hard work. To him, there is no short cut to success. Above all, he is a lover of education which he believes is the bedrock of an individual’s development whether as a businessman, academia or entrepreneur. Apart from God, my father sharpened me to be the woman I am today. And when it comes to domestic chores, I give kudos to my mother who ensured that we are all grounded. She also sowed the seed of love among my siblings today. We are bonded:” Her educational roots began at the famous Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls Secondary School (ACMGS), Elelenwo, Port Harcourt and thereafter, the University of Port Harcourt, where she graduated with a BSc in Public Administration. Yearning for broader educational exposure, she proceeded to obtain a post-graduate Diploma in International Relations and then an MSc in Political and Administrative Studies from the University of Port Harcourt.

It comes as no surprise that she has emerged a leading light in the fashion sphere. Mrs. Ruth Ibiamu boasts of a vastly superior fashion aptitude.

To prepare her for excellence in the fashion industry, she sought the best in fashion education by studying Fashion Designing at the University of Arts, London, United Kingdom. She has since built a fashion enterprise whose clientele spans Senators, First Ladies, Ministers and Business Executives.

Her deftness and leadership in the fashion has earned her numerous acclaims. She is a recipient of the Rotary Club Abuja 2022 Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award. In 2019, she received the award for Best Innovative Female Fashion Designer, United Kingdom by Passion for Africa Fashion, Liverpool, United Kingdom.

In 2016 and 2018, she was conferred the Papyrus Magazine CEO Award; and in 2017, she received the Peace and CSR Award, Nigeria.

A woman of immense talents who keeps evolving with her vision, her sojourn into the fashion world isn’t accidental; but the power of dreams.

“I have a dream and I am passionate about nurturing that dream. You know it takes passion to overcome the thoughts of giving up when faced with disappointments and life obstacles. Fine, I am a public administrator by training.

I can tell you that education is not designed to fill the mind and produce a closed mind. It is designed to open up the mind and provide it with capacity

ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/victoria.olaode@thisdaylive.com.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

49

COVER

I’ve Always Had an Incredible Dress Sense from Childhood for independent thoughts that create original paths that discover our authentic gifts, abilities, personalities and heartbeats tailored to our unique experiences. Fashion has always been there; what education came to do was to discover and enhance it,” she waxed philosophically.

When asked about the turning point for her to decide on fashion as her career path, she revealed: “Well, I have always been a fashionable person. For me, it has been a childhood thing. I have always had an incredible dress-sense since childhood. What I have done over time is sharpen those innate potentials to blossom into a global brand.

For the CEO of Ruthies Clothing Brand/Beauty Parlor and Spa, her journey into fashion and beauty was bitter sweet. It would have been an aborted dream but for her determination. Recalling the sad tale when she lost it all, she said: “I had a boutique some years ago because of my love for fashion, but in 2013, my boutique in Port Harcourt was burgled and I lost everything I worked for in years. So, it took me some time to recover. Again, I had to leave for the USA for six months because I just got pregnant for my last child and I stayed away. I bounced back and by reawakening my dreams. ‘I said to myself, ‘come on, why should I even go outside and buy clothes, why can’t I produce them here?’ Within that period, I thought of starting up something.

I started with ready-to-wear. I got somebody to sew and I got the fabrics, gave them the style, then we produced.”

As she was evolving, her vision was becoming clearer. She decided to hone her skills by enrolling at a fashion school in the United Kingdom. She returned to open her Abuja branch with only two machines. Today, she owns a production place, three different studios where she produces alongside a showroom. She has added a beauty parlour comprising a salon and a spa.

Her exploits as a fashion mogul has taken her to the United Nations where she talked about zero tariffs for African designs.

“I am proud and humbled to represent Nigeria at the UN and spoke basically about Nigerian designs going into the international market. At that time, I felt it was not proper that they come here and we have their clothes in our shops, and when we go over there, we don’t even have a stand in their shops then.

It was later we had a stand at Harolds in the UK. I thought that shops like Macys and others should have our stand with African designs on it because we have a lot of Africans there. So, I thought that it would be nice to have our designs in the shops.

Hence, I spoke about this at the UN.” The fashion mogul is a wife, mother, pastor and now a publisher.

How does she juggle everything?

“I learnt early that what is important may not be urgent and what is urgent may not be important.

Through effective prioritisation and time management, I have mastered the art of focusing per time on what is both important and urgent, to be able to multitask and achieve whatever I set in heart to achieve. I am a pastor.

The pastoral part is what is in me. I take care of a group of people. Before now, I used to preach from church to church. But I don’t do that anymore.

Preaching is about shepherding these people and touching lives. It’s more one-on-one contact with them. That’s what shepherding is about. I give you an example, the Women of Glory Foundation is a huge foundation.

We have branches even in the USA

Davies-Ibiamu

I learnt early that what is important may not be urgent and what is urgent may not be important. Through effective prioritisation and time management, I have mastered the art of focusing per time on what is both important and urgent, to be able to multitask and achieve whatever I set in heart to achieve and the UK. And when most of them have issues, they call on me whether it’s marital issues or otherwise. Sometimes, we bring people together to see how we can assist an individual. We intervened in a woman who had cancer. Today, she

is back on her feet and has returned to work.”

On being a mother, she revealed that she always puts her family first.

“I work, but as soon as I get home, I pay attention to the family. I am a

mother to so many children, I have a lot of children that are under my care. But to the glory of God, most of them have graduated.”

Describing herself as a very spiritual person, she said her personal communion with God remains her biggest source of energy, apart from family and friends.

“God has been my staying power. With him, I can do whatever I want. No one can survive all in life nor combine the very many responsibilities without the help of God. Like I tell people, it’s never your ability.”

After recording many successes in the fashion world, recently, she went into publishing by unveiling The Ruthies Magazine with a slogan, “Sophistication and Probity Interlaced.” She recounted that The Ruthies Brand was birthed with the underlying philosophy to highlight and celebrate the poise, refinement and sophistication of womanhood via fashion.

“Through the years, we have been careful to work a fine line that ensures every single design concept we create reflects the essence of this philosophy. Also, cemented in our design thinking is the notion that the African Woman is a custodian of the rich African heritage. I was looking at the area I came from, which is Rivers State and I saw that we have a beautiful culture and also we have beautiful cultural attire which people don’t know about. I felt that it was time to put it out there. I always say to people, I am a proud Rivers woman, I am an Ikwerre daughter married to an Andoni (Ijaw) man. Part of what I want to talk about is your culture as a woman and the culture of your marriage. For instance, you are a young woman born in a different environment, culture and you have to go to a completely different cultural background. My part of Rivers state is different from my husband’s part, then our beliefs are different from theirs.

So, I am trying to bring the message out.

It’s something really interesting because our children don’t understand that. So, I will like them to learn our culture and traditions.

“With the magazine, we hope to reach our target audience in a more personal and memorable way. This step is very audacious considering the overwhelming power that social media has on fashion today. Ruthies publishes its own designs and products. It’s beyond mere copying and pasting designs that are not home grown or bespoke, which most online advertisers cannot produce on demand.”

Within this saturated world of glamorous magazines, she said with the unique style of Ruthie it will surely stands the test of time. “We are here to stay because the sustainability of any vision thrives on clarity, originality, passion, commitment, strategy, competence: Clarity addresses who we are out to impact, what we want to achieve and the difference we want to make. Originality addresses the fact that this is not just done because it is the trend or because that’s what everyone is doing; it has to be a niche and content creation should not be a struggle. Passion and commitment addresses the emotional energy required to sustain the pursuit.

Strategy covers the technicality required

by SWOT analysis, for sustainability, marketing, networking, collaborations and visibility. Competence means that aside the fact that the publisher is an expert in her chosen path, she has surrounded herself with a team of experts in the relevant industries to ensure seamless operations and productivity.

Having put these in place, we look forward to RUTHIES being here for a very long time.”

Happily married to an astute businessman, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, CEO/ Managing Director, Hopeup Integrated Industries Nigeria Limited and blessed with wonderful children, she assured her readers that having been passionate about the girl-child and women-folk, especially the African woman, her desire is to see the African Woman blossom and live her best life. She promised to pursue this through several women non-profits endeavours and now as a publisher.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

50

HighLife

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

For Toyin Is Wike a Drunk? Amaechi, Atiku Think So Subair, Good Times are Here

Subair

One of the most enduring tips of wisdom that has proved valid in view of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria is that a team of focused individuals can do much more than one person.

Perhaps this is the secret behind the victory of President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

After all, he is known for enabling people, thereby placing them in strategic positions and effectively planting goodwill to harvest influence at a later time. Toyin Subair, the serial investor into all things TV stations, has clearly learnt a few lessons from the President-elect. Now that things are as they are with Tinubu’s presidential victory, isn’t Subair in for a good time?

Subair has shown himself to be a smart person. Since emerging in the limelight as a businessman and willing investor in profitable ventures, he has made a few mistakes known to the public. However, more than anything, it is the fact that Subair knows to associate himself with winners that makes him different from his peers. With Tinubu set to become Nigeria’s president

by May 29, one can say that Subair has turned himself into an unparalleled friend of the president.

Few fortunes accompany the coward, and the vast majority follow after the brave. This is what Subair has proven, among other things, by his persistence to support Tinubu through trying times. In fact, just before the campaigns, Subair was among the handful of business people that remained strong pillars of support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate. As a result, Subair will most likely benefit from his foresightedness in a big way.

Is Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State a drunk? Does he spend a mind-boggling N50 million on alcohol weekly?

Should he, as many of his critics have concluded, be banished from politics because of his strong views? Why are so many influential people against him?

Things are starting to heat up again in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rivers State.

Interestingly, the same factor can be identified as responsible for the recent narratives being cooked up against Wike. Alcohol and drunkenness come to mind when one puts two and two together, adding up to Wike, in the books of PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

According to Atiku, Wike’s comment about drinking whiskey while he (Atiku) was leading PDP leaders to protest issues with the conduct of the presidential election demonstrates that the Rivers governor is a drunkard.

Considering his health, Atiku

advised him to stop speaking while his mind is clearly overwhelmed with a strong drink.

Oddly agreeing with Atiku’s comment, Wike’s gubernatorial predecessor, Amaechi, also laid claims regarding Wike’s relationship with the bottle.

According to the former Rivers governor, Wike spends N50 million every week on alcohol. As a result, Amaechi stated, Wike is running Rivers state into the ground with his expensive lifestyle.

All of this started with Wike.

On Monday, March 6, 2023, while Atiku was protesting the result of the presidential election alongside other PDP leaders, Wike said that he was busy drinking his 40-yearold whiskey with his friends.

And while others interpreted that as Wike being unconcerned with Atiku’s actions, the PDP presidential candidate and Amaechi interpreted things differently.

So, has the battle line been redrawn or what? Time will tell.

Wike

Amaechi

Atiku

Pastor Evelyn Keeps the Flag Flying

Evelyn

Human legacies are like trinkets: the number of times we remove the dust from these trinkets and polish them until they are sparkling indicates how much we care about them. For Evelyn Joshua, the wife of the late pastor and founder of Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua, there is no bigger legacy than what her husband left behind. As a result, she continues to spend her time and everything in her power to ensure that TB Joshua’s greatest gift to the people of his generation remains bright and flourishing.

It has been a while since SCOAN entered the news. However, this is only because Lady Evelyn has been very busy restoring and maintaining the robustness of her

CashCrunch:AhmedHalilu’s MatchlessEffortsinMakingSure ThingsGetBacktoNormal

Halilu

There is no question about it—this is one of the most difficult times for Nigerians since the last presidential election. Despite the well-intentioned policy, the scarcity of Naira notes has left many Nigerians unable to satisfy basic needs. However, things are getting better due to the continued efforts of people like Ahmed Halilu, the MD of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC).

There is always someone to blame for bad things. In the case of the hardship that has settled on Nigerians due to the Naira redesign policy and its associated guidelines to regain the excess cash outside of the control of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), every CBN staff has been fingered as responsible.

Of course, the accusing fingers have also

husband’s ministry. As all of her attention is on this pursuit, it is not surprising that she is beginning to make moves that remind onlookers of her husband’s charismatic presence and style.

A good pointer is her latest move.

Lady Evelyn recently established a new branch in Akure, the capital city of Ondo State. TB Joshua was from Ondo. Thus, Lady Evelyn’s action of erecting a SCOAN branch in the Sunshine State is a way of ensuring that the people of Ondo do not lose out on the anointing upon the ministry, even though her husband is late now. Furthermore, because she continues to keep the flag of the ministry flying, the new branch will doubtlessly flourish in the years to come. extended to organizations like NSPMC that are partially responsible for ensuring that Nigerians have access to their money.

However, one must admit that it is not NSPMC’s fault. After all, an organisation responsible for printing new money can only do so when they have been commanded to. Instead, what they can do is urge the powers that be to take the right course(s) of action and ultimately help relieve the people of the burdens. And this is exactly what Halilu is doing.

According to informed sources, Halilu is one of the people pushing to help Nigerians triumph over this period of Naira scarcity. With his influence as the NSPMC MD, it is only a matter of time before the old ways are restored and Nigerians can withdraw and spend as much as they want without the fear of exhausting the nation’s strong room of cash.

Yes, Halilu is working. That much is clear now. Given the reversal of the Naira policy, especially with respect to limitations on withdrawals and the validity of N500 and N1,000 notes, one can see that Halilu is doing his best.

51

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

HIGHLIFE

How Gbenga Ashafa’s Sterling Stewardship Earned Him New Nickname, ‘The Housemaster’ There is a kind of commitment to duty that overshadows every flaw that a person possesses. That is the commitment that leads to ordinary men becoming symbols of eminence and influence, allowing them to reach the peak of the mortal world. For Gbenga Ashafa who is more committed to doing the duties of his office as the MD/CEO of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) of Nigeria, there is no better description than ‘Housemaster’. No wonder it is the nickname that his peers and subordinates are calling him.

To be called a master of anything is an honour. To be called The Housemaster, referring to one’s unbridled dedication to providing shelter for others, is an even greater honour. Due to these facts, Ashafa stands as one of the most honoured public officers in Nigeria. Even now that a new political era is about to be unveiled, one cannot help but

praise the outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, for having an accurate eye for talent and single-minded devotion to duty.

Buhari appointed Ashafa to be the MD/ CEO of FHA in August 2022. It has been almost three years since that appointment and Ashafa has not let the president down. With one successful project after another, Ashafa has made it possible for biographers to collect the housing sector under the category of Buhari’s best points during his eight-year tenure. But anybody that knows Ashafa knows that the man is not after this kind of praise.

Even when he was representing Lagos East Senatorial District in the Senate, Ashafa was always a man of the people. A true statesman, Ashafa’s concern for others enables him to keep his nose to the grindstone. For him, this dedication is the source of absolute strength.

Thus, Ashafa is very worthy of the title of Housemaster. In the years to come, he might

By Glory Opeyemi

Ashafa

gain another title, one even more prominent.

But, for now, Housemaster is the nickname for the FHA man.

Ireti Kingibe: The Female Politician Who Retired Senator Philip Aduda

Kingibe

Year 2023 will ever remain the year that many political things changed in Nigeria, the year that new branches grew on the giant tree of political power and bore fruits that very few minds could conceive. Ireti Kingibe, the woman in line to be the Senator

of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, is one such power branch. With so much working for her, it is not altogether surprising that she came at this time to retire one of the toughest political nuts to crack in Nigeria.

For as long as some residents of Abuja can remember, Senator Philips Tanimu Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been the figure representing them at the House of Senate. With the man’s experience and prestige, even the eight-year reign of the opposing political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) could not uproot him for this senatorial position in the nation’s capital city. But this is a new era and the new has come to replace the old.

Kingibe is the new branch in this narrative. During the 2023 election, she surprisingly overwhelmed Senator Aduda and others with her victory. Even though some analysts insist that she rode on

the coattails of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the fact remains that the woman is a giant unto herself Many of her critics forget that Kingibe is not only a politician but also a civil engineer who has been in the thick of corporate things since the late ‘70s and of political things in the early ‘90s. Specifically, she has flown her aspiration for the FCT senatorial position under multiple flags, including that of the PDP and APC. However, it was not meant to be. It was under LP that she was able to push her mandate to the people and convince them that she has what it takes to represent them in the Senate.

Thus, there is much more to Kingibe than her being a woman or a member of LP. Neither of these attributes is enough to obtain the allegiance of FCT residents and push out Aduda who has been there since 2011.

Female Titan … The World Celebrates Oyindamola Adeyemi’s Birthday Some people appear to have the fortune of the earth upon them and so are destined for greatness. Oyindamola Adeyemi, the founder and Group MD of Still Earth Group is one such person. From her graceful disposition to the brilliance of her mind, the lady is one of a kind. Today, she will celebrate her birthday and, as has become the custom with this event, the world would stop for a bit and stare at her prestige.

There is no doubt that Adeyemi has made a name for herself these past couple of years.

With her business acumen and natural grace, her personality is like the brilliant sun that motivates flowers to bend in her presence.

As such, every time she adds a new year to her age, she adds a new charm to her grace, leaving many to wonder how blessed she is.

For those that are fairly acquainted with Adeyemi, March 19 stands distinguished on her calendar. That is because it is her birthday.

Knowing this, many people of repute and renown make it a duty to extend congratulatory flowers and flowery congratulations to her.

Of course, tokens of applause ought to attend Adeyemi every time she appears in public, but March 19 is even more special to her than every other day.

Much has been said about the Still Earth lady, and many descriptions have been used in an attempt to capture her in praise and song. However, few of these descriptions have reached the literary bridge to chance upon her true person. After all, her entrepreneurial success is not up for debate, and neither is her gorgeousness.

As a result, the coming of every new year reminds her relatives, friends, and associates that Adeyemi is of a different stock than most.

Hers is a grace unburdened by empty pride but overflowing in genuine humility. Thus, she is greatly loved and adored by all and sundry.

Adeyemi

Politics is No Longer on the Card for Segun Sebanjo

Sebanjo

How many times does it need to be said that politics is not a game that anybody can participate in? Whereas there is no height requirement, IQ stipulations, or anything of

the sort, politics is something that requires the heart and soul of an individual, not to mention their lives. As such, it is not altogether surprising that Segun Sebanjo, the man from Nord Oil, has allegedly decided to leave politics for calmer waters.

Although there is no credible source for this information, the news guys in the streets have already concluded the political destiny of Sebanjo. According to them, the man, although well-intentioned, does not have that ruthlessness that many existing politicians have. As a result, he would find more respite and reason to serve his country and people elsewhere, specifically where there is neither threat to life and welfarenoradelugeofdeception and conspiracies.

There is much to be said about Sebanjo. As folks would likely remember, the gentleman announced his decision to represent Ogun East Senatorial District at the Senate in 2022. According to him,

Mustapha Unites Dignitaries @ 60th Birthday

the district needed more than brawn to pull off much-anticipated changes in economic development and all-around sustainability.

Believing himself to have this extra component, Sebanjo admonished the people of Ogun East to consider his plea to represent them at the Senate.

However, before the people could even come to a consensus on Sebanjo’s appeal, he had already stepped down for a different person, Seyi Oduntan. Although both Sebanjo and Oduntan belong to the same political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), many people could not understand why it was seemingly so easy for him to withdraw from the race. Moreover, he has always been a good friend of the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.

But it is what it is. Whether Sebanjo will return to the corporate world remains to be seen.

A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Hon. Mashood Mustapha, has proven that he is a unifier with the array of eminent personalities that attended his 60th birthday prayer.

MM’s birthday prayer which took place on March 11, 2023, had in attendance politicians from across political divides. They include the Kwara State Deputy Governor, Mr. Kayode Alabi; the former Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed (Maigida); the Mutawali of Ilorin, Dr. Alimi AbdulRazaq; the Chairman of Governor Advisory Council (GAC), Kunle Sulyman; former Kwara PDP Chairman, Mr. Kola Shittu; former Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Prof. Ali Ahmad; Alhaji Razaq Lawal, and APC House of Assembly candidate for Alanamu/ Ajikobi Constituency, Hon. Tundun Alanamu.

Other dignitaries were the Olusin of Ijara Isin, Oba Ajibola Ademola; AU Mustapha (SAN); Lubcon CEO, Mr. Jani Ibrahim; Oloriewe Raheem Adedoyin and his wife, Hajia Basirat Adedoyin; Hajia Kuburat Kasum; Kwara Commissioner for Business Innovation and Technology, Hon. Akaje Ibrahim; Alh Razaq Adio; Alh Cooler; Alh Ganiyu Asaju; Hon. Adamu Sabi; Engr. Abdulrahman Giwa, and the TIC Chairman of Isin LG, Engr Tunde Fadipe.

Also in attendance were the Grand Mufty of Ilorin, Sheik Sulaiman Farooq Onikijipa; Dan Iyan of Ilorin, Mr. Kale Kawu Agaka; the Dan Masani of Ilorin, Mr Yahaya Alanpansanpa; former Grand Khadi, Idris Haroon; Dr. Saadu Alanamu; former Commissioner, Hon. Jafaar Bio; Mrs. Yewande Mobolaji-Dauda; Hajia Kudirat Issa; Mrs. Dupe Oyin; Hajia Sadiq Keji; Bolakale Ajanaku; Alhaji Hassan Gegele, and Mrs. Victoria Dare.

Oba Jibril Bolaji Moranro, Alaho of Aho Ogbada, Kwara State; former Commissioner, Dr. Atolagbe Alege; Alhaji Abdullahi Bello; former Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Ganiyu Mustapha; Mr. Hakeem Mustapha (SAN); Alhaji Muda Mustapha; Alhaji Toyin Lanre; Alhaji Nurudeen Jaji; Alhaji Sadiq Ahmed; Mr. Rotimi Ajisafe, and other eminent personalities were also present at MM’s 60th birthday prayer.

While fielding questions from newsmen at the end of the prayer, MM said: “I am a man of the people, I don’t play politics with bitterness.

My relationship cuts across party lines. When it comes to political calculation and strategy, we know where we belong, and we know how to work for the success of the party we belong to. But when it comes to relating with ourselves, we must maintain a cordial relationship because those you work against today may be the people you will work with tomorrow”.

52

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

For Sanwo-Olu, Vivour, Doherty, Jandor, It’s Now in God’s Hands

Most Lagosians will agree that this particular campaign season was the toughest, most

colourful and most hotly fought for since the enthronement of democracy in 1999.

The results of the presidential election which was held on t February 25, 2023, sent seismic shock waves through the bowels of the Lagos establishment. The governor was having his favourite breakfast of ogi and akara when the results started slipping in. Labour Party was taking some very strategic areas and Asiwaju was immediately on the phone. “Omoboy, what is going on?” Sanwo-Olu jumped up, threw the akara away and responded.

‘Daddy, I don’t know oooo.”

“Common call a town hall meeting,” he screamed over the phone. I don’t understand this Bulla Ballu you are trying to tell me, he screamed as he dropped the phone.

That result energised the Labour Party push.

A campaign that up until that time was as lame as a drunken sailor’s you know what… immediately the results were finalised and Labour Party emerged, Sanwo-Olu jumped on the ice cream trail. He was everywhere o, he even came to Magodo. The campaign had moved from a lethargic place to an electrified pace. Thanks to ‘Chinedu’ of Labour Party, people started fearing o.

This boy wants to take Lagos ooo. This 40-year-old handsome boy wants to now kick Asiwaju and his band of merry men who have controlled Lagos for over 24 years into the lagoon. The same lagoon that the Oba

wanted to throw his in-laws into. The same lagoon will now be the final resting place of a dwindling empire. Me, I kuku went to inspect the lagoon to see exactly where APC and their apparatchiks would be thrown into and decided the Ebute Metta end would have been the right place because of the amount of excrement that gets thrown in there. Kai! But Sanwo-Olu was not going to go down so easily. He went on a rampage. Appeared in peoples’ bedrooms. Scattered lovemaking asking the couples to wait first let him explain why him and not that small boy who still has pimples should rule Lagos.

Billboards, TV, radio, beer parlours, brothels.

Sanwo-Olu was everywhere. LASTMA was asked to calm down, seized cars released free of charge and ice cream was bought for everybody in every mall in Lagos.

While this was going on, Gbadebo who by this time had been named Chinedu or shebi that is his real name, was not relaxing. He was screwing the APC, saying very powerful things that resonated with Lagosians who had by this time, did not want to hear Jaga… talkless of ban again.

He will cancel Alpha Beta and move the money as soft loans to Lagosians. He will scatter the whole Alausa and hand over Lagos to Lagosians.

He was resonating with the youths and other such people who have been out in the cold. This was getting more interesting. He

jumped on the market that was gutted by fire wearing white and moving with the people like the messiah.

PDP on their part was unravelling. The candidate seeing his campaign move away from a strong second to a distant third threw in a bomb with the hope that he would regain positioning. Na lie. His revelation that Chief Bode George wanted to impose this same Vivour on him as running mate, did not shake anything.

Lagosians’ had moved on and were no longer really keen on his candidacy or the stories surrounding it. His running mate, the beautiful Nollywood screen siren, had already gone back to shooting movies.

She was no longer interested in all of these abeg.

Then Mr. Doherty started making a strong showing. People started leaning towards him because of his depth and profiling.

They saw a more complete candidate than the Labour Party one because of his experience, maturity and capacity.

Anyways, by the time you read this, Lagosians would have cast their votes and the rest will be in the hands of INEC and God. My own is that whoever wins, there should be no violence. Anybody who feels very strongly that the usual, ‘Nigerian’ thing has happened to him, should follow due process instead of inciting violence.

We are tired.

Abubakar

Eno

Oba Elegushi

Oseni

ATIKU ABUBAKAR WAS SPOT ON You know Wike pulled this one on himself. He was reported as saying that when he saw the footage of Mr. Atiku wearing black and marching in protest to the INEC head office, he called his friends and opened a 40year bottle of Whiskey to drink and enjoy himself.

This statement is like dousing yourself with fuel and running through a burning market and of course he got what he wanted.

The Atiku team was lethal. They dropped bombs on him in a way that would make Russia very envious.

They called him a drunk and didn’t even stop at that and went on to look at the time of the protest being around 11 am in the morning to now wonder why a sitting Governor would be drinking alcohol at that time of the morning.

They concluded that this must be why his voice is as coarse as a motor park tout and also averred that this must be why he used to dance all over the

place in a drunken state.

Well, if you ask me, na Wike bring this one to himself. Na him expose himself and Atiku did not take prisoners in slamming him. True sha, if you really look at the thing, Wike’s voice really does sound like the 100-year old ‘agbero’ at Onipanu bus stop. Make I run oooo.

man by empowering the sector thru government intervention.

He concluded by looking at the impact of the policy on the many beer parlours that litter the state.

Me I am really not going to say anything on the matter because by the time you are reading this, the elections would have held and we would be awaiting INEC with bated prayers that those ones will not ask us to go to court instead of doing the right thing.

My prayer is very simple. Ohhh Lord of Udofia Akaniyene, and ikoa isong Akwa Ibom save us from this impending disaster.

The way you saved the children of Israel from the wickedness of Pharaoh kindly save us from the impending incompetence of this prophet of baal.

This whole thing has made Akwa Ibom people a general laughing stock since the policy was announced.

COINCIDENCE My favourite traditional ruler in Lagos has just been making me laugh here. All of a sudden, the urgent need to celebrate the ‘Oro’ masquerade has become imperative and the dates for its celebrations have been such that they start from a few hours to the most important election in Africa to midnight just before election day.

The obvious implications of this, is not lost on anybody. This desperation and obvious intent to scare, muscle and intimidate voters especially in an area that has shown very strong resolve for change cannot go unnoticed.

The luck that Kabiyesi has is that his position is not up for election because by now, I think the revolution or is it movement they call it will have reached there.

The tepid explanation from the Palace trying to calm frayed nerves falls flat on the ground. The Oro must sha come out this week o, not

Sanwo-Olu

UMO ENO’S LET’S BE HAPPY So, the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Akwa Ibom State has decided that his own arrowhead policy, if elected, would be to declare surplus as they say in strategic beer parlours all over the state.

He sat down there and, with a bold face, announced that he would be subsidising beer so that the people could relax and be happy.

While we remain confused at this policy thrust, we must not forget that the man has a background in that sector having run a motel in Eket.

Having seen the challenges in the sector, he can only be a good industry

OBA ELEGUSHI: A BEAUTIFUL

53

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

any other week. It must sha be this week.

You see, I always have a problem with the timing of this Oro. That was how when I first met Erelu my late wife, Oro also came out. I had chased the woman for one year. Sold my okada to buy fish pepper soup for her.

She loved it so much. I bought fish for over one year before the woman come agree for me o. To celebrate, I suggested we go somewhere. She recommended Whispering Palms in Badagry. I made my enquiries and my brother, a room costs N20,000 per day and my salary na N60,000 per month.

I do salary advance and moved.

That was how we got to Badagry and they said, they are doing Oro. This same Oro oooo. Kai, my woman being a woman cannot see it. Me being a non-indigene, cannot see it. Kai, I look the beautiful woman, I look the money, I don borrow, I look the one year I chase am. I said to the taxi driver, make we risk am…….

Anyway, this Oro this week……. I keep quiet. Thank you.

RUFAI OSENI, I BEG TO DISAGREE Extremely influential TV presenter and commentator, the great Rufai Oseni has missed it this time. Me I don’t agree o. I don’t know where he went to fish out treaty signed by the British showing ownership of Lagos.

According to him, the document signed between Oba Decomo and the British purportedly handed over Lagos to the British and as such according to him Lagos is owned by the British. This is really a town hall bula balu kind of talk. It is the kind of talk you will talk about after drinking Wike’s 40-year-old whiskey. It is bunkum and crap.

If he meant to help resolve the question – who is a Lagosian, a question that continues to beggar an answer, then it has fallen flat. This document is null and void. It is of no electoral value and does not in any way help our matter.

The British stole land and other resources we have been asking for reparations and in fact, they have only just started returning the artefacts they stole from Benin and now this very important journalist is now bandying a thieving document as evidence that Lagos belonged to the British.

How this will resolve the Igbo/ Yoruba question is what I fail to see.

My brother, please listen to me very well, Lagos belongs to people who came from Iragbiji. They went to school in Chicago and later settled in Bourdillon, Ikoyi. From there they now appointed vassals like the one in Isale Eko, Elegushi and Oniru to be helping him in collecting taxes and other such things.

Leave yeye document wey cockroach don chop and see the reality on the ground. Na modern slavery we dey now and you dey talk about ancient slavery. Bro smell the coffee.

IT IS JUST WHAT IT IS I have been quite confusing on this campaign. First, they say as a columnist, I should not take sides or endorse any candidate. I no agree. I have freedom of choice and must be part of the political process. So, I will shout my position and go and eat my afang after to regain lost energy.

However, since the battle for Lagos commenced February 25th, I have taken a very round about position.

Everybody knows where I stand with the President elect. Left to me, he should be in an old people’s home in Bahamas drinking tequila and mulling over his memoirs. But what can we do. Nigeria is a fairy tale.

So not a lot of people were surprised

at my rabid support for Governor Sanwa-Olu, a man a lot of people see as his ‘boy’. Edgar how can you be abusing Tinubu and be supporting Sanwo-Olu. Is that even possible?, they will ask My people, I craze like that o. Me, I stand for Sanwo-Olu o. For so many reasons that I cannot begin to talk about here and in that my position, I have written over 100,000 words in essays, Whatsapp chats and even

organized debate where I pulled in 100 people to discuss the joys of a Sanwo-Olu second term.

I didn’t stop there o. I went on TVC and AIT-twice and LTV to shout my position. As I gained prominence, I was invited to a reelect Sanwo-Olu Whatsapp group.

Almost everybody in the Lagos establishment from his biological relations thru top civil servants and major influential politicians’ where

J.K RANDLE: A PERFECT PAIN

J.K Randle

What could be more painful than to see in your old age, your family legacy grabbed from you and being used as an electoral asset in your very eyes.

This is the pain of the great accountant, Mr. JK Randle whose family land was forcefully taken from them by the Ambode government and started a project now completed by Governor Sanwo-Olu. Today every contestant for the Lagos seat is using that project as major evidence for prequalification to the Lagos seat. Even the Labour Party candidate has put it in his CV that he was the architect on the project even as Sanwo-Olu is also using the project as his administrations’ contribution to history and the arts.

In all of these, nobody is talking to JK Randle. They have just left him to be wearing his doublebreasted suit and be sipping tea like the gentleman that he is with no compensation, talkless of recognition.

I hear his family owned the land. His family was and still is a distinguished family. His great grandfather led the first Olympic team of Nigeria to the Olympics in the 1930s. He was a doctor and very keen sportsman. The

land was ceded to him to build a swimming pool to teach Lagosians especially the ones who needed to cross the Marina from the islands surrounding the Takwa Bay to come and trade in Isale Eko. They lost their lives as a result of the squalls on the Lagoon.

The good doctor lived by the present First Bank Head Office.

So, the dead bodies used to float to his doorstep and he felt he had to do something about it.

So, he approached the colonial government for the land beside the present Muson Centre and the new project where he built a swimming pool for the purpose.

Today, the Lagos State Government has taken it from him forcefully. Ignored the elder statesman and have gone ahead to build what I don’t know on the parcel of land and be using it as a campaign asset.

Chief Randle, sits in his old age in sadness, almost helpless and not knowing what to do. Each morning, he will be sending me articles he had written to fight the matter knowing fully well that nothing will be done to redress the situation.

I really pity Chief Randle. This is really a sad episode and very, very sad. Kai!

in the group.

They welcomed me with open hands and we started work. Sanwo-Olu must be reelected we will be shouting on the group. We strategised and even had a physical meeting where I shot a video telling the whole world how Sanwo-Olu moved me from a struggling actor to the biggest theatre producer ever since Herbert Ogunde married his 50th wife.

My people as I write, they have kicked me out of the group o. This na Thursday morning, a few days to the most important election in Lagos since 1960, they have kicked me out of the very strategic Whatsapp group.

Akwa Ibom people are laughing at me o. They are saying that instead of throwing more energies on Akan Udofia, my brother and candidate, I am meddling in ‘Akusa’ people problem. Good for you they echoed.

Akusa by the way, is what we call Yoruba people in Ibibio language. You know how Yoruba people call us ‘ aje okuta ma mo mi’ that is how we too refer to them either as Akusa or atoro uduang ku ufok. Please don’t ask me the meaning o.

When I made my enquiries as to why I was kicked out, the general consensus was that, a midnight meeting was held where all attendees where naked with palm oil on their foreheads. At the meeting, my rabid dislike for the President elect was discussed extensively and as such especially now that President elect will soon be looking at forming cabinet, they cannot risk to be on the same what’s app group where this ‘omo yibo’ is abusing him up and down.

The decision was made with overwhelming majority with only one abstention- her data finish at the point of voting – that I should be kicked out of the group.

Me that I had joined the group with the hope that the only strategic position left for the Igbos in the administration- special adviser on drainages and gutters currently being held by ‘Igbo traitor’ as they call him, Joe Igbokwe, will be handed over to another ‘Igbo’ traitor, Joseph Edgar.

Well, what else can I say than to say what my former girlfriend at the University of Ibadan said, when I found one Yoruba boy’s tongue deep down her mouth and asked her why, she replied – it is what it is.

So, guys, it is what it is. I can never support the President-elect until the court speaks but will stand with Governor Sanwo-Olu for the simple reason that ‘it is what it is’. Thank you NIYI SALIU AS THE FACE OF AN EMERGING LAGOS In working very closely with some elements on this re-elect Sanwo-Olu project, I have come to the realisation that there is a new crop of young, idealistic and visionary leaders just emerging within the system.

Hon. Niyi Saliu is one of them. A brilliant investment banker who went into politics and quickly emerged the Epe Local Government Chairman during the Ambode administration.

Reuniting with him on this project was a marvel. His diction and clarity were quite amazing. His grasp of the issues and his willingness to be robust and all-embracing in his outlook really pulled me to him.

With leaders like Niyi Saliu coming through, then all we need to do is to build a veritable bridge between those like him who have gone through the tutoring and practical experience of working and learning within the structure and those of his ilk out there in a bid to reinvent true and purposeful leadership. Well done sir.

54

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾MARCH 19, 2023

Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

SOCIETY WATCH

Tony Elumelu: A Glittering Star in Business Firmament @60

Late Sorinolu

Society Lady, Bimpe Sorinolu, Dead and Forgotten?

Bimpe Sorinolu, the sister to the former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, breathed her last nine years ago; precisely, February 13, 2014. Her death, after a protracted battle with cancer of the breast, had, quite expectedly, sent her family, friends, fans and beneficiaries into prolonged mourning.

The feeling of anguish was not unexpected, especially because her earthly sojourn was defined by struggles and some unfulfilled dreams. Besides, she was unwittingly enmeshed in some controversies.

A survivalist, she worked as a cab driver on the streets of London. As if that was not enough, she ventured into the business of fashion design, where she also made a name for herself as a seamstress of note. Her fashion shop on Opebi, Night and Day, was a beehive of activities for trendsetters.

She, indeed, shocked the world when she reportedly singlehandedly designed the first house she lived in with her husband, Dapo Sorinolu- a creative effort that wowed many trained architects.

Call her a restless spirit, and you would not be wrong. Her lifestyle, to many around her, was like a riddle that could not be easily cracked. She believed God had given her almost limitless talents or abilities, which must be deployed to good use. Perhaps, this was the impetus that goaded her into music and acting at different times in her life.

But it came to a stage when she went into self-discovery of a sort and realised that she needed to give more of her Godgiven resources to humanity. She thereby launched Bisochin-Bimpe Sorinolu Charity Initiative, which saw her traverse the length and breadth of Nigeria attending to the destitute and some less privileged citizens.

If no one still remembers her magnanimity or creativity, it is doubtful if anyone would have forgotten the fierce disagreement she had with her governor-brother. The face-off allegedly affected her marriage. While the feud lasted, she suffered a lot, as she was allegedly abandoned by her husband, who eventually married her policewoman friend, even when she was still hovering between life and death. Though she tried to settle with her husband, for a possible reunion with the children, she was rebuffed.

Sadly, years after her death, nothing spectacular has been done to keep her memories alive. Society Watch gathered that her mission, where she catered to the needs of destitute and less privileged children, is now a shadow of itself. Aside from the first-year remembrance that was reportedly not well put together, the family seems to have forgotten the heroic deeds of this superwoman.

If the deceased could turn in her grave and look back, she would be at peace, knowing that her four childrenDamola, Oyinkansola, Monjolaoluwa and Mojoyinola- have been reunited with their father.

Acclaimed literary giant, Prof. Femi Osofisan, aptly titled one of his award-winning plays, “Birthdays Are Not for Dying.”

Indeed, birthdays are for the living and the man currently enjoying the gift of life is the world class economist and banking wizard, Tony Elumelu. The quintessential banker will join the diamond club next Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

As gathered by Society Watch, the Delta State-born would use the occasion to celebrate talents. A source hinted at his plan to empower more youths through his Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF).

For a man who is not a king, but lives a kingly life, nothing short of commendations and eulogies will be literally poured on him by those who have encountered him in one form or the other. Elumelu no doubt has been a source of inspiration to many and helped others fulfill their dreams through TEF.

Since he made his mark in the nation’s financial sector, Elumelu has risen to become a glittering star in the business firmament.

He is the brains behind Heirs Holdings and set up the Tony Elumelu Foundation after quitting UBA in 2010. The vision, according to him, was “to prove that the African private sector can itself be the primary generator of economic development.” The Foundation is charged with the mission of driving Africa’s economic development by enhancing the competitiveness of the African private sector.

As a premier pan-African-focused not-for-profit institution, the Tony Elumelu Foundation is dedicated to the promotion and celebration of entrepreneurship and excellence in business leadership across the continent. This he has achieved in a great colossal fashion.

Elumelu

The Class, Elegance of Queen Consort of Warri Kingdom

Olori Atuwatse III

Considering her majestic status, the perfect adjectival phrases that would describe the beautiful queen and wife of Olu of Warri Kingdom, Olori Atuwatse III, are class, elegance and glamour. No doubt, the strikingly beautiful woman commands respect and honour as her

symbol of authority interprets.

Barely two years since her husband, the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III was enthroned to lead his subjects, the queen has been engaging in a whole lot of life-changing and laudable projects both home and abroad to better the lives of their subjects. Such projects are stretched across the eight communities that make up the riverine state.

The Queen Consort of Warri Kingdom has significantly matched up with the challenges and required development by exploring it to better use for the advancement of Iwere sons and daughters. Since she ascended royal status as the queen’s mother, nothing matters more to her than the well-being of the Iweres.

One of the many projects she supervises, the Royal Iwere Foundation — the brainchild of the monarch — recently collaborated with experts from Ronald the 7th Beauty Lounge to train 45 candidates who are to participate in “the Warri skill acquisition programme,” on equipping and empowering beauty artists and educators. The program which was held from March 1 to 14

was powered by Providus Bank.

Again, a few weeks ago, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Business Women in the world by In Pleasure Magazine.

On Wednesday, March 8, to commemorate the annual “International Women’s Day”, celebrated across the globe, she was tipped as a special guest of honour and a keynote speaker to advocate on the topic, “embrace equality” at an interactive dinner and networking, organised by Dotmount communications at Wells Carlton Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja.

A lawyer and an entrepreneur by profession, the Olori has distinguished herself as a multitalented queen whose ascendancy to the topmost of many striving business conglomerates has remained unstoppable in her quest to add value to the multi-billiondollar business fortune she overlooks. One could wonder less about where she got the business traits from. Many also opined that she must have learnt it from her consummated and philanthropist father, Captain Nosa Okunbo of blessed memory.

Senator Orji Uzoh Kalu Soars Higher Wonder if anyone can fault his description as a man born under the lucky star. He embraced success early in life, long before when many of his age mates were still oblivious to what their destiny had in stock for them. But the crowning glory was when, by providence, he was elected governor of Abia State at 39. His success story, in the past years, is attributed to hard work, dedication, perseverance and goodwill.

OUK as fondly called by admirers is a trailblazer in whatever he does. Since winning his election into the senate in 2019, he has once again become a reference point and a colossus in the game today. He is also a force to be reckoned with in the nation’s political circle.

Unlike many of his colleagues that have suffered serious eclipse in their political life, he continues to soar higher and becomes a recurring decimal in the nation’s political circle.

Senator Kalu has made giant strides in the legislative practice to affirm his firstamong-equal status. It was gathered that he sponsored 51 bills and 28 motions, making him the highest-rated among lawmakers from Abia state and one of the best-performing and highly regarded senators in the country.

Not only that, Kalu’s immense contribution to the infrastructural development of his Senatorial District, Abia North during his first four years in office, cannot be quantified. He has undertaken several projects in that region such as the construction of roads, and the renovation of schools and hospitals. Other projects include the installation of street lights, sinking boreholes, supply of equipment to local farmers, and processing machines for local farm produce. The Senator continues to empower people in his constituency,

Kalu

particularly the youth, and remains committed to more developmental projects in his second term.

Siju Iluyomade’s Sermon on Women Equality

Iluyomade

This year’s edition of International Women’s Day (IWD) may have come and gone, but not without interesting lessons learnt. Organisations and institutions always seize the opportunity of the day dedicated to the celebration of women worldwide to encourage and enlighten women to

exhibit their creative talents without reservation to their gender. This year, the IWD was anchored on globalisation with the theme: DigitALL, Innovation Technology For Gender Equality.

The Dr Siju Iluyomade’s led Handmaiden, a platform for Women In Leadership Series [WiLS], also organised an educative forum for the womenfolk to commemorate this year’s edition of IWD, with the theme: Leading Women, Leveraging Technology in Market Place, which held at the City of David Sanctuary of the Redeemed Christian of Church of God, Oniru Lagos. Various young speakers were on hand to give their thoughts on maximizing the influence of technology by the female gender without limitations “Women, we need to upscale, don’t downgrade, we must embrace technology, said Iluyomade. “We have to be loyal and take difficult decisions no matter how hard they may be, gender equality is not only a right, it’s a fundamental human right. There is

no limit when it comes to technology, it helps children to explore creativity and collaborate more. Young Girls must also embrace Science, Engineering and Mathematics. It will form the basis of the technology knowledge.”

The trained lawyer of many years, who is equally the convener of Arise Women, said they are emphasising the young women now because they are the present and future of discoveries in technology.

Others who spoke at the event include Husseina Yesufu, the Head Global Partnership at Flutterwave, who also emphasised the need for young women to be technology-driven and creative in their daily activities.

Also, Mrs Eyitope Kola-Oyeniyi, in her address, said technology is the thing that can change the landscape and must be embraced by all women.

“As a human leveraging on technology, you must adapt to whatever is provided to you and Artificial Intelligence cannot do that,” said Sarah Boulos, one of the discussants.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ JUNE 24 2012

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

19. 3. 2023

Charting New Course for the Abuja Art Scene With his lustrous curatorial credentials, artist Nduwhite Ndubuisi Ahanonu has initiated landmark projects in an effort to dispel Some of Ahanonu's works at a recent exhibition in Abuja Abuja's unflattering, prejudicial reputation as a soulless metropolis.

Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes

C

ould it be that his eventual "detour to curating," An interactive session during one of the Abuja Open House events as Nduwhite Ndubuisi the reason the IICD Centre has a distinct modus Ahanonu puts it, was the operandi, as an open thematic experimental result of his insatiable thirst art space that infuses pedagogical and creative for a creative adventure? processes in the industry.”

No sooner had he returned As an artist, the Leuphana University, Lünefrom the 2010 edition of the Dakar Biennale, burg, Germany, MFAcandidate has earned his where he represented Nigeria with a new stripes. Already, he has held four solo exhibits perspective and direction of discourse in in addition to taking part in other group shows African contemporary art practice, than the both inside and outside of Nigeria. As a curaartist began to stir things up in the Abuja art tor, he has led and facilitated numerous local scene. and international workshops and residencies; Along with his now deceased friend Harrison most recently, in 2018, he organised a portfolio Ikibah, he initiated a few interventions in the review workshop with France-based curator federal city’s art scene, which then appeared Caroline Hancock in collaboration with the to be exclusively dominated by government Institut Français, Abuja. parastatals and embassies. The pair’s initiatives, According to him, his over a decade of which focused mostly on establishing and curating and art management has taught him planning exhibitions, prepared the ground for how best to be an artist. “I am now applying WKHLU SURIRXQGO\ LQÁXHQWLDO HQFRXQWHU ZLWK D DQG QHJRWLDWLQJ P\ DUW SUDFWLFH DJDLQ ÀQGLQJ group of British Council representatives who a balance with my studio practice and the were in town for an event. Ahanonu recalls Ahanonu institutional work we do here [at the IICD being invited to Lagos after that encounter.

Centre].”

"This was [at a time] when there was a huge Still on the IICD, it runs an international disconnect between individual or independent artist residencies in several locations across artists' residency that has sparked new creative curators, art managers, and even art institu- the world. tions," he recalls.

In the midst of all of this, the duo founded the V\QHUJLHV 7KLV LV LQ DGGLWLRQ WR LWV HͿRUWV WR Soon afterwards, a handful of them were International Institute for Creative Developreposition the ideology and creative narratives accepted into a mentorship scheme for a year, PHQW LQ ZKLFK ZDV D GLUHFW RͿVKRRW RI of the Abuja art scene and artists, as well as which led to Ahanonu studying cultural the Ford Foundation mentorship programme Nigerian artists in general. Ahanonu, who diplomacy in Berlin in 2008 under the Ford to develop future cultural managers in Niparticipated in the Midbar InternationalArtists' Foundation's funding. It was at this point that geria. Indeed, the Abuja art scene has been Residence in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2006, enthuses the Imo State-born artist’s odyssey veered systematically positioned during the past ten about how the IICD Centre encourages creative FRPSOHWHO\ RͿ FRXUVH IURP H[FOXVLYH VWXGLR \HDUV DV D GLVWLQFWLYH FXOWXUDO LGHQWLÀFDWLRQ E\ dialogues and interactions between Nigerian practice. He had ever since taken courses on the IICD, as the institute is often called by its artists and the resident foreign artists. In keeping with worldwide curatorial standards, this curatorial studies in Venice, the Asiko School of initials. “We do have a lot working for us here,” focus aims to provoke fresh debates, arguments, Art in Dakar, cultural management in Germany, Ahanonu explains. “Abuja, from a distance, and issues as well as research opportunities. In social engagement for social change in the US may appear soulless, as most people have a nutshell, the IICD Centre's main objective is to (IVLP), cultural mediation and democratisa- in the past described it. Deconstructing this tion in France, as well as art workshops and psychological stereotype and more are part of help artists in the framework of contemporary

art practice establish their voice, connect their paths, and create new narratives.

So far, Ahanonu’s curatorial credentials glisten with his projects, which include the Hilton at 30’s “Catalyst for Future Cities” at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and a performance in celebration of the Francophonie Festival, titled “Though I Don’t Know You,” which was held at the Belgian Ambassador’s residence in Abuja in 2017. In 2016, he curated a group art exhibition, titled Abuja Alive, held at the IICD Centre inAbuja in 2016 and co-curated the Finding the True North artist residency in Karlstad, Sweden. +LV PRVW UHFHQW ÁDJVKLS SURMHFW WKH $EXMD Open House, which is unarguably the biggest DUW ÀHVWD LQ WKH IHGHUDO FDSLWDO FLW\ DFWXDOO\ held its maiden edition in 2019, but was only able to hold its second edition in 2022 after being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Animating over 22 locations in four days, it is the most attended art event in Abuja, contributing its quota to burnishing the city’s FXOWXUDO SURÀOH $KDQRQX D΀UPV WKDW LW KDV UHFRUGHG RYHU 1500 attendees, with an increase in gallery visits, DQG HͿHFWLYHO\ JURRPHG QHZ FXOWXUDO SOD\HUV in the industry. This is as he looks forward to the next and third edition, which has been scheduled to take place from October 25 to 28.

“In the future, we will increase the number of activities to strategically democratise art and culture, taking it to communities that are disenfranchised,” he promises. “Our mediation will increase cultural consumption and create new creative ways to consume art and culture.”

Abuja Open House, created in collaboration with the United States Embassy in Abuja, aims to bridge the gap between Abuja’s art community, the general public, and art galleries. It is run by a board of directors, with new directors chosen and invited each year to lead the festival. If its second edition had an impressive run, it was thanks to its creative director, management team, curators, and, most importantly, volunteers.

Ahanonu contends that the city has produced great artists in his personal assessment of the Abuja art scene and its prospects. “What it has failed to do is keep them. Clearly, it is due to a schism in the professionalism of the players.

We have far too many gate crashers who are unconnected to the growth of the artists and scene and are only interested in the glamour and money. The substantiality and authenticity of the content are severely lacking, owing to the Fordist production mentality.”

Nonetheless, he discerns a ray of hope on the horizon and believes that Abuja, which he calls "a young city with too many cosmetic inspirations," is still developing its character.

He says that new media, notably through GLJLWDOLVDWLRQ ZRXOG SOD\ D VLJQLÀFDQW UROH in the sector's future growth. “What we need is sustained cultural policy, driven by mediation to inspire consumption. We have the right position and proximity to government and the international community, but we lack the will to implement structures that demand sustained cultural policy, systems that guaranteed civil and cultural interactions, hence the fragmented growth.”

As for his recipe for the sector’s sustainable growth, it includes an intentional strategy, a projected plan that takes into account Abuja’s creative DNA, clear coordination with stakeholders and the government, and capacity building for cultural workers.

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

56

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

ARTS & REVIEW\\POT POURRI

1LJHULD 7KURXJK WKH 3ULVP /HQV RI :ULWHUV Segun Ade-Martins

T

hree accomplished writers huddled together that Saturday evening, at Grill Culture Restaurant, L and Z Park, Lokogoma, an outlying suburb of Abuja, to discuss writing and travel. The date?

February 18. The authors were Toyin Adewale-Gabriel, Dike Chukwumerije, and Pelu Awofeso, who also served as the moderator.

The discussion, which was also streamed live online, came on the heels of Awofeso and Chukwumerije's exposé about their pan-Nigerian travels.

Awofeso is an internationally renowned travel and culture writer, as well as an expert tour guide across Nigeria, having visited 32 of the 36 states, while Chukwumerije is a spoken word and performance poet who has created theatrical productions with poetry at their core. As for Adewale-Gabriel, she is a poet and journalist whose poetry DQG VKRUW ÀFWLRQ KDYH EHHQ published in English and German.

The discussion centered on the fractured state in which 1LJHULDQ FXOWXUH ÀQGV LWVHOI RQ the eve of a pivotal election.

Awofeso and Chukwumerije investigated their respective beginnings.

Awofeso's passion for tourism began during his mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme in Plateau.

LITERARY CAFÉ He was struck by the beauty of the landscape and the friendliQHVV RI WKH SHRSOH $V WKH ÀUVW president of the Tourism CDS group, he established tourism routes in Nigeria through his tours, articles, and blogs.

Meanwhile, Chukwumerije began his journey by publishing a book of poetry, which received a mixed response at ÀUVW +RZHYHU SHUIRUPLQJ that same poetry drew people to him and his work. He described the recent process of establishing poetry as “clearing the bush.” As a result, the “Made in Nigeria” theatrical poetry show was born.

When Adewale-Gabriel asked why they are so passionate about their travels around Nigeria, Chukwumerije based his response on his discovery of Nigeria while touring with his “Made in Nigeria” poetry shows. To him, Nigeria is a country with unrivalled natural resources and, most importantly, humanity and human talent. The only thing lacking is good leadership, and he would, on that account, not reject Nigeria but will do everything in his power to create the Nigeria he desires.

Awofeso’s response to the same question toed the same lines. He enjoys travelling ZLWKLQ 1LJHULD DQG D΀UPHG that his best time so far had been spent on the road. His travels led to the publication of several articles and books on travel and culture in Nigeria, earning him the

CNN/Multichoice African Journalists Award in 2010. He also designs and plans tours for curious foreigners, locals, and the Nigerian diaspora.

Awofeso also addressed difÀFXOW LVVXHV VXFK DV VHFXULW\ and decaying heritage sites. In his opinion, “Nigeria is not the worst country in the world” in terms of kidnapping, terrorism, corruption, and other crimes. There wouldn’t be a negative bias about safety in the media if Nigeria had good leadership. He also described successful trips with foreign visitors that were free of lifethreatening incidents.

Chukwumerije’s patriotism was evident in both his words and actions. According to him, “great rivers give birth to great nations.” His mission, he explained, is to teach people how to become better citizens by revealing Nigeria’s entire history. He hopes to persuade Nigerians through the “Made in Nigeria” show and courses that this geographical location supports great things and that it is up to Nigerians to harness the gifts of the land or someone else will.

Awofeso’s patriotism stems from his enthusiasm for adventure. It was a no-brainer to start a tour guide business when Nigerians began to request travel itineraries to see WKH VLGH RI 1LJHULD KH UHÁHFWHG in his social media posts. He was and still is determined to show a Nigeria that is rarely seen in the media. He aspires to instil an adventurous spirit in as many Nigerians as possible.

Nigeria is a jumbled mess.

Chukwumerije (3rd from the left), Adewale-Gabriel (4th from the left) and Awofeso (5th from the left) flanked by attendees to the event, including Imal Silva (left) Nigeria is frequently portrayed negatively in private homes and the media.

Nigeria is sometimes used as a euphemism for bad luck or as a perpetrator of XQMXVW VXͿHULQJ ,V LW GXH to poor leadership or poor followership? How can the people of this country alter the predicted path of doom and gloom?

It is evident that Nigeria has everything needed to protect, advance, and enhance its image. There are people in charge of initiatives to enhance the culture. The importance of this discussion in an election year demonstrates that more Nigerians are yearning for a government that would harness the country’s tremendous resources

IRU WKH EHQHÀW RI WKH SRSXODFH Nigeria’s “real” self cannot be kept a secret from its people

or the rest of the globe. $GH 0DUWLQV ZULWHV IURP Abuja .

EXHIBITION

Samuel Ajobiewe’s Solo Exhibition Opens April 1 in Lagos Yinka Olatunbosun

1/1* .LFNV R; 1LJHULD 3UL]HV &RPSHWLWLRQ Yinka Olatunbosun

F

ODJJLQJ RͿ WKLV year’s edition, the Advisory Boards for The Nigeria Prize for Science, The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, sponsored by Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Limited, have published the call for entries for the 2023 edition of the prizes. The Science and Literature prizes, which are now in their 19th year, each comes with a cash prize of $100,000 while the Prize for Literary Criticism has prize money of $10,000.

The Science Prize, which recognises outstanding sciHQWLÀF DFKLHYHPHQWV E\ 1Lgerians and non-Nigerians, will focus on Innovation for enhancement of healthcare therapy this year.

The Literature Prize, on the other hand, will focus on Drama. The prize, which honours the author of the best book by a Nigerian, rotates among four literary genres, namely Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Children’s Literature. The Literary Criticism Prize, which also aims to promote

General Manager External Relations and Sustainable

FILM FESTIVAL Nigerian Literature, will receive entries on works in literary criticism of Nigerian Literature, especially critical essays on new writings in Nigerian Literature.

The Call for Entries for the Literature prize and Literary Criticism closes on March 31st 2023 while the window for the science prize closes on April 30th 2023.

Professor Ameh Dennis Akoh will chair the panel of judges for this year’s Literature and the Literary Criticism competition. Pro-

fessor Akoh is a Professor of Drama and Critical Theory at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi State. He has over 50 publications in refereed local and international journals and books. He is the former Editor of the Nigerian Journal of Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Nigerian Theatre Journal (NTJ), Coeditor of African Nebula and the UNIOSUN College of Humanities Monograph Series (2009-2016).

Other panel members include Professor Osita Catherine Ezenwanebe and Dr. Rasheedah Liman.

Professor Ezenwanebe is a

professor of Creative Arts, the University of Lagos. She has written and produced several full-length plays. Dr. Liman is a Senior lecturer at the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State.

Professor Victor K. Yankah from the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, the University of Cape Coast, Ghana is this edition’s International Consultant.

In a press statement by the General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, NLNG, Andy Odeh, he revealed: “The winners of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, if any, will be announced at an award ceremony in October 2023 to commemorate the anQLYHUVDU\ RI WKH ÀUVW /1* export from the NLNG’s Plant on October 9th, 1999.

The Science Prize winner will be revealed earlier in the year.”

The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are part of Nigeria LNG’s contribution towards helping to build a better Nigeria.

State of the Nation, 2019 by Samuel Ajobiewe, acrylic on canvas anvas, 141 x 184 cm (55.5 x 72.5 inches)

O

n Saturday, April 1, the artist Samuel Ajobiewe’s much-anticipated solo exhibition, titled The Indignant Eye, will open at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos. The exhibition, which features the artist’s recent works (produced in 2018 and 2022), will run until Friday, April 7.

The event, meanwhile, is being put on by Red Heritage, a YLVXDO DUWV RUJDQLVDWLRQ FUHDWHG WR RͿHU JXLGDQFH DQG VXSSRUW WR DUWLVWV FXOWXUDO SUDFWLWLRQHUV DQG RWKHU LPSRUWDQW ÀJXUHV LQ WKH $IULFDQ DUW HFRV\VWHP DW GLͿHUHQW SKDVHV RI WKHLU FDUHHUV Interestingly, the perceived inequalities and the problematic socio-political institutions in the country are addressed in the body of work that will be on display at this show. Due to his deft handling of his subject matter, the artist has earned a spot among the most well-known Nigerian artists who take a more vocal approach to their work.

An earthy colour scheme and a delicate concern with the contrast of light and shadows, as seen in the representation of his subjects, are characteristics of this Yaba College of Technology, Lagos graduate’s distinctive visual language, which he has created over the course of his three-decade career. He examines the use of metaphorical pictures to describe actual occurrences DQG YHLOHG UHÁHFWLRQV ZLWK DUFKHW\SDO PHDQLQJV YLD HVRWHULF links in a revolutionary way.

Talking about the exhibition, Ajobiewe says that it serves as a response to “the many disturbing situations in the country. A number of them are, our migrating masses who have left home for safer pastures, deliberate neglect of responsibilities and REOLJDWLRQV E\ JRYHUQPHQW R΀FLDOV ZLWKRXW IHDU RI FRQVHTXHQFHV and in recent years, the agitation for separation and division of the country from socio-political groups.”

The Indignant Eye exhibition is intended to inspire audiences to envision a new Nigeria and consider solutions to its sociopolitical problems. Based on modern Nigeria's history, it provides fertile ground for destabilising tyrants and promoting long-term growth in the country.

57

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

CICERO

Editor: Ejiofor Alike SMS: 08066066268 email:ejiofor.alike@thisdaylive.com

IN THE ARENA

2023 Census: What Manner of National Priority?

With few weeks to the end of the May 29 handing over to a new administration, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has planned to embark on a national population and housing census, which will potentially generate controversies and unnecessary distractions for the incoming administration, Louis Achi writes

S

eventeen years after the last national census was held in 2006, Nigeria is set to conduct a fresh national head count. But the hugely complex enumeration exercise scheduled to hold between March 29 and April 2, 2023 across 774 local government areas of the country and expected to cost a princely N869 billion, was last week shifted to May 2023.

According to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, out of the total of N869 billion ($1.88 billion) required for the census, the government has only committed about a quarter of the sum.

Speaking at a high-level partners’ engagement in Abuja recently, Agba said the census would be conducted in partnership with various development partners, including the United Nations Population Agency (UNFPA) and (EU), among others. According to him, UNFPA would provide significant technical and financial support and also manage a basket fund established for the redemption of pledges.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, had told Nigerians that the 2023 population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 had been shifted to May. He spoke while briefing State House correspondents at the end of a recent weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Buhari in Abuja.

“I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled. There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year. They sought council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion,” Mohammed had explained.

Nigeria’s population is estimated at about 216 million, according to UNFPA. According to statistical projections, if the country continues in its current trajectory, there will be a 100 per cent increase in its population by 2050, reaching up to 400 million people.

Curiously, Nigerians do not trust official figures and neither do officials trust their own figures. This quirky scenario likely explains why most Nigerians - including the government - appeal to outside authority for authentic data about the country.

This apparently feeds some niggling doubts about the real intent of the outgoing administration’s hurry to conduct the massive undertaking of a national population and housing census few weeks to the end of its tenure.

Perhaps, this unflattering backdrop prodded the National Population Commission, to speak up and claim that, “the 2023 Census will be Nigeria’s first digital census and will change how the census is being conducted in Nigeria before now.

“This approach started with the demarcation of enumeration areas covering the entire territorial space of Nigeria using mobile handheld device and geographic information systems, GIS, and satellite imageries to create the digital census maps,” NPC explained.

“A Population and Housing Census is of great relevance to the eco-

Buhari nomic, political and socio-cultural planning of a country. Reliable and detailed data on the size, structure, distribution and socio-economic and demographic characteristics of a country’s population is required for policy intervention and monitoring of development goals.”

Against the background of impressive rhetoric from key government institutions vested with critical mandates who made straight faced pledges but failed, many Nigerians are leery of hurriedly executed national projects which impact socio-economic and broader human development trajectories.

Many point to the controversies generated by the recent presidential and National Assembly elections which were preceded with cast-iron assurances from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but fell short of citizens’ great expectations.

On the funding front, the federal government is apparently not ready but hopes on foreign assistance. Prince Agba, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, had already given a sense of the national head-count’s daunting funding scope. He noted that a total of N869 billion ($1.88 billion) will be required for the exercise, including post-census activities; N626 billion ($1.36 billion) for the census at $6 per capita and N243 billion ($527 million) for post-census activities up to 2025.

Then the beggarly dimension to a critical national project is the invitation of various development partners including network providers to support the government with funding.

Further according to Prince Agba, 885,000 persons would be trained to conduct the dual-purpose census; population and housing. The training of these persons, the minister said, would be held just before the census but did not give an exact date.

He said 773 local governments have been demarcated with the exception of Abadam Local Government Area in Borno State where he noted that residents were not very receptive to the personnel.

According to him, government has however, adopted a hybrid enumeration strategy, stating that other areas with similar challenges include Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State and other localities in Zamfara State. However, on their part, the census planning committee assured that its security and logistics committee has all it takes to handle the situation.

In effect, funding, security and manpower are critical and pivotal inputs that would define or undermine the success of a viable national population census. The general feedback from various stakeholders indicate that rushing to hold such a project may not be in the best interest of the country at this political transition period. Some suggest it would have been best left for an incoming administration to deal with.

Little wonder the House of Representatives had suggested putting off the population enumeration. In May 2021, the Lower House had asked NPC to suspend the planned population census, until the country stabilises. They resolved to invite the NPC Chairman Nasir Kwarra to brief the lawmakers on the possibility of organising a census in the face of growing insecurity.

The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Shehu Beji (APC, Niger). Beji held that thousands of Nigerians have been displaced by the general insecurity across the country, adding that many people have been displaced to neighbouring countries as refugees such as Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin Republic.

He also insisted that “posting enumerators or ad-hoc staff to volatile areas of the nation in the name of conducting a census is irrational, as it would be like giving them out to criminals.”

According to him, “conducting population and housing census in the current economic recession will only waste the hard-earned resources of this country as the outcome will be inconsequential.”

The 2023 general election was also cited as a reason to postpone the election. Shehu said the next general election is envisaged to commence and end within the first quarter of the year 2023. As such, the whole of the preceding year (2022) would mostly be about campaigns, which has no room for census activities, he said.

His words: “The overlapping effect of active political activities and the national headcount shall be prone to political manipulation by over-ambitious politicians,” he said. When the motion was put to vote by the Presiding Officer, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the “ayes” had it.

President Buhari’s jarring mantra of leaving a worthy legacy may be ultimately tested if a hurried national census morphs into a needless valedictory controversy.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

When House Members Become Dishonourable

Uzodimma Gbajabiamila

Recent developments from the 2023 general election have shown that some federal lawmakers who are supposed to be men and women of good conduct and high reputation, are being treated like common criminals because of their alleged dishonourable conduct.

First, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa was recently grantedbailinthesumofN500millionforallegedly leading armed thugs to set ablaze the secretariat of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State where two people were also killed.

The lawmaker was also accused of forcing an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him as winner of theHouseofRepresentativeselectionforDoguwa/ Tudunwada Federal Constituency in the state.

INEC had since removed his name from the list ofHousemembers-electandrescheduledelection

in his constituency.

As these criminal charges are hanging on Doguwa’s neck, the Force Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has declared the current member of the House of Representatives representing Bauchi Federal Constituency, Hon YakubuShehuAbdullahi,wantedoverallegedcriminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt, disturbance of public peace and culpable homicide.

ThepolicefurtherannouncedaN1millionreward for anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the 45-year-old lawmaker.

However, the lawmaker has accused the Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed of masterminding the declaration.

“He (Mohammed) doesn’t want me to come to Bauchi for fear of being defeated in the governorship election. I was not formally invited by the police and being a serving member of the House

Representatives, there are laid down procedures to either invite or get a member’s attention and even arrest.

“TheprocessstartsfromtheofficeoftheSpeaker down to the Clark of the House through which I will be communicated with any message or invitation.”

AbdullahicontestedtheBauchiNorthSenatorial ticket but lost to Senator Lawal Yahaya Gumau.

Though the police did not disclose the nature of the offence he committed, the lawmaker was allegedlylinkedwiththerecentclashbetweensupporters of PDP and APC in Duguri, the hometown of the governor during the APC rally in the area.

The clash led to the killing of one person, while 15 others sustained injuries.Though Abdullahi and Doguwa are presumed innocent until the courts find them guilty, it is despicable and shameful for the supposedly honourable federal lawmakers to be linked with heinous crimes.

58

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

BRIEFINGNOTES All Eyes on Mahmood Yakubu After failing many Nigerians who voted in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections by not utilising the Independent National Electoral Commission’s technological advances to ensure that the results of the elections were transmitted and published online in real time, the commission’s chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu had another opportunity yesterday to improve on the commission’s previous poor performance, Ejiofor Alike reports

T

he Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor MahmoodYakubu, provoked the ire of the majority of Nigerians who voted in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections when the commission failed to effectively utilise its new technology to enhance the transparency of the election results.

Out of the 24 million Nigerians whose votes were declared valid by INEC, only 8.7 million or 36.6 per cent voted for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), while the majority of the voters, who accounted for 63.4 per cent, or 15.3 million voters, had rejected the APC at the polls.

Many who did not vote for the APC believe that the results of the polls, which did not favour their candidates, were manipulated due to the INEC’s failure to deploy its improved technological innovations in the conduct of the exercise.

The failure of the commission to use its technology to conduct the elections tainted the credibility of the elections and dragged Yakubu’s reputation to the mud.

Before the elections, Yakubu had raised the confidence of Nigerians and the international community in Nigeria’s electoral system with INEC’s technological innovations.

The two technological innovations - the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are crucial technological advances for enhancing the transparency of the election process and the delivery of the results.

The commission had noted that these technologies, which gulped millions of dollars, would address the 10 most prevalent flaws in the management of the process of delivery of the country’s election results. These flaws, according to the commission include: Alteration of votes at polling units, distortion of number of accredited voters, collation of false results, mutilation of results and computational errors.

Others include: Swapping of results sheets, forging of results sheets, snatching and destruction of results sheets, obtaining declaration and return involuntarily, making declaration and return while result collation is still in progress and poor recordkeeping.

According to the commission, the BVAS is a technological device used to identify and accredit voters’ fingerprints and facial recognition before voting.

This technology is also used for capturing images of the polling unit result sheet (Form EC8A) and uploading the image of the result sheet online.

On the other hand, IReV is an online portal where polling unit level results are uploaded directly from the polling unit, transmitted, and published in real time.

These technological innovations had raised

Yakubu the confidence of Nigerians and the international community in the country’s electoral process.

Yakubu had repeatedly vowed that the commission would deploy these technologies to deliver credible elections that would be acceptable to all the parties.

With the improved confidence in the electoral system, it was not surprising that the number of registered voters increased from the 84 million recorded in the 2019 general election to 93.5 million before the February 25 elections.

INEC’s assurances to conduct free and fair elections using its technological advances were said to be responsible for the renewed interest of Nigerians in the electoral system.

However, strong indications that the leaders of the APC were not comfortable with these new innovations emerged in November 2022 when the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the party’s National Organising Secretary, Ambassador Suleiman Argungu kicked against the technology when the duo received a delegation

from the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission.

Receiving the team, Adamu reportedly said: “First, I was privileged to serve as a senator. Our concern is how ready are we to deploy some of these technologies as regards transmission because we are taking a major step in transmitting election results in real time.

“To transmit results, every part of the nation Nigeria I’m not sure that the network covers it, I know that even in parts of Abuja there is no network and we have from now till February when in substantial parts of the country there is no electricity.”

Argungu also made a similar argument, insisting that the electronic transmission of results of the general election would not work.

The APC leaders’ position was a red flag, which fuelled suspicions among Nigerians about the sincerity of INEC to deliver credible elections.

It also raised doubts about the sincerity of President Muhammadu Buhari to bequeath a

legacy of free and fair elections for the country, as he promised.

But following the public outcry that greeted his comments, Adamu had quickly made a U-turn at a press conference addressed on his behalf by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka, where he argued that he did not kick against INEC’s planned use of its technology to conduct the 2023 general election.

Also in a spirited attempt to douse the tension, Yakubu also stated in a statement that the commission would not reverse its decision to use BVAS and the IReV for the elections.

“As I have said repeatedly, the commission’s allegiance is to Nigeria. Our loyalty is to Nigerians who want free, fair, credible and verifiable elections supported by technology, which guarantees transparent accreditation and upload of polling unit results for citizens to view in real-time on Election Day. There is no going back on the deployment of BVAS and IReV for the 2023 General Election,” Yakubu reportedly explained.

Unfortunately, the commission failed Nigerians on February 25 when it jettisoned its own technology.

Yakubu, who had deceptively used the INEC’s technology to earn the respect and confidence of Nigerians and the international community, declared the results of one of the most controversial elections in Nigeria’s history and challenged the losers to go to court.

However, following the reputational damage he suffered, he later acknowledged the obvious flaws at a recent meeting he held with all state Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the INEC headquarters in Abuja, in preparation for yesterday’s polls.

Addressing the RECs, Yakubu reportedly stated: “No doubt, last week’s national elections raised some issues that require immediate, medium, and long-term solutions. The planning for the election was painstakingly done. However, its implementation came with challenges, some of them unforeseen.

“The issues of logistics, election technology, the behaviour of some election personnel at different levels, the attitude of some party agents and supporters added to the extremely challenging environment in which elections are usually held in Nigeria.”

While noting that many lessons have been learnt, he also used the occasion to preach again to Nigerians that BVAS would be used in yesterday’s polls.

“Since last week, the commission has intensified the review of the technology to ensure that glitches experienced, particularly with the upload of results are rectified. We are confident that going forward the system will run optimally.”

However, many Nigerians who were disillusioned in his conduct of the February 25 elections, received his latest assurance with a pinch of salt.

NOTES FOR FILE

Before Pantami Embarks on Self-adulation

Pantami

In his bid to defend the poor conduct of the recent presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Minister of CommunicationsandDigitalEconomy,IbrahimPantami,last weekrevealedthatthecommission’sserverrecorded more than 12 million attacks both within and outside the Nigeria Cyber space on February 25.

PantamisaidtheMinisterialStandingCommitteeon AdvisoryRolefortheProtectionofNigerianCyberspace andICTInfrastructurespaceinauguratedbythefederal governmentinabuilduptowardstheelections,successfully blocked the attacks.

Headmittedthattheparastatals,underthesupervision ofhisministry,alsoplayedacrucialroleinprovidingthe enablingenvironmentforthesuccessfulconductofwhat he described as a credible, free, fair, and transparent

election.

Prior to the presidential election, Pantami had, on behalfofPresidentMuhammaduBuhari,inaugurated acommitteeonanadvisoryrolefortheprotectionof Nigerian cyberspace and ICTInfrastructure.

Beforetheministertookcreditforajob‘welldone,’ manyNigerianswerewonderingifhedidnotknowthat INEC had denied any cyber attack on its portal? Did henotalsoknowthatthecommissionadmittedthat technicalchallengeswithitssystemwereresponsible for the delay in uploading the presidential election results to its Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

IsPantaminotawarethatsomeoftheresultswere not uploaded more than 10 days after the election?

Is he not also aware that the commission admitted that,unlikeoff-seasonelectionswheretheportalwas

used, it was relatively slow and unsteady during the presidential and National Assembly elections?

It maintained that the problem was totally due to technicalhitchesrelatedtoscalinguptheIReVfrom aplatformformanagingoff-seasonstateelections, to one for managing nationwide general election.

ItisshockingthatwhileINEChadadmitteditspoor job,Pantamihasembarkedonself-adulationforthe same poor job.

No matter how Pantami tries to take the glory for a job that was done well by only his imagination, majority of those who voted on February 25 have since concluded that the IReVdeliberately failed to workonelectiondaybecauseofawell-scriptedplot tomanipulateresultsinfavouroftheAllProgressives Congress (APC).

59

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

CICERO/ISSUE

Atiku,

Obi

Yakubu

Transmission of Election Results as Central Factor in Election Tribunals As the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal gets set to begin to hear the petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party, as well as Peter Obi and the Labour Party, one of the central issues on the side of the petitioners is whether the Independent National Electoral Commission is by law bound to transmit or transfer election results electronically, Alex Enumah writes

I

t is no longer news that with the conclusion of the February 25 presidential election and the declaration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), his opponents, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) rejected the results.

As the aggrieved parties are now putting finishing touches to their processes, many analysts are espousing the need to consider the grounds for challenging the poll.

For instance, Section 134 of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that a party who intends to challenge the process and or outcome of an election can do so on the following grounds: (a) a person whose election in questioned was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election; (b) the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of this Act; or (c) the respondent was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.

To contest an election in this context the candidate must be qualified to do so. It is a constitutional requirement that must be met otherwise the candidate will be deemed not qualified to contest. According to Section 134(3) of the Electoral Act.2022, a person is deemed to be qualified for an elective office and his election shall not be questioned on the grounds of qualification if, with respect to the particular election in question, he meets the applicable requirements of Sections 65,106,131 or 177 of the Constitution and he is not, as may be applicable, in breach of Section 66,107,137 or 182 of the Constitution.

The implication of the above is that where it is satisfactorily proven by the petitioner before the tribunal that the winner of an election is not qualified to contest the election, therefore, the candidate who came second will have to be declared the winner of the election.

An election can be questioned on the grounds that it was invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of elections. This places a compulsory duty on INEC to adhere to the provisions of the above laws in order to have free, fair and credible elections. A breach of the Act and Guidelines has far-reaching consequences.

For instance, the failure of INEC to upload election

results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in real-time using the BVAS, electoral violence, disenfranchisement of voters, intimidation, manipulation of election results, mutilation of result sheets are all incidents of corrupt practices and non-compliance, which the Electoral Act frowns at and are grounds upon which an election can be challenged.

The compliance issues will be around the use of technology. Of note is the use of card readers, BVAS, and IREV. The Osun case of Oyetola and Anor v Adeleke & Anor is in this sense a prelude to this new era.

Any petitioner approaching the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on grounds of noncompliance must not only ensure he puts together a formidable legal team that comprises experts in the use of technologies provided under the Electoral Act 2022, but must also be abreast with innovations introduced by some relevant sections of the 2022 Act. These innovations in the Electoral Act will be the game changers at the election petition tribunals. For instance, although the Court was reluctant to grant an order of inspection of card readers in the case of Atiku Abubakar & Anor v INEC & Anor LER [2019] CA/ PEPC/002/2019 supra, with Section 47(2) of the new Act providing for mandatory use of BVAS, an all-together different approach is anticipated from the court.

The Supreme Court in the extant case refused an order for inspection of INEC server on the basis that the Act did not make provision for a server.

But a community reading of Section 60(5) of the 2022 Act and Article 38 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of Elections 2022 is expected to bring in a new dimension to the issue.

Section 60 (5) provides: “The presiding officer shall transfer the results, including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the commission.”

It is in line with the power donated to INEC in the above section, that the commission released the Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of Elections 2022. Clause 38 of the regulation provides: “The presiding officer shall electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the commission; use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the IReV as prescribed by the commission.”

This Regulation as a subsidiary law is binding on INEC and all players in the election. Hence,

substantial compliance with some of these innovations is expected to dominate proceedings at the election petition tribunals.

Many analysts believe that INEC is by law bound to transmit or transfer election results electronically. The solace of their view is predicated on the combined interpretation of Section 60(4) (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Clause 38 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022.

The Section provides as follows: “60 (4). The presiding officer shall count and announce the result at the polling unit. 60 (5). The presiding officer shall transfer the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the commission.”

The question begging for an answer from the above section is, what is the manner of transfer prescribed by the commission? The answer is not far-fetched as it can be found in Clause 38 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 which stipulates thus: “Upon completion of all the polling unit voting and results procedures, the Presiding Officer shall: (i) Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the commission. (ii) Use BVAS to upload a scanned of the EC8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the commission. (iii) Take the BVAS and the original copies of all forms in a tamper evident envelope to the RA/Ward Collation officer in the company of security agents. Polling agents may accompany the PO to the RA/Ward Collation Centre”.

A combined reading and interpretation of both the Electoral Act, 2022 and the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for Conduct of Elections, 2022 above clearly shows without any ambiguity that electronic transmission or transfer of results and upload of Results to IReV are mandatory. It is also apt to note that the INEC Regulations and Guidelines require that the presiding officer must electronically transmit or transfer the results directly from the polling units, after which the results would then be taken manually to the collation centres. In simplest terms, it means that the Regulations and Guidelines prescribe two levels of collation:(1).

Electronic transmission (collation) which must be done direct from the polling units; and (2). Manual collation which would then follow after electronic transmission.

Having dwell so much on the INEC Guidelines and Regulations, and not unmindful of the fact

that INEC Guidelines and Regulation is a subsidiary legislation, the INEC Guideline and Regulation by judicial authorities had been accorded a place of prominence as part and parcel of the Electoral Act. In APP vs. INEC (2019) LPELR 48465 (CA), the Court of Appeal aptly held the INEC Guidelines form part of the Electoral Act and non-compliance with them means non-compliance with the Electoral Act. This position also received judicial blessing in the case of Hon. James Abiodun Faleke v INEC & Anor. (2016) 18 NWLR (Part. 1543) 61.

Furthermore, by virtue of Section 160 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), INEC has the constitutional power to regulate its own procedure or confer powers and impose duties on its officers for the purpose of discharging its functions. Section 148 of the Electoral Act also contains similar provisions to ensure proper discharge of its functions. It follows, therefore, that since the INEC Guidelines are backed up constitutionally and statutorily, they must be invoked, applied and enforced.

The court in Iniama v Akpabio (2008) 17 NWLR(pt.1116) 225; OKE V MIMIKO (2014) 12 NWLR (PT. 1388) 322 held that a petitioner who pleads corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act must establish by evidence their effects on the outcome of the election.

That is, for a petition to succeed under these grounds, it must be proven that there was non-compliance and that the non-compliance substantially affected the result of the election.

It is worthy of note that Section 137 of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that it shall not be necessary for a party who alleges non-compliance with the provision of this Act for the conduct of elections to call oral evidence if the originals or certified true copies manifestly disclose the alleged non-compliance.

It is consequent upon this that Senator Dino Melaye posited that INEC’s failure to comply with the provisions Section 60(4)(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Clause 38 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 on direct electronic transmission from the polling units renders the entire process of the presidential election illegal and void. He stated that the entire process is illegal and void because the statutory provisions and requirements on electronic transmission of election results under the Electoral Act 2022 and the Regulations and Guidelines for Conduct of Elections, 2022 are mandatory

60

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

CICERO/ISSUE

APC House of Commotion Though the All Progressives Congress managed to suppress the crises that rocked it ahead of the 2023 general election, its victory in the February 25 presidential election is about to force a change in the leadership of the party and potentially instigate another crisis, as the call for the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu grows, Adedayo Akinwale writes

Adamu

T

he emergence of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu as the president-elect is already creating an uneasy calm in the ruling party, with the growing calls for the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the party’s National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

The call for the resignation of the duo, which would eventually culminate in an Emergency National Convention stemmed from the fact that the President-elect and the Vice Presidentelect are both Muslims.

The party’s National Vice Chairman, North-west, Dr. Salihu Lukman, was the first to stir the hornet’s nest in a statement which he issued where he argued that it was important that before May 29, 2023 when Tinubu would be sworn in as President, every step must be taken to rectify any situation that might be used to continue divisive campaigns and propaganda against the APC and its control of federal government.

He said his call for Adamu’s resignation was not a witch-hunt, but part of the sacrifice the ruling party must make to douse tension in the country.

He explained that every necessary step should be taken to inject a change of leadership for the party so that a new national chairman who is a Christian takes over.

To him, Adamu has done an excellent job to manage a successful campaign to win the 2023 election with all the attendant challenges.

He, however, was of the view that there should be no difficulty in convincing Adamu to resign to create opportunity for a new National Chairman of APC to emerge from the same geo-political zone.

Lukman posited that such an issue might require an Emergency National Convention because if the hierarchy of the current leadership is followed, the successor to Adamu would be Senator Abubakar Kyari who is also a Muslim from North-East.

He added that apart from changing the National Chairman, there would also

Omisore

be the need to also recognise the case of the National Secretary of the party.

According to him, Omisore has become a source of stronger dispute in the Osun State chapter of the party.

Moreso, he maintained that to save Osun State and bring it back to its old standard of national political reckoning, Omisore would need to resign for a new unifying National Secretary to be elected.

He argued that rather than serving as a unifying factor for the party’s leadership in Osun State, Omisore has become a divisive factor, which may have been responsible for the party’s loss of the 2022 governorship election to someone he described as a political mediocre whose only qualification in politics may appear to be his comic dancing skill.

Also, while featuring on a live programme of a national television, Lukman alleged that Omisore mismanaged campaign funds given to him by the party to prosecute the Osun State governorship election.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke won the July 16, 2022 governorship election after defeating Gboyega Oyetola of the APC. “We must emphasize that acting as a party requires that we activate the organs of the party to function. And I think this is the struggle we have been waging and once the organs of the party are not working, then even the capacity to hold leaders to account will be weak.

And that is where we are and that is partly what is producing some of the unhealthy development in (the party).

For instance, Osun State, which is part of the reason why I said the National Secretary has failed, in terms of stabilising Osun and uniting people.

“Part of the issue with that is that I’m aware the party has given some campaign funds to Osun which was handled by the National Secretary and to some extent, he has either mismanaged it but more importantly, he’s not accounting to anybody and you have to activate the process of accountability. And for me, I think as part of the process of accountability in order to stabilise Osun, I think the National Secretary should also vacate his seat,” he explained.

Lukman

While Adamu has not responded to Lukman’s call for his resignation, Omisore did with a threat to sue him for accusing him of mismanaging the party’s election campaign funds.

In a letter he wrote through his attorney dated March 15, and addressed to Lukman, which was also titled, ‘Request for a retraction, an apology, and payment of damages for the libelous statement made of and concerning the person of Senator Iyiola Omisore in your press release and publication’, Omisore declared that the allegation had caused damage to his character and integrity.

He emphasised that the allegation made against him was false in all ramifications, while insisting that he was neither given any money to prosecute the Osun State governorship election nor did he mismanage the non-existing campaign funds.

He noted that it was clear beyond doubt that Lukman’s statement was a political ploy with the intent to impugn his reputation, integrity and unjustifiably assassinate his character in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public.

The letter read: “Our client has consequently directed us to request for a retraction of your libelous statement and publication and an apology to be published in two major newspapers and several online news outlets not later than 48 hours of the delivery of this letter and also the payment of the sum of N500 million as damages for malicious statement against our client.

“Take notice that if you fail to heed the request of our client within 48 hours of the receipt of this letter, we shall be constrained to proceed to the court of law against you for exemplary damages for injurious falsehood and malicious statement made of and concerning our client.”

But in a swift reaction, Lukman described Omisore’s threat as an attempt to bully him, adding that he would respond properly.

“My immediate reaction is that this is an attempt to bully me but I will respond to him properly,” Lukman said.

He drew an analogy from what happened in the PDP, saying the same scenario was partly what created the rift between the PDP and the G-5 governors.

“The whole objective of this is to be able to begin to douse the tension, but more importantly to get the party and the moral authority to try the process of negotiation in constituting the leadership of the next government,” he argued.

Buttressing his point, he noted that what was witnessed as support for the Labour Party and PDP in the February 25 elections was a protest against the APC. “What you see as the support for the Labour Party and even the support for the PDP, I can prove it, is a protest vote against the APC; no more no less. And what we should continue asking ourselves constantly, what is it that we have done that is producing this protest vote? And we need to respond to it in a way that really gives confidence to Nigerians that we are truly that party of change, in which Nigerians have confidence in 2015 and 2019, and will continue to have confidence in 2023 and beyond. I think that is the challenge before all of us,” Lukman said.

Consequently, if the ruling party does not want to go the way of PDP, the party has no choice than to organise an emergency National Convention to effect the needed changes in the leadership of the party.

Similarly, it is important that leaders of the party urgently intervene in the faceoff between Lukman and Omisore.

The former Deputy Governor of Osun State is not someone that will run away from the battle, and Lukman still wearing his ‘aluta’ toga will not back down. It is on this premise that an intervention is urgently needed before the fight between the duo gets out of hand and plunges the ruling party into a post-election crisis.

61

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19, 2023

ENGAGEMENTS

with ChidiAmuta e-mail:chidi.amuta@gmail.com

Nigeria Expects

Y

esterday’s governorship election closed a season of anxiety over democracy in Nigeria. After 24 years of democratic transitions, imperfectastheymayhave been, Nigerians have a right to claim that they now live in a democratic country. Even American democracy is still reeling from the injuries of Donald Trump and trying to answer numerous questions about its very legitimacy.

Democracy is of course a continuous festival of expectations. A good government excites a hunger for an even better one. A bad government creates an even greater and more urgent hunger for a different and better one. A campaign season quickens the expectationofelectionsandtheiroutcome.A feverish campaign season wets our appetite for the real elections and for the coming of the paradise promised by politicians.

A successful election, perfect or tainted, raises expectations of what replaces the incumbent order. Let the new order come quickly so that we can lay garlands on the path of the new king only to cast stones and rotten eggs in his face a few months down the road. The gale of expectations goes on indefinitely nonetheless. So, after our election season, what is left is for nerves to calm and the courts to adjudicate.

At this point however, Nigeria remains expectant of two things: the first is justice from the law courts on account of the myriad election related cases that will flood them.

The second, more consequential one, is the expectation of a better government after eightyearsofMr.Buhari’sseasonofdarkness and locusts.

On the lighter side, the completion of this election cycle has regrettably shut a window of national entertainment in a time of hardship and despair. It has been a season of drama mostly of a comic variety punctuated by episodes of tragedy. Verbal emptinesshasoccasionallybeenpunctuated by the arson of the lawless and the gunfire of dissidents.

The elections were preceded by very Nigerian primaries. A street bazaar of vote buyers and sellers helped produce a slimmed down list of 4 presidential candidates out of over 100 who expressed initial interest on the platforms of parties ranging from barber’s shop gatherings to simulated comic collectives. Like every typically Nigerian market, the highest bidders took the prize especially if they transacted in wads of dollar bills. The losers went home to grumble and point fingers in every direction.

Politicians were true to type in the campaign season that followed especially at the presidential level. We were regaled with a supermarket of promises. Paradise was on the way. Our pot -hole riddled roads would be replaced with Appian highways. The bandits and terrorists tormenting our people would be sent to hell. Terrorists would experience martyrdom much faster so they will not have to wait much longer for the promised virgins and limitless pleasures. Kidnappers would soon go out of business while angry youth will find work to keep them from the jape craze or the hunger for perennial street protests.

But none of the politicians dared promise to deliver cheaper gasoline at the pumps or lower taxes on inessentials.

It was not just the promises that kept us engaged and hopeful. There was the sheer comedy of it all. Mr. Atoka Abu-Bakr took to the dance floor a number of times without saying a word. When he did speak, he made few unfounded promises. He just promised to restructure the federation for better competition among states. He did not however summon the courage to say that he would replace the present chop-I –chop federal arrangement with a ‘competitive’ federation. But he never failed to remind us that he has taken wives from literally every zone of the federation. If we made him president, he would be the in- law of

Buhari

every Nigerian!

On his part, Mr. Peter Obi was perhaps the most ambitious in the field of promises.

He promised to retire the like of Atoka and Dinuba and replace their genre of African “Big Man” politics with a government of the people. He would ‘give back’ the government to the people and return to Onitsha market to carry on with his trading concerns. He did not, however, quite say so but it was implied.

If he could find enough good people to run his new improved style of popular democracy, he would gladly go home and man his shop in Oceana market or Upper Iwaki.

More seriously, Peter Obi raised the most hope on the basis of a youthful government andadeparturefromgovernmentandpolitics as usual. Somehow, Mr. Obi’s promises found the most attraction for the people as the crowds of “Obedient” would testify. They have not quite deserted Mr. Obi even after the elections and the declaration of interim winners awaiting the ubiquitous courts.

In this sphere of politics as entertainment, Mr. Bola Dinuba beat his competitors hands down. Here was a presidential candidate that literally said nothing. Healthy exchange between him and his competitors was beneath him. He shunned most media outings.

He avoided town halls but instead created his won genre of “a town hall is a town hall!”.

He invented his own political speak, a new language that ordinary mortals thought was fullofgibberishbutapparentlycommunicated to his diviners and some unseen audiences.

The “Bulla be, be be blu” that we laughed off may have actually been meant for the ears of the deities that would return to crown Dinuba president-elect. The only line that stuck to memory was perhaps rendered in his Yoruba language: “E mi lo kan”. Some thought he was incoherent because of some clinical infirmity but it turns out they were not listening between the lines.

He further confounded all by threatening to ‘recharge ‘ the lake Chad to neutralize the insurgents operating there. As if that was not enough, he would find the money to re-energize Nigeria’s electricity sector so that it can at least find power to “produce a roasted corn”.

Dinuba went to Chatham House in London and re-wrote the rules of political discourse.

Heoptedtosharetheelevatedpodiumwithhis

still jape! But then, there lives the stubborn hope that tomorrow is a better day and it is better to live a life of hope and expectation than to despair and die before the next season of expectations comes .

As it turns out, Nigerian democracy has evolved into a peculiar variety whose final outcomes are only determined by a series of tribunals and courts. Some people have suggested, rather wisely, that we should abolish the people and enthrone the courts to vote on our collective behalf since they ultimately decide who wins our elections.

The cases go from loud protestations by injured political animals to copious courts filings. Then they go to the election tribunals, the Court of Appeal and ultimately to the almighty Supreme Court. Contradictory verdicts end with the finality of a Supreme Court judgment. Thereafter, all appeals go to either God or Allah depending on how the protester best chooses to worship.

Thereafter, the illustrious candidate of yesterday becomes a humbled supplicant that is hardly noticed at the airport as his retinue of hangers on and followers dwindles to a few lonely miserable souls who cannot quite find a job. Water finds its level while their new excellencies frighten the rest of us off the roads with humongous SUVs and authorised hooligans armed with horsewhips and AK-47s.

Somehow, Nigerian democracy in its perennially contentious outcomes has become a testing ground for the Nigerian judiciary.

Some insist that our judges are some of the best and most credible in the world. On some occasions, judges have usurped the functions of INEC and taken to tallying contentious ‘team’ who spoke for him by answering votes and announcing their own results right all the questions from Chatham House there in the courtroom. In order not to be questioners. It worked for him perhaps beaten to it, they even proceed to order the since the end justifies the means in his victorious litigant politician to proceed to brand of African politics. Yet those being sworn in right away. who insist that democracy is nothing I can only enter a brief for the Supreme if it does not allow for free discourse Court which always has to end up carrying and canvassing of views between and the can. The judges of our Supreme Court among those who seek power may find are not like their American counterparts. The the Dinuba strategy of interest. His American ones are chosen on the basis of campaign may have established a new what they believe in- whether they are liberals parameter for scholarship on the place or conservatives. Ours believe in nothing in of open debate and rigorous exchange particular. They are ordinarily honourable in democratic contest. It may not be men and women who may not like the sight necessary after all. Just say little but or feel of dollar bills as to be swayed by go ahead and win the election among money and political influence. They are the throngs and mobs out there. above all people of great experience and Interestingly, since after being voluminous learning. But when it comes declared president-elect by INEC, Mr. to election related cases, they have a way Dinuba has addressed countless audi- of adjudicating on the basis of ultimate ences flawlessly with rhetoric laced jurisdiction and philosophical jurisprudence. with oratorical skill and fluent English They know that after them, all other of his own variety. The question that appeals can only go to Almighty God. So, may arise is as to whether the man whoever the Supreme Court declares was merely acting a script which has winner in an election matter is the Lord’s now served his political ‘end’. We shall anointed. ‘God’s case, no appeal!’ as they soon find out. say in my barber’s shop. It is even written We must not forget the many whose on the tail board of the bolekaja on the expectations have been smashed by way to Ore! the outcomes of the elections. The But there is also some other weighty many who toiled, waiting to be ap- consideration. If a verdict in a political matter pointed so, so and so. The vendors is serves the end of justice but is likely to of all manner of merchandise tar- produce dangerous political consequences, geting specific inaugurations. Most every Supreme Court whether in Washington importantly, the ambitious women, or Abuja will rule on the side of order and wives of their Excellencies in wait- political expediency. The ready argument is ing who had rehearsed dance steps always that it is better to deliver a judgment and commissioned special outfits that maintains the status quo of law and order waiting for the great day when their instead of one that will overturn the polity, husbands would be crowned. All that send the society into tumultuous anarchy is now in the ash heap of dashed hopes and erase the nation. You must have a nation and mangled expectations. It is the before you have right and wrong, good and way of the world and the language of bad judgments and heroic judges. It is wiser democratic expectations. to save the nation so that even the just man Beyond comedy, however, this is a who loses a case today has a country in which seasonofseriousexpectations.People to try his luck next time. There needs to be expect their lives to improve. Not so a ‘next time’ first before a Supreme Court quickly I am afraid. A few lives will is applauded! change for the better but the many In the says ahead, the nation that expects may be for the worse. The bandits are is like an expectant parent. No one knows not likely to close shop and go home. whether what is expected will bless or curse The kidnappers may tarry awhile. Bad thehousehold.Thejoyandanxietyofexpectaroads may worsen in the next rainy tion overwhelms us all and opens our hearts reason. Many more of the youth may to infinite possibilities.

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R • MARCH 19, 2023

62

B AC K PAG E C O N T I N UAT I O N MUSLIM-MUSLIM PRESIDENCY AND MATTERS ARISING because it is not just about religious balancing but also ethnic and regional. For instance, what will the south-east get? In the “tripod” tradition, the position of senate president would be their natural pick under the circumstance. The last time they had that position was from 1999 to 2007, when President Olusegun Obasanjo (south-west) and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar (north-east) held the top two positions. The emergence of the south-south as a major political force ahead of 2007 elections effectively displaced the south-east from the equation. Ordinarily, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s deputy would have been a south-easterner.

The south-east produced No 6 and No 7 under President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. However, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (north-west) disrupted the geo-political balancing by taking the No 4 that had been zoned to the south-west.

He did it in connivance with Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) against a Yoruba woman. We now had both the No 2 and No 4 coming from the north-west. The south-west did not get any of the top seven positions or SGF. I overheard some Yoruba leaders say Jonathan marginalised the south-west that gave him 62 percent of their votes in 2011. This probably turned them against him. Yet, it was not his fault that Tambuwal betrayed the PDP. As the APC won in 2015, the south-east, which had put all its eggs in PDP’s basket since 1999, got No 6 even if not by official design.

President Muhammadu Buhari (north-west) and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (south-west)

took the top two positions. Senator Bukola Saraki (north-central) and Hon Yakubu Dogara (north-east) staged a coup against the APC, in collusion with the PDP, to take the No 3 and No 4 positions. The south-east, as noted, got No 6 — deputy senate president — through the same coup. With the APC fully taking back the national assembly in 2019, the south-east found itself in no man’s land with not a single slot in the top seven or SGF. APC has to deal with this.

It will be argued in APC’s closets that since the south-east did not vote for the party, they should not expect to share in the topmost positions. This, I guess, could also be based on the need to “reward” the regions that ensured victory for Tinubu and the APC. How will you accommodate the north-west and the north-central that voted for Tinubu and, in a sense, made him president? If you look at the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) — even though there are disputes by LP and PDP that will go to the elections tribunal — APC got only 128,000 votes in the south-east. Many will surely come up with an argument about political loyalty and its reward.

As I noted, when you solve one problem, another will surface. Thus, a third question will be: now that Muslims have No 1 and No 2, should Christians have legitimate expectations to take No 3 and No 4? If either position is zoned to the predominantly Muslim north-west, the candidate is most likely to be

a Muslim. Sure, there are Christians in the north-west— particularly Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara states — but something will have to change for a north-west Christian to be seen as truly representing the interests of the zone. I often chuckle when we make zoning sound so straightforward, but the little details can be knotty even if they are hardly publicly acknowledged.

In sum, that a Muslim-Muslim ticket has sailed through might have answered a certain question about southern Muslims, but it has raised other issues around the perceived imbalance and marginalisation in the federal set-up. There are interests we currently overlook or subsume under broad group interests that may one day come to the fore and hurt the nationhood project.

Christians who supported APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket despite intense pressure from church leaders will expect a prize. Zones that ditched one of their own to support Tinubu will look forward to a prize. The south-east will, logically, want inclusion despite having not voted for APC. Things are complicated.

Luckily, it is not my problem. The headache is for Tinubu and his party. My central concern is that we need political stability so that we can focus on the issue that urgently matters: jobs, jobs, jobs. We cannot tackle insecurity and social unrest if young people are jobless. An idle hand is tempting the devil. We cannot have peace and prosperity when the factories producing terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminals continue to operate at full capacity. We need robust economic policies that will get millions of

our young people to work. The security agencies can only do so much in tackling insecurity and related crimes when unemployment and poverty keep ravaging the nation.

For as long as we are at daggers drawn because of mistrust and mutual suspicion, we will not be able to direct our energies towards addressing the basic issues tearing at our society.

Feelings of marginalisation and domination will continue to set the tone for public debate, far above issues that have to do with education, healthcare, security, clean water and motorable roads. We will continue to keep yelling at each other over one appointment or the other while the things that matter will continue to remain unaddressed as we keep putting out one fire after the other in various parts of the country.

We need a peaceful country to make progress.

We can do with less distraction.

Nevertheless, here is my own contradiction: while I keep talking about inclusion and balancing, I know, at the back of my mind, that our major issues are more economic than political. I believe that if Nigeria is running well — meaning we have jobs, feel safe, enjoy stable power and get decent education and health care — we will talk less about balancing. It is a baggage of underdevelopment. But we can have a twoway interaction between the economic and the political, both mutually reinforcing each other until we exit the pit of underdevelopment. Before then, we have to keep trying to make everyone happy. Tinubu has his work cut out for him.

He needs all the wisdom.

And Four Other Things…

DESIGN ERROR Dr Oyeyemi Kale, former statistician-general of the federation, expects Nigeria’s GDP to contract by at least N10 trillion in Q1 of 2023 because of the naira redesign policy. “This is because about 40 percent of Nigeria’s N198 trillion GDP in 2022 is informal of which about 90 percent is cash-based. Further 30 percent of formal sector GDP is cash-based.

This means N106.9 trillion of the total too is cash-based. There is nothing new or wrong about currency redesign or cashless policy if done for the right reasons and at the right time,” he tweeted. He was DG of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for a decade, so he should know the score. And this is to say nothing about the human cost. Brutal.

MIXED MESSAGES Mr Peter Obi appeared to be sending mixed messages to his followers before the governorship elections. In one instance, he seemed to be saying “Obi-dients” should vote for LP candidates. In another, he appeared to be saying they didn’t need to vote for candidates just because they were flying the LP flag. He actually told his supporters not to vote “blindly”. I think I can understand his predicament — there are LP candidates he would not want to endorse because of their baggage and there are non-LP candidates he would love to see as governors. But partisan politics can be tricky. You just have to support your own — else you will be shooting yourself in the foot. Realpolitik.

RIVERS OF FUN Is there a more exciting state like Rivers when it comes to the politics of 2023 elections? On the current form, I would say no. In the presidential election, it was very clear that PDP was working for APC and APC was working for PDP. Chief Nyesom Wike, the state governor, openly rebelled against PDP’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, after losing the presidential primary to the former vice-president. Meanwhile, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, the APC leader in the state and former governor, has never been a fan of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his party’s flagbearer. There were loud whispers that he and his supporters backed Atiku. It is a case of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Drama.

RIP, ISMAILA MABO I was a bit emotional on learning of the death of Ismaila Mabo, former coach of the Super Falcons, the female national team. He led the team to the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics. Their quarter-final outing in the 1999 World Cup remains our best so far. Mabo and I were quite close in 1994/1995 when he was assistant coach to the late Paul Hamilton.

I was reporting female football then and he always readily granted me access to interview the players. His brother, Yakubu — who died in 1991 — scored the first goal at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, in 1972. At 78, Mabo lived to a ripe old age. I liked him very much. He was so fatherly. Goodnight.

and not just isolated, statistically insignificant and counter-factual claims. Were the elections in the places the opposition won also the worst in Nigeria’s history or that negative framing applies only to the places where they lost? Does an election pass the muster for them if and only when it produces the outcome they desire or a predetermined outcome? There have been speculations about well-oiled plans by some local and international actors to influence the 2023 election and, failing to successfully do so, to discredit the outcome. Is this sweeping worst-election narrative part of that plot or merely borne out of disappointment?

The third point I want to make is that the new electoral map shows both promise and danger for a growing and plural democracy like ours.

For the first time since 1999, we went beyond a two-way race, with three parties winning roughly a third of the country and doing so in a way that cut across the pronounced ethnic lines of our first and second republics. It is such a beautiful thing to behold and a tribute to the growing maturity of our democracy.

This is the most competitive election we have

had in more than four decades. The least a winning party had scored in the previous six electoral cycles in this republic was 53% of the votes. This time around the election was so competitive that the winner didn’t even score up to 40% of the votes, which ordinarily used to be the average range for the first runner up.

In the 2023 presidential poll, the top four parties scored as follows: 37% (All Progressives Party, APC), 28% (PDP), 25% (LP), and 6% (New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP). The last time we had such a close race was in 1979 when the party with the highest number of votes polled 33.77% and the party that came last scored 10.02% of the votes. Real competition is the heart of electoral democracy. So, this is a cause of celebration.

However, beneath this rosy picture is also a reason to worry. That competitive electoral map issued from crude and dangerous mobilisation of old and new identity markers. Ethnic, regional, and religious identities were deployed, openly and secretly, by the top three parties. Sometimes, these primordial identities aligned and reinforced one another. In some instances, one identity marker trumped the others. Also, there are examples where generational and partisan identities served as mediating factors. For now, it is difficult to know exactly the role that APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket and the rebellion by the G-5 faction of PDP played in the concerning way divisive identity became elevated in this electoral cycle.

In a section of the country, voters were told by a party to vote for their own (naka sai naka or yours is yours) and by another party to vote for the ticket with two Muslims. Another candidate was aggressively marketed by prominent clerics as the candidate of the Church. As said earlier, there were a few mediating factors (like partisan and generational identities and dissenting nature of urban politics) and instances where one identity marker vetoed the others, but the ethnic and religious underpinning of the votes for the top three candidates cannot be missed by anyone that chooses to peer beneath the glittering surface. So, while the increased competition of our politics should be celebrated, the regression to the combustible fault-lines of ethnicity and religion should get us all worried.

It is a dangerous slide.

NOTES ON NIGERIA’S 2023 PRESIDENTIAL POLL cycle that would have been unthinkable in previous electoral cycles.

My second point is that the claim that the 2023 presidential election is the worst election in three decades or in our history cannot stand scrutiny. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, have both made this claim. Some of their supporters have also echoed same. Some international observers or missions have also whispered this line. And some media houses are pushing this narrative. The candidates and their supporters have a right to their opinions and perceptions but they do not have a right to rewrite history.

Was the election perfect? No. Yes, there were reported cases of violence and intimidation in some parts of Lagos and a few other states across the country. Yes, there were also documented late arrivals of INEC officials and electoral materials across the country, which led to the extension of voting in some areas and could have negatively impacted turnout of voters.

Yes, Yiaga Africa flagged the results from two states but still stated that the overall result announced by INEC fell within the range of its parallel vote count. And yes, many eyebrows are still askance on the real-time promise of IReV that ended up being delivered in the breach.

As said earlier, I do not intend to discuss issues that will be litigated in the courts. But I doubt all the instances mentioned are enough empirical basis to declare the 2023 election as the worst either in three decades or in our history. Maybe those making these claims can help with the metrics they used to say this election is worse than the presidential elections of 1983, 2003 and 2007. As stated earlier, the 2023 presidential election was not perfect. But it should be possible to adopt a nuanced approach that identifies areas in need of improvement as well bright spots to be sustained instead of tarring the entire process and outcome.

It is worth restating that the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections produced a number of stunning and historic upsets. This is the same election in which seven sitting governors failed to secure senatorial seats (which are roughly one-third of the states they currently govern and

Yakubu their home constituencies); the same election in which a third-party candidate blew the two leading parties out of the water in the Federal Capital Territory; the same election in which the leading opposition party,PDP, lost in most of its southern strongholds including the state where its vice-presidential candidate is the sitting governor; the same election in which the same PDP won in 10 of the 13 states of the North West and North East (though it is only in power in just four out of these 13 states); and the same election in which the ruling party lost in 10 or about 48% of the 21 states where it is in power, including in Lagos, the home-state and the stronghold of its presidential candidate, and in Katsina, the home state of the current president. Pray, what other poll in Nigeria’s 100-year history with elections has produced such a mind-boggling disruption?

I think it is possible and even acceptable for the aggrieved parties to say they won and to seek redress, as they have promised. But it is not acceptable for them to be making claims that amount to delegitimising the elections and democracy itself ahead of providing iron-clad

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 19 , 2023

63

SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by: Duro Ikhazuagbe email:Duro.Ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Emmanuel Gift Orban...one of the few dependable talents in the list of 16 players invite do to the Olympic Eagles camp yesterday

2024 OLYMPIC PLAYOFFS

The Good and Weird of Yusuf’s 16 Invited Olympic Eagles Duro Ikhazuagbe

S

igns that Nigerian football may not regain relevance soon manifests in the calibre of 16 foreign-based players Coach Salisu Yusuf called to camp yesterday ahead of :HGQHVGD\·V 2O\PSLFV SOD\RͿV against Guinea.

In the list, none of the 16 players is from DQ\ RI WKH WRS ÀYH OHDJXHV LQ (XURSH 7KH\ were mostly selected from leagues in EDFNZDWHUV RI (XURSH KDUGO\ EHWWHU WKDQ WKH 1LJHULDQ GRPHVWLF WRSÁLJKW <HW WKH competition the Nigeria Football FederaWLRQ 1)) LQYLWHG WKHP IRU LWV SOD\RͿ LV one the country won at Atlanta, USA, 27 years ago.

7KH IHZ RQHV LQ WKH OLVW WKDW DSSHDU WR

PHULW WKHLU LQYLWDWLRQV LQFOXGH *LIW (Pmanuel Orban, the KAA Gent of Belgium forward who scored the fastest-ever three PLQXWHV KDW WULFN LQ WKH 8()$ (XURSD &RQIHUHQFH /HDJXH DJDLQVW 7XUNLVK %DVDNVHKLU RQ 7KXUVGD\ DQG WKH WHDP·V FDSWDLQ 6XFcess Makanjuola, whose two converted VSRW NLFNV DJDLQVW 7DQ]DQLD HDUQHG WKH QDWLRQDO 8 WHDP SDVVDJH WR WKLV ÀQDO URXQG 7KHUH DUH DOVR PLGÀHOGHU $ELRGXQ Ogunniyi and Bello Babatunde.

Sadly, in a country brimming with football talents from every nooks and crannies, Coach Yusuf also scandalously invited a SOD\HU IURP WKH WK WLHU RI (QJOLVK FOXE IRRWEDOO WR WKH 'UHDP 7HDP Omole Akinyinka Olaoluwakitan plays for 9th Division Athletic Newham while $EDVV 6DLGL LV RI ). =DTDWDOD LQ WKH $]HUEDLMDQL VHFRQG GLYLVLRQ 7KHUH LV DOVR D

player from fringe league in Moldova.

7KRVH IURP 6SDLQ DQG 6ZHGHQ SOD\ IRU far lower leagues not reckoned with in WKH VFKHPH RI VHULRXV JDͿHUV 7KH 2O\PSLF (DJOHV DUH WR WUDGH WDFNOHV ZLWK WKHLU *XLQHDQ FRXQWHUSDUWV LQ D ÀUVW leg encounter scheduled for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium,Abuja from 4pm on Wednesday, 22ndMarch, with the return set for the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier MoulayAl Hassan from 7pmMorocco time RQ 7XHVGD\ WK 0DUFK *XLQHD GRHV QRW have any venue approved in the country for international matches.

7KH ZLQQHU RQ DJJUHJDWH ZLOO TXDOLI\ IRU the Africa U23 Cup of Nations scheduled for Morocco later this year, at whichAfrica’s ÁDJ EHDUHUV DW QH[W \HDU·V 0HQ·V 2O\PSLF )RRWEDOO 7RXUQDPHQW LQ 3DULV )UDQFH ZLOO emerge.

Haaland Can’t Stop Scoring Hat tricks as City Cruise into S’final

(

rling Haaland scored his second hat-trick in ÀYH GD\V DV Manchester City cruised into the )$ &XS VHPL ÀQDOV E\ hammering Championship leaders Burnley 6-0 DW (WLKDG 6WDGLXP Haaland followed his ÀYH JRDO KDXO DJDLQVW 5% /HLS]LJ LQ WKH 8()$ Champions League by claiming another three to take his tally for the season to 42.

7KH 1RUZHJLDQ LV QRZ just two short of the record jointly held by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mohamed Salah for the most goals in a VHDVRQ IRU DQ (QJOLVK top-flight club in all

FA CUP competitions during the Premier League era.

-XOLDQ $OYDUH] DGGHG

two goals and substitute Cole Palmer also scored on a sobering night for former City skipper Vincent Kompany, whose Burnley side have surged

Erling Haaland...scored his second hat trick in five days against Burnley last night

13 points clear at the top of the Championship.

Burnley did well in the ÀUVW KDOI EXW FRXOG QRW match Haaland’s staggerLQJ H΀FLHQF\ LQ IURQW RI goal.

City opened up in the second period though, underlining the chasm in FODVV EHWZHHQ (QJODQG·V top two divisions.

It will be City’s sixth VHPL ÀQDO DSSHDUDQFH in seven seasons under Pep Guardiola, and on this form few will argue against them lifting the trophy for only the second time in that period as they retain hopes of completing a treblewinning campaign.

7KH GUDZ IRU WKH )$ &XS VHPL ÀQDOV WDNHV SODFH today at 4.15pm.

Ndidi, Iheanacho, Onyeka Unused Sub as Leicester, Brentford Draw Leicester City’s five-game losing streak ended yesterday as they held Brentford to a 1-1 draw away in the Premier League.

Both Kelechi ‘Senior Man’ Iheanacho and his Super (DJOHV WHDPPDWH :LOIUHG 1GLGL ZHUH LQ DFWLRQ Iheanacho made a cameo appearance in the 90th minute for James Maddison while Ndidi came off with 15 minutes left for Boubakary Soumare. Frank Onyeka was an unused sub for Brentford.

Matthias Jensen gave Brentford the lead on 32 minutes before Harvey Barnes equalised for Leicester in the 52nd minute.

7KH UHVXOW VDZ /HLFHVWHU QRZ RFFXS\ WK RQ points and are just one point above the relegation ]RQH At Saint Mary’s Paul Onuachu was benched for PLQXWHV LQ 6RXWKDPSWRQ·V GUDZ DJDLQVW 7RWtenham Hotspur.

His Nigerian teammate Joe Aribo was not listed in the match day squad.

A 93rd minute penalty by James Ward-Prowse earned Southampton a share of the spoils.

Southampton are still rooted bottom in the league WDEOH RQ SRLQWV DIWHU JDPHV SOD\HG 2WKHU results saw Leeds beat Wolves 4-2 and Aston Villa hammered Bournemouth 3-0.

Ghana’s Mensah is New President of Rugby Africa Ghanaian sports administrator, Herbert Mensah, has been elected as the new President of Rugby Africa, the governing body of Rugby in Africa, following the FRQFOXVLRQ RI WKH 5XJE\ $IULFD ([HFXWLYH &RPPLWWHH (OHFWLRQV KHOG \HVWHUGD\ 0HQVDK ZKR LV NQRZQ IRU his passion for the sport and his extensive experience in sports administration, will lead the continent’s rugby governing body in the next four years.

In his acceptance speech, Mensah reiterated his passionate vision for the growth of African Rugby.

He highlighted that his priority would be to continue the work he has already begun, helping rugby progress and JURZ QRW MXVW LQ $IULFD EXW JOREDOO\ 0HQVDK HPSKDVL]HG his business experience and stated that he would apply it to Rugby Africa, to generate revenues and development opportunities for all member associations.

He said, “As we embark on this journey, I want us WR SURMHFW UXJE\ DV DQ DOWHUQDWLYH WHDP VSRUW JDLQ Ànancial independence and improve the World Rugby (OLWH 3URJUDP 0\ DLP LV WR PDNH 5XJE\ $IULFD WKH gold standard for sports administration in the African continent.”

75

Sunday 19 March, 2023

TR

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Price: N400

MISSILE

Amaechi to INEC

87 +

5( $ 6 2

1

\HDUV

“INEC is a complete failure. There are those of us who opposed the reappointment of Yakubu Mahmood. The person who nominated him is a member of Tinubu’s camp. So what are you expecting?”– Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, expressing reservations with the performance of INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu.

4*/$&

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Muslim-Muslim Presidency and Matters Arising

T

he victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election has answered one or two questions about our nationhood — but it has, at the same time, left many salient and latent issues hanging. Now we know a south-west Muslim can be elected president of this ethno-religiously complex country. Before, it appeared if a president was to come from the south, it had to be a Christian. If it was the turn of the north, it must be a Muslim. But with a southern Muslim president about to be inaugurated, can a northern Christian one day be president? We shall see. The way things stand, though, it still appears a northern Christian cannot be president or vice-president.

Religious balancing was one dilemma Tinubu faced in picking his running mate. It was the same scenario in 1993 with Bashorun MKO Abiola, who was faced with choosing either Alhaji Babagana Kingibe or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Christians wanted religious balancing at a time of serious mistrust in the country over fears of Islamisation, with frequent tragic crises between Muslims and Christians particularly in Kaduna and Kano states. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) presented Abiola with a long list of northern Christians to choose from, but no-one was sure of their electoral weight. Abiola settled for a Muslim-Muslim pairing and still won the election, although it was annulled.

A second question rising from this election is:

Tinubu and Shettima when will a south-easterner become president?

Mr Peter Obi’s run appeared to have offered the best chance since we started having presidential elections in 1979 but the math did not work out.

Although he won convincingly in the southeast and was brilliant in the south-south, the candidature of a south-westerner appeared to

have limited his foray into the zone and it hurt him a bit. The biggest drawback, though, is that he didn’t get massive votes in the north. He won only two states — Plateau and Nasarawa.

Incidentally the two north-central states made up the former Plateau state where Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe also won in 1979.

With a Muslim-Muslim presidency set to be inaugurated on May 29, we are faced with a nightmare scenario on the sharing of positions. This must be giving Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC) a few sleepless nights. In a sense, the south-west and north-east have taken the No 1 and No 2 slots, but there are many other interests that have to be factored into the sharing of the symbolically key federal political appointments.

We can propound as many theories as we like on the need to downplay “ethnicity and religion” and emphasise “merit and competence”, but we all know we would be lying to ourselves.

We cannot ignore emotive issues in a complex polity like ours.

What will normally be considered as key positions include senate presidency (No 3) and speakership of the house of reps (No 4).

The Chief Justice is No 5 but is non-political.

Deputy senate president (No 6), deputy speaker (No 7) and secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) are also key in the balancing game at the federal level. Many states also do the balancing act by using senatorial districts, religion, ethnicity and other yardsticks in sharing positions. A state like Delta has perfected moving the governorship from one senatorial district to the other in the spirit of power rotation. In underdevelopment politics, balancing is a major instrument of achieving some political stability.

Tinubu will have major headaches to deal with Continued on page 62

WAZIRIADIO POSTSCRIPT

Notes on Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Poll

T

he conduct and the outcome of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential poll have thrown up many issues, positive and negative, that should be interrogated. Some of these issues will be matters for determination by the judiciary in the cases already promised by some of the candidates. The fine matters of the law cannot, and should not, be adjudicated on the pages of newspapers, on the airwaves and on social media platforms. Mindful of the boundaries of prejudicial comments and the rawness of the emotions invested in and generated by this electoral cycle, I will make three points today about the 2023 presidential election.

The first point is that, by and large, the introduction of technology has been a force for good in our elections. We started on this path in the 2015 electoral cycle, with the introduction of biometric, data-encoded Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and the card reader machines by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The card reader machines were used for accreditation of voters. Starting from some off-cycle elections in 2021, INEC introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) machines. BIVAS accredits voters and provides extra authentication by checking facial recognition and fingerprints of voters in addition to PVC data. By ensuring that only those with voter

cards and those duly accredited can vote, these devices massively narrowed the scope for manipulation in our elections.

They made redundant some dirty tricks that used to be pervasive in our elections.

Some of these retired tricks include multiple voting, community voting, stuffing of ballot boxes, maxing out the number on the voter register, or simply writing fantastic figures. Of course, politicians have found other ways to secure undue advantage through vote-buying and vote-suppression. These are possibly unforeseen and unintended consequences of the introduction of technology, and timely reminders that successful reforms throw up other areas of work. But by and large, the use of technology for accreditation limits the room that politicians have for manoeuvre and mischief. The BIVAS builds on earlier technology with the capacity to store and to transmit the results from each polling unit, including the total number of accredited voters.

As a quick aside, a lot has been written about the continuous decline in voter turnout in Nigeria’s presidential elections. Turnout has progressively declined from the highest point of 69.1% in 2003 to the lowest of 26.7% in 2023. This should be a cause for concern and should be further interrogated. But it is also important to note that turnout has been under 45% and has been falling since 2015, which

incidentally was the electoral year technology was introduced for the accreditation of voters.

Is this just mere coincidence? Is this another instance of correlation not equalling causation?

After controlling for the effects of insecurity, vote suppression, cash/petrol scarcity and the fact that the PVC is the easiest and the only cost-free official means of identification and that voting is not compulsory, could the turnout be reflective of the actual size of voters? Does INEC need to clean up the voter register?

In the 2023 electoral cycle, INEC employed technology to provide two important forms of control: one, use BIVAS machines to accredit who should vote and store record of the results; and two, transmit pictures of the results from each polling unit through the BVAS machines to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, which would be available to the public in real time and would provide extra layer of transparency and assurance. From different accounts by observers such as the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), there were a few hitches with BIVAS machines but those issues were mostly resolved. So, technology held up well on that front. However, INEC failed to upload the results in real time. As at the time of writing this, a clear three weeks after the presidential election, only 94.18% of the results have been uploaded.

This is contrary to the well-documented

promise by the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. A few days after the presidential election, INEC issued a statement that it experienced technical glitches in uploading the results to IReV. But this statement has not succeeded in clearing doubts or in answering all the questions. Some of the doubters believe that not transmitting the results real-time was a deliberate attempt to change the figures.

Some fothe interrogators say that INEC over-engineered the process and set itself up by hanging the credibility of the election on real-time transmission of results.

Different sections of the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s guidelines will be pressed to service in the courts by the opposing sides.

Some of those arguments are already being canvassed in the media. I do not intend to go into them for reasons stated above. However, the point can be made that the data on BVAS and on IReV will be invaluable and additional resources for the parties to argue their cases in court, including in proving discrepancies and forgeries (with the aid of forensic experts).

To be sure, technology can fail and can be gamed, and there is always a big room for improvement. But the use of technology has largely held up and its use can be cited as one of the reasons for some results in this Continued on page 62

Printed Newspapers Limited.

Lagos:35 35Creek CreekRoad, Road,Apapa, Apapa,Lagos.

Lagos.Abuja: Abuja:Plot Plot1,1,Sector SectorCentre CentreB, B,Jabi JabiBusiness BusinessDistrict, District,Solomon SolomonLar LarWay, Way,Jabi JabiNorth NorthEast, East,Abuja Abuja. .

Printedand andPublished PublishedininLagos Lagosby byTHISDAY Leaders & Company Limited . Lagos: AllCorrespondence Correspondenceto toPOBox POBox54749, 54749,Ikoyi, Ikoyi,Lagos.

Lagos.EMAIL: EMAIL:editor@thisdaylive.com, editor@thisdaylive.com,info@thisdaylive.com. info@thisdaylive.com.TELEPHONE TELEPHONELagos: Lagos:0802 08022924721-2, 2924721-2,08022924485.

08022924485.Abuja: Abuja:Tel: Tel:08076290487, 08155555292, 08076290488 08155555929 All 24/7 ADVERTISING HOT LINES: 0811 181 3085, 0811 181 3086, 0811 181 3087, 0811 181 3088, 0811 181 3089, 0811 181 3090. ENQUIRIES & BOOKING: adsbooking@thisdaylive.com