ONCE AGAIN, WILL VALDMIR PUTIN GO DOWN LIKE SADDAM HUSSEIN?

The nation of Iraq used to be one of the most admired nations in the Middle East. The beautiful nation had developed great infrastructure and there was high standard of education and social welfare for much of its citizens. With huge oil revenue, Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, lived large in palaces and mansions lined with precious stones and metals. Humility disappeared and power got into his head. The gun totting Saddam who was born after the death of his father, began to flex his muscles against anyone and everyone and waged war against the Kurds and Iran.

 

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded the nation of Kuwait, Iraq's smaller southeastern neighbor. Saddam wanted to gain control of Kuwait's significant oil wealth to add to Iraq's. Led by the United States, several nations asked Saddam to withdraw his troops from Kuwait. He refused. America amassed troops in the region in what was nicknamed "Operation Desert Storm" and Saddam boasted that he would show the Americans a "mother of all wars". But when push came to shove, it took the Americans just a few weeks to drive Saddam's soldiers out of Kuwait. However, as the American soldiers approached Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, they stopped, leaving Saddam still in power.

 

Anyone would think that the loquacious Saddam Hussein would learn his lessons and humble himself. He did not. He continued to boast. In 2003, the Americans came back after the 9/11 attack of 2001. In Desert Storm 2. Saddam who used to reside in the most luxurious abodes on earth, was on December 13, 2003, found by U.S. soldiers hiding in a six-to-eight-foot hole in the ground, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. He was. picked up, tried on television, and executed by hanging, like a common criminal. For several years, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and their nation paid a huge price for the oil induced madness of Saddam Hussein.

Has anyone forgotten Muammar Gaddafi, the incredibly glamourous and daring leader of Libya, who was captured in a gutter and killed on October 20, 2011? Gaddafi also tasted oil wealth and became oil drunk and believed he was invincible. At the end of the day, he died in a most humiliating way. Libya was one of the most developed nations in Africa, with significant oil revenue. It has remained unstable since.

There must be something about oil money that drives people crazy. Just look at Nigeria and how people who have fleeced the country of its oil money seem to have gone mad and practically destroyed the country. Everywhere you look, the pain and suffering of the Nigerian people brought about by the unending battle to control Nigeria's oil wealth, stares you in the face.

Please, how does one explain the horror that has gone on in Ukraine? For months, the world begged Russian President, Vladmir Putin, not to invade his smaller neighbour, Ukraine and not to kill innocent Ukrainians who have done nothing to him. Several times, U.S. President, Joe Biden at virtual meetings, pleaded with Putin. French President, Emmanuel Macron had to go to Moscow to beg Putin. German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, also went to Moscow to beg Putin. Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban was also in Moscow and repeatedly, Vladmir Putin, who became an international movie star, showed off his expensively paneled office at the Kremlin on TV as world leaders begged him to show mercy on the poor citizens of Ukraine. He did not just show off his expensive offices, he showed off his heart of stone.

Everything Joe Biden said Putin would do, has come to pass. Putin's lies and subterfuge have played out for the whole world to see. The innocent men, women and children who have been bombed and slaughtered recklessly in Ukraine are just pawns in Putin's game as he seeks to expand his territory and fiefdom.

On February 24, 2022, ignoring all the pleadings from leaders around the world, Putin drunk on Russia's oil wealth, invaded Ukraine with his vast military might: an estimated army of close to 200,000 soldiers and well over 1,000 tanks in what he termed "Special Military Operation".

It is widely believed that with his overwhelming force, Vladmir Putin was sure that his "Special Military Operation" in Ukraine would be over in a matter of days. The multiple pronged attack indicated that Putin's objective was to quickly capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, depose Zelensky, Ukraine's democratically elected President and take over the country.

 

Drunk on oil, Putin did not bargain for the fierce resistance of the Ukrainian people who have fought the Russians like wounded lions. He also did not bargain for what looks like the iron clad unity of the West led by Biden who has made sure that Ukraine received sophisticated weapons and financial support to take on the Russians. 

 

Despite their unprecedented shelling and carpet bombing of Kyiv, the Russians failed to take the Ukrainian capital. Their forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv but at the end of March 2022, had to run away in all directions with enormous losses of men and tanks.

 

When the Russians were scattered from Kyiv, they shifted to a slimmer objective in eastern Ukraine, where they achieved some success with ruthless and indiscriminate artillery attack that flattened several Ukrainian towns and villages which they captured.

 

With the acquisition of new and more sophisticated weapons, the Ukrainians, at lightning speed, have captured much of the territory taken by the Russians in Eastern Ukraine and even more. It appears that the Russian military has lost its mettle. All is not well with the troops who appear to be on the run, abandoning their tanks and other equipment. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner group, Russia's powerful private militia, fighting in Ukraine, is angry. He is openly complaining about the crisis in the Russian military and the thousands of Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine.

Fifteen months down the road, Putin's "Special Military Operation", which he expected to last one week, is nowhere near over and no one can say for certain how the war will end. It is however not arguable that things have not gone the way Putin expected and that he has become frustrated and terribly desperate. It is reported that Putin has resorted to directly giving instructions to his generals in the field as many thousands of Russian soldiers are slaughtered in the war. The desperation became obvious a few months ago when Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 military reservists to join the war in Ukraine and threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in the war, a move that will destroy the world as we know it. 

The result? Thousands of Russian men of fighting age rushed out of Russia. They don't want to fight in a war they don't understand.

I thought Vladmir Putin was a strategic thinker, with a good understanding of history. Once again, oil money has got a world leader terribly drunk. The once admired Vladmir Putin can no longer go where he chooses as he has been declared a war criminal, subject to arrest anywhere he is picked up.

At the end of the day, just like Saddam Hussein, just like Muammar Gaddafi, just like Osama Bin Ladin, just like ISIS leader, Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi, Putin's dream will not become reality. Vladmir Putin will never be King of the world. He has cooked for the world and the food has got burnt in the oven. Unfortunately, the ordinary people of Russia will pay a huge price for the misadventure of their oil drunk leader.

As the "Special Military Operation" in Ukraine unravels, the question must be asked: Will Vladmir Putin go down like Saddam Hussein?

 

See you next week.

MUST EVERY NIGERIAN BE A THIEF?

If my cell phone rings ten times, you can be sure that seven times, the guy on the other end has a problem waiting for me to solve. I don't get fooled anymore if he spends quite some time asking about my wife and the children and work and the weather and the economy.

Patience… he will get to it. Eventually, he tells you that you are the only one who can save the situation. His landlord is on his case and he needs money urgently to settle the very troublesome landlord or to pack to a new place. The children are at home because of 'ordinary' eighty thousand naira to pay their school fees. His wife is in hospital and if you do not intervene, she might die there! There is not even 'one cup of garri' at home and he does not know what to do.

Believe me, the situation in the land is that serious. The guy on the other end does not have to be your brother, cousin, old friend or former classmate. You probably never heard of him but it does not matter. Somehow, he has got your number. What do you do? Tell him to go to hell and switch off? Let him know that you are struggling too? Of course, he will not believe you and will not give up. He will tell you "I am sending you my account number. Just do something". After all, like a friend of mine would say, "half bread is better than groundnut" or better put in the famous words of my guy, Segun Arinze, "at all… at all, na him bad!"  If after trying, his hook does not catch immediate fish, he would ask you, 'when do I hear from you?'. Guy, you have just acquired a new customer.         

I do not want to make light of the difficult situation people in the land are facing. Times are tough and there are many with genuine problems that we should address if we have the means. There are also many who have graduated with honours from the University of Begging. From Monday to Sunday, they are on the phone with a list of numbers telling their tales of woe.

If you have a job that once in a while puts your face in a newspaper or on television, you are in trouble. The assumption is that you have a big carton of money around you to dispense and each time you do not give, you are being tight fisted or like some young ladies will say, 'the man na Aradite, in fact, na Super Glue!". You want to blame my people? When they see the billions and zillions that public officers in our land steal and get away with, there is this huge assumption that everyone in Nigeria that has been associated with some kind of leadership has stolen some money and buried some in a soak-away pit.

I know some of my kinsmen who loath me because I have not erected a glittering mansion in Banana Island or Maitama. In their thinking, 'he should have a house worthy of the positions he has held'. I understand them. In our world, the achievement of a man is measured by the size of his house and the money he donates in public and not by his intellect, character or his contribution to the development of mankind.

Yes, I once served on a Federal Government Board. My allowance was the tidy sum of fifteen thousand naira. Please, how many times would I multiply fifteen thousand naira to build a mansion? In my other situations, I have been an advocate, mostly unpaid. I have led many risky demonstrations and carried different placards unpaid.

I once had to say that I spend eighty percent of my time working for free and twenty percent, working to earn a living. But in Nigeria, it does not matter. Everyone believes that once you hold a position of leadership, you have a duty to conjure something under the table and you are expected to distribute the loot to your friends and kinsmen. That is how they get their share of the national cake. In our land, the dominant position is that you are an imbecile if you hold public office and you do not steal.

My biggest problem over the years has repeatedly been with close 'friends' who verily believe that I must steal 'something' and distribute it to them. When their expectations are not met, they become frustrated, troublesome and complain loudly to everyone that you are not being a good friend. The truth you realize is that they were never really your friends. Their fake love was because of what they thought they would grab from you. Some believe that because they are your 'friends' you should leave the organization you lead open for them to freely rape. Because of the prevailing culture, it is difficult for many to believe that there are citizens of Nigeria who do not steal and would not allow you to steal.

I have told this tale before of how I was invited to the EFCC office in Lagos while Ribadu was Chairman, to respond to some crazy allegations made about my tenure as President of PMAN. The EFCC had just been set up. I met some very bright officers at the EFCC. My impression before then of law enforcement in Nigeria was garagara, crudity and brute force. I was really impressed by the professionalism and thoroughness with which the gentlemen at the EFCC went about their work.

The people who reported me to the EFCC were people I had once considered to be my friends. They thought I was 'chopping' alone and swore to deal with me. The officers at EFCC left no stone unturned in search of the truth. They went back ten years to obtain PMAN cash books, records of PMAN accounts in different banks, information filed by PMAN with the Registrar of Trade Unions under my tenure, etc.

In the final days of their investigation, the EFCC officials brought me and my accusers into one room with accountants, auditors, bank officials and former PMAN executives and for an entire day went line by line through practically every financial transaction during my tenure. Nothing escaped their attention. At the end of the day, no one could show how I stole one Naira from PMAN and the EFCC officers shook my hand and asked me to go. While my accusers and the reporters they brought with them, drove away in a fleet of choice SUVs, I left the EFCC with my son in my only car of the time, a Tokunbo Mercedes Benz 190 which had only three of the four cylinders working. I was tired but proud that not one word I spoke could be impeached.  Many times, I have gone through such an experience.

I feel sorry for our countrymen who try to make sense of the horror film called Nigeria. While Nigerians shout about corruption, they don't mind corruption as long as they are the beneficiaries. They don't care how much anyone steals as long as they can get part of the loot. Believe me, there are people working right now to show the incoming government officials how to steal money from government, so that they can benefit.

Please, let me ask again: must every Nigerian be a thief?

See you next week.

ARE YOU A GIVER OR A TAKER?

When I pray to the Almighty, I do not ask Him to give me anything just for myself. I ask Him to put me in a position where I can give of myself to create positive change for the people I come in contact with. I believe that success is putting a smile on the faces of as many as I can.

If I enter an office, hotel or restaurant, the people I endeavor to give most of my attention to usually are not the General Managers or Managing Directors or Ministers. I try to find time to spend with the security men, the junior staff, waiters, janitors, drivers, clerks, etc. They are the ones I believe need my smile and attention more. I try to find out how life is treating them and how they are managing. Boy, you cannot imagine what it does to them when you show them that you care.

I believe that there are two kinds of human beings; the givers and the takers. I also believe that the difference between successful nations or institutions and the never-do-wells, is in the percentage of givers and takers each of them harbors.

Giving is what builds nations and institutions and families. It is the giving by many of their intellect, time, love, hard work and sometimes, their lives that have created those countries that we admire and whose visas we are desperate to have stamped on our passports. It is giving that has built the institutions that have stood the test of time – Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Greenpeace, etc.

I recently observed the spiraling New York subway system and marveled at the giving that went into building that incredible network of rail lines under the dizzying skyscrapers of Manhattan and the under-water tunnels that connect New York and New Jersey.

Oh! the marvelous road network in Germany, the Autobahn, is also the product of giving.

Across the world, you see nations with structures and systems that work so very efficiently. Why? It is because these nations have people who are happy to give of themselves.

There is nothing wrong in making money if it is done without milking the system and if the objective is to try to bring happiness to the greatest number. In 2007, the world was stunned when the Billionaire investor, Warren Buffet gave away almost $3.2 Billion of his money for charity work around the world. The sage of Omaha says that he plans to give away practically all of his massive wealth for the benefit of mankind.

In 1997, CNN founder, Ted Turner announced a one billion dollars donation to UN agencies to do charity work around the world.

The Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation and other such foundations continue to do great work across the world. The great men who set up these foundations could have willed their enormous wealth to their children and grandchildren so that they would never need to work in their lifetimes. No, they decided to give so that the world can be a better place.

Why is poverty and hopelessness bestriding Nigeria, our fatherland? It is because we have become a nation of takers. We give nothing and take everything. Give a Nigerian the nation's pension fund to manage and he takes all the money and leaves the pensioners hungry on the streets. Give a Nigerian Army General money to buy arms to fight the terrorists traumatizing our people, the General will bury the money in a soak away pit and send innocent soldiers without weapons to go and die in Sambisa Forest. Across the country, everyone is in a mad scramble to take. Very few are willing to give. Pastors are on the take, civil servants are on the take, INEC officials are on the take, custom men are on the take, immigration officers are on the take, judges are on the take and policemen are on the take. And we want to build a nation? How?

I know people who every day warn me that I work too hard. In my country, work is seen as drudgery instead of a source of pleasure and satisfaction. So, a lot of Nigerians go to work but do no work. They spend much of their time scheming about how to sap and sap their employers.   

Considering that we come with nothing and go with nothing, is it not curious that we spend so much time acquiring and taking and taking things much of which we do not need and will not go away with?

I am convinced that if you make your life one of giving, the good Lord will make sure that you do not lack. It is the same way that I am convinced that if you take that which does not belong to you, you will not escape from paying for it one way or another. 

Think about it, Nelson Mandela did not become great by being a taker. Martin Luther King did not become great by being a taker. Mother Theresa certainly did not become great by being a taker.

I was very pleased to learn that in the later days of his life, the immutable Prince Bola Ajibola whom I had great admiration for, sold practically everything he had and used the money to set up a university from which he was not expecting any profit. When asked why, he said that your wealth is of no use if it does not meaningfully impact on others. Gbam!

Please think about it: Are you a giver or a taker?

See you next week.

THE VANITY OF POWER AND A BIT OF NIGERIAN RECENT HISTORY

On Monday, July 6, 2020, Ibrahim Magu woke up, took his bath, knotted one of his many fancy ties and dressed up in his usual western suit and set out on the streets of Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. If anyone had told him as he was leaving home that someone born of a woman would have the audacity to block his convoy and order him to change his direction, I am almost certain that Ibrahim Magu would have laughed in the person's face and probably told the person that he was drinking a very bad variant of 'ogogoro'.

When Magu woke up that Monday morning, he was one of the most powerful men in Nigeria. Everyone, big or small, trembled at the mention of his name. He could order the arrest of anyone, detain anyone and using the enormous instruments under his control, send anyone to jail. After all, he was the Head of EFCC, the Czar of President Buhari's anti-corruption fight, the fulcrum of Buhari's presidency.

Ibrahim Magu was powerful, so powerful. The Nigerian senate which has the constitutional powers to confirm or reject his appointment as Chairman of EFCC, twice refused to confirm him but it did not matter. Magu became bigger than the constitution and for five years, based on some twisted logic, bestrode the nation as "Acting Chairman" of the EFCC!

On July 6, 2020, in a commando style, Ibrahim Magu was waylaid on his way from the EFCC Formella Street office in Abuja, and forced to go to Aso Rock Villa, to face a previously unknown presidential panel set up to investigate Magu's tenure and an alleged massive 'magu-magu' in the EFCC. In a twist of fate, the hunter became the hunted.

Magu who was reported to live in luxury in a house rented in the incredible sum of N40m and furnished with N43m is said to have spent the night of his arrest sleeping on bare chairs at the Louis Edet Police Headquarters in Abuja.   

In the morning of July 6, Magu was a powerful man. In the evening, he was a powerless man. Those who gave Magu the power had taken it.

At the beginning of June 2020, Adams Oshiomhole was one of the most powerful political players in the land. The former governor of Edo State and former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress wielded power with no apologies to anyone. Upon his election as Chairman of the ruling APC, Oshiomhole was reported to have warned a minister of the Federal Republic that if President Buhari would tolerate the minister's indiscretion, he, Adams Oshiomhole would not take the nonsense.  For most people in the APC, the fear of Oshiomhole was the beginning of wisdom.

Uche Nwosu, son-in-law of former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, will not forget Adams Oshiomhole in a hurry. Together, they danced and made merry at Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri when Oshiomhole visited Imo State. Nwosu was the crown prince of the Okorocha dynasty, waiting to take over as Governor of Imo State. When push came to shove, Oshiomhole out flanked him, pulled the carpet under his feet and the rest, as they say, is now history.

Adams coordinated the plot that brought Buhari back as President at a time when Atiku Abubakar was seriously flexing his muscles. On every APC campaign stage across Nigeria, Oshiomhole, not the tallest of men, jumped higher than everyone else and spoke louder than everyone else.

In the normal order of things, Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of APC would never have considered Stephen Oshawo, Chairman of the APC Etsako Ward 10 in Edo State as a powerful man. But when it was time to cut Adams Oshiomhole to size, the real powers that be did not go to the Supreme Court, they went to Oshiomhole's ward and got his ward Chairman to suspend him.

In the normal order of things, if Adams Oshiomhole was looking behind for who would pull the carpet off his feet, he may have worried about the APC Deputy Chairmen or the Vice Chairman. I doubt that it would have occurred to him that it would be Victor Giadom, a little-known Assistant Secretary of his party that would be used to mess him up so badly.

In the normal order of things, Adams Oshiomhole, the sharp player on the political chess board would never have envisioned that the rules enshrined in the APC constitution would be so badly thrown to the dogs and that an APC National Executive Council Meeting would be held with two days-notice at the Aso Rock Villa at the instance of the said Assistant Secretary and the very powerful Adams Oshiomhole would be so emasculated in the public glare.

If we are sensitive about Nigerian history, we should understand that what has happened to the two men mentioned above can happen to any of us whether in the church, the mosque, the market group, a social club, a professional association or on the national stage. Let everyone be careful. Power is ephemeral and transient. It can disappear in a twinkle of an eye.

In my time, I have met a lot of small men intoxicated by power. They think that the power they wield belongs to them without realizing that the power belongs to the office they occupy, the uniform they wear or the chair they sit on. Many understand power to mean the ability to punish or subjugate others rather than the ability to uplift and put a smile on the faces of as many of God's children as possible. Will we ever understand the vanity of power? I don't know.

See you next week.

WHEN YOUR BIGGEST ASSET IS YOUR BIGGEST LIABILITY – THE JAGABAN ARMY TAKES ON THE OBIDIENTS!

Before his election as Lagos State Governor, I once met candidate Babajide Sanwo Olu at an event. He seemed a bit tentative, a little bit unsure even though he tried to provide an answer to every question. There is no doubt that he has grown on the job, more sure-footed and even likeable. You cannot accuse the governor of lack of intelligence or imagination.

But, let's be frank. There are many in Lagos state as intelligent, if not more intelligent than Sanwo Olu, who will never be Governor, Deputy Governor, Commissioner or even Permanent Secretary. Many will end their careers as middle level managers in some nameless organizations.

The difference is timing and that word, "Connection". At the right time, Babajide Sanwo-Olu became connected to the "Emperor" of Lagos, the one and only Jagaban Borgu, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and regardless of what the people of Lagos thought, it was decreed that Sanwo-Olu would be the next governor of Lagos. So said the "Emperor", so it came to be.

Many in Lagos had no problem with Akinwunmi Ambode, Sanwo-Olu's one term predecessor. To some of us, he was pro-active. We could see what he was trying to do with Lagos and thought that Lagos would be a good place if Ambode was allowed to do a second term. Despite his struggles, it was clear that Ambode could not survive the primaries of the APC having fallen out with the "Emperor". He was sent into political oblivion and was even set up for the EFCC to hound. Ambode did only one term not because the people of Lagos did not want him but because the Godfather who controls Lagos did not want him.

Before Ambode, Babatunde Fashola had a similar problem. Do you remember the loud groan by APC members, "Na project we go chop?" Fashola was said to have spent too much money on projects and very little on servicing the wheels of the APC spun by the Jagaban. He eventually became a "good boy", negotiated his way and served a second term.

Today, Nigerians go to the polls to elect their governors and state assembly members. All over the place, it is tense. In Lagos, it is like the 3^rd World- War has been unleashed. Everything is being deployed in the battle: thuggery, arson, violence, false ethnic propaganda, intimidation, Oro, blatant partisan political intervention of otherwise neutral Obas, etc.

This time last month, if anybody had suggested that Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu's boy, would be in a battle of his life to serve a second term as Governor of Lagos State, the person would have been accused of drinking too much "ogogoro". Apart from PDP's Jandor, who else did you see his posters around Lagos? All that changed on February 25, when Peter Obi, the guy with no poster, no structure, who does not give "shishi" and is purportedly supported by 'only four guys tweeting from one room', dusted the "Emperor" in his supposed homebase and stronghold!

That development sent shivers down the spine of many who have depended on the morsels from Alausa for their bread and butter. And so, the decision to wake up the Jagaban Army, assemble all hands-on-deck, clean and dirty, to launch a no-holds-bared counterattack against these "Obidient" people who are attempting to foist 'sacrilege' on Lagos!  

Sanwo Olu may not have had this kind of problem if he was not seen as the godson of the "Emperor".

Sanwo-Olu's greatest asset, the asset that made him Governor, has become his greatest liability … his albatross. I don't think there are many who will say that Sanwo Olu is a terrible governor. The battle in Lagos today is not really a battle against Babajide Sanwo-Olu. It has to do with the coming together on one side of many who are scared that an individual with insatiable appetite is deploying enormous resources obtained from Lagos State to acquire complete control of Nigeria, a nation of over two hundred million people. Another fear of the Sanwo-Olu camp is that scary word, PROBE. Will a new landlord at Alausa open the books and sniff at what exactly has been going on with the enormous resources of Lagos State. There is just too much at stake!

Make no mistake, the people against a Sanwo-Olu returning as governor are not just "Obidients" or Igbos. There are many Yorubas and people from across Nigeria who are just mad and tired of the politics of Lagos. They can't understand how for a long time, one individual has pocketed a whole Lagos. The politics of Lagos has been the politics of what one man says and what he wants. That is why there are suddenly, alignments and re-alignments, and many abandoning Jandor, despite his significant campaign, to join forces with Labour Party's previously little-known Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV), who with the Peter Obi connection, is believed to have the best chance of wrestling power from Sanwo-Olu. One thing is clear; my extremely talented sister, Funke Akindele is not likely to be Deputy Governor of Lagos.

How will the war end? Nobody knows. The fact is that the people in the Tinubu camp are rattled, very rattled. People like MC Oluomo is said to be issuing open threats against those not willing to vote for Sanwo-Olu. The strategy appears to be to scare as many of the anti-Tinubu group as possible and keep them away from voting. There are so many factors that will be at play today: INEC, BVAS, Hackers, Police, Area Boys, Obas, Dollars, etc. Victory for either side will not be easy.

Fascinating!

See you next week.

IF YOU THINK I WILL RUN AWAY FROM NIGERIA BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU DEY CRAZE!

IF YOU THINK I WILL RUN AWAY FROM NIGERIA BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU DEY CRAZE!

Once in secondary school, I got 12% in a mathematics exam. That tore my soul. Me, 12%? How did that happen?!

I usually do not blame anyone for whatever predicament I go through, believing that life is a challenge and only the strong survive.

I knew that the 12% result was my own making. Mathematics was never really a challenge to me, so I had taken it for granted. Any time the mathematics teacher was in class, I did cross word puzzles or read some comics. I paid no attention.

At exam time, my brain froze.  I panicked! I could not remember any formula. Something like BODMAS became strange and confusing. The reason was very simple. I did not practice at all. From being overconfident, I totally lost confidence.

The shame and humiliation that followed my 12% debacle affected me going through life. I resolved that 12% has no business with me and 12% success would not come my way again. Next term, I followed the mathematics teacher from class to class, took every note and practiced every formula. At the end of the term, I had an 'A' in the same mathematics. From then on, I considered 'B' a failure.  

Those who went to school with me and those who have worked with me thereafter will testify that I prepare, practice and practice for everything. I never want to go to a meeting without studying[to1]   the issues and fully understanding what I want to come out with at the end of the meeting. I do not embark on an event without checking every box over and over again and being sure that there is a Plan 'B', if Plan 'A' goes wrong. I am sure my lawyers are sick of me. I never let them take my case to court without being certain that the processes are very well done and that the facts and the law are on my side and every hearing notice is served. Nobody who works with me is allowed to send out a document with bad grammar or without the 'i's dotted, the 't's crossed and all the punctuation marks in place.

Have I always got an 'A'? Many of the times I have. There are however a few times that I have not. I recall going to a Lecturer at the University of Lagos to say that I wanted to retake his paper. I had scored a 'B' in the paper and was distressed. The lecturer was very angry with my 'audacity' and told me how stupid I was. He was emphatic that he does not give an 'A' to any student and that 'A' belonged to him. At the end of the day, I found out that my 'B' was the best result in the subject. What I have discovered is that if you strive for and 'A', the worst that is likely to come your way is a 'B'. 

In the university, as a student, I used to teach classes and I realized that my fellow students preferred my classes to those of the lecturers. They would ask me questions they would not dare ask the lecturers. I knew that the students would enjoy embarrassing me if it was obvious I did not know what I was talking about. So, before any class, I would go through the subject with a tooth comb and prepare for every possible question. What my colleagues did not know was that it was my way of preparing for exams.

I am that guy who would tell you bluntly that if you fail to plan, you have planned to fail. The problem is that there are too many lazy people, people who go through life without a plan and with little effort. They do not work for an 'A' and would readily accept "let my people go" which most times results in failure. Then, they will blame their failure on everyone else and everything else but themselves.

I have little material wealth but I have faith and happiness. I appreciate the grace that the Almighty has given me to work hard, focus on every challenge and achieve results that are pleasing. I love the gifts the good Lord has given me, and I try to use them the best I can for the good of as many of God's children as possible.

I have said before that I do not want to be Dangote or Otedola or Ronaldo or Donald Trump. My name is Tony Okoroji and I like it.

I know that the Almighty has given to each of his children our peculiar gifts. The problem is that rather than harness their gifts, some people are very busy with envy and covetousness and fixated on the gifts of others. Somebody should tell them that I do not want to be them and no matter how much they try, they cannot be me.

I have heard some people say that I am arrogant. I have also heard it said that they will drive people like us out of Nigeria.  No sir! Despite the challenges of Nigeria, I am in Nigeria to stay. Last time I checked; it was clear to me that both my late mother and father were Nigerians. At this time, Nigeria needs men, real men, men with staying power. I will not concede my rights as a Nigerian citizen to anyone. What some people consider arrogance is confidence. It is the kind of confidence that drove a guy like Peter Obi without structure and without 'shishi' to cause a never-before-seen political revolution in Nigeria, within a few months.

I am not so stupid that I do not understand that the wisdom and strength we deploy do not belong to us but to the Almighty. I am simply the guy who drives on a full tank of faith!

I know that hatred is a virus. It permeates your engine and destroys the effectiveness of your mechanism. I may defend myself, but I cannot hate anyone. That is why those who attack me with falsehood fail and keep failing.

What of those who think I will run away from Nigeria because of them? Dem dey craze!

 

See you next week.

---

 

BUHARI SCATTERS THE PARTY! OMG! WHERE IS THE CASH TO BUY ASO ROCK?

They obviously thought Buhari was their 'mugu'. They were sure they could manipulate him anyhow and anytime they want. At the APC primaries, they outfoxed him. A few months to his departure from Aso Rock, Buhari has put his foot down and shown that stubborn streak that made millions of Nigerians vote for him in the first place. Muhammadu Buhari may have become Robin Hood and the APC High command cannot understand what is going on. They are in disarray!  

The APC governors and their other kingpins appear to have gone gaga. The Naira redesign policy of the CBN has caught them napping. They have applied pressure everywhere. Some people even tried to take out Godwin Emiefele and the guy went into hiding.  They have been twisting arms. From Aso Rock to the National Assembly and then to the Supreme Court. The result? So much motion and no movement. After making his 'concession' speech of allowing the old 200 Naira notes to remain in circulation for two months, the President went to the airport and flew away to Addis Ababa leaving the APC high command more and more frustrated.

Anybody who has dealt with our governors and big politicians know that most of them are cash men. Some of them are reputed to have whole rooms packed with cash which they deploy to do and undo anything that takes their fancy. Some of them are like mini gods. They can deploy bundles of Naira notes just to take over your girlfriend or even your wife. The APC leader and presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the ultimate Mr. Bullion Van. The way they see it, whatever money cannot do, more money can do it! Barely a week to the most important election in Nigerian history, the huge amount of cash planned for the bullion vans are no more as useful as toilet paper. Buhari and Emiefele have knocked the engines of the bullion vans and there is anguish in the APC camp. All of them are talking at the same time. Is the party unravelling?

Can you believe that without resigning his appointment, Festus Keyamo, a minister in the Buhari government, is on live television widely gesticulating and blatantly rubbishing the directives of the man he serves as minister? Things truly have fallen apart.   

I used to think that Nasir El Rufai was one of the more intelligent politicians around. Pray, when did Kaduna State become a sovereign nation? Please, where did Governor Nasir El Rufai obtain the power to make a broadcast asking the people of Kaduna State to ignore the President and continue to use the old 1000 and 500 Naira notes both of which the President of the Federal Republic and the Governor of the Central Bank have said, in no uncertain terms, are no longer legal tender in Nigeria?

I had to do a quick check of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to see whether there has been a new amendment. For where? Item 15 of Part 1 of the Second Schedule still states clearly that currency, coinage and legal tender are in the Exclusive Legislative list. In other words, the issue of Legal tender is outside the purview of any state governor including El Rufai.

In any case, I do not know if any person in Kaduna State is still taking El Rufai serious on this matter when the birds have already flown away!

Nasir El Rufai has anchored his defiant statement on the ex-parte Order of the Supreme Court following the recent application to the court by Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi states. The matter is not as straight forward as the Kaduna State governor may pretend. Did the Supreme Court make any Order against the Central Bank of Nigeria which the CBN has refused to obey? The Central Bank of Nigeria is a juristic person. It can sue and be sued, but in their suit, the states were careful not to join the CBN which implements the Naira swap policy. Was that a mistake? No!

The states did not join the CBN because of their desire to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as stated in Section 232 of the constitution and make sure that any order they get cannot be appealed. They had to manufacture a dispute between the states and the federation which will bring the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court into play. Really… really, in this case, is there a true dispute between the states and the federation? It is like filing an election petition without joining INEC!

It would be interesting to see if anyone in the APC will have the temerity to ask that the head of their party, President Mohammed Buhari, be held for contempt of court. With his immunity and all…  

Let us be serious. How can a nation which has 85% of its currency outside the banking system make any progress in today's world? How many times have you been visited by a sexily dressed young lady from a bank desperately looking for a deposit from you when there is N2.7 trillion of cash on the streets? What is that kind of unchecked and mostly illicit money on the streets doing? Ballooning inflation, fueling insecurity, evading transparency, making nonsense of the exchange rate, causing unemployment and pauperizing the Nigeria people… How can the economy grow when serious hardworking Nigerians cannot get loans from banks at decent rates to start new businesses or fund their existing businesses?

By the way, since the Naira swap exercise, how many kidnapers and bandits have requested for millions of Naira in ransom? In what currency? By bank transfer?

Please, let us stop this crocodile tears from the APC band who say that they are agitating because they love Nigerians who are suffering. Since when did they start this love for the Nigerian people that they have pushed into unconscionable poverty and want? I hear that Governor Ganduje of Kano State is complaining that Buhari wants to destroy the APC by the time he leaves Aso Rock. Why should the average Nigerian care? If the destruction of the APC would lead to a better Nigeria, so be it.

Do you remember those famous words of Muhammed Buhari spoken on the day he was sworn in as President, "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody"? It looks like they are playing out at last.

See you next week.

THE DAY I FELL IN LOVE WITH PETER OBI (REPRISE)

 

It was a bright weekday afternoon, some years ago. I was at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja on my way to Lagos after an exhausting trip to the nation's capital. As I do, now and again, before walking into the Departure Hall, I sought to buy some "kilishi" from the omnipresent dry meat hawkers in front of the airport terminal, to take to my folks in Lagos.

While haggling with one of the kilishi sellers, I felt someone tap me on the back. I was wondering who it could be. I turned and discovered to my surprise that it was the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi. There were no airs about him. No aide was accompanying him. He was not wearing any big agbada and was carrying his small suitcase himself.

In his falsetto voice, he asked, "Tony. where are you off to?" I told him I was going to Lagos. He said to me that he was flying to Enugu on his way to Awka. The Governor waited for me to finish my haggling with the kilishi seller. We then walked together towards the Departure Hall and bantered along the way. I offered to help him with his luggage. He smiled and declined, telling me that he was still young enough to carry such a small piece of luggage.

As we entered the Departure Hall, the Governor went to the back of the line and waited for his turn to process his boarding pass. He appeared unfazed by the commotion which his presence was causing as many people identified him and pointed excitedly at him.

As we both went to board our different airplanes, I fell in love with this gentleman who clearly understands that we are all passengers in the journey of life and that on our appointed day, each of us will be at the departure hall to fly off to our maker and at that point, it would not matter whether you are an "Excellency" or a janitor.

If you think that my experience with Peter Obi was a scene for a particular day, please bury the thought. Several people have talked to me about their individual encounters with Mr. Obi which are not significantly different from mine. I have also met Obi's wife, Margarete, a daughter of Akwa Ibom State. She carries herself with the same quiet dignity that her husband does. 

My reaction to Peter Obi is based on the fact that we seem to share the same ideals. With Peter Obi, you do not find the unnecessary bigmanism that clouds the average Nigerian in a position of power. He is as simple as simple can be. That disposition makes the undiscerning to underestimate him. Peter Obi is a quiet warrior. He will fight tooth and nail, using the levers of the rule of law to establish justice. He has survived coups upon coups upon coups.      

In 2003, Peter Obi contested the Anambra State governorship election as the APGA candidate. His opponent, Chris Ngige of the PDP, was declared winner by INEC. It took almost three years of battle in the courts for Ngige's purported victory to be over-turned by the Court of Appeal on March 15, 2006 and Obi to move into Government House, Awka.

After seven months of Obi taking office on March 17, 2006, he was impeached by the State House of Assembly on November 2, 2006. That was how his deputy, Virginia Etiaba, became the first ever female governor in Nigeria's history. Obi once gain went to court and was re-instated as Anambra State Governor on February 9, 2007 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu and Etiaba handed power back to him.

Governor Peter Obi was once again forced out of office on May 29, 2007 as a result of the governorship elections said to have been won by Andy Uba. Once again, Obi headed for the courts contending that his four-year term won in the 2003 elections only started to run when he took office in March 2006. The Supreme Court agreed with him and Governor Obi was returned to office for the third time on the wings of the rule of law, putting paid to Andy Uba's ambition to be Governor of Anambra State. Of course, Governor Obi went on to easily win a second four-year term.  Obi's legal victories have become important precedents in the rules governing elections in Nigeria.

Peter Obi has been revealed to Nigerians as being very different from the usual Nigerian politician. His sassy grasp of issues and his confident use of data, figures and statistics to break down complex problems has caught the eyes of many. In an environment, where most politicians simply hope, wish and pray, Obi talks with facts and numbers and not conjecture. He is clearly a digital leader in a digital age.

I have no doubt that on February 25, Peter Gregory Obi will do well in the general elections. He connects well across the board: age, intellect, tribe, religion, etc. He has done what none of the other politicians have been unable to do, inspire an army of young Nigerians who do not see themselves just as Tiv, Hausa, Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Efik, Itsekiri, etc., but as Nigerians.  His body language does not put anyone off. You will not see any Peter Obi promo on Channels TV or Arise TV. None! He has no posters or banners anywhere in Lagos, but no serious person doubts anymore that his "four guys tweeting from one room" has become a major political force to contend with in Nigeria. The guy without any structure and who does not give "shishi" is making the people with "structures" and bullion vans filled with cash, sweat.

Two weeks to go! Let nobody find any reason to reschedule, postpone or cancel the elections. Please, none of the usual Nigerian political abracadabra! No Supreme Court summersaults! No June 12 type annulment! I have brought out my PVC and wiped it clean. Let's all go and vote! Two weeks to find out if there will be real change in Nigeria or if Nigeria will slide further into anarchy. Two weeks!

 

See you next week.

WHAT IF THE JAGABAN ARMY LOSES THE WAR IN THREE WEEKS?

I was bewildered when the APC spokesperson, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, went public at a press conference and shouted that he was proceeding to court against the presidential candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. Keyamo was insistent that he would ask for orders from the Federal High Court, requesting the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest Atiku over allegations made by one Michael Achimugu, who claimed to be a former aide to the PDP candidate. Achimugu, in a series of social media posts had accused Atiku of using Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to commit financial fraud and fleece the country of huge sums of money. True to his words, Keyamo filed his suit. Did Keyamo think he would have the last word?

Before the ink was dry on the reports of the APC press conference, the PDP 'bone crusher', Dino Melaye, was live on every major TV station in the country demanding the immediate arrest of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC Presidential candidate, over his alleged involvement in the controversial drug issues that have dogged him for many months. The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation held its own press conference and announced that it had resolved to approach the courts to declare the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu ineligible to contest the February 25 presidential election having "been convicted" by a United States court over drug related offences. New issues about Columbia appeared and a circular firing squad, in which the two camps set out to annihilate each other, became the game in town. Meanwhile, suffering Nigerians watched this bizarre hand-to-hand combat in amazement at a time of desperate national challenges.

Was Keyamo just playing to the gallery or was he serious? I used to consider him a good lawyer, knowledgeable enough to understand that no Judge worth his title would at this point in the history of Nigeria, grant the order he was seeking. Even if any Judge dared to do that, the decision would immediately be appealed and it would come to nothing. At the end of the day, what did Festus Keyamo achieve? In my humble opinion, he scored a big own goal. The arguments over the Tinubu drug issue were no longer making the headlines. Keyamo brought them back to the center of the field. I am not clairvoyant and do not know what transpired between Atiku and Achimugu during the Obasanjo regime. I am however concerned with the character of any aide who would purportedly be secretly and illicitly recording private conversations with his principal and releasing those conversations many years after.   

The Jagaban Army has shot their bazookas full blast at anybody that suggests that Tinubu may not be the President that Nigerians want in May 2023. I believe that in this matter, it is the right of every Nigerian to hold whatever opinion he does.

I was surprised by how they went after Atedo Peterside over the ANAP/NOI polls with respect to the 2023 presidential elections, calling him all kinds of unprintable names because the polls did not predict that Tinubu will win. Before their outrage over the polls, they had gone with ballistic missiles after 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 missiles with all the smelly stuff they can dredge out of the pit!

I was truly bewildered about their reaction to the New Year letter written by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, a letter that frontally addressed what is possibly Nigeria's biggest challenge of the last several decades: the divisions, suspicions and mistrust in the country which have held Nigeria hostage and led to so much bloodshed and dehumanization and bred the many separatist militias across the country and fueled the politics of hatred.

In the historic letter, President Obasanjo had asked, "Can we let the past go? I appeal to young Nigerians to stop inheriting other people's prejudices and enemies. Make your own friends and stop inheriting your father's enemies".

What was the response from the Jagaban Army? "Obasanjo is not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with". Wait a minute …. Not long ago, Tinubu and his coterie of supporters were very well reported with photos and videos to have travelled to Abeokuta in desperate search of the endorsement of the same man who is not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with!

Recently, political activist and a director in the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Hajia Naja'atu Bala Muhammad resigned her position in the council and her membership of the ruling party. Mohammed who was the Director, Civil Society Liaison at the council said she has discovered that her values no longer align with the current political setting. They have gone, gun blazing, after Mohammed who was their friend just a few weeks ago.

Remember how they went after elder stateman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo for not supporting their candidate and almost tore Afenifere apart. It has been war on every front!

A number of the people in the Bola Tinubu campaign are people I consider my friends and whom I otherwise respect. I am truly bewildered at how they have continued to jump from one self-inflicted bruhaha to another. I have written here before that my understanding of political campaigning 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 would help the objectives of the Jagaban.

Except the Jagaban camp has understood their objective to be simply to get hold of Aso Rock. No! Nigerians desperately want good government that can move the nation forward. It makes you think of the great 1978 song by the group, Third World; "Now that we've found love, what are we goanna do with it?"

Every serious Nigerian knows that one of our biggest problems is the huge cracks among us that have resulted in significant hatred, lack of trust, huge suspicions and inability to work with others for the good of all.  The Jagaban battles in every direction and the terrible language deployed make reconciliation almost impossible after the elections and make leadership much more difficult. Indeed, they make the acceptance of the results of the elections hard to swallow for the losers.

Now, the Jagaban army has gone after Emiefele and an unnamed cabal at Aso Rock, their home tuff. The bullion van deployment seems to be in trouble. They are flailing in every direction, almost begging for enemies. Everywhere you go, there is a Tinubu poster, banner, bunting, radio and television promos. Tinubu has spent a humungous amount of money on the elections, far more money than anyone else, yet his team appears to be frustrated.  

What if on February 25, the Jagaban Army loses, with the iron clad "Emilokan" mentality, will there be peace in Nigeria?

I have said it before that you might not like Peter Obi, but you must concede that he is a master at diffusing attacks. Several times, he has shown that he is calm under fire. He is not busy making enemies, a quality a new Nigerian leader must have in abundance.

 

See you next week. 

NIGERIA’S HOLIDAY IS OVER!

For many years, the Nigerian political elite have been on holidays. They lived on borrowed money, spent unearned credit, drank choice champagne and enjoyed the good life. Boy! They went on like the party would never end.

After the Reggae, play the blues! I am not sure that even my incredibly creative brother, Harry Song, knows the full meaning of the words of his sassy song, Reggae Blues that created commotion on the dance floor across Nigeria, a few years ago. Our politicians and their cohorts are done dancing the Reggae. Now the Blues is playing to millions of innocent Nigerians struggling with hyper- inflation, joblessness, kidnapping, banditry, etc. It is not funny.

You have a right to say what you may about a certain Ngozi Okonjo Iweala who is now Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). You may indeed have your opinion about her good management or lack of it of the Nigerian economy while she was Finance Minister. Madam repeatedly warned Nigerians that one day soon, the bubble would burst, and the day of reckoning would come. I am not sure anyone knew how quickly the bubble would burst and how loud the burst would be. Now, here we are. There is no more gala to share.

Does anyone remember the Sovereign Wealth Fund? At the time that Nigeria was giddily pumping crude oil and shipping it across the world for $108 a barrel, Dr. Iweala warned that some of that money should be saved in a rainy-day fund so that whenever oil lost its luster, Nigerians would have something to eat. A good number of our raunchy governors, behaving like drunk sailors, warned the finance minister to stay off 'their money'. They reminded her that she did not win any election. They demanded that the money be given to them pronto and they rocked at home and abroad, bought choice houses in cities everywhere and dashed tear-rubber Range Rover jeeps to young girls.

After the Reggae, play the blues! The Nigerian nation used to be a major exporter of crude oil. Suddenly, every monkey began to connect his private pipe to the trunk lines carrying Nigeria's crude. While Nigeria pumped crude, the money flowed into the private pockets of monkeys, none of which so far has been arraigned and tried. What is the fantastic answer of our government to the situation? Borrow and borrow and borrow! Our nation is awash with debt leaving our children to sorrow and sorrow and sorrow.

After the Reggae, play the blues! Whether you like it or not, we are in big trouble. We have over 200 million very hungry mouths to feed. The Naira is behaving like an Olympic diver and inflation is driving Nigerians crazy. Our CBN Governor, Godwin Emiefele, practically had to go into hiding as Nigerian politicians plotted to deal with him for trying to end their party of free Naira spending.

I was alarmed as I watched a prominent presidential candidate on TV make mockery of Peter Obi for saving money for the people of Anambra State while he was governor of that state. This presidential candidate said that Obi was "wicked" to have saved money that he could have spent in Anambra State. I have wondered how this gentleman runs his home. He has no savings? He spends every money that comes his way? Where are the zillions of naira he is pumping into his ubiquitous campaign coming from? Current income or borrowed funds?

In exactly five weeks, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect a leader that has the courage to save this country from drifting into hopelessness and anarchy. That leader must be ready to end Nigeria's Holiday on Suicide Island. The leader must do things differently. He must be prudent with public funds. He must be miserly when it comes to spending the peoples' money. He must be stingy with Nigeria's scarce resources. He must stop the unending party of the many non-productive political job boys.   

I am committed to voting for a guy who understands why it is important to save. I am committed to voting for the guy who when the job boys besiege him asking, 'where is the gala, where is the booze?', he will look at them straight in the face and say, "The Holiday is over. The money is in a savings account".    

See you next week.