The State of the Nigerian nation

"We have reached a moment in time when the national condition seems neither
lifeless nor deathless. It’s like the barren but sensuous serenity of the
natural world in late autumn, before Thanksgiving, containing the promise of
rebirth and the potential for resurrection."-anon

I am so saddened by the current state of affairs in Nigeria that I feel like drowning my lap top in my bathtub. Not only has the leadership failed the people but the people of Nigeria themselves leave a lot to be desire. No one is speaking against evil. Crime after crime, daily kidnappings, armed and pen robberies, the society just moved on. We are now so impervious to things that we do not care anymore. It is sad and saddening indeed.

When you need a panel to fire a corrupt Minister you have failed as anti-corruption crusader

"Nations have been known to survive in a state of advanced decay or through merely living on the brink. Some are dubbed banana republics, others client nations to more forceful and productive ones. They carry out orders which may or may not coincide with the interests of the people who constitute the nation. “ – Wole Soyinka (2011)


The problem with Oduahgate is not just the level of impunity exhibited by the leadership of Nigeria in every strata but the brazen stupidity of the bureaucrat we employed to man the gate. The defense of indefensible is laughable. The denial of the obvious is ludicrous. The cover up is criminal. We are at a point in our democracy where corrupt politicians need to know that the people of Nigeria may not have power to remove them through the ballot box due to the corruption of the electoral process but we do have power to embarrass and shame them.

The fact that the mainstream press initially shy away from the story is in itself telling on the complicity of the press in Nigeria. Without the ever present vigilance of the burgeoning blogosphere in Nigeria, we may as well give up on our democracy. The valiant work of the likes of Saharareporters and others should be commended. Sometimes they get it wrong and we rightly excoriated them, but in the long run the internet self publishing journalism has saved us more than our mainstream press have done. Their fearless work in mobilizing the citizenry against corruption in the governance of Nigeria should be commended. This is not however to say that we do not need the mainstream press. Their reach cannot be understated. It is heartwarming that they immediately jumped on board as soon as it was apparent that the scandal of overpriced bullet proof car for an aviation minister who celebrate deaths on our airways is for real.

The question is what is next. Many have asked that the president should suspend the minister. I concurred. This will follow the precedent set with former minister, Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku. This is the standard worldwide. You don’t allow a suspect to guard the crime scene. There is prima facie case that a crime was committed, the president appears to have agreed, what should follow is suspension. Nothing more and nothing less, every day the minister spend in that position give her opportunity to tamper with evidence, intimidate witnesses and interfere with investigation. The panel set up by the president is at best a ruse and a cover up. Members of the panel are neither prosecutors, lawyers of law enforcement. The NSA chief is incapable of identifying a crime if it smacks him in the face. The other panel member is a military officer and former head of service. To quote one recent writer “What's needed is expertise, patience, and methodical reasoning.” These have long since banned from Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Nevertheless, this scandal is a big test on President Goodluck Jonathan readiness to defend the integrity of our democracy and fidelity to our constitution, if he failed to dispense justice in a bid to protect his hirelings we should be ready to expose his regime for what it is: corruption ridden malfeasances!

We need to continue to put pressure on the president and the national assembly to expose every facet of corruption in Nigeria. Our future and the future of democracy depend on it.

When the Hunter Became the Hunted: The Ironic case of Olagunsoye Oyinlola

“History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior. -Vladimir Putin

There are some Nigerians who enjoy the coterie of power so much so you can’t remember when they were ever out of the loop of power. They are the AGIP-Any government in power- group. They are constantly moving up in governmental circles; in fact they will do anything to stay in power. They have little or no scruple or principles; they abuse those who dare criticize their masters. They are always available to be use to launder the image of whoever the traducers in power might be. Among these motley lots is my state former governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (I say Prince guardedly as that is what he now wishes to be called, even though he was a former military man turned militricians).

Oyinlola has been within the circle of governance in Nigeria since 1993, holding the levers of power as military administrator (Lagos State), governor (Osun State) or national secretary (People’s Democratic Party). In any and all of these positions there is nothing you can point to as achievement during his misrule. On the other hand, there are abundance of evidence pointing to corruption, abuse of power and anti-democratic tendencies. For example, in September 2009, a spokesman for the United Action for Democracy (UAD) accused Oyinlola of being the 'chief conspirator' in the alleged murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election Chief MKO Abiola, who was assassinated on the road between his (Oyinlola’s) office and that of the Canadian High Commission.

In July 2009, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, banned Igbo people in Osun state from parading themselves as Eze Ndigbo (king of Igbo), an unprecedented executive overreach. In his words he did this “in order to protect the Igbo culture and traditional institution from ridicule.” At the same time, he sought constitutional responsibilities for traditional rulers in the country, something outside the current constitution, he had sworn to protect and defend. He used the levers of power to hound his opponents as governor of Osun state, so much so that at one time he practically put the state capital on lockdown for more than 48 hours in other to stop the opposition party from campaigning against him. He empowered the local government administrator he handpicked to ride roughshod over the citizen of the state with impunity, and one of them actually crush the skull of a respected citizen of my hometown-Ilesa. He used his power as state governor, to detain and brutalized his then opponent, who is now the current governor of Osun state, Comrade Rauf Aregbesola. In April 2009, as national secretary of PDP, Next magazine reported that Olagunsoye Oyinlola was caught on tape telling local PDP politicians he would supply army uniforms, arms and ammunition so they could rig the runoff elections in Ekiti State. I could go on and on, but you get my drift, the lists of his misdeeds are endless.

Now fast forward to present interesting times. After 20 years of hobnobbing with the rich and almighty in Nigeria, he has now found himself out of corridor of power for the first time in over 30 years. Not only is he out of power, he is also getting a huge dose of what he doled out to democracy activist when he was in power. His new PDP has been locked out of their secretariat contrary to an order of court which expressly prohibits police officers from interfering in intraparty brouhaha. He is now constantly watching over his shoulders as he could be arrested by agents of President Goodluck Jonathan and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-the party chairman. He is hunted by the ghost of his past and the realities of his present. He is as much a wanted man as he once made many who oppose his misrule.

The ironic thing here is that he now runs to some of us in the prodemocracy activism in Nigeria to rescue him. And sadly, we have to defend him. As our principles, especially on freedom is not hinged on who is being deny the rights we are fighting for but the very existence of freedom itself! The fact that Oyinlola is suddenly a “democrat” at least for the moment, matters little to the fact that freedom endures. He is now ruing the misrule at the center, attacking his party boss with the constitutions, the same paper he never read but used to wrap “akara” and “boli” when he was in power. Let me made it abundantly clear though that the irony is only lost on him.

I think it was Vladimir Putin (himself a dictator) who was quoted to have said “History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.” I wonder why they never learned this homily when they are in government. Irony does writ large at these interesting times of mankind history.

Impending book publication

As I make final preparation for my new book launch, this quote came to mind:

“Outside of a dog a book is a man’s best friend.  Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”- Mark Twain

Where are the Nation's Leaders???

There was a time when people look to Nigeria for leadership in all spheres. In recent years, leadership in Nigeria is in the negative ...(cont'd)

Amaechi, GEJ and Patience: Who is on the side of Nigeria

The question should not be about whose side you are on in the ongoing struggle for the very existence of democracy in Nigeria but on who is on the side of Nigeria.- my 2 cents.

So color me blind: I am neither a pro Amaechi, pro-Patience or pro-Jonathan. I am solidly pro-Nigeriana!

Adieu Senator Pius Ewherido: Nigeria Lost a Rare Breed and Great Debater

I have not found a Nigerian politician I can endorse and celebrate. I have found Nigerian politicians with little or no conscience. There are many who will sell their offspring if it will get them to any position of power and money. So I write this sad commentary not as an avid fan of Senator Pius Ewherido, the politician, but as an alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University where our paths crossed briefly in the late 1980s.


Before there was ever a Senator Pius Ewherido, there was a student activist known simply as Pius the Great Debater. At the then University of Ife, faculty of Law, we all knew those who have seeds of greatness in them. We knew those who would graduate and steal $1 billion from shady government contracts and then spend one thousand dollars of that ill gotten wealth to buy bags of rice for distribution to the poor and the needy at Christmas time. We knew those who will take the law profession to lofty heights and those who might soon become senior advocate of Nigeria. Pius Ewherido was definitely among those in the latter category. None of us thought he will ever join politics or even aspire to be one. He was brainy, intellectually savvy and a great debater. We all thought he may end up becoming a law professor or a Supreme Court Justice one day. At Ife Law, he is one senior every junior looks forward to his appearance at the moot and mock trial. Along with Isaac Kekemeke, Raji Owonikoko, Mutiu Ganiyu, Churchill Oliseh, and of course the Odidis clan, there was never a dull moment at the faculty of Ife foyer in those days.

Pius the great debater will often convince his opponent to abandon their principled stands and join his side of argument not by any appeal to force but by sheer art of elevated sophistry. You know going in to a debate with him that you had to be prepared. Any opponents who make the mistake to enter into such debates unprepared will rue the day they join issues with him. His appeal is not just words but the soundness of his arguments, backed by facts, figures and statistics. He is a delight to hear in several impromptu debates at Fajuyi hall in those days. He was also a member of the student representative council where he moved the assembly to achieve greatness.

Whatever happened between his transition from Ife and his political days will remain a mystery for sociologist and anthropologist to dissect and researched. When I learnt he won election to Delta state assembly I was excited but then my euphoria was tempered by the platform he ran on. Some of my colleagues cautioned me to never give up and that at least Pius will change the politics of my adopted state-Delta. Unfortunately, Delta politics went from bad to worse. Massive corruption by the convicted former governor of Delta impoverished the state and turned a prosperous state into a pauperized state.

Senator Pius Ewherido eventually left the party and ran on the platform of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and won. Free of the constraint and baggage of PDP he had turned his attention to crafting legislations that address the myriads of problems that ails his people when the cold hands of death cut him down recently.

I stand with Delta people to mourn the demise of a friend, learned colleague and astute debater. Adieu Senator Pius Ewherido