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Ana, Vatsa, Mpape and the fruition of a dream

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By Tunde Olusunle

Mpape, a rocky district in the nation’s capital, Abuja, is not your characteristic venue for a conference, convention or retreat. Not with exquisite facilities like the Transcorp Hilton, Sheraton Hotel and similar upscale hotels in the city.

There is also an avalanche of dedicated event places, in the nation’s capital. Mpape, the rocky topography which has spawned communities, settlements and ultramodern housing estates, is famous as a primary hub for granite mining.

Earthquaking rhythms, reverberating sounds of explosions and bombing blasts therefore, are the defining characteristics of the undulating topography of Mpape. Quarrying activities in the nation’s administrative hub, are predominantly domiciled on those eyeful ranges. And the hummings and grunts of heavy trucks in relentless motions up and down the ascending terrain, is the music of everyday.

All of that, however, temporarily acquiesced to a notable event which recently took place in the district. The superiority of “words of iron and sentences of thunder,” to borrow the expressions of the charismatic poet, Niyi Osundare, took centrestage. They subdued the dust-filled Mpape air, activated by the rapid descent of northerly harmattan.

The cream of Nigeria’s literary producers and their critic counterparts in the engaging vocation of creative writing and literary intellection, congregated up Mpape hills. The dates were Wednesday October 26, through Saturday October 29, 2022. And the event was the 41st Annual Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA). The venue, Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village.

Mamman Jiya Vatsa, an army Major General in his time, was creatively inclined. He authored verses published as poetry collections including: *Verses for Nigerian State Capitals, (1973); Tori For Geti Bow Leg, (1981) and Back Again at Wargate, (1982). Vatsa also published Reach for the Skies in the same year. The renowned literary scholar, Biodun Jeyifo in a 1988 critique of Vatsa’s work, applauded him for deploying “his enormous influence in government and the federal bureaucracy to avail ANA of much needed infrastructure and logistical support to see the body through at least two of its yearly conferences.”

The administration of Vatsa’s military colleague, Muhammadu Buhari which was in office between January 1, 1984 and August 27, 1985, appointed Vatsa Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). He had responsibility for the administration of the Federal Capital Territory, (MFCT) and was concurrently, Member of the Supreme Military Council, (SMC), the nation’s highest policy making body in that era. Former military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in 1985, retained him in the position, upon the overthrow of the government of Buhari. Vatsa was reportedly, a childhood friend of Babangida, and one of the coterie of elite military officers in their generation, from Niger State. Others include Gado Nasko, Abdulsalam Abubakar and the late Mamman Kontagora. Barely four months thereafter, Vatsa was arrested and detained “on suspicion to commit treason” and interrogated closed door, by a military tribunal. Alongside his “co-conspirators,” Vatsa on March 5, 1986, was executed by firing squad. They were convicted “for treason associated with an abortive coup.” He was just 45.

Fortuitously, Vatsa had engraved his name and memory, in the sands of time, before his unfortunate despatch. Since its establishment in 1981, as the brainchild of the revered master storyteller himself, Chinua Achebe and half a dozen other like-minded writers, ANA desired an ideal creators’ resort. Achebe’s co-founders of the association June 27, 1981, included: John Pepper Bekederemo-Clark; Timothy Aluko; Femi Osofisan and Niyi Osundare. Two Kenyan writers, the iconic Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Gacheche Wauringi, also attended that premiere.

The association wanted a congenial atmosphere where writers could observe their hideaways and listen to their Muses for inspiration. The FCT under Vatsa’s watch, hosted the Sixth Convention of ANA in the last quarter of 1985, just months before his arrest. The event held within the geographical space of “Usuma dam,” in Bwari Area Council, FCT. Vatsa had acceded to the request of the association, by allocating a sprawling expanse of land in contemporary Mpape district, for the development of its dream, purpose-built writers’ village.

Mpape was then some far-flung, forlorn, forested abutment to the city centre of Abuja which was then being gradually developed into the future capital. If that pseudo-remoteness of Mpape was initially assumed to be a safeguard against the identification of the property by prospectors or trespassers, such calculation turned out to be wrong. Possessing, policing and developing that generous expanse of land in an FCT lapping development like famished fish, was not as straightforward. Indeed, it became a tortuous ding-dong, from one Nigerian government to another, one leadership of the FCT to the next, and indeed from one ANA national executive body to its successor. The dream of the village spawned several twists, turns and tales. When there were no threats of revocation of the property, mischievous land grabbers coveted the asset. At other times, land wheelers and dealers, nibbled substantially ate the ears of the land in places.

Immediate past National President of the association, Denja Abdullahi alludes to “lack of capacity, failed promises, betrayals, revocation, reallocation, long-drawn litigations and brazen trespasses,” as impeding the early consummation of the envisioned project. ANA at some point indeed prayed that some literary-minded national leadership of the country, will launch the physical development of the concept. By the time the visionary and strong-willed ANA leadership under Abdullahi entered into a partnership with KMVL Developers, an expanse of property which was initially a mass of 61 hectares, had shrunk to about 37 hectares! The joke has been made about KMVL, steered by Kolawole Shaw, a retired army Colonel, helping to develop a property earlier allocated by a former army General! Actual development commenced in 2017, and by 2018, the ANA leadership felt confident enough to relocate its secretariat from its temporary abode at the National Theatre, Lagos, to the fledgling Abuja site of the Writers’ Village.

It was an eye-arresting, scenic, burgeoning resort which welcomed delegates to the 40th anniversary of the creation of the organisation last year, hosted between Wednesday November 3 and Saturday November 6, 2021. From the hilly, major access road which leads up into Mpape, the view of the valley on the left side of the road as you approach “Grange Hill Hotel” to your right, is breathtaking! Dominantly inscribed as signpost at the approach of the upcoming community is Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village. This is the eventual reincarnation of that indomitable soldier-poet, 36 years after his unfortunate liquidation via martial pronouncement. You meander through tar-paved, snaky roads, ascending, descending, taking in the humongous physical development being undertaken in the village.

The cream-coloured “ANA International Conference Centre,” sits royally in the luminous landscape of the Vatsa complex. With a few bungalows in the immediate view, that was about all that was in place during the milestone event in 2021. A caterer was also hired to provide for delegates in the absence of a functional kitchen. The voluminous conference hall has since been fittingly christened *Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre, (CACIC). It houses the association’s national secretariat, which has been named Femi Osofisan ANA National Secretariat. There is also the ANA Library and Research Centre, within the Chinua Achebe Complex.

The pre-event “meet and greet,” was spiced by drama, music and dance, as delegates to the convention savoured banters, back-slaps, drinks and finger foods. Titled: Resilience and Nation Building: The Role of Nigerian Literature, the 40th anniversary lecture was delivered by literary laureate and awardee of the Nigerian National Order of Merit, (NNOM), Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan. He saluted the memory of the initiator and pioneer leader of ANA, Chinua Achebe. “We cannot forget him,” he said. Speaking about “The Story As Escort,” Osofisan reminded writers about their core obligations to their societies.

According to him: “We are the storytellers, the people who hold the society spellbound by recounting issues that shape and reshape our beings… We are here to create history, to recreate our societies. We will be indicted if we don’t sit up and speak out.” The keynote paper was presented by multiple award-winning Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, and titled: *Creativity, Literary Advocacy and Nation Building: The Role of Nigerian Literature. She charged Nigerian writers to “bomb criminals and those responsible for crippling in Nigeria, with words to compel them to change their evil ways.” She expressed delight “for being the very first person to deliver a keynote address on the hallowed grounds of the brand new Writers’ Village!”

For a Convention which was more or less a test run of the new facility, the attendance was impressive. Apart from frontliners like Osofisan and Adimora-Ezeigbo, other renowned writers and scholars in attendance included professors Shamshudeen Amali, Remi Raji, Sunnie Ododo, Al Bishak, Joe Ushie, Rasheed Na’Allah, Moses Tsenongu, Maria Ajima, Mary Nwoye, Dul Johnson, Mabel Evwierhoma and Greg Mbajiorgu. Other renowned writers and stakeholders of the tribe included: Wale Okediran, Lindsay Barrett, Abdul Oroh and John Asein. The ANA Convention retained its appeal as an international brand with writers from Ghana and Cameroun in attendance, notably Sarpong John Asiedu and Pobee Mwintombo, both from Ghana.

The recently concluded 41st International Convention of ANA, and the second such event to be hosted at the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village was indeed bigger than the first edition. It began Wednesday October 26, through Saturday October 29, 2022. The theme of the event was: Literature And National Consciousness: The Story As A Catalyst, and the keynote speaker was Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, (UniAbuja). The day before the lecture, however, ANA conferred fellowships on deserving writers and culture workers. These include: Na’Allah, Anaezi Okoro, Moses Tsenongu, Razinat Mohammed, Udenta Udenta, Nduka Otiono and Tess Onwueme and Lindsay Barrett. Yusuf Adamu, Amanze Akpuda, Dul Johnson, Mark Nwangwu, Francis Egbokare, Ademola Da-Sylva and Olabanji Fashina were also inducted as fellows.

Olu Obafemi, recipient of the Nigeria National Order of Merit, (NNOM), spoke at the induction and enjoined inductees to build upon and raise the bar of the state of literature in Nigeria today. Razinat Mohammed, a professor at the University of Abuja, presented the keynote address on Na’Allah’s behalf. The institution was thrown into mourning Monday October 24, 2022, when Adakole Oklobia, a professor of theatre arts, sadly died in an automobile crash. This accounted for the zero turnout of writers and creative practitioners from the school, at the Convention. The session was chaired by Benue State Governor, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Gabriel Tivlumun Nyitse, himself a poet, journalist and mass communications scholar. Nigeria’s musical luminary, *Bongos Ikwue, made a rare appearance at the programme and sang a number of his evergreen songs to the admiration of older participants.

In attendance were legends like: Kalu Uka, Ernest Emenyonu, Adimora-Ezeigbo, Osofisan, Obafemi and Justus Obi Joseph Nwachukwu-Agbada, more prominently known as “JOJ Nwachukwu-Agbada.” Shamshudeen
Amali, Al Bishak, Akpuda, Ushie, Mbajiorgu, Chimalum Nwankwo, James Tsaaior, Chidi Osuagwu, Mngumember Vicky-Sylvester, all distinguished scholars and professors, made it to the event. Obari Gomba, (award-winning poet), John Asein, (Director-General, National Copyright Commission); Nyaknno Osso, (foremost librarian and archivist); Steve Shaba, (reputable publisher), Helen Wang, Chukwudi Eze, (an architect), Emmanuel A. Frank-Opigo, (an engineer), Emmanuel Ojukwu and (a retired police commissioner), participated at the Convention. John Sarpong Asiedu (from Ghana) and Sulayman Tekanyi (from Gambia), gave international colour to the attendance.

The Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village is work-in-progress. But Nigeria can appropriate to itself today, the bragging rights of giving to Africa, perhaps the first of its kind of haven for writers and literary creators. The Writers’ Village, is an upcoming tourist delight in its own right, even as it stands solidly today in Nigeria’s bright sunny savanna. A few more structures have been added to the budding complex, notably a block of 22 all-ensuite chalets in a multistorey block. Rather than a serial numbering of the rooms in the structure, they are named after notable Nigerian writers and select former leaders of ANA, as the project grows. This is where names like Achebe, Clark, Wole Soyinka, (Nobel laureate), Mabel Segun, Akachi-Ezeigbo, Kole Omotoso, Osofisan, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Odia Ofeimun, and Abubakar Gimba, resonate. Obafemi, Okediran, Jerry Agada, Raji and Abdullahi, also have chalets christened after them.

President of ANA and convener of the Convention, Camilus Ukah, expressed delight at the quality of attendance, vigour of discourse and the rapid acclimatisation of writers to their new environment. He thanked those he described as “living ancestors” of Nigerian literature and literary criticism, for their continuing paternal and maternal guidance to younger writers and the association. He saluted them for leading by example, courtesy of their prompt and regular participation at ANA events, despite the fact that many of them have retired from active formal teaching and research engagements. Gradually, as it were, the tortoise is crawling to its desired destination, as the Yoruba proverb says. Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village* is yet another symbol of Nigeria’s continuing dominance of literature and creative arts, on the African continent. Elsewhere, Lesotho-based Chris Dunton, a professor of English, has fittingly labelled Nigeria “the powerhouse of African literature.”

Olusunle, poet, journalist, scholar and author, is a Member of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA).

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Opinion

The Labour strike and FG’S Inertia – The way forward

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By Prof. Mike A. A. Ozekhom, SAN, CON , OFR, FCIArb, LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D, D.Litt, D.SC, DA, DHL

Labour has literally grounded Nigeria – from airports, hospitals, tertiary institutions, to electricity which has plunged the biggest black nation on earth into total darkness. I am in full, complete and total support of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress’ (TUC)’s current national strike for upward review of the FG’s proposed minimum wage of N60,000 per month. NLC and TUC had also demanded that the government reverses the increase in electricity tariff to N65/KWH. When talks broke down with none of the parties shifting grounds, Labour commenced a strike action on the midnight of Sunday 2nd June, 2024. FG’s proposed meagre salary is certainly not a living wage in today’s Nigeria. At the current parallel market exchange rate of N1,470 to one dollar, the wage being conceded by the Federal Government to labour is a mere $40.82 per month (N60,000), while the NLC and TUC are asking for a whooping N615,500 per month.

By way of comparative analysis with some other countries globally, the monthly minimum wage in the United States is US$1,160 ( N1,705,200); UK  £1,376 (N2,528,950); Canada 2,464 CAD (N2,710,400); France £1,539.42 (N2,847,927); Ghana GHC 2,904 (N292,548.96) Rwanda RWF 56,668 (N64,602); South Africa R4,067.2 – R4,412.8 (N322,406.944 –  N349,802.656); Botswana P1,168 (N122,056); Germany £1,985.6 (N3,673,360) Australia AUD3531.2 (N 3,490,414.64); Kenya is KES15,201 (N172,683.36). In UAE, there is no general minimum wage as it differs from profession to profession. However, for skilled Labourers AED 5,000 (N2,019,435); people with University degrees AED12,000 (N4,846,644); qualified technicians AED 7,000 (N2,827,209); South Korea is 2,010,580 Won (N2,161,574.558). China differs from city to city. However, Shanghai is RMB 2,690 per month (N551,181) and Heilongjiang RMB 1,450 (N 297,105). Singapore does not prescribe a general minimum wage for all its workers. However, the minimum Singaporean wage is averaged at 6,792SGD/Month = N7,464,408).

Even though Rwanda and Botswana’s minimum wage per month which is RWF 56,668 (N64,602) and P1,168 (N122,056), respectively, appears meagre, the two countries have since put in place social services that cushion the masses’ suffering and put them on a developmental path. Imdeed, they are two of the fastest growing economies not only in Africa, but also in the world. We do not have such in Nigeria. Nigeria is perhaps the only country in the world that brazenly defies Isaac Newton’s Law of Motion to the effect that “what goes up must come down”. In Nigeria, once prices of good go up, they never come down.

Are these countries and us not living on the same Planet earth? We are, of course.

With the present spirally inflation, N60,000 cannot even buy one bag of rice which today sells for between N80,000 and N120,000 depending on the grade and quality.

What is the way forward from this FG-Labour face-off and stalemate? Part of the solution lies in steering a middle course between labour’s N615,500 per month demand and the FG’s proposal of N60,000 per month. This is more so having regard to the impossibility of the private sector, especially small scale businesses and private professions, having the capacity and economic wherewithal to pay such exorbitant wage. Another solution lies in public office holders making deliberate sacrifices in the midst of public angst and disenchantment by cutting down their ostentatiously vulgar lifestyle of ugly display of opulence and their sheer exhibitionism of wealth in mindless convoys of vehicles in the midst of grinding poverty and wretchedness of the masses. The Nigerian people are not happy at all. Anyone who advises the government to the contrary is nothing but a fawner, bootlicker, ego masseur, toady flatterer and clapper.

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Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (5)

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Wike, Fubara

By Ehichioya Ezomon 

Has the political heat in Rivers State simmered in the past week to suggest perhaps – just perhaps – that conventional wisdom has taken hold of the dramatis personae in the crisis to pull back from the precipice they’ve pushed the state in the last eight months? 
There’s nothing on the ground to suggest otherwise, even as Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, played their brand of politics at separate locations, trying to undo each other in showcasing achievements in their official jurisdictions, to mark one-year in the saddles in Rivers and Abuja, respectively.
 Amid “all the distractions from those that want to draw Rivers State backward,” Fubara invited prominent persons from within and outside Rivers – including Abia State Governor Alex Otti of the rival Labour Party (LP), and former Rivers Governor Peter Odili – to launch projects he “executed in record time, and with full payments to the contractors” – an obvious dig at Wike for allegedly failing to pay contractors for their services.
 As is the routine in Rivers governance, especially since the Wike’s helm, Fubara, using his “State of the State” address to render account of his one-year stewardship, revealed the “huge debts to contractors” that Wike left behind for his government.
At the Dr. Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, May 29, Fubara said his administration “inherited 34 uncompleted projects, valued at over N225.279bn in 13 local government areas of the state,” adding that the contractors, who executed the 34 projects, have come to him for payments.
Fubara stated that though he inherited a state, “whose economy was on a declining trajectory despite its growth potential,” his government has changed the narrative for the better by “increasing astronomically internally-generated revenue from N12 billion to between N17 billion in off-peak periods and N28 billion during the peak months.”
 “Our liberalized business-friendly economic policies and programmes are boosting confidence and attracting local and international investors and investments into the State, judging by the expression of interest offers we receive every month.” Fubara said.
 “We have kept our taxes low, frozen the imposing of taxes on small businesses across the State, and increased the ease of doing business by eliminating bureaucratic bottlenecks. No request for the signing of a certificate of occupancy (CoO) remains in my office beyond two days, except if I am otherwise engaged beyond two days or out of town.
 “We have established a N4 billion matching fund with the Bank of Industry (BOI), to support existing and new micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) to grow their businesses to drive economic growth and create jobs and wealth for citizens. Over 3,000 citizens and residents have applied to access this loan to fund their businesses at a single-digit interest rate, and a repayment period of up to five years.”
Commissioning the completed projects – mostly inherited from the Wike administration (2015-2023) – the invited guests heaped praises on Fubara, not only for achieving commendable strides within a short time, but also for “liberating Rivers State” from Wike’s stranglehold – the same Wike that some of the invitees had praised to the heavens barely a year ago. 
  For instance, Dr Odili, an erstwhile ally of Wike, noted that Fubara “has taken full control of governance in the State,” stressing that the governor is “focusing on the people” in line with his chosen mantra: ‘People First’. It’s on Saturday, May 25, at the inauguration of the dualised Omoku-Egbema road in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area (ONELGA) of the state.
 An elated Odili even predicted a seamless second-term election for Fubara in 2027, and urged him to remain focused on the people, giving succour to the less-privileged and hope to those who do not have anyone to help them go through life’s challenges.
 “I can tell our people that the next election is very far, but what the Governor has done so far, is enough to secure the support of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area going forward,” Odili said. “Thank you, Your Excellency, because the greatest assets of the State remain the people, not oil and gas.
 “The people of Rivers are behind you, rallying support for you because they trust you, believing in what you say and convinced that you mean whatever you say,” Odili said, adding, “I want to agree with you that the sky would become the takeoff point of your administration.”
Relatedly in Abuja, it’s Wike’s days in the sky. Though he didn’t have the luxury of throwing brickbats at Fubara – and there’s no surrogates to do same for him – Wike had the rare privilege of enlisting President Bola Tinubu to launch some of the projects that were “abandoned for decades,” and received applause from Tinubu for returning and restoring Abuja’s Master Plan, and transforming the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On Tuesday, May 28, at the commissioning of the Southern Parkway, which Wike proclaimed as “Bola Ahmed Tinubu Way” – a crucial infrastructure project that’s dormant for 13 years before Wike’s intervention – the President described the minister’s vision as “inspiring many and yielding remarkable results in the FCT.”
Tinubu said: “Barr Nyesom Wike, ‘Mr. Project,’ thank you for giving us this home and for your sincere commitment to shared values. Your revolutionary vision is inspiring many and yielding remarkable results in the FCT.”
Highlighting the significance of the road, the President said, “The Southern Parkway not only connects vital areas within the FCT, but also symbolises our collective aspirations for connectivity, ease of livelihood, and progress. This road will enhance mobility, ease traffic congestion, and spur economic development for residents and visitors alike.
“Infrastructure is an enabler of jobs, economic growth, and prosperity. We are committed to building a world-class capital city, and the completion of this road is a testament to that commitment. Making our citizens the central focus of our development is crucial for Nigeria’s success,” Tinubu stated.
Earlier, Wike noted: “This landmark project is the first amongst nine visionary projects scheduled for commissioning by Mr. President in the coming days. It represents a significant milestone in our collective efforts to enhance the infrastructure and livability of our great capital and her inhabitants.
“As we mark the first year of your transformative leadership, Mr. President, this event underscores our shared commitment to progress, innovation, and the enduring prosperity of Nigeria.”

Yet, the make-for-the-cameras pomp and ceremony, razzmatazz, accolades, hand-pumping and backslapping by politicians in Port Harcourt and Abuja are but a temporary relief or diversion to mask the “real politic” in Rivers, where Governor Fubara’s fighting the battle of his life to cage Chief Wike, and save his governorship and political career heading into the 2027 General Election. 
The fourth installment of this article on Monday, May 27, 2024, examined two strategies that Fubara could adopt to handle Wike and his sacked loyal members of the Rivers Assembly, and local council chairmen, whose tenure ends in June 2024, but have vowed to remain in office until “elected officials” were installed in the Rivers local councils. Below’s a recap:

First, Fubara could evict the lawmakers from the Rivers State House of Assembly Residential Quarters in Port Harcourt – where they and their families domicile, and use as a legislative chamber – to deny them the venue and avenue to make laws and/or plot his impeachment.
Second, Fubara could copy his counterparts, and withhold the lawmakers’ emoluments, and allocations to the legislature – as he’s allegedly done to the April 2024 allocations to the councils – to checkmate the legislators, whose seats have lately been redeclared “vacant” by a Rivers High Court.
Let’s now proceed to interrogate the remaining measures, beginning with the Third, as follows: When push comes to shove, Fubara could muscle the pro-Wike lawmakers by physical attacks on them, their homes and businesses, the aim being to overraw, and hound them, to sabotage their plans to make his government ungovernable, and pave the way for his impeachment – the aim of the lawmakers from onset of the Rivers crisis.
Recall Fubara’s declaration about the lawmakers early in 2024: “I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they (lawmakers) understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognise them, they are nowhere. That is the truth.
“I can say here, with all amount of boldness, I have never called any police man anywhere to go and harass anybody. I have never gone anywhere to ask anybody to do anything against anybody. 

“Even when I have all the instruments of State powers, I have shown restraint, I have acted as a big brother in the course of this crisis. I have not acted like a young man that may want the house to be destroyed but, I have behaved like a mature young man that I am.
 “This is because I know that no meaningful development will be achieved in an atmosphere of crisis. And because our intention for Rivers State is to build on the foundation that had been laid by our past leaders, it will be wrong for me to take the path of promoting crisis.”
Interpreted, the pro-Wike lawmakers – already in the lurch over series of court rulings sacking and re-sacking them, and voiding all legislative actions they took in the course of the Rivers crisis – shouldn’t underrate Fubara’s powers and resolve – if pushed against the wall – to roar like the lion, attack like the hyena and bite like the crocodile!
Barring any “political earthquake” this week in the Rivers crisis, the remaining measures Fubara could deploy to arrest Wike’s alleged hegemonic hold on Rivers State will be interrogated in the next installment of this running header!

  • Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

Sent from my iPad. Ehichioya
Ezomon.

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Opinion

Nemesis as a short distance runner

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Mammoth crowd with Emir Sanusi in Kano Today after Juma'at prayer

By Tunde Olusunle

When he flung Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (SLS) out of the window of the Emir’s palace in Kano four years ago, Abdullahi Ganduje would have least imagined what is playing out today. Ganduje was the “Lord of the Manor” in Kano State, the all-powerful chief executive. Recall video clips of Ganduje allegedly stuffing wads and packs of crisp, mint-fresh dollar bills into the bottomless pocket of his babanriga ahead of the 2019 general elections. They were reportedly gifted to him by some contractor ally of the erstwhile Kano governor who was repaying a good turn. Graphic and unassailable as that short motion picture was, former President Muhammadu Buhari who rode into office on the camelback of now suspect integrity in 2015, volunteered a baffling defence for Ganduje. He swore Ganduje was most probably participating in a Kannywood movie, the way the film industry up North is described. Buhari who has never been known to operate a tablet, nay a notepad, suggested that advanced technology could actually simulate what we all saw in that short clip!

Ganduje was the prototype alagbara ma m’ero as we say in Yoruba. This interpretes as the “maximally muscular, minimally reasonable.” He fought a few other prominent Kano leaders during his heydays in Government House. Recall he carried his unabated squabbles with one of his predecessors, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the State House, Aso Villa, during the early weeks of the Bola Tinubu government. Told on one occasion that Kwankwaso was in a particular section of Aso Rock same time as he was in the complex, a vexed Ganduje said Kwankwaso should consider himself fortunate. He said he, Ganduje would have slapped Kwankwaso if he sighted him in the Villa! That would have caused a scene in Nigeria’s seat of power. I’m now just imagining how Tinubu would be trying to restrain Ganduje, in the forecourt of the office of the President, while Vice President Kashim Shettima will be pulling at Kwankwaso’s agbada in a bid to manage the situation.

Ganduje reportedly considered Sanusi too independent-minded and outspoken for a natural ruler. Sanusi was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), before being appointed Emir in 2014. He had always had a radical streak about him which culminated in his suspension as CBN head in 2014 for blowing the whistle on the theft of $20 Billion in accruals from crude oil sales. As Emir he considered aspects of the religious and cultural practices of his emirate repugnant. He opposed the “ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam” in some parts of northern Nigeria, which discouraged girl-child education, family planning, even inoculation against potential healthcare afflictions. He had reservations about the style of Ganduje as governor and didn’t put a veil over his dislike for the return of Ganduje to Government House in 2019.

He believed Ganduje shouldn’t have made it back if the poll was fairly and transparently conducted. March 9, 2020, Ganduje upended Sanusi. He was accused of negatively impacting the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano emirate, and disrespecting the governor’s office. He was also alleged to have disposed of property belonging to the state and the misappropriated of the proceeds. It was a case of digging several manholes for a prey in a bid to ensure he falls into one of the several traps. He was summarily banished to Nasarawa State for effect. Sanusi sought reprieve in the courts which ruled it was an overkill to fling him to a remote community faraway from his family and more accustomed home in Lagos. Within a few days, Nasir El Rufai, Sanusi’s longstanding friend who was governor of Kaduna State, personally enforced the evacuation of Sanusi from Awe local government area in Nasarawa State.

For whatever his contributions were to the emergence of Tinubu as president after the 2023 polls, Ganduje believed he would be compensated with a ministerial slot in the former’s regime. Like Nyesom Wike, David Umahi, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Atiku Bagudu, Simon Lalong, former governors of Rivers, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi and Plateau states, Ganduje dusted his curriculum vitae to pitch for a slot on Tinubu’s federal executive council. His five colleagues in the “2015 – 2019- 2023 class of governors” made the cut, not Ganduje. Tinubu spontaneously made him chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC], the vehicle which delivered him as president. Abdullahi Adamu his predecessor and former governor of Nasarawa State was, as has become standard practice in Nigeria’s notorious political rule book, schemed out and compelled to resign from office.

If Ganduje ever thought his chairmanship of the APC was going to be a walk in the park, he was thoroughly mistaken. Indeed, he’s grossed sufficient experience in his present office to know that there are sharp differences between wholesale insulation in Government House, and the inevitable overexposure of party leadership. Last April, a faction of the APC in Ganduje’s primary “Ganduje ward” in Dawakin Tofa local government area of his home state, Kano, suspended him from the party. Haladu Gwanjo, legal adviser of Ganduje’s ward led some party leaders to pronounce the suspension. They advocated the return of the national chairmanship of the APC to the north central zone, where Ganduje’s predecessor, Adamu, hails from. The young Turks canvassed due process in party administration, consistent with the “renewed hope” mantra of the APC. Ganduje made a hurried recourse to the law courts for momentary reprieve.

Thursday May 23, 2024, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was reinstated as Emir of Kano by Ganduje’s successor in Kano State, Abba Yusuf. His cousin and successor, Aminu Ado-Bayero, was unceremoniously removed from office. The splinter emirates created by Ganduje in his bid to whittle down Sanusi’s authority as prime monarch in Kano, were similarly dissolved. The edifice which Ganduje built four years ago was apparently built of straw and spittle. Governor Abba Yusuf is a product of the Kwankwasiya political tendency in Kano politics, a creation of Rabiu Kwankwaso. Those who know a little about Nigerian politics will recall that Kwankwaso’s emergence in our politics, predates the fourth republic. He was an ardent student of the talakawa political orientation, pioneered by the venerable Kano-born leader, Aminu Kano. Kwankwaso was Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives of the Ibrahim Babangida political experimentation of 1992 to 1993.

Whereas the Kwankwasiya movement had long been entrenched, it was not until the run-up to the 2023 elections that Kwankwaso adopted a new platform, the Nigeria National People’s Party, (NNPP), on which he is espousing the populist philosophy of the Kwankwasiya brigade. Abba Yusuf rode to office on the back of this invention. It was the same way Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu the famous Biafran war lord, established the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) in Anambra State. The party has remained a force in the politics of the state and indeed the south east. It has produced three Anambra governors in succession, notably Peter Obi, Willie Obiano and the incumbent Chukwuma Soludo.

Abba Yusuf has made no pretences about his disdain for Ganduje and everything he represents. Much as some of Yusuf’s early actions in office were generally perceived as wasteful, he nonetheless brought down as many edifices in Kano as bore the imprimatur of Ganduje. The “Kano golden jubilee roundabout” built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of Kano State and structures built inside the filin sukuwa, (Kano race course), were hewn on Yusuf’s orders. The hajj camp which was reportedly bastardised by Ganduje who allegedly parcelled parts of it to his friends and associates was equally felled. There were suggestions that the value of the demolitions carried out by Yusuf could be in excess of N200Billion. Such is the anti-Ganduje sentiment in contemporary Kano State.

The way and manner the legacies of Abdullahi Ganduje are unravelling in Kano State should serve as a lesson to the shortsighted, incapable of seeing beyond the bridges of their nose. History is replete with the deconstruction of many leaders after their rulership and indeed keeps repeating itself in our sociopolitical experience. Those who are not circumspect, however, are too distracted by the allure and bliss of their immediate office, to think. They continue to drift, blunder and flounder, unmindful that time is their ultimate nemesis. Ganduje is just one year out of office, yet many of the decisions he made while in power for eight years are being unmade and thrown at his face like rotten tomatoes.

Until I joined him on the table he was seated at a wedding reception we both attended in Lagos a few weeks back, Rotimi Amaechi, governor of the oil-affluent Rivers State for eight years and Transportation Minister for another eight years was a lonely man. It turned out we flew back to Abuja on the same flight same evening after the event and sat not too far from each other. He opened the overhead locker atop his seat to bring out his luggage himself. Is anyone following the Yahaya Bello saga? He mindlessly trampled upon the hapless heads of his constituents in Kogi State for eight unbroken years? He left office last January and life has not been the same again. He has been declared wanted by at least one anti-graft agency. He will be arraigned in the rectangular, wood-panelled cubicle of the courtroom in a fortnight. A lesson for all.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

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