Nigeria’s Economic Growth To Be 3.2 Percent In 2023 – IMF

April 12, 2023

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Nigeria’s growth will be 3.2 percent in 2023, even as it advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to maintain its current monetary policy rates to control inflation.

IMF, in its new World Economic Outlook report titled: “A Rocky Recovery” during the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington DC, said that the growth go 3 percent in 2024 when the next administration is in full flow.

The Chief in the Research Department of the IMF, Nigeria Division, Daniel Leigh said: “For Nigeria, our forecast is one of the most stable ones for this year. We have a slight increase; we have 3.3% in 2022 that’s an upward revision, and for 2023 about the same 3.2% and 3% in 2024.

“So, this is an economy with very high inflation as well and this is why we have a forecast of about 20 per cent for 2023.

On efforts to address inflation, the IMF advised the CBN to continue increasing interest rates as Nigeria’s inflation rate remains at one of its highest levels in history, reaching 21.91% in February 2023, despite the hike in the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy interest rate from 16.5% to 18% in March 2023.

The IMF believes that increasing the interest rate further will help bring down inflation.

Daniel Leigh said: “One of our main recommendations is to tighten the monetary policy to ensure that this inflation comes down towards the more target levels.”

Tinubu Scored 25 Percent In 29 States To Qualify As President-Elect, INEC Tells Tribunal

Greenbarge Reporters

April 12, 2023

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that the Presidential candidate of the all Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu scored 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in 29 states of the federation to be declared as President-elect in the February 25 Presidential election in the country.

Arguing the case before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), on a petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the INEC lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), said Tinubu was validly returned as winner of the election.

“Having scored at least one-quarter of the valid votes cast in 29 states, which is over and above the 2/3 states threshold required by the constitution, in addition to scoring the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election, the 2nd respondent was properly declared winner and returned as the president-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The 2nd respondent (Tinubu), having scored 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in the 29 states, has satisfied the requirement of the constitution to be declared winner of the presidential election, thus rendering the requirement of having 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory unnecessary.”

INEC argued that the declaration and return of Tinubu was not wrongful and was made in accordance with the provisions of Section 134 (2) (b) of the Constitution, having scored one quarter (25%) of the valid votes cast in 29 states which is beyond the constitutional threshold for such declaration.

“The 1st respondent denies that scoring 25 per cent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory is a condition precedent to the declaration and return of a candidate in the presidential election.”

INEC said that by the margin of lead, it did not act hastily, as claimed by Atiku and the PDP in declaring Tinubu the winner of the election.

According to INEC Tinubu scored “25 per cent of the valid votes cast in 29 states of the Federation to wit: Ekiti, Kwara, Osun. Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Yobe, Lagos, Gombe, Adamawa, Katsina, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi, Bauchi, Plateau, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto, Taraba, Borno and Rivers.”

While faulting the petitioners’ claim on the status of the FCT, INEC argued that “the provisions of the constitution apply to the FCT as if it were one of the states of the Federation.

The commission also argued that the use of the word ‘and’ in Section 134 (2) of the Constitution indicates nothing more than that in construing two-thirds of the states of the federation in which a candidate is required to score one-quarter of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory.”

It argued that by the provision of the constitution, the FCT “has the status of a state and ought to be recognised as if it was a state of the federation.”

It added that the FCT, beyond being the country’s capital, ‘has no special constitutional status over and above the other 36 states of the Federation to require a candidate in the presidential election to obtain at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in the FCT before being declared winner of the presidential election.

“The Federal Capital Territory is regarded as the 37 states of the federation and as such, a candidate needs to score 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in at least two-thirds of 37 states ( to be declared as winner in the presidential election).’

It argued that, as against the request by Atiku and his party, he could not be declared winner by the tribunal because he failed to fulfill the constitutional requirement.

“The 1st petitioner (Atiku), failed to score, at least, one quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory and as such could not have been declared the winner of the Presidential Election held on the 25th day of February 2023.”

As against the claim by the petitioners, INEC stated that “the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 and was not marred by any corrupt practices.

‘That the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) was duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the election and his declaration and return as winner of the presidential election conducted on the 25th day of February, 2023 is lawful, valid and in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, 2022.

“Having satisfied the requirements of Section 134 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the return of the 2nd respondent as the winner of the presidential election conducted on 25th February, 2023 is lawful, valid and constitutional.

“The 2nd respondent was at the time of the election qualified to contest the election.

“The petitioners neither scored the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election nor scored not less than one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in at-least two-thirds of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory and therefore the 1st petitioner (Atiku) is not entitled to be returned as the winner of the presidential election conducted on Feb. 25.”

INEC, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the petition.

Abubakar Atiku,as first petitioner, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as second petitioner, in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, had listed INEC, Tinubu and APC as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively and are seeking the nullification of the election victory of Tinubu in the Feb 25 presidential poll.

Tinubu, who defeated 17 other candidates who took part in the election, scored a total of 8,794,726 votes, the highest of all the candidates.

While former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes in the poll; Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.

However, the petitioners are asking the tribunal to set aside Tinubu’s victory and to declare Abubakar winner of the election.

They want an order mandating INEC to retrieve the certificate of return issued to the APC candidate or in the alternative conduct a fresh election.

Abubakar and PDP are contending that Tinubu was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast during the poll and that INEC violated its own regulations and provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, in the election conduct.

Source: NAN.

UK Stops Recruitment Of Doctors, Nurses, Other Health Workers From Nigeria

Editorial staff

April 10, 2023

The United Kingdom Government has stopped active recruitment of medical doctors, Nurses and other health workers from Nigeria by health and social care employers in the UK.

The UK disclosed this in its updated ‘Code of Practice’ for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel’ posted on its website.

Nigeria has now been included in the red list of countries facing critical shortage of health workers as contained in the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s health workforce support and safeguards list.

In March, the WHO published the safeguards list comprising 55 countries, including Nigeria, struggling with a shortage of health workers.

The UK government said that Nigeria and other countries on the red list should be prioritised for health personnel development and health system-related support as well as provided with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of their workers.

The code of practice reads: “Consistent with the WHO Global Code of Practice principles and articles, and as explicitly called for by the WHO Global Code of Practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be prioritised for health personnel development and health system-related support, provided with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of health personnel.

“Countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement.

“Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are graded red in the code. If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the amber list.”

It said that if a country is not on the red or amber list, then it is green.

The amber countries where international recruitment is only permitted in compliance with the terms of the government-to-government agreement are Kenya and Nepal.

Recall that a bill to prevent Nigeria-trained medical and dental practitioners from being granted full licences until they have worked for a minimum of five years in the country, passed second reading at the House of Representatives last Thursday.

The bill is aimed at addressing the increasing number of medical doctors leaving Nigeria for greener pastures, and making quality health services available to Nigeria.

Sponsored by Ganiyu Abiodun Johnson, it is titled ‘The Bill for an Act to Amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004’.

Johnson said it was only fair for medical practitioners, who enjoyed taxpayer’s subsidies on their training, to “give back to the society” by working for a minimum number of years in Nigeria before exporting their skills abroad.

Many lawmakers supported the bill though a number of them called for flexibility and options in the envisaged law.

Uzoma Nkem-Abonta said tying a doctor down for five years in Nigeria before seeking employment outside is akin to enslavement.

However, a majority voice vote passed the bill for second reading at the plenary presided by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.

Dangote Has Given New Heights To Nigeria’s Global Reputation – Buhari

Editorial staff

April 10, 2023

President Muhammadu Buhari has acknowledged that the Africa richest man and philanthropist, Aliko Dangote has given new heights to Nigeria’s prestige and global reputation.

In a message congratulating the business guru on his 66th birthday, the President commended him for the numerous efforts he is making for our nation’s progress.

“He has given new heights to Nigeria’s prestige and global reputation. May the Almighty give him the strength and wisdom to do even more for the nation.”

Dangote was born in Kano, Kano State on April 10, 1957, into a wealthy Hausa Muslim family. His mother, Hajiya Mariya Sanusi Dantata, was the daughter of businessman Sanusi Dantata and his father, Mohammed Dangote, was a business associate of Sanusi Dantata.

Through his mother, Dangote is the great-grandson of Alhassan Dantata, the richest man in West Africa at the time of his death in 1955.

Dangote was educated at the Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa, followed by Capital High School, Kano. In 1978, he graduated from the Government College, Birnin Kudu. He got a Bachelor Degree in business studies and administration from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Aliko Dangote is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Dangote Group, the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa.

According to Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index, Dangote’s net worth is estimated at US$19.9 billion as of April 2023, making him the richest person in Africa and richest black person and 83rd in the world.

Meanwhile, President Buhari leaves Nigeria for Saudi Arabia tomorrow, April 11 to, among others, perform lesser Hajj during his eight-day State Visit to the country.

In Defence Of The DSS, By Johnson Okorogu

Editorial staff

April 10, 2023

This intervention won’t have been necessary if a couple of those who should know had not joined in the cheap criticism of the most decent Security Agency in Nigeria.

In the past one month or so, the Department of State Services, DSS, has been on the negative side of the news for nothing other than doing the job for which it was established.

The negative reports are a product of misinformation, deliberate misinformation, aimed at calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

It began, gradually, with the lies and misinformation to the members of the public by Ifeanyi Ejiofor, one of the Counsels to the Federal Government-proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPoB, and its detained Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. From the first day Kanu was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya till date, Ejiofor has fed the public with false news, false information, mischief-filled, and has succeeded in misleading the people, especially, unsuspecting youths in the South-east.

While Ejiofor is in his house and/or office, enjoying life with the money he has made from IPoB and its leader, he is inciting hundreds of Igbo youths to violence, and leading them to their untimely deaths. I will get back to this shortly.

In the instant case, the DSS is being pillioried for warning the Country of the dangers ahead stemming from the antics of politicians who are angling for an Interim National Government, the evil which was first foisted on us by General Ibrahim Babangida

Following the conduct of the General Elections on 25th February and 18th March, 2023, every Nigerian knows that the Country is on edge. Every Nigerian knows that Politicians are doing everything to precipitate violence and push Nigeria into avoidable crisis. Tension has been unnecessarily high. Fake stories reign, and Politicians are busy planning evil and pushing the Country to the precipice. They are fanning the embers of hatred and fire. They are fanning internal insurrection in the name of protesting the outcome of the General Elections, especially, the Presidential election.

To keep the Country safe, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, all the DSS did was to warn Nigerians against such behaviors that could destroy the Country. All it did was to tell Nigerians not to spark off violence which could push the Country into abyss, and destroy the it. This, the DSS did by way of a statement issued by its Spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya.

By warning Nigerians against the dangers ahead if Politicians continue to heat up the system, the DSS was only keeping to its schedule of duties which is to sniff out internal troubles, through intelligence gathering, and nip them in the bud. That was all the DSS did – warn and alert that we know what you are planning, so stop, keep off, stay off.

In the statement, Afunanya warned that the Service is aware of the activities of some Politicians aimed at causing trouble and, therefore, abort our hard-earned democracy. It warned against activities which could abort a smooth hand-over of power from one Government to the other on May 29, 2023. It warned against protests and frivolous Court Cases aimed at aborting a new Government, and foisting an Interim National Government on the Country.

The statement did not mention any particular persons or Political Party.

The statement did not ask aggrieved parties not to seek legal interventions in Court, afterall it was the Federal Government that set up the Presidential Election Petition Tribunals.

The DSS knew what it was talking about. There are examples to back it. The crisis in all the frontline Political Parties where the Courts are being used to sack the Executive Members of the Parties, particularly, the removal of Chairmen and other high profile members of the Parties prove there is a grand plan to destabilize the Government, and abort 29th May. When all the main political parties are destabilized, using the Courts, then, there will be no 29th May. Before we know it, we will have a a June 12, 1993 situation where the late Arthur Nzeribe used one Abimbola Davies to plunge the Country into unnecessary turmoil.

It follows the same pattern, and, if not checked, will gradually explode.

In the past three weeks, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has removed its National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu. Before that, a number of people were asking for the sack of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. The push has not been dropped. A few days ago, it infected the Labour Party. A move was made, through the Courts, to throw out its National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure. A Court granted the removal bid. It took the self-will of the Party to save him. The end has still not been seen. Since then, the APC has either been suspending or expelling its high profile members – Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, Chairman of the Njger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Lauretta Onochie, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, etc. The PDP did the same, but was quick to recall about four of them including former Senate President, Pius Anyim, and two former Governors. Another former Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani remains expelled from the Party. There are more from other Political Parties. If these are not signs of destabilization, and a bid to precipitate crisis and abort 29th May, 2023, then I don’t know what is.

Add those to the hate speeches by Politicians and their supporters, not to forget the incitement by Ejiofor in the South-east.

It is surprising that the Igbo Leadership and the elite cannot see through the misinformation Ejiofor dishes out all the time on Kanu, especially, each time he visits the IPoB leader at the DSS facility where he is kept. Nobody is interrogating the false information Ejiofor dishes out on Kanu in order to keep himself in business. For Ejiofor, Kanu and IPoB are his meal ticket, his ATM. He deliberately paints a dreary picture of Kanu’s situation to keep himself in business. Kanu and IPoB oil his business. Otherwise, has anybody heard Ejiofor’s name in any other case except that of Kanu and IPoB where his mischief knows no end.

Ejiofor continuously gives the impression that it is the DSS which arrested and kept Kanu in its custody. Or that it is the DSS which requested that Kanu be kept in its custody. The true picture is that it is a Federal High Court that remanded Kanu in the DSS custody for safety. To be in the DSS custody happens to be one of the safest and most decent facilities where anybody could keep him. The leadership of the DSS is polished and professionally carries out its duties.

When the pressure was on, through Ejiofor, to relocate Kanu from the DSS facility and keep him in Prison custody, it was a mischievous ploy. It was a plan to put Kanu in harm’s way and blame the Government so Ejiofor can make more money with his propaganda.

A number of people who Kanu misled, and thus got in trouble, are in prison custody in Abuja over one atrocity or the other they committed, including murder, especially, of security agents. Having realized their folly, and knowing that they were incited into embarking on a murderous journey they knew nothing about, they are filled with anger and regrets. Detain Kanu with them in prison custody, and they would lynch him. The Government is conscious of this. For one moment, think of what could have happened if Kanu was in Kuje prisons when the facility was invaded by terrorists.

Everybody that had gone to visit Kanu at the DSS facility, except Ejiofor, confirms that Kanu is in good hands, good environment, and doing well. He is healthy, well taken care of, provided with everything he asks for, including special meals, provided with good medical care, and exercise facilities. The only minus is that, like any other detention facility, his movements are restricted.

But this is not the impression Ejiofor gives to the public. He gives the impression of a starving Kanu whose health is failing, whose heart is very diseased, and who is going blind. None of these is true. It is based on such stories, on such lies, that the youths in the South-east are dangerously incited. They foolishly embark on a killing spree of their own people and Security Agents, and torch public facilities. Is Kanu being held or being tried by his own people who have now become victims of his unending and fruitless suicidal journey?

The South-east needs to be honest to itself. People like Ejiofor are not allowing it to be honest to itself because of the lies they put out. Ejiofor is not allowing them to interrogate the lies he tells them. Ejiofor knows very well the unprecedented violence Kanu has wrought on his people and Security Agents. Is there anybody who has not listened to Kanu speak. Is there anybody who has not, or did not listen to Kanu order his followers to kill Security Agents? In which other Country is such allowed? Is there anybody who has not, or did not hear Kanu insult the elders of the South-east and call all its Leaders useless (Efulefu)? Is there anybody who has not, or did not hear Kanu call for the outright beheading of people. All the atrocities in the South-east emanated from Kanu. There are evidences. The violence which has taken over the South-east all emanated from Kanu. Neither he nor his followers can control what he started.

Kanu single-handedly brought the economy of the South-east to ground zero. He introduced the sit-at-home order every Monday and had many people killed over it, and their businesses destroyed.

Simon Ekpa is a product of Nnamdi Kanu. When Kanu and IPoB realized their folly in introducing the sit-at-home order, and cancelled it, Ekpa continued from where his comrades and their master stopped. Sit-at-home has become a weapon and a meal ticket. They raid people’s shops and loot on such days. They extort some people of their money and hold others to ransome. Kidnapping booms in the South-east because of their unwholesome activities. Every criminal takes refuge in being an IPOB member. The Region has been taken over by criminal gangs because of what Kanu and IPoB started.

One of the reasons many people came to the conclusion that Ejiofor is not anxious for Kanu to be released is that instead of Ejiofor to sound conciliatory, or, at least, present the correct situation of Kanu, and plead for his Client who wrought poverty, violence and death upon his people, killed Security Agents and destroyed and razed both private and public buildings and facilities, Ejiofor is busy lying against the DSS. He is busy lying about Kanu’s welfare and health. By doing so, deliberately, he hardens the heart of the Service which has been kind to his Client, and the heart of the Government, all because he wants Kanu and IPoB to remain his ATM. Those lies have neither helped Kanu’s case, nor the South-east.

It was because of the threat by Ekpa, Kanu’s disciple, that Obi lost out on the number of votes he could have garnered in the South-east. None of the five States in the South-east registered less than one million voters. But because of the fear of the violence and death threatened by Ekpa on Voters, they stayed away on the Presidential election day. Yes, Peter Obi of the Labour Party won in the South-east, but with how many votes? But for Kanu/Ekpa, nobody would have been talking about Tinubu’s number of Votes with which he defeated Obi. Obi lost over three million votes because of Ekpa’s threats.

The elders and leaders of the South-east should be ashamed. Out of cowardice, they have allowed IPoB, Ekpa and Ejiofor to destroy the Region.

The DSS is not going to succumb to their blackmail, just as it is not going to succumb to the blackmail of those who think the Service is crying wolf over the warning against the plans for Interim Government.

The DSS raised the alarm because something was cooking. It raised the alarm because it knows the dangers of an Interim National Government.

Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, introduced an Interim National Government in 1993 and installed the now late Chief Ernest Shonekan as the Head of the ill-fated Government. It lasted from 26th August 1993 to 17th November 1993 when it was flushed out by the Military. That misadventure ushered in the regime of General Sani Abacha from which Nigeria has not fully recovered till date.

The DSS did well to raise the alarm in order to stop those planning for an ING on their tracks. Knowing that their plans have been exposed, they would abort it. The DSS didn’t need to mention the names of the culprits, or raise more tension in the Country by arresting them. They know themselves, they know that eyes are on them, and have taken note.

Chimamanda Plagiarized My Book, Giwa-Amu Alleges: It’s A Lie, Chimamanda Responds

Greenbarge Reporters

April 10, 2023

Anne Giwa-Amu, a woman who introduced herself as Solicitor and Author of a book SADE, has accused Chimamamda Ngozi Adochie, the author of Half of a Yellow Sun, of plagiarism.
This is even as Chimamanda denied the accusation, threatening legal action against Giwa-Amu.
Half of a Yellow Sun was published in 2006 and received the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction the following year. It also got praises from Chinua Achebe and The New York Times.
But, Anne Giwa-Amu, a Nigerian and Welsh heritage, shared a video on YouTube yesterday, April 9, claiming that her book, SADE, which was published in 1996, was plagiarized by Adichie when she wrote Half of a Yellow Sun.
Giwa-Amu said that she noticed the plagiarism and similarities between the two books in 2013 when she saw a poster in London advertising the movie adaptation for Half of a Yellow Sun.
“The poster depicted a love story between a mixed-race woman, played by Thandie Newton and an Igbo man, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, set in Nigeria, Biafra.”
“As this was the original story of SADE, it provoked me to purchase a copy of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.”
She said that she realized that both of the book covers shared similarities after receiving it and alleged that upon reading Adichie’s book, she “discovered it was a rewrite of ‘SADE” which she initially titled THE HUMAN SACRIFICE when she started writing the script in 1992.
She alleged that after her book was approved and published by Heinemann Education Books Nigeria in the West African country in 1999, Chinua Achebe, who was one of the board of directors of the publishing firm, contacted Adichie “who started to work on the infringing novel.”
Regarded as “the father of modern African literature,” Achebe is a well-known mentor of Adichie.
Reacting to the trending video of Giwa-Amu on YouTube, Adichie and her representatives, Wylie Agency, described the accusation as “libelous.”
Adichie and her publishers claimed, in a statement, that they never knew about the book, SADE, until the allegations were raised.
They recalled that
Giwa-Amu’s claim of plagiarism had since been dismissed by a court in the United Kingdom in 2019 when she brought the case against them.
They said that a professional independent reader who was ordered by the court to read both books “concluded that there was absolutely no basis for Giwa-Amu’s claim and advised that the claim should not be pursued.
“On 15 February 2019, Anne Giwa-Amu’s claim brought against Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her publishers was struck out by the court. The court determined that her claim was ‘an abuse of the court’s process,” the statement read.
It said that Giwa-Amu was ordered by the court to pay Adichie and her publishers £14,250 ($16, 908) which she is yet to settle, alongside Adichie’s legal fees.
“Her present allegations are false, libellous and constitute a harassment to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Further legal actions are being taken,” the statement said.
Source: partly The Guardian.

How Late Justice Minister, Ajibola, Sold His Houses, Others To Establish University – Osinbajo

Greenbarge Reporters

April 10, 2023

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed how the former Attorney General of Federation and minister of Justice, Prince Olasodun Adesumbo Bola Ajibola sold his houses and other valuables just to enable him establish a university, which turned out to be the present Crescent University.

Professor Osinbajo, who paid tribute to Prince Ajibola at his interment in Abeokuta yesterday, April 9, said: “I recall that he sold all the houses that he owned and several other things to be able to establish Crescent University.”

The former Justice Minister died at the age of 89 in the morning of Sunday, April 9.

The Vice President said: “First, he (Ajibola) did not accept to be paid a salary when he was Attorney-General. At some point in his life, he told me that he wanted to establish a university, which turned out to be the Crescent University and that he was going to sell everything that he owned to establish that university.”
“This place where we stand is also a place he established for primary education and secondary education.”
Professor Osinbajo, who described himself as the “first son” of the late Justice Minister, described him as a man of integrity who had a deep commitment to the unity and progress of Nigeria.
He said that late Ajibola, who also served as Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom was “an excellent role model.
“He was a man who believed that the worth of a person is what he is able to give back to society and he demonstrated it throughout his own life. So, I think it is a life that ought to be celebrated and it is a life that is an example to us all.”
According to him, the deceased demonstrated his belief in a united Nigeria, adding: “more importantly, is his belief that one could serve in the public domain with integrity and with altruism. He demonstrated this all his life.”
Earlier during a special prayer session, the Vice President said: “I am sad that he is gone. As Segun the first son said, I am actually ‘his first son.’ It is really a great honour to have known him and to have been mentored by him.
“It was when I worked for him that I gained the knowledge and experience that eventually helped me when I became Attorney-General in Lagos State.
“I used to tell my former Attorney General colleagues back then that none of them had the sort of experience and exposure I had because I learnt so much from Bola Ajibola for 5 years before I became Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State.”
The Vice President emphasized the significance of Prince Ajibola’s contributions while alive, saying: “we can’t talk about him briefly; we would have to keep going on and on. I’m thankful that I knew him. He was not only known in Nigeria but internationally.
“He was an International Arbitrator even before he became Attorney General of the Federation and then later a World Court Judge. Even being a World Court Judge doesn’t come through appointment but rather through election by the United Nations. We are thankful to God for all his achievements during his lifetime. We pray for his wife, the children, all of us, that we will be comforted and that all of us will live long.”
A statement by the Vice President’s spokesman, Laolu Akande said that Professor Osinbajo was accompanied by his wife, Dolapo Osinbajo, to the internment of late Ajibola.

Dignitaries at the event, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba and the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Noimot Salako-Oyedele.
akande said that Vice President Osinbajo met with the wife of the departed elder stateman, Alhaja Amatulaye Ajibola and their children, where he expressed his condolences and offering prayers.

Bishop Kukah Describes 2023 Elections As “Yesterday’s Dreams Turned Into Nightmare”

Editorial staff

April 9, 2023

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto has described the 2023 general elections in Nigeria as Yesterday’s dreams turned into a nightmare.

He said, in his Easter message today, April 9: “With dawn came ethnic and religious profiling, new productions of hate speeches, threats, and gaslighting. Social media gradually became the conveyor belt for the diffusion and distribution of hate. The questions are more than the answers.”

The Bishop asked a lot of questions thus: What happened? Where did this hate come from? Has it been living within us? How did we not see it coming? Were we just blind or did we get carried away by the promises of INEC? Were we convinced that we had crossed the threshold of ethnic and religious bigotry? Did we think that the political class had changed its ways? Were we really in a Democracy? Where and why did all go wrong? Can we learn from this? Can we gather the debris and like a game of puzzles start putting things back? How can we climb out of this valley of dry bones? Are there lessons that the cross and resurrection of Jesus can teach us?”

His answer to all the questions is “Yes.”

He recalled the 1959 Documentary, titled “The Hate that Hate Produced,” that was made at the height of the gospel of hatred that the Nation of Islam deployed as a means of mobilizing for the redemption of the black man in America.

He said that the nation grew out of a selected narrative and juxtaposition narratives of the black experience deliberately calculated to generate and re-enforce a sense of victimhood and anger at oppression by whites.

“The idea then was to justify violence against the white person who was presented as the devil. The proponents of this message were later consumed by the same hatred which gradually infiltrated their ranks. The question that followed was, who is to blame for the hate that hate produced? Hatred has no redeeming values. The current state of hate does not define us and we need to slow it down. We must listen to one another and seek reconciliation. In the end, only true Christian love can redeem us.

Text of Bishop Kukah’s message is reproduced here.

Every election brings more frustration and anger and the victims all turn on themselves. The circles have gone on and on. Little wonder, fewer and fewer citizens want to risk their lives for what promises them only blood, tears, injury and death. While citizens seek outlets to express their grievances, they often find that the doors of opportunity to express their dreams are blocked. Misuse of power by the political class creates the conditions for violence. Citizens struggle to use their votes to choose those they can trust but the violent insist on taking power by the means they know best. It is therefore a mistake to think that violence occurs because Nigerians do not love themselves due to differences in ethnicity or religion. No, violence occurs because politicians do not love and respect us. We need more respect. Our politics is therefore a clash between right and wrong, justice and injustice and love and pain. Violence is often the last gasp of victims who can’t breathe.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is everything for the Christian faith. Without it, every pillar and the foundation of the Christian faith collapses. It is the single most shocking and dramatic event in human history. Over two thousand years later, the thought of it still seems irrational, absurd, fraudulent, nonsensical, unreasonable, grotesque and even scandalous. St. Paul eloquently said that the idea of the resurrection was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23). Accepting the resurrection has consequences because we have to then accept that true, there is no other name by which there is salvation (Acts 4: 12). St. Paul repeats: If there is no resurrection, then Christ has not been raised, if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is in vain and you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14).
Preceding the resurrection are the three days, from Good Friday to Sunday (known as the Easter Triduum), marked by fear, anxiety, uncertainty, disquiet and wariness. The passion of Jesus Christ is the story of our lives with its ebbs and flows. It is a story of sin and redemption. His triumph assures us that even when it seems that God is asleep and does not care, God wakes and subdues the turbulent seas (Mk. 4:38). For this reason, there is sure hope of victory for all people who strive to follow Christ and His Way. I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, though he dies, shall live (Jn. 11:35). This is the power of the resurrection that mocks the powers of this world. Resurrection, not death, has the final word of History!

The much-awaited elections, so full of promise have come and gone, well, not yet, some might say. They generated so much enthusiasm and excitement among our citizens who believed they would be a defining moment for our country. The buildup was marked by so much expectation about a transition to a new order in Nigeria. The outgoing President had given his word that his legacy would hang ensuring that we have successful elections. The Electoral Umpire, basking in self-confidence, assured Nigerians that these would be the most transparent and seamless elections in our history. We took the assurances in good faith.

Half of the population had registered for the elections and were armed with their voter’s cards. On election day, the national mood had a sense of an Easter metaphor to it. First, like the journey to Jerusalem, joyous citizens filed out to their designated polling units. Our citizens, fired by patriotism, braved the harsh weather (rain or heat), hunger and thirst, depending on their locations across the country. As the day wore on, we had news of the usual glitches about election materials arriving late, a song that sounded familiar.

Much later in the day, there were reports that the scenes were getting ugly with evidence of a return to our old ways now known as voter suppression: ballot box snatching, intimidation, physical violence against ordinary citizens, with reported incidents of injuries and outright killings. Amidst all of this was the utter chaos around the uploading and transfer of the results. INEC’s garment of legitimacy and credibility was now caught up in a barbed wire of conspiracy theories. As the day drew to a close, a cloud of doubt spread across the country as the excitement and high expectations vaporized.

Nigerians now look back with utter shock as they survey the debris and litter of mangled bodies, destroyed ballot boxes and stolen or torn ballot papers. Yesterday’s dreams turned into a nightmare. With dawn came ethnic and religious profiling, new productions of hate speeches, threats, and gaslighting. Social media gradually became the conveyor belt for the diffusion and distribution of hate. The questions are more than the answers: What happened? Where did this hate come from? Has it been living within us? How did we not see it coming? Were we just blind or did we get carried away by the promises of INEC? Were we convinced that we had crossed the threshold of ethnic and religious bigotry? Did we think that the political class had changed its ways? Were we really in a Democracy? Where and why did all go wrong? Can we learn from this? Can we gather the debris and like a game of puzzles start putting things back? How can we climb out of this valley of dry bones? Are there lessons that the cross and resurrection of Jesus can teach us? I say Yes.

I recall the 1959 Documentary, The Hate that Hate Produced, which was made at the height of the gospel of hatred that the Nation of Islam deployed as a means of mobilising for the redemption of the black man in America. The Nation grew out of a selected narrative and juxtaposition narratives of the black experience deliberately calculated to generate and re-enforce a sense of victimhood and anger at oppression by whites. The idea then was to justify violence against the white person who was presented as the devil. The proponents of this message were later consumed by the same hatred which gradually infiltrated their ranks. The question that followed was, who is to blame for the hate that hate produced? Hatred has no redeeming values. The current state of hate does not define us and we need to slow it down. We must listen to one another and seek reconciliation. In the end, only true Christian love can redeem us.

Nigerians are so collectively frustrated that it is almost impossible to convince them that they can find justice. Everywhere you turn today, Nigerians look forlorn, disconsolate, lugubrious, and despondent. Our swagger is gone. We look like men and women returning from a funeral, murmuring discontentment in hushed tones. It is therefore not surprising that even the victors are blowing a muted trumpet.
Unpleasant as this may sound, the blood that they have shed could be seen as the blood of the birth of a new Nigeria. It can become the blood of our new birth, our redemption. However, we cannot accept that violence and bloodshed are the normal routes to power. Because like the blood of Abel, the blood of those who have been murdered continues to cry out to heaven seeking justice ( Gen. 4:10). Though we are tempted with the drudgery of fatigue and despondency, unlike the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, we should be ready to wait in patience for one hour or more (Mt. 26:40). Our dream is merely in suspense, a punctuation mark in the book of our unfinished greatness. Let us see this as a detour, a diversion. We still have our roadmap in our hands. It is time to return to the highway to choose a road less travelled, a road of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and hope. The ugliness of yesterday must not define us. We must finish this journey together. We shall neither relent, slow down nor give up. The resurrection is a promise that despite the seeming hopelessness, God’s plans cannot be frustrated. Those who position themselves at night with stones to guard the entrance of the tomb will find themselves confounded at dawn by an empty tomb. A new Nigeria will emerge from the tombs of our seeming helplessness.

In resolving our problems, the easy part is to seek out scapegoats. We have done so by exploiting our differences and turning them into weapons of war. Stereotypes are cheap commodities for blackmail, especially in states weakened by a corrupt political class. Those beating the empty drums of hate are leading their followers to places where the streets have no names. They have lynched and murdered their imaginary enemies. The evil men on the streets are not disease afflicting our nation. They are merely symptoms. The real diseases are those of us, men and women, sitting on the thrones of influence and power, those who adopt silence as a tactical weapon of choice, those who look the other way and who use silence as an excuse to sit on the fence of deceit. Like Pilate, they rise on the throne, wash their hands and return to the shadows, afraid to speak justice, and turn a blind eye to the truth (Mt. 27: 24). Those of us who take this position have the blood of the victims on our hands and are complicit.
Sadly, our current crisis should be only a paragraph in the book of our nation’s trials, trauma and search for healing. Each of us should be courageous to take a stand. During the trial of Jesus, Peter exhibited two contrasting personalities in one. First, facing the army of those who had come to arrest Jesus, armed with dangerous weapons, he fearlessly pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of a very influential member of the crowd, Malcus, High Priest’s slave (Jn. 18:10). In doing this, Peter showed that he was ready to die to stop injustice. However, down the line, as Jesus is brought to trial, the same Peter, weighed down by fear, decided to follow Jesus from a distance (Mt. 26: 58). Following Jesus from a distance exposed Peter’s cowardice and leads him to deny Jesus three times. When we are distant from God, we are exposed to danger and fear. Injustice feeds on the wine of fear and suspends truth. If we are close to God, we have no fear because perfect love drives out fear (Jn. 4:18).

Yes, we are all angry and we all want Justice. Yes, we have the right to be angry and we should be angry. But, angry about what, angry with whom and justice for whom? St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the angelic doctor of the Church, said: “He who is not angry when there is a just cause for anger is immoral because anger looks to the good of justice. If you can live with injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.” You cannot develop empathy for a victim unless faith enables you to love him/her as a child of God. If we allow injustice in our society while claiming to be believers, then as St. Paul said, we are empty gongs (1 Cor. 13:1).

Anger is a legitimate emotion and it possesses some curative and even redemptive uses. When motivated by a higher ideal, a higher sense of honour, it transforms into righteous indignation and we are compelled to hold up a sign that says, No, Enough is enough. Anger against injustice and misuse of power is a just cause. That is why Jesus whipped the traders out of the temple (Mt.21:12). The challenge is how we process it and how we focus on its roots. We have to ensure that anger does not hold us, prisoners. In all, our journey is long and winding, exhausting but promising, sorrowful but expectant.
Whatever may be the nature of the imagined human solution to the problems of violence in our society, the human heart must undergo spiritual circumcision (Rom. 2:28, Gal.5:6, Phil. 3:3). Rather than focus on the scapegoat or the lamb of sacrifice, all of us need to pause and ask if we were participants or guilty bystanders in the violence among us. Pope Francis has asked us in his Easter message to “go into our own wounds, to look at the tree of our humiliation, the cross of Jesus, to ensure that our hopes are not sealed in a drawer. In this way, our long-awaited peace can come”. Peacemaking is not a specialised subject. It is a gift of God that is within each of us. It is about how we treat one another. This is why the urgent task before us is to restore the dignity of the Nigerian nation and its citizens. Nigerians have for too long been beaten by the rain and the sun of injustice. There can be no peace when those who live in glass houses, have mastered the art of throwing stones at those they have kept in the rain and under the scorching sun. Until Lazarus and the rich man can sit around the same table, there can be no just peace or justice (Lk. 16:19-31). Peace is not the absence of war. It is the fruit of justice.

As you prepare to return to Daura or Kaduna, I do not know if you feel fulfilled or that you met the tall dreams and goals you set for yourself such as: ending banditry, defeating corruption, bringing back our girls, belonging to everybody and belonging to nobody, selling off our presidential fleet and travelling with us etc.

You may have followed my engagement with you through these Messages over the years. You publicly referred to me during one of our visits as your number one public critic with a huge smile. I commend you for the fact that you have known that none of this was done out of malice but that we want the best for our country. May God guide you in retirement while we all embark on the challenge of reclaiming the country we knew before you came.

I am hopeful that you will appreciate that the most urgent task facing our nation is not infrastructure or the usual cheap talk about the dividends of Democracy. These are important but first, keep us alive because only the living can enjoy infrastructure. For now, the most urgent mission is to start a psychological journey of making Nigerians feel whole again, of creating a large tent of opportunity and hope for us all, of expanding the frontiers of our collective freedom, of cutting off the chains of ethnicity and religious bigotry, of helping us recover from the feeling of collective rape by those who imported the men of darkness that destroyed our country, of recovering our country and placing us on the path to our greatness, of exorcising the ghost of nepotism and religious bigotry.

You face difficult challenges ahead and you are mortals. The future of our country hangs on your deliberations. I will not judge you. I can only pray that God gives you grace. It will be up to you to decide how you use that gift which no amount of influence or power can buy.

Nigerians are saddened that your sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten your reputation as the last hope for all citizens. It is sad that your hard-earned reputation is undergoing very severe stress and pressure from those who want justice on their terms. Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as the interpreters of the spirit of our laws. The future of our country is in your hands. You have only your consciences and your God to answer to when you listen to the claims and counterclaims of Nigerian lawyers you have to decide the future of our country. We pray that God gives you the wisdom to see what is right and the strength of character and conscience to stand by the truth. You have no obligation to please anyone. Our future depends on how you arrive at your much-awaited judgement.

I salute your energy and courage. You fought a good fight across party lines. Your engagement and involvement substantially changed the contours of our politics. Things will never be the same again. However, the youth do not belong to any single party, no matter the temptation. You must look at the mistakes of the past and avoid them. Note that your actions today will shape tomorrow. Learn the rules of good sportsmanship, no rules, know your roles, know when to fight, what to fight for and know when to walk away so you can embrace other fights. In all, most of you did well, but some of your colleagues lost their lives at the hands of members of your groups. Keep the dreams, but know the contours of the long road ahead.

Oh God, our creator, we thank you for the gift of our dear country. We have not lived up to the vision that you have for us – a vision of justice, peace, unity, and prosperity for all our children. Yet, we thank you for your mercy upon us. Father, please guide our transition to a new dawn. Banish evil and insecurity from our land. Give us the spirit of forgiveness and heal us from our infirmities, that blindness which makes us forget that we are brothers and sisters, children of One Father. In your mercy grant eternal rest to those who have died and give us the strength to start again. May the power of our Risen Christ be upon us and our dear country. Amen.

A happy Easter, Nigerians.

Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate To Rise To 40.6 Percent In 2023– Expert Report

Editorial staff

April 9, 2023

Nigeria’s unemployment rate has been estimated to rise to 40.6 percent in 2023 from 37.7 percent in the previous year.

This is according to a recently released report by global professional service firm, KPMG titled: Global Economic Outlook.

The report noted that unemployment in Nigeria is expected to increase on the back of limited investment by the private sector, low industrialization, as well as slower than required economic growth.

The Nigerian section of the report, which was titled: “Challenging macroeconomic fundamentals in a transition period” was prepared by former Statistician-General of the NBS, now Chief Economist, KPMG in Nigeria, Dr. Oyeyemi Kale and Oluwole Adelokun, Associate Director, Strategy and Economics, KPMG in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 3.52% year over year in Q4 2022 compared to 2.25% printed in the previous quarter, with an annual growth rate of 3.1% for the year against 3.4% in 2021.

Growth in 2022 was driven by the non-oil sector, as continuous recovery in household consumption boosted spending, particularly in the finance and insurance services, telecommunications, and transportation and storage services.
While the non-oil sector grew by 4.84%, the oil sector contracted by 19.22%, largely attributed to worsening oil theft, pipeline vandalization, underinvestment, and other operational challenges inhibiting oil production.
The report estimates that Nigeria’s GDP will continue to grow at a relatively slow pace of 3% in 2023 due to the slowdown in economic activity that typically characterizes periods of political transition in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s unemployment has been trending upward over the years, reaching a record high of 33.3% in Q4 2020 according to the last NBS labor report, with over 23.1 million Nigerians out of jobs. This statistic is expected to worsen in recent times considering the ripple effect from the covid-19 pandemic, economic downturn, high inflation, and massive layoffs in the tech space amongst others.

An excerpt of the report reads, “Unemployment is expected to continue to be a major challenge in 2023 due to the limited investment by the private sector, low industrialization and slower than required economic growth and consequently the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian job market every year.”

“Although lagged, the National Bureau of Statistics recorded an increase in the national unemployment rate from 23.1% in 2018 to 33.3% in 2020. We estimate that this rate has increased to 37.7% in 2022 and will rise further to 40.6% in 2023.”
The report also highlighted the impact of the high inflation environment on the economy, with projections of at least 20% in 2023.
“Headline annual inflation maintained its upward trend throughout 2022, reaching its highest levels in almost two decades and closing the year at 21.34%, with food inflation and core inflation growing by 23.75% and 18.49%, respectively.”
“To combat rising inflation, the Nigerian Central Bank (CBN) raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by a cumulative 500 basis points in 2022, to 17.5%, and increased the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 27.5% to 32.5%.”

“However, despite these aggressive rate hikes, inflation has remained stubbornly high and is predicted to remain above 20% in 2023 due to the persistence of the structural and policy issues,” the report reads.

In Q4 2022, Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3% from 27.1% recorded in Q2 2020, representing the highest on record as of the period. The total labor force was estimated at 69.67 million, with only 30.57 million fully employed citizens.

Unemployed citizens were estimated at 15.9 million, and which total number of unemployed citizens was 23.19 million as of Q4 2020.
The NBS is yet to release any labor statistics since Q4 2020, however, the unemployment report is expected to be released in Q2 2023. The NBS has explained that the delay in the release of the report was due to the process involved in enhancing the methodology and implementation of the Nigeria labor force survey.
“We have started data collection using the new approach since the fourth quarter of the previous year, and we anticipate releasing national results quarterly and disaggregated state-level results by the end of the year,” the NBS tweeted.
According to the statistical agency, the result from the Q1 2023 Nigerian labor force survey employing the revised technique and approach is scheduled to be released in Q2.

Chimamanda, An Unrepentant Tribal Bigot, By Dele Afelumo

Greenbarge Reporters

April 8, 2023

Dear Chimamanda, what a beautiful nonsense you just penned to the President of America, Joe Biden! It was a portrayal of angst by an unrepentant tribal bigot trying assiduously to whip up sentiments by appealing to the American public! As much as you try to discredit the electoral victory won by Tinubu, you and your co-travellers will not succeed. Lobbying for cancellation of the election or howling jeremiads on the streets of Washington D.C by attempting to be a back-alley abortionist of people’s will and currying international support will all amount to an exercise in futility.

You and your ilk have caused so many problems in Nigeria that you should be ashamed of what you just wrote. In 1993, it was one hellish scoundrel called Arthur Nzeribe who quickly formed ABN to brazenly scuttle and torpedo the freest election conducted in Nigeria then. This time around, your are in the fray to do the same, treading the famished, inglorious, perfidious, labyrinthine, serpentine, deathful and dastardly pathways that Arthur Nzeribe once trod with a mission to set Nigeria ablaze again. You will not succeed in your devious enterprise.

Your tribal and fillial appendage with Gregory Peter Obi is well understood as blood will ever be thicker than water, but for you to pen a nonsensical gibberish with the sole aim of overriding the victory of Mr Tinubu, it is too pedestrian, disingenuous, malevolent, irresponsible and condescending. Your overrated candidate came a distant third in that contest and the earlier you realize that, the better for you. Your Obiscopic lenses through which you narrowly, myopically and parochially viewed the election would soon break into minute useless shards with banal hues. If you know so much about politics, why not put your hat into the ring? You just have whittled down whatever miniscule respect some people may have had for you thus far and many would start seeing an inveterate ethnic champion in you, henceforth.
Ever heard of force majeur? Why didn’t
you read the account of why INEC jettisoned the initial plan of real-time transmission of the results? Why are you more catholic than the Pope? Why are you belittling, insulting, assailing and assaulting our intelligence, sensitivities
and sensibilities through your invective-riddled submission to President Biden unconscionably? By trying to pen repetitive allegory and obfuscate the whole process, you are nothing but a dangerous, uncharitable, over-venerated specie giving a tacit support to an unruly chauvinist brigade hellbent on pulling down the country just because one trading fellow with unscholarly English and dirty past did not win. You hobnobbed with like minds given to depravity to concoct lies as gallop polls in the run-up to that exercise so as to browbeat some undiscerning minds into a transparent subterfuge —believing that your candidate would win. It was in the public domain that your kith and kin tried all manners of dirty tricks through hacking to rig in your candidate so that you would later shout hurrah, the election result followed the pattern of your doctored gallop polls which you had bored us with ab initio. Online activism does not win elections. Somebody failed woefully to appeal to a huge segment of the population in the entire north and won only within his enclave, and rather than see this as a true reflection of the people’s will, you busied yourself throwing incendiary adjectives all over America to carpet everybody in Nigeria so as to throw away the baby with the bath water as if we were still a colony of the West. The earlier you borrow yourself some sense the better.

You and your people want to emasculate everybody and plunge this nation into another blitzkrieg of unimaginable proportion, you will not succeeed this time around. Working in cahoots with some strange bedfellows or with those of same toxic and cacophonous cerebra to, yet again, annul that election is an invitation to anarchy. If you feel you are in a safe sanctuary in the USA and can throw or dart some dangerous goblin on Nigeria to breed hate, division, anarchy with fatal and cataclysmic consequences, remember, your people will also be affected too.

That election defied many odds. Many governors lost their states to the opposition. Even the President-elect lost his firm grip on Lagos. Mr Buhari lost his Katsina base while El Rufai’s political wizardry could not win him Kaduna, yet you are busy pooh-poohing and sacrilegiously puncturing and discrediting the whole process as a sham or charade! How dare you! That election may not have been the best but in few places where there was violence, the people stood solidly to exercise their franchise. Did you have an inkling of what transpired in Obi’s immediate enclave in the east? Many APC apologists were either killed or prevented from voting. Were you cerebrally on sabbatical break when the election that produced President Biden plunged America into a never-seen-before orgy of violence with fatalities recorded? With a whiff of hindsight, was the election annulled on that premise? Ironically, it is the product of that election that you are obsequiously kowtowing and genuflecting for with the sole aim of consigning Nigeria into a pariah state again. Where Obi won in his precincts with some APC voters disenfranchised and some paid the supreme sacrifice, you never rationalized it as a heinous crime but in other places where he lost glaringly, you wanted the whole exercise cancelled. This is nothing but sheer ambivalence. Late Prof (Eze) Chukwuemeka Ike wrote that only a foolish fly follows the dead into the grave. The ealier you extricate yourself from those inanities, jejune irrationalities and incongruous permutations and come to reality, the better for you.
No amount of writing will reverse the collective will of the people. As a fellow who wrote the account of the civil war that claimed millions of lives, built valleys on their cheeks, made them pot-bellied and a caricature of anything human, you should know better that writing effusively to cause chaos is a height of unpatriotism. If in the events you cause another civil unrest, it would be too late to plead self-exculpation and self-abnegation your ill-thought out writings would have caused. Obi lost that election glaringly and there is no way you can dress a vassal—festooning his ambience, adorning him with costly ornaments and apparel— through malcontent depositions, he will remain a vassal and never a prince.

Dr Dele Afelumo is a practising physician.

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