One Week, Plenty Troubles

simon kolawole

Well, well, well… what an eventful week! So eventful I was unsure of what topic to write about. I started out wanting to do a follow-up to my last article, ‘On States, Regions and Federalism’. I also wanted to make an important clarification on the Unification Decree of 1966, having forgotten to add that it was repealed a year later. And while I was still thinking, violence broke out in Rivers state after the LG election as the war between Chief Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara advanced to the next stage. I was still trying to catch my breath when the NNPC Ltd announced another increase in the price of petrol. I became confused on the choice of topic. Can you see my predicament?

When I started writing, I wanted to explain that while one military government announced the end of federalism and adopted a unitary system in 1966 (typical of the way military runs things), another military government reversed it in 1967 but it still turned out to be a pseudo-federalism — in the sense that the military high command, represented by the National Military Government (NMG) headed by the supreme commander of the armed forces, still called the shots. Military governors were appointed by the supreme commander. They were his subordinates. There were many ripples from the new arrangement as the civil war eventually broke out, but that is a topic for another day.

I also wanted to write, for the benefit of those who may not know, that “republic” does not mean unitary system. I saw a bit of confusion over that. A republic simply means a country is ruled by those elected into power by the citizens — compared to a monarchy where the king or queen has absolute powers. Although Nigeria became independent in 1960, it was not officially considered a republic because the Queen of England was still the head of state and was represented in that position by the governor-general of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, in a role conferred on him by a special arrangement with his northern allies. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as prime minister, was the head of government.

In 1963, Nigeria officially became a republic and the role of governor-general was abolished. Azikiwe became president and head of state but the executive powers were with the prime minister as head of government. A parliamentary system separates the positions of head of state and head of government — unlike in a presidential system where the president is both the head of state and head of government. Countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand are officially not republics as the King of England is their head of state. However, for practical purposes, they are republics since they have elected representatives. The king is only a ceremonial leader.

I was still piecing my thoughts together when the Rivers state crisis progressed to another phase. I decided to abandon the federalism topic and write about Wike and Fubara as they fight over who should be Rivers’ head of “state” and head of government. In the first republic, we had premiers and governors under the parliamentary system. They shared duties. Premiers were the chief executives of their regions and ran government business, while governors were the ceremonial heads, performing such functions as making consequential announcements and declaring parliaments open. In a presidential system, governors hold executive powers and do not report to an individual.

In Rivers state, there is clearly a battle between Fubara, the elected governor, and Wike, his benefactor who handpicked him as his successor. The war started as soon as Fubara took office, with Wike complaining openly that his successor was destroying his political structure in the state. To be sure, this is not the first fight between godfathers and godsons in our political history. This war happens all the time. We saw it in Kwara in 1983 and 2003, Anambra in 2003, Oyo in 2006, Lagos in 2019, Edo in 2020 and even in Delta in 2023. However, the Rivers state crisis is getting out of hand and the risks are too high for us to ignore. Sadly, this is a country where we never learn our lessons.

I worry about Rivers in many ways. First: the threat to national security. When oil-based kidnappings and pipeline sabotage began in the state in 2005 or thereabouts, we thought there was really nothing to worry about. Today, we have territories run by militants and ex-militants. Second: the threat to the national economy. As I have argued here many times, the economic challenges we are facing today are fundamentally because we are not earning enough petrodollars, and this can be traced to many factors, including the negative impact of the unrest in the Niger Delta on investments in the petroleum sector over the years. We can do with some peace in the oil-producing region.

My worry has now moved another level: the disturbing role of the judiciary in the desecration of our democracy. How can a court rule that the police should not provide security during an election? What is that? The constitutional role of the police is to secure life and property. Every Nigerian deserves to be protected no matter his or her political choices. It is fundamental. How on earth can a court rule that police should not provide security? At this rate, bandits and oil thieves, operating through lawyers, will soon procure court injunctions banning the police, the army and other agencies from providing security at certain locations in the country. We are gradually getting to that stage.

The police actually withdrew from council headquarters in Rivers state on Monday and hell was let loose shortly after, with at least three buildings vandalised and set on fire by political thugs. That is the story of Nigeria in 2024 — sadly on the 64th anniversary of our independence and 110th year of amalgamation. Are we going forward or backward? President Bola Tinubu must, as a matter of urgency, call the warring factions to order before bigger and irreversible damage is done to this country. Politics cannot be everything and everything cannot be politics. People must know how to win and how to lose, how to advance and how to retreat. No individual is bigger than the society.

I decided not to write on Rivers but I would still want to remind the National Judicial Council (NJC) of its responsibility. These funny injunctions might be doing the bidding of politicians, but the judiciary has become a laughing stock. It looks like the judiciary has totally taken over our democracy, determining who should be party chairman, who should be deputy governor, who should be governor and when the police should provide security or when not to. This is downright dangerous. The lawyers who help to ridicule the judiciary with frivolous applications must also come under scrutiny if we want to run a decent society. Things are getting out of hand. There must be a limit.

Compare this to Italy, where a court jailed two prosecutors, Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, on Tuesday for professional misconduct. They hid vital evidence that would have exonerated Shell and Eni in the OPL 245 trial. A Brescia court, chaired by Roberto Spanò, ruled that the prosecutors were obligated to present every document — even if it favoured the other side. But in a similar trial in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, was falsely accused of buying a N300 million property from the OPL 245 “bribe” — even when all the evidence points to the fact that the house in question is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In fact, documents showed that Adoke had taken a bank loan of N300 million in 2012 to buy the property valued at N500 million. But on failing to pay up his N200 million equity contribution after a year, he lost the offer. The vendor returned the N300 million to the bank, retrieved the land papers and sold the property to the CBN. I saw the transaction documents. But the prosecutors still went ahead to tell a federal high court that it was a bribe from OPL 245 resolution. Yet, in another case before the FCT high court, the same prosecutors admitted that the N300 million was a bank loan. Contradiction. The courts discharged and acquitted Adoke, but the prosecutors went unpunished.

In any case, I was not planning to write on the OPL 245 saga. It is in the past. The current troubles in Nigeria are sufficient for the day thereof. We have enough crises in our hands, which are now further fuelled by another upward adjustment in the price of petrol. NNPC says it is market forces at play, but Nigerians are crying that the pains of Tinubu’s reforms are getting out of hand. Tariffs are rising. Prices are rising. Inflation is biting hard. Incomes are losing value. I am old enough to say this is one of the toughest times in the history of Nigeria. I would only rate 1983/84 a little tougher because we were queuing up to buy essential commodities as a result of their unavailability in the open market.

I still decided not to write about the new petrol price. It is now clear that Tinubu is determined to free the pricing of petrol. No matter the pains and complaints, he will not change his mind. While this will align with what obtains in most countries, I now hope our leaders will also align with the demands of good governance. I hope Nigerians will organise themselves to demand accountability,  to look into every kobo being saved from subsidy removal, and to demand that the money is spent on making life better through improved healthcare, education and critical infrastructure. Otherwise, we will just suffer reform pains for nothing. Our latter end will be worse than the former.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

CELEBRATING MACARTHUR

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation commemorated its 30th anniversary of development work in Nigeria on Wednesday, while Dr Kole Shettima, the Africa director, marked his 25th year as director of Nigeria office. MacArthur’s contributions to key sectors in Nigeria — ranging from health and education to human rights and media — have been huge and impactful. The Cable Foundation, which I head, is a beneficiary of MacArthur’s support for investigative and solutions journalism. Shettima has been an exemplary leader, mentor and motivator, supported by the extraordinary Dr Amina Salihu and other colleagues. Congratulations are definitely in order. Legacy.

CART AND MOUSE

With the unending hikes in the price of petrol, there is a campaign for Nigerians to adopt vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) as the antidote. CNG is cleaner and far cheaper. It has become very popular in countries like Iran, Argentina, Brazil and China. The downsides, though, are also there: cost of conversion and the mammoth space required for the cylinder. My opinion has been that mass transportation vehicles powered by CNG should have been sufficiently incentivised to be on the ground long before now. It would have made it much easier to manage the impact of high petrol prices on the masses. But, trust us, we prefer to put the cart before the horse. Typical.

POWER OF VISION

Those who have been following the trajectory of the Covenant University (CU) are not that surprised that the privately run institution has been scoring high marks. It is the vision of the founder, Bishop David Oyedepo. CU has just been named the best university in Nigeria by THE Rankings, a comprehensive global ranking of universities. CU has been ranked Nigeria’s No 1 four times since 2019, exchanging places with only the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university funded by the federal government. The CU story confirms what I have always believed: that every ingredient to make Nigeria great is here with us. When we get the leadership right, we will go places. Vision.

NO COMMENT

Did you hear this? On October 5, the Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) conducted election in the 31 LGAs of the state. Prof Inyang Ating, the returning officer for Essien Udim LGA — home of Senate President Godswill Akpabio (APC) —  declared PDP’s Enobong Patrick Friday winner with 55,612 votes, while APC’s Usoro Ntiedo got 686 votes. The following day, though, AKISIEC announced APC as the winner of Akpabio’s LGA. We know elections in Nigeria are full of wonders without numbers, but I must pay special homage to AKISIEC for the miracle that happened between Saturday and Sunday that transformed the scores and handed victory to APC. Wonderful.