DAVID AND GOLIATH BATTLE FOR ASO ROCK!

 In exactly 55 days, millions of Nigerians will bring out their PVCs, match to polling units near them and cast their votes for a President of their choice. January is here and the campaign for the 2023 general elections will be boiling. We have seen the many meetings and consultations in Nigeria, in London and elsewhere. That is the appetizer. In January, the main dish will be unleashed. The streets will be completely defaced with all manner of posters and banners. There will be all kinds of campaign propaganda blaring on radio and television. The social media rats who have since been trained to join issues and post a lot of nonsense will take over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, etc.

Who told you that there is no money in Nigeria? Think of the ease with which the political contestants bought N100 Million forms like puff-puff during the party primaries. My guys, there is a lot of money in Nigeria. It is just that a few people who are not producing anything have cornered, seized and stocked all the money for themselves. At a time when many fear that the Nigerian nation is burning, those who because of the money they have fleeced, believe that they own Nigeria, are busy flexing their muscles. They are buying up everyone and everything to ensure that everybody knows that God has ordained them to rule Nigeria in 2023. Please note that they want to rule Nigeria, not lead Nigerians.

There are two types of campaigns going on - the analogue and the digital. From Obalende in Lagos through Ojuelegba to Ikeja, there are hundreds of thousands of campaign posters all proclaiming, "EMILOKAN!". In the big city of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, I have yet to see one poster of Peter Obi, reputed to be one of the major presidential candidates. The "Batists" are on radio and television blasting away their campaign promos. Their rallies are jammed with thousands of "aso-ebi" wearing Nigerians sufficiently "mobilized" with the best public address system money can buy and party big wigs flown-in on private jets... and the operatives, very well paid. The cost of one of these rallies is humungous and the "Batists" can do them every day of the week.   

Oh, how could I have forgotten? The big pastors and prayer warriors have also been commissioned and fully mobilized to cast and bind, speak in tongues and pray ceaselessly. And the juju men? 24 hours of the day, they are throwing cowries into the air and consulting strange spirits. The matter is that serious.

The "OBidients" have practically no posters and no expensive radio or television promos. They cannot flood stadiums with expensive "Aso-ebi". Let's face it, they do not have the money to hire crack operatives. Nearly all the people working for the "OBidient" movement are volunteers driven by passion. They create their posters and skits and post them on WhatsApp and Facebook. Nobody gives them "shishi". Money or no money, they are determined.   "

Why are some people desperate to get Godwin Emiefele, the CBN Governor, out of circulation? Emiefele is crazy enough to block the zillions of Naira in cash that has been stashed in Ghana-must-go bags, containers and bullion vans and which are meant to be deployed to buy Aso Rock by any means. So far, Emiefele seems to have got the support of Buhari. Does Buhari have the tenacity and conviction to see Emiefele through? Will Godwin win?    

The ongoing campaign is like the biblical battle of David and Goliath. It is like the present war between Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky and Putin. In February 2022, with Russia's hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of tanks, how many people would have predicted that by December 31, Volodymyr Zelensky will still be President of Ukraine and Kyiv will still be Ukraine's capital?

The coming elections in Nigeria are critical. If we are not careful, the elections might spell the end of the Nigerian experiment and at very huge costs. As the big contenders get ready for the mammoth noise-making Nigerians will be subjected to between now and February 25, I wonder whether there are many in Nigeria who have not yet made up their minds who to vote for.

In normal circumstances, we are supposed to simply let our friends, family members and associates vote their "conscience". These are not normal times. The coming elections are not normal elections. Any person who purports to love Nigeria must take a stand this time.

The PDP has been given the chance to lead Nigeria and the party failed Nigerians. It is as a result of that failure that Nigerians went on to seek the unfortunate alternative that APC has shown itself to be, failing Nigerians colossally. I have written here before that it has become very clear that the structures of the PDP and APC will never lead to the emancipation of the Nigerian people. Those structures were built for the private accumulation of wealth, power and the mercantilism of a few. They are terribly infested with the corruption virus. They will only lead to more hunger, more kidnapping, more insecurity, more joblessness, more stealing on a bigger scale and more hopelessness for the Nigerian people and possibly the brake-up of the Nigerian nation.

The entire concept of some persons accumulating bizarre amount of wealth from the Nigerian people without doing any visible work and turning around to use the wealth so accumulated to buy the leadership of the country in order to acquire more wealth, is obscene.

It is clear that the young people of Nigeria, the same age group that drove the

WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING EVERYBODY?

In my humble opinion, Channels TV, anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, is a class act. I dare say that Seun Okinbaloye will be a great journalist anywhere in the world. Though I work in entertainment, I am a news buff and I practically watch every major station that broadcasts news and politics in English across the world, every day.  

Okinbaloye makes sure that he is very well informed of the issues he discusses. Without showing disrespect to any of his guests, Seun does not allow anyone to bully him, no matter what office the person may occupy. While he must have the normal human bias, he professionally tries to be fair to all sides of the story. Each time I have watched Seun Okinbaloye, I have developed more respect for this truly talented Nigerian.

Earlier, this week, I watched Seun Okinbaloye's 'Politics Today' on John Momoh's Channels TV. The day before, Seun had promoted the release of new ANAP/NOI polls with respect to the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria. I watched as Seun interrogated Atedo Peterside whose ANAP Foundation commissioned the polls.

Peterside did not claim that the polls represent the word of God or that they are infallible. He explained the methodology used and the weaknesses in the methodology. He said that the interviews were conducted by cell phones and that there was a high level of undecided and people who refused to answer the questions asked. From what I understand, the ANAP/NOI polls have correctly predicted the winners of the last three presidential elections in Nigeria.

Nigeria ought to have more than the ANAP/NOI polls so that we can see other sides of the story. Besides, every serious campaign should have its internal polls conducted by a trusted pollster to help the campaign better understand which of its strategies is working well and which is missing the mark.

I was shocked by the reaction that followed the Channels TV program especially from my good friends in the Bola Ahmed Tinubu campaign team. Since the elections are more than 2 months away and INEC will not declare the winner of the 2023 elections based on the ANAP/NOI polls, I expected each of the camps to study the polls closely and see what they can learn from them. And if any camp considers the polls to be fake, just ignore them and move on! Rely on your internal polls.

The outrage over the polls is coming while we are yet to recover from the stench of the recent take-no-prisoner ballistic missiles fired by my friend, Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga at Nduka Obaigbena and his operatives at Arise TV and Thisday Newspaper over the Arise News Town Hall series. Jesus! My guys did not just throw the kitchen sink, they shattered open the soak-away pit and loaded their missile with all the smelly stuff they can dredge out of the pit!

I am getting very confused. It is beginning to appear like no one is allowed to interrogate Bola Ahmed Tinubu or report anything that suggests that he may not be the President that Nigerians want in May 2023. But Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga are two of the foremost interrogative journalists Nigeria has ever produced.   

For God's sake, I expect that Dele and Bayo, great journalists that they are, would insist that anybody who dreams of leading Nigeria in its present state must be interrogated and interrogated and interrogated. At this moment, Nigeria must be the most complex nation on earth to lead. With our many tribes, languages, suffocating poverty, frightening insecurity, massive youth unemployment, bottomless debt, a currency that is diving like crazy, inflation that is out of control, dizzying level of corruption, many divisions, deep suspicions and hopelessness within its peoples, Nigeria cannot afford to hire a next Chief Executive Officer that has not been interrogated and interrogated and interrogated. That is exactly what Dele Alake would have done at Concord and Bayo Onanuga at the News Magazine.

My understanding of political campaigns is that it is a game of addition and multiplication and not one of subtraction and division. I watch this take-no-prisoner fight in all directions and wonder how making so many enemies helps the objectives of Dele and Bayo's principal. You might not like Peter Obi, but you must concede that he is a master at diffusing attacks. Over and over again, he has shown that he is calm under fire, a quality a new Nigerian leader must have in abundance.

One of the greatest contributions of M.K.O. Abiola in the service of the Nigerian nation may be his setting up of the Concord Press and Concord group of Newspapers which were commissioned on March 1, 1980.

At a time that could be described as the golden age of Nigerian journalism, Abiola, with the help of a former editor of Daily Times of Nigeria, Henry Odukomaya, and his fantastic conditions of service, assembled at his sprawling site between the domestic and international airports in Ikeja, a lot of the sparkling stars of Nigerian journalism.

I was a young artiste and producer at the international recording company, EMI. Later, I became President of PMAN with office in Ikeja. I needed the media for the many campaigns I was engaged in, and the media needed me for the continuous content that I provided.  I was at Concord Press all the time and at some point, knew nearly, everyone, from the MD to the security men. Concord Press became my extended family.

It was at Concord that I first met Mike Awonyinfa, the iconic caster of arresting headlines who approached every story from a human angle and made Weekend Concord probably Nigeria's best-selling newspaper of all times. At Concord, I met the likes of Nsikak Essien, Lewis Obi, Dele Alake, Dele Momodu, Eric Osagie, Dimgba Igwe, Louis Odion, Tom Borha, Ohi Alegbe,  Seye Kehinde, Basil Okafor, Femi Adesina, Nat Beifor Osiwele, Osita Ike, Larry Izamoje and many others who have gone on to play important roles in nation building. A good number of them became my great friends.

 

Concord Press which was later headed by Doyin Abaoba who in time got married to the great M.K.O., became the crucible of Nigerian Journalism. It was from Concord Press that the late Dele Giwa and Ray Ekpu struck out to set up the iconic Newswatch. Bayo Onanuga and Ojudu Babafemi left Concord to set up the News Magazine. Mike Awoyinfa became the first Editor-in-Chief of the Sun, succeeded by Eric Osagie. Of course, Larry Izamoje set up Brila FM and Seye Kehinde founded City People. "Bob Dee" Dele Momodu left Concord to edit May Ellen Ezekiel's Classique Magazine before launching Ovation International. We all know that great May Ellen Ezekiel later got married to Richard Mofe Damijo and became Mee Mofe Damijo.  

 

It is from this family of first-class journalists with incredible history that Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga come from. I still consider myself a member of that extended family. That is why I ask the question: Why are they fighting everybody?

 

See you next week. 

THE BIG COPYRIGHT STRUGGLE IN NIGERIA (3)

It was November 30, 1988. I had been elected President of PMAN the year before at the age of 29. Upon election, I had promised to do whatever it took to get Nigeria to promulgate a new copyright law to deal with the devastating piracy situation threatening to suffocate the Nigerian creative industry. If only I knew what it would take! I immersed myself in many hyperactive activities to fulfill this pledge. I triggered many seminars, conferences, workshops, meetings and endless newspaper articles and indeed was involved in producing what we saw as a high quality draft copyright law. Despite this effort, it had become clear that the government was not interested. It was preoccupied with other matters and there was little concern in whether any one was copying right or copying wrong. We therefore had to force the issue.

 

I presided over the PMAN meeting that declared November 30\ ., 1988 Anti-Piracy Day throughout Nigeria. All PMAN chapters were directed to mobilize musicians for mass public actions to protest the government's seemingly nonchalant attitude towards the huge copyright problem in Nigeria. All record companies were contacted. Recording studios and businesses engaged in music were asked to shut down and join a planned protest. Some in the industry however questioned the wisdom of taking such an action that could be seen as confronting the military government. A previously vocal set in the music industry conveniently chose to leave town before November 30. Some ran away from the country!

 

I was not oblivious of the risks involved in the planned action in Africa and under military rule. Before leaving home on November 30, I told my young wife to go on with her life in the event that I was abducted or killed. By 9.00 am, the agreed assembly point on Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja was bustling with activities. The mobilization had succeeded. Many of the major names in Nigerian music were present. All colours of placards were handed out. The PMAN legal team led by Caleb Atolagbe and Bankole Sodipo was out in full force. It was before the social media age so, all the serious newspapers and magazines and the not so serious had their reporters present. It fell on me to flag off Anti-Piracy Day and this I did with the speech of my life, chronicling all the efforts that had been made over several years to get the different governments to adequately respond to a problem that was threatening to wipe out creativity in Nigeria.

 

As the long convoy of buses, trucks and cars carrying the nation's music stars with our provocative placards snaked through the streets of Lagos with the heavy sound of drums and blaring horns, it was clear to me that the massive action could not be ignored by anyone. History was being made. In my mind, there were two possible outcomes – I would be shot or arrested and locked up as we had not bothered to even obtain a police permit, or our demand would be given serious attention. At the Federal Department of Culture, then located at the National Theatre, no work was done for hours as the protesters took over the offices. From the National Theatre, the protesters took Eko Bridge and marched along the Marina to the Federal Ministry of Justice, where we blocked all entrances and exits. The presence among us of music icons like Ebenezer Obey, Christy Essien Igbokwe, Oliver De Coque,, Mike Okri, Majek Fashek Ras Kimono, Kollington Ayinla, Charly Boy, the Mandators and many more music idols, virtually brought work to a standstill in the financial district of Lagos as many workers abandoned their offices to catch a glimpse of the drama playing out at the Federal Ministry of Justice.

 

After we had drummed and sung for a while in the premises of the Ministry, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola appeared. He quickly read the situation and exhibited exceptional crisis management skills. The A.G. turned on his charm at the protesters whom he addressed as his "friends". He said that he considered the demand for our rights as legitimate.

 

I had become tired of hearing empty words from government officials so, I interrupted the AG. There was no "Honourable Attorney General", no "Honourable Minister". There was no protocol or niceties. I told him that we were not just fighting for our rights but those of thousands of people who earn their living from the music, movie, publishing, broadcast, and the emerging computer software industry and the many organizations and individuals that provide ancillary services to these industries. I went on to chastise the government whose lack of interest in the issue I characterized as evidence of ignorance of the tremendous economic importance of the intellectual property issue in the emerging world economy.

 

Despite several rude remarks made by some of my angry colleagues, the Minister never lost his cool. Instead, he said that he understood our anger and that he was promising that action would be taken on the matter "soon". In reply, I insisted that the protesters had heard too many empty promises from the government in the past and that some of us had decided to remain at the Federal Ministry of Justice until the government either shot us, arrested us or promulgated the Copyright Law. At this point, I expected the Minister to go back to his office to call the army to flush out the many crazily dressed musicians that had taken over the Federal Ministry of Justice. That did not happen. Instead, the Minister said to us that there was no need for any of us to remain at the Ministry since he was going to keep the promise he had made. I told the Minister that "soon" was no longer acceptable to us and that our demand was for a specific date or we would not leave. I went on to say that after so many years of torture, the least the government could do was to give a new Copyright Law as a "Christmas present" to us and if the Minister was to give a firm promise to meet the demand, we would leave the Ministry.

 

The Minister promised to convey the request to the President without delay and asked to meet privately with me. In his office, he said that the deadline was difficult but he was going to give it a good shot if I was ready to work with him. A meeting was fixed for me to come back to the Ministry, a few days after to work with the AG on the necessary documents that would go to council. In none of the tense events that transpired did Prince Ajibola give the impression that he was doing the musicians a favor. His attitude was that of a public servant who was being asked to do a job that he was appointed to do. As we left the Ministry, with the heavy drumming and singing, I had developed a deep admiration for Prince Bola Ajibola. There was no question that most government officials would have mishandled the situation he was faced with.

 

From the Ministry of Justice, we marched to the 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture. Initial concern had been expressed by some about taking such a large protest to the ministry located next to the dreaded State Security Service (SSS). Surprisingly, the officers of the SSS joined the large crowd that had gathered and were singing and dancing with us. The protest had metamorphosed into a carnival. At the Information ministry, we met the minister, Prince Tony Momoh who had been my benefactor for a long time. We simply briefed him on the promise made by the AG.  

 

The last stop of the protest was the headquarters of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Victoria Island where we got very bad reception.

 

On December 19, 1988, six days to Christmas and nineteen days after Anti-Piracy Day, I was driving on Ikorodu Road Lagos. The car radio was on and suddenly the FRCN Network newscaster announced that President Ibrahim Babangida had signed a New Copyright Law for the country. Prince Bola Ajibola had kept his promise and won my heart forever!

 

See you next week. 

AFTER THE FIASCO OF THE SOLUDO ATTACK ON PETER OBI, THEY HAVE GONE AFTER DOYIN OKUPE!

You may recall that the week that the former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi suddenly dumped the Peoples' Democratic Party for the hitherto unheralded Labour Party and became LP's presidential candidate, I wrote in Saturday Breakfast that Obi's action may turn out to be Nigeria's greatest political masterstroke of a century.

There were however many in the professional political industry who jeered and laughed at me. They were emphatic that Peter Obi will not get anywhere. According to them, without the backing of the present corruption infected 'structures' provided by the PDP and the APC, it is impossible for anyone to get near Aso Rock.

That was a few months ago. How times have changed! Today, no one talks about the major presidential candidates in Nigeria without mentioning Peter Obi. Obi has in a few months become the super-duper-star of Nigerian politics. He is the big conversation in the Nigerian political environment. The 'Obidient' movement is growing like the Amoeba. It is asymmetric and amorphous and not like anything known in Nigerian politics. Millions of young Nigerians who have been traumatized, distressed, devastated and disillusioned by their country have seen in Obi an opportunity to be hopeful again. I make bold to write that any relative peace you may find in Nigeria today is because of Peter Obi. He brings hope to otherwise hopeless Nigerians.

Our traditional politicians who were sleeping with the confidence that their 'structures' will deliver victory for them and maintain the status quo, have woken up. They sense that something unusual is going on which must be confronted and that they ignore the Peter Obi revolution at their peril. Clearly, the word has gone out: "We either shoot down this Peter Obi guy or he will ruin our huge political investments"  

About four months ago, I wrote in this column that attack dogs will be unleashed to shoot down the Peter Obi Revolution and a massive and well-funded propaganda effort will be part of the attack.

I foretold the nature of the attack lines as follows:

One- Peter Obi will be promoted as an ethnic candidate with an ethnic agenda and stopped from being established as a national phenomenon.

Two - The credibility of Peter Obi will be heavily challenged. He must be publicized as a habitual liar with a movement based on lies.

Three - The story of Obi's achievements as Governor of Anambra State will be re-told to try to establish that he was a failure in government.

Four - The frugality for which Obi is known and which is one of his major selling points will be reinterpreted as incurable stinginess.

Five - There will be continuous repetition that Peter Obi has no 'structure' and that the election cannot be won on social media, with the aim of destroying the confidence of his supporters.

I am not disappointed. All the attack lines listed above have been loaded and fired repeatedly but the "four persons tweeting from one room" have become millions at rallies and street movements across the country. It has therefore become necessary to fire some ballistic missiles at Peter Obi and blow him up.

I write about 1000 words every week in Saturday Breakfast and I know what it takes out of me. I cannot imagine that a very busy state governor found the time to write more than 4000 words to demolish his brother and that was meant to be only Part 1! A lot of people have said that His Excellency, Governor Chukwuma Soludo may be brilliant but not wise. I do not quite agree. Soludo was on a mission, a mission to annihilate Peter Obi's political relevance. He failed miserably. Am I a prophet in saying that we may never see the promised Part 2 of Soludo's ballistic missiles?

In the last couple of days, the news was everywhere that Peter Obi's Campaign Director, Doyin Okupe had been expelled from the Labour Party for non-payment of dues in Ogun State and that he should be replaced by someone from the north! The great people of Ogun State are demanding that their own brother should be sacked and replaced by someone from the north. Chai!!! How long has Okupe been in the Labour Party? When was the demand for the 'dues' made? When was Okupe tried and the judgment delivered? Hilarious!

Apart from the many foot soldiers and leaders of the labour and mass movements in Nigeria, when the full story of the Obidient Revolution is written, two names must have a pride of place – Doyin Okupe and Pat Utomi. They saw what our traditional political bandits did not see. They have masterfully built a behemoth from almost nothing. The attack on Doyin Okupe is aimed at cutting off the oxygen to the Peter Obi movement. It is desperation at its worst. Very soon, they will go after Pat Utomi.

Do not be surprised to read tomorrow that one traditional chief in his village in Anambra State has decreed that Peter Obi can no longer run for the presidency. The reason? He has been expelled from his town union as it was found out that he failed to pay a particular burial levy 20 years ago! Do not be surprised to hear that one magistrate in one remote village has issued an Order against him. That is how ridiculous and desperate the Nigerian traditional political operators are.

The problem however is that the Peter Obi structure is asymmetric and amorphous and not like anything known in Nigerian politics. Its structure is structureless. It is therefore difficult to hit.

The young people of Nigeria, the same age group that drove the