IS IT TRUE THAT THE JUNE 12 ELECTION WAS ANNULED BECAUSE MKO WAS SAID TO BE INTO THE DRUG TRADE? IBB NEEDS TO CLEAR THE AIR!

SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI – SPECIAL EDITION!

It was one mid-morning early in 1991 that the NITEL land phone rang at the rented No. 1 Oremeji Street, modest Headquarters of Performing Musicians' Association of Nigeria (PMAN). In 1991, there were no cell phones.

The very busy PMAN headquarters was on the ground floor of one of six identical one - storey buildings in the part of Ikeja, Lagos, now famously known as Computer Village. This was not far from where Fela's African Shrine used to be on Pepple Street. I was handed the phone and told that the caller said he was calling from Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, then seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

When I took the phone, the caller informed me that he was calling on behalf of President Ibrahim Babangida and that the President would like to see me. Wow! We agreed on a date and I assured the caller that I would be there.

Three and half years earlier, I had been elected President of PMAN. I was 29 years old, the youngest member of the large PMAN National Executive Council with members from across the country. I have never learnt to do a job half-heartedly. My attitude to the PMAN job, a job with no income, was a call to a national assignment deserving of all I had to give. I gave it all I had, 24 hours a day.

On the agreed date, I was at Dodan Barracks. I was not a minister or governor and expected to be kept waiting or told that the appointment had been cancelled. Nope! Right on time, I was ushered into the beautiful office of General Ibrahim Babangida, the great IBB, known across the land as Maradona! I had come close to him at a few official events and exchanged pleasantries but never had a one-on-one alone in a room, with him.   

What surprised me was that the man was so smooth and so easy to get on with. There were no airs about him and none of the crudity or brashness most people associate with soldiers. We exchanged banter and I even queried some of his policies. He appeared not to take any offence and explained some of the choices he had to make.

The President had clearly followed my activities very closely and in details. He expressed admiration for my passion and commitment to the work I was doing and encouraged me not to relent. He said that he had received my letter inviting him to be Special Guest of Honour at the big Nigerian Music Awards (NMA), the nation's biggest entertainment event, scheduled for the National Theatre Lagos in about a week. According to him, he had planned to personally attend the event, but it was suddenly brought to his attention that there was an important military event at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji in Kaduna State holding on the same date at which, as Commander-in-Chief, he was expected to preside. He told me that in his position, it would be politically inappropriate for him to forego the event of his immediate constituency to be seen on national TV enjoying himself at the NMA. He said that he did not want to send me an apology and had invited me to personally explain his difficulty and talk with me on how best to address the situation.

I felt honoured by his thoughtfulness and said so. We agreed that he would send his most senior officer in the Army, at the time, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Sani Abacha, to represent him at the 1991 NMA.  At the 1990 event, the President had been represented by his Vice, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu. We also agreed that he would host a reception for the award recipients at State House Marina, a few days after the event.  General Babangida kept every promise he made to me.   

I had the chance of a few one-on-one with IBB in his office at Aso Rock, Abuja when the government finally moved to Abuja. Of course, IBB honoured me with his impactful presence, that of Maryam, his beautiful wife and much of the movers and shakers of the government on March 9, 1992 at the unforgettable NMA held at the Hilton in Abuja for which I will ever remain grateful.

Through the joint interventions of his Minister of Information & Culture, Prince Tony Momoh and then Attorney – General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola, both of whom had become my allies, President Babangida had  promulgated the Nigerian Copyright law and approved the setting up of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, two issues about which I had mounted unrelenting campaigns and sent the President several letters and which I strongly believe have aided to unlock Nigeria's creative endeavors.

I know that most people who get a chance to see the President go with a laundry list of personal favours they seek - jobs, contracts, land, oil wells, etc, etc. Despite my modest means, in my several meetings with IBB, I refused to ask for any personal favour and obtained none, not one "shi-shi"!  It was my conviction that any personal take-aways would deny me the freedom to be critical of any step the government took that I was opposed to. My concentration was on the creative industry and how to position it for national development. To his credit, the President never asked me for anything except to do my job the best way I could, to the benefit of the Nigerian nation.

I learnt to admire and respect the man. I was also impressed with the quality of brilliant Nigerians he surrounded himself with and the fact that no reasonable person could easily clothe him with tribal or religious bigotry, the weakness of most of Nigeria's leadership. Some people even began to refer to me as a "Babangida Boy"!

Despite my admiration of the man, I was not unconscious of the fact that there were many in the country who were critical and suspicious of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and who believed he had what was commonly termed "hidden agenda".

On June 24, 1993, the dam broke in what I had considered a special relationship! My dear friend and lawyer, Caleb Ola Atolagbe had told me that irrespective of the assurances of the ever-smiling and hyperactive NEC chairman, Humphrey Nwosu, IBB would do everything to make sure that Abiola was not sworn in as President. I told him that he was talking rubbish. On June 24, 1993, I listened to IBB's very long and unwinding televised speech justifying the annulment of the June 12 election to which humungous national resources and expectations had been invested. Atolagbe was right and I was wrong. The speech shook me like very few things in my life. I practically had instant migraine. I could not understand how a man I so believed was a brilliant master tactician could have been part of the tragic decision that I was sure would traumatize Nigeria and Nigerians for a lifetime and even destroy his own legacy. Clearly, my guy who had Nigeria in his palms, had lost control.

It was the same Caleb Atolagbe that I briefed to file a case on my behalf at the Federal High Court against General Babangida and his government over the annulment of the June 12 elections. Of course, Nigeria became unmanageable. The falcon could no longer hear the falconer and I was advised by friends and family to quickly get out of the country which I did.

Several times, I have read David Hundeyin's recent documentary, "From Drug Lord to Presidential Candidate" and followed the many controversies and arguments generated by Hundeyin whom I have never met. I have also followed the reactions of the family of late M.K.O. Abiola. My understanding is that David Hundeyin is an investigative journalist and not the FBI, CIA, DSS, NFIU nor EFCC. He does not have the resources of government. He has however stated his findings with facts, locations and dates that a responsible Nigerian government ought to thoroughly investigate and make pronouncements on for the good of the nation.

My friends in the camp of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should indeed call for a full investigation to clear the name of their principal so that the accusations do not become one big life-long albatross round his neck and that of his family or a "good" reason to annul the February 25, 2023 Presidential elections. I also believe that there is too much concentration on winning elections and so little on winning the trust of the Nigerian people so as to properly govern them. In my humble opinion, to leave the critical matter to the social media bomb throwers or the talk shows on Channels and Arise TV, is a serious disservice to the Nigerian people and to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his family. Is David Hundeyin a hatchet man or a national hero? We ought to know.

Tinubu is alive to defend himself but there is the case of MKO Abiola whose election was alleged in Hundeyin's report to have been annulled by Gen Babangida upon significant pressure of Abiola's involvement in the illicit drug trade. I have several times re-read IBB's annulment speech of June 24, 1993. Nowhere is Abiola accused of involvement in the drug trade. I encourage serious Nigerians to take time and read the IBB speech. Anyone who wants to annul next year's Presidential election will find enough reasons there to do so. Nothing has changed. Vote buying is still going on. The courts are still making contradictory decisions. Abiola is dead but IBB is alive. What exactly happened? Why did IBB wait till the votes had been cast and counted and the winner of the elections known before annulling the elections? Was he trying to protect his friend? It is clear that the June 12 injury will not go away no matter what balm is rubbed on it. I believe that IBB owes us a duty to come clean with what happened, especially as we have been warned that we are on the throes of another June 12.    

For the records, I have written here before that despite our different ethnic origins, M.K.O Abiola treated me like a cherished younger brother and spoke to me on many intimate issues. Indeed, I had a multiple entry visa to his Moshood Abiola Crescent home in Ikeja. Abiola was my benefactor. Most people remember the late MKO for his prodigious wealth, I remember him for his prodigious intellect. Abiola remembered everything and forgot nothing. He could outthink anybody at dizzying speed.

Late in 1992 before the party primaries, Chief Abiola had invited me to his home and we set out in his car for much of the day, driving through Lagos as he inspected different projects and we spoke. On two fronts, he expressed his apprehension about the coming election and his role in it. Firstly, he was emphatic that there were people who would go to any length to stop him from being President. Secondly, he said that he viewed most Africans as one family and the boarders across Africa as artificial divisions created by the white man. He said that he was not sure whether he would be comfortable with representing Nigeria in a dispute with a sister African nation.

My reaction was that considering the bridges he had built across the country, his boldness and foresight, and the trust people had in him, he would have let a lot of Nigerians down if he withdrew from the elections. I then asked him If he had spoken with IBB about the elections and if there would indeed be vacancy at Aso Rock Villa. He assured me that he had and had obtained a positive response. I knew that there was a warm friendship between MKO and IBB. When Abiola's first wife, Simbiat, passed on 10^th November 1992, IBB abandoned everything in Abuja to personally come for the funeral in Lagos. I was there. When IBB hosted me and my colleagues at State House, Marina, MKO flew from Australia to be there and we had a great time.   

Let me state clearly that I could never have been as close as I was to Abiola if I had any suspicion that he was anyhow associated with any illicit drug trade. For the late MKO, family and friends of both MKO and IBB and most importantly, the Nigerian people, IBB has one more important service to render. He needs to tell us the true reason why the June 12, 1993 election was annulled.

See you next week.

THE BIG COPYRIGHT STRUGGLE IN NIGERIA (1)

In the last quarter of 1987, the copyright campaign in Nigeria was hot because of the activities of the new Executive Council of PMAN which I led. At the same time, the structure of PMAN as a true national organization was being built across Nigeria. In most places, the two objectives were tied. Between me and then PMAN General Secretary, the late Benin born Okuoimose E. Okuoimose, we were on the road day and night, setting up the framework for new PMAN chapters in different states of Nigeria and educating people, in positions of authority, on the copyright issue and the key role it would play in the emerging global knowledge and creative economy.

With other PMAN executive members, we met with State Governors such as Amadi Ikwechegh in Owerri, Bode George in Akure, Tunde Ogbeha in Uyo and Benin, Tanko Ayuba in Kaduna and others in Enugu, Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Kano, Calabar, etc. At every location, the team met with the resident musicians, the media, police commissioners and commissioners responsible for culture. Some of the commissioners we met were Sarah Jibrin in Ilorin, Chris Anyanwu in Owerri, Moses Ekpo in Uyo, Taiwo Alimi in Abeokuta, etc. The pursuit of our objectives took the PMAN team to the palaces of the Emir of Kano, the Alaafin of Oyo, the Obi of Onitsha, the Paramount Ruler of Uyo, the Emir of Ilorin, the Obong of Calabar, the Eze Apara Rebisi in Port Harcourt, Eze Onuegwunwoke in Owerri, Eze Ikonne in Aba, etc. It was in Aba that Eze Ikonne graciously conferred on me my first Chieftaincy title without asking me for one "shishi".

I was 29 years old and had made a promise to the nascent Nigerian creative industry that by December 31, 1987, there would be a new and more effective Nigerian Copyright Law.

Despite the hyperactive events, when December 31, 1987, came, there was no new copyright law. I had practically sacrificed my career and young family to the service of my nation and had persuaded others to make huge sacrifices too and there was nothing to show for all the sacrifice. As far as I was concerned, I had failed. On January 2, 1988, I sent my resignation letter to PMAN Headquarters. Unknown to people on the outside, PMAN was in the throes of a huge crisis.

An emergency PMAN Executive Council meeting was held. The council refused to accept my resignation insisting that there was nothing I could do that I had not done. Some of the NEC members took the position that if the resignation was allowed, they too would resign. My resignation would have led to the disintegration of PMAN which had gone through an unfortunate period of instability. Legal Adviser, Mr. Caleb Ola Atolagbe was particularly persuasive. He reminded me that we had succeeded in putting in place a reasonably credible process to finally bring about a new copyright law and that after the hopes I had raised, I had a duty to ensure that the process was guided to a successful conclusion. My ultimate decision to stay was for me a very humbling decision. Regardless of what ever happened thereafter, the fact that the law did not come at the time I had pledged it would come, would remain an indelible failure for me.

The reasonably credible process which Mr. Atolagbe spoke about was the product of a meeting held between my PMAN team and Colonel Tunde Akogun who was then Sole Administrator of Culture and Archives. At the meeting which took place at the National Theatre Lagos, I told Colonel Akogun that the musicians of Nigeria were tired of the many unfulfilled promises of the government. Colonel Akogun assured the PMAN delegation that both he and his Minister, Prince Tony Momoh, were determined to solve the problem once and for all. Following that meeting, a planning committee was set up to organize a conference to collate ideas from different experts and stake holders so that a comprehensive review of the Nigerian Copyright Law would be done. I was appointed a member of the planning committee which met in Abuja in November 1987.

The Abuja meeting which held at the Headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Trade in the Area 1 Secretariat in Garki was to be the first practical step by the government to address the copyright issue. I traveled to Abuja in the company of Mrs. Keji Okunowo, then MD of CBS Nigeria and Mr. Ayo Fawole then co-ordinator of IFPI Nigeria. Among those who attended the meeting was Tope Popoola, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA). Mr. Popoola came to the meeting with a rather youthful looking lawyer by the name, Bankole Sodipo. Sodipo is today a distinguished professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He was then solicitor to the NPA. I took instant liking to the young lawyer who showed great passion for the intellectual property subject. The fact that we were the two youngest people at the meeting may have played a role in the friendship we struck which has endured till today. The meeting also had a four-man team from the Federal Department of Culture, Colonel Akogun's department. The team led by S.O. Williams had Bayo Aiyegbusi, M.D.I. Olagunju and O.B. Adetula. E.O. Fadina came from the Federal Ministry of Education. Oladele Jegede of the Federal Ministry of Trade who was host and chairman of the meeting was chided by the private sector participants because his ministry which was in charge of copyright, had slept on its mandate. The private sector participants were generally suspicious of the government officials and their well-known penchant for unwinding processes that led nowhere. That suspicion was expressed. A proposal for a National Seminar on the Nigerian Copyright Law was agreed to.

The National Seminar on the Nigerian Copyright Law was held at Durbar Hotel Lagos from the 21st to the 25th of March 1988. The seminar was declared open by President Babangida, represented by Air Vice-Marshal Nureni Imam. Both the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola and Minister of Information & Culture, Prince Tony Momoh were present. The copyright seminar brought together some of the brightest minds ever assembled in Nigeria to tackle an issue. The icons of the Nigerian Judiciary that attended the different sessions include Former Chief Justice, Sir Darnely Alexander; Chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Dr Olakunle Orojo; Justice Kayode Esho and Justice Augustine Nnamani of the Supreme Court and Justice Fred Anyaegbunam and Justice Babatunde Belgore, etc.

The major outcome of the seminar was the setting up of a committee to draft a new copyright law for Nigeria, using the report of the seminar as its primary working tool. On April 18, 1988, the Drafting Committee convened at Durbar Hotel Lagos to produce the draft of a new copyright law for Nigeria. Chairman of the committee was my great friend, Prof Egerton Uvieghara, the immensely respected professor of Commercial Law at the University of Lagos. who passed on last year. I served on the committee. (To be continued).

See you next week.

WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO DRIVE ON A FULL TANK OF FAITH?

WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO DRIVE ON A FULL TANK OF FAITH?

One Monday morning a few years ago, I was standing on my feet and sleeping at the same time. In fact, my feet did not appear to belong to me. It was by the special grace of God that I did not fall and break my skull. I was spent, finished; all the energy in me gone.

The night before, I had been a ball juggler. I had had the job of ensuring that all the hundreds of elements that must come together to make a sizzling show like the COSON Song Awards to spark, indeed came together.

For those who may not know, the COSON Song Awards was only one of eight different back-to-back events that took place at eight different big venues during an eight-day period of the incredible COSON Week. It was my job to produce the eight events and make each particularly spectacular.

For more many months, I had a job that no one else in the world would want. I had to subject myself to a lifestyle you would not wish even for your bitterest enemy. The earliest I went to sleep any night was 1.00 am. The latest I woke up was 3.00 am. I slept a maximum of two hours a night. There was no bed so, sleep was sitting on my chair at work. There was so much to plan, so much to create, so much to design, so much writing to do, so many disappointments to overcome, so many bills to pay, so many egos to manage, so many devils to keep at bay… so much of everything!

If you were a guest at the COSON Song Awards at Eko Hotel & Suites, you would have had to present your specially crafted and embossed COSON Song Awards passport at the specifically set up immigration stand at the big event. Oh, the passports came in two colours; green for regular and red for diplomatic.

It was only after a guest had been issued with a visa on arrival and his passport stamped and signed by the gorgeous immigration officers was he or she ushered into the glittering world of the "Red Carpet Fantastico" to enjoy choice drinks, finger foods and the ultra-beautiful hostesses and mingle with Nigerian stars of all callings dressed to finish with paparazzi firing and firing thousands of flash bulbs away. Now and again, one of the beautiful hostesses would catwalk with a placard proclaiming love for country.

Some have tried to copy the passport concept but no one has yet copied the immigration spectacle at the COSON Song Awards. Also, no one has yet copied the concept of the 'Red Carpet Fantastico', all original ideas.

While everything went like clockwork at Eko Hotel and everyone appeared to have had loads of fun, the event nearly did not happen.

Five times, the immigration stands were dismantled by the hotel officials who believed we were messing up their facility with our crazy ideas. Five times, we re-mounted the stands. I understood the reaction of the Eko Hotel staff. What we were doing had never been done before. It was unusual. If we had first sought permission to do it, we would have been told that shows are not done like that.

At events, I create ideas that rattle people. Those ideas are the spice that have made the events I have produced, unique and memorable.

I am sure many Nigerians would remember when at the Nigerian Music Awards in Lagos, I was lowered on to the stage of the National Theatre from the very high roof of the main bowl. What many may not know is that I had not rehearsed to be lowered from that height. That spectacle was supposed to belong to the late Femi Segun, who was married to Fela's first daughter, Yeni. The uniquely talented and adventurous Femi was the anchor at the show. A few minutes to the show, with the audience of Nigeria's best already assembling, Femi decided he was not going to do it again. The idea appeared very dangerous and even suicidal. This was after we had made the necessary preparations and rehearsed and rehearsed. So, I had to quickly change the script and had to go up myself. The rest is history.

These days, I go to events and hear the Nigerian national anthem interpreted in many different ways. The first time I assembled some of Nigeria's iconic female singers; Christy Essien Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Funmi Adams and Veno Marioghae to do what I termed "the National Anthem in Style", a senior police officer came to warn me that I would be arrested for bastardizing the National Anthem if we went ahead. We did it all the same. The ladies sang like angels. At the end, the National Theatre erupted in a standing ovation. Once again, the rest is history.    

When the OPEC ministers from around the world visited Nigeria some years ago, I was asked to do a show at the International Conference Centre in Abuja as Nigeria hosted them. Those who attended the show will recall the big steaming metal pot with massive fire on stage from which elegantly dressed people emerged. That also scared some people.

Almost everybody can listen to music at home or watch TV. I believe that people come to shows to have an experience. To me, a show without spectacle and a story to tell is not much. Anybody can organize and produce them.

A show to me is also a mirror of the society and where it is going. I believe that as a people, we are too risk averse. The people who first went to the moon went to where no man had ever been. There was no guarantee that they would come back alive. What they did however opened new vistas for mankind. The young men who flew the first aero plane had no assurance that they would not crash and die. I believe that death will come when it would come. But we should not be so afraid of death that we do nothing significant while we are alive. If we want our nation to be truly great, we must push the envelope.

In the things I have done, I have discovered that the Almighty has placed in each of us more ability than we can imagine, more tolerance than we can contemplate and more creativity than we can visualize. We are more than we think we are. We simply need to push the envelope. Each time it appears that I have reached my limit, a new limit emerges. That is why I believe that there is nothing that a man can conceive that he cannot achieve.

There were many times in the course of the work that I do when it has appeared like I could go no further. There have been severe physical challenges, organizational challenges, financial challenges, challenges of envy and other man-made challenges. I have said repeatedly that I drive on a full tank of faith. Each time I have been challenged, I have looked towards the Man who sent me on this errand, the Almighty. Not once has he let me down. Have faith and you are sure to find that there is no mountain too high for you to climb, no river to deep or wide for you to cross, no challenge that you cannot meet.

See you next week.

HOW MANY VOTES DO FASORANTI AND ADEBANJO HAVE?

Apart from the very sad death of Ifeanyi, the three-year old son of my dear friend and younger colleague, Davido, much of the news during the week came from the campaign of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. At a time that the motley crowd of the PDP presidential campaign team led by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, decided to embark on a nebulous trip to the United States of America, the ground was left for the Jagaban to do as he pleases. And he did.

I understand that one of the big achievements of Atiku on the U.S. trip was that he got interviewed on Voice of America in Washington DC! I have been interviewed on Voice of America in Washington DC, several times. So, have so many other Nigerians. It is no big deal. Nobody in America listens to Voice of America which is part of the propaganda arm of the United States State Department, a station that broadcasts essentially to the "third world".

By the way, how many people in Nigeria know that there is a broadcast station transmitting from Abuja funded by the Nigerian government, called Voice of Nigeria? Who listens to it? In this day and age, with the unlimited platforms for news ready and available on our cell phones, how many people listen to or watch any station owned by any government?   

And so, while Atiku was away, Tinubu with his own motley crowd of 'ex this, ex that' and the ubiquitous video cameras, stormed the Ondo State home of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the immediate former leader of Afanifere, the Pan Yoruba Socio-Political group. And it is reported that Tinubu presented his 80 page 'action plan' to the 96-year-old Pa Fasoranti who prayed for or "endorsed" Tinubu for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The people who organized the Tinubu trip to Ondo state knew what they were doing. The intent is to clip the wings of Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the current leader of Afanifere who is also in his 90s and who had the "effrontery" to announce that Afenifere was endorsing the presidential ambition of Peter Obi, an Igbo man from Anambra State flying the flag of the until recently unheralded Labour Party. The reactions and controversy have been massive and immediate. Arguments are raging as to who the current leader of Afenifere is, arguments that are mostly self-serving and turning reason upside down.

The war over the heart and soul of Afenifere is revealing on many fronts. It is clear that nothing is sacred in this battle to get to Aso Rock; not the survival of a proud institution of a very proud people; not the long-standing love and friendship between two old men at the twilight of their lives; not the tenuous relationship between Nigeria's two major ethnic groups, the Igbos and Yorubas; not the religious balance that serious people think is essential to the survival of our nation; not anything! All is fair in this war. Any obstacle to the achievement of the goal must be crushed. Any calabash must be broken. It does not matter what it costs. What money cannot do; more money can do it!

In the battle for the soul of Afenifere, you begin to understand the mindset behind EMILOKAN… It is my turn. If you are a thinking person, you must pause and think whether this is a project for the good of the Nigerian people or a project for self fulfilment, regardless of the cost to the Nigerian people.  EMILOKAN… Wow!

Two days after storming Ondo State, the Jagaban was back in Lagos where he presented his action plan to the business community. Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; foremost investor, Tony Elumelu and founder of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, led the group of business leaders that were at the event at Eko Hotel attended by Tinubu's running mate, Kashim Shettima, APC governors and party loyalists.

Have you forgotten the controversy over the fake bishops that attended the unveiling of Tinubu's running mate, Kashim Shettima? It is clear that no trick or subterfuge will be spared and no values will be left standing on this journey to Aso Rock. Will it work?

Why do I believe that the forth coming elections in Nigeria will not be decided by who Pa Fasoronti, Adebanjo or Dangote endorses? It appears that the young people of Nigeria have made up their minds to take their future into their hands and will not be listening to any godfather anymore.  Maybe democracy will finally arrive Nigeria.

The entire democracy project hangs on an intriguing concept: all men are born equal. In other words, the great Aliko Dangote with his zillions of Naira, many trucks and thousands of employees has the same voting power as his cook. In a democracy, the opinion of Elon Musk, the young man who just paid over 40 billion US dollars, more than the entire Nigerian foreign reserve, to take over Twitter and whose 'can do spirit' is behind Tesla, the self-driving electric car now populating American roads, has the same weight as his janitor. Mark Zuckerberg, the mastermind of Facebook who today also owns the mega platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp has no voting power stronger than that any of his thousands of employees across the globe.  A Barack Obama with his political sagacity and deep experience in world affairs casts one vote and that vote is in no way superior to that of a homeless man begging for coins in front of Washington DC's Union Station.

I was talking with a big player in the present Nigerian government. I had asked him why the government does not appear to listen to what the Nigerian intelligentsia says, especially as elections are coming close. He looked at me, sighed and said mockingly, "the government does not need the votes of the intelligentsia to get to power. Their vote is too expensive! Go to the motor park and the marketplace with some bags of rice and salt and some Naira notes and all the votes you are looking for are there with very little grammar" You see why the bullion van concept took hold in Nigeria and brought us EMILOKAN where whatever money cannot do; more money can do it?

EMILOKAN is a scary mindset. Nigerians better watch out.

See you next week.