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2023: Will Tinubu fight or run away?
Tunde Odesola
With a trap-like mouth comprising 80 spiky teeth, death is the smile on the face of an adult crocodile.
In a dramatised circus that pledged to protect lives, limbs and fatherland, the Nigerian military, on Saturday, October 17, 2020, embraced the crocodile and its smile when it launched Operation Crocodile Smile.
Like the smile of the crocodile which hides evil intentions, the Nigerian military, on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, wore peace-keeping camouflage and uncaged its smiling crocodile of death at the Lekki Tollgate Plaza, Lagos, to eat up innocent Nigerian children.
Ironically, while Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram terrorists and bandits despoil the land round the clock unchecked, cowardly Nigerian soldiers, under the authority of their Commander-in-Chief, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), unleashed death, despair and distress on harmless protesting Lagos youths seeking police reforms.
Nigeria surely has an unblinking General in the old and waning Buhari. And like the crocodile, Buhari is stern, severe and static. Unlike the crocodile, however, Buhari never smiled in public as military Head of State and rarely does as civilian president.
I agree, there’s nothing to cheer in the gloom inherited by All Progressives Congress in 2015 but which has mushroomed into an all-pervading doom under the Buhari preSINdency. The old soja’s ice-cold toughness thaws in the heat of clannishness, nepotism, lethargy and alleged corruption.
So, when Buhari let out a cold-blooded laughter while Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was anxiously briefing him in Aso Rock penultimate week about protesters demanding compensation for the victims of police killings, nobody saw the impending slaughtering of innocent Nigerians children coming.
Nobody, not even his harshest critics, could ever imagine that after Buhari’s Freudian laughter that danced on the graves of the victims killed by SARS, Buhari’s military would release zombie soldiers to mercilessly kill innocent children.
Yet, when his son, Yusuf, smashed his head on hard tar while competing with himself in a pseudo Grand Prix motorcycle race in Abuja despite the pervading fuel scarcity of the time, sympathies poured in endlessly from Nigerians for Buhari. When Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, bit the dust on April 17, 2020, Nigerians mourned with him.
From Lagos to Enugu, Calabar, Jos, Kano etc, there’s no prominent political leader nationwide who hasn’t, naturally, suffered a personal tragedy at one time or the other. In the tragic mix, Nigerians from all walks of life have always stood by their political leaders in their times of personal tragedies.
It, therefore, beggars belief that Nigerian leaders, especially those in the All Progressives Congress, have kept silent after Nigerian soldiers openly killed about 20 children of nobodies during the peaceful protest in Lekki.
It beggars description that despite the admission of Sanwo-Olu that Nigerian soldiers were responsible for the gruesome murder of the defenceless youths, the Presidency, military authorities and a cross-section of the Nigerian leadership have neither condemned the killings nor apologised, let alone seek justice for the innocent souls wasted in pitch darkness.
The public execution of the peaceful youths that occurred on a Black Tuesday in Lekki snatches the Nest-of-Killers title Professor Wole Soyinka bequeathed on the Peoples Democratic Party many years ago, garlanding the APC with the unenviable title, crown, sceptre and all.
Until the Black Tuesday, I never knew there exists a cold-blooded monster much more ruthless than the crocodile.
In a premeditated murder, the lights and cameras at the Lagos State-owned tollgate plaza were removed, setting the stage for crocodiles in military uniforms to move in and feast on the children of the poor.
In Buhari’s lopsided country, soldiers kill harmless southern children in a peaceful protest while the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on October 25, 2020, told the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria that his office cannot prosecute killer herdsmen because their case files were absent.
In Buhari’s next-of-kin country, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra are shot and killed in their tens by security agencies whenever they hold a protest while amnesty is given to the members of Hausa-Fulani Boko Haram terrorists who have killed thousands of innocent Nigerians.
For Sanwo-Olu to wash his hands off the Lekki bloodbath, he should unsay the lie he told that nobody died in the Lekki shooting. Also, the Lagos governor should disclose those who removed the lights and cameras from the tollgate.
I have nothing but pity for the Asiwaju of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, who said he had been reported to the Presidency as being the sponsor of the Lagos protests. Some of Tinubu’s perceived financial interests have been torched by protesters who see Tinubu’s stranglehold on Lagos as suffocating.
Speaking on Channels Television a day after the pogrom, Tinubu said it was wrong for soldiers to use live bullets on innocent citizens, querying, “Why will they use live bullets? I will never, never be part of any carnage. I will never be part of that.”
But in a fresh interview on Saturday, Tinubu said he has asked Sanwo-Olu who ordered the Lekki shooting. If Tinubu had disclosed Sanwo-Olu’s response, he would’ve earned my respect.
For a politician of Tinubu’s stature to ask a STATE governor who ordered FEDERAL soldiers to go and kill, I grabbed a dictionary, checked the meaning of political subterfuge and watched Tinubu’s horse of political correctness limp down the road to 2023 presidency.
Surely, Tinubu knows Buhari is the one to ask that crucial question and he (Tinubu) knows the answer, but the truth is gagged in the womb of an ambition.
Tragically, Tinubu is the archetypal ostrich that buries its head in the sand of ambition, calling on government to investigate wounded protesters while the killer soldiers that shot the protesters pluck the feathers on its rump unquestioned.
For Tinubu, there are four statements on the wall: One, Buhari is a bad political investment. Two, his major enemies among those he raised in the South-West will stop at nothing to undo him. Three, Buhari and the North won’t back his candidacy. Four, he needs to stand up against Buhari and fight for his political life. Maybe, just maybe it’s not too late.
When the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, realised that the Ibrahim Babangida blood-letting junta was playing games with his victory, he took up the gauntlet and confronted the military. He lost the battle to become Nigeria’s president but immortalised his name on the national political map as the hero of Nigeria’s modern democracy.
Owing to intra-party buffeting, Tinubu’s political goodwill is ebbing considerably, hence he might be stuck with mending fences with his sworn political godsons and recharging his political machinery in the South-West, nay Nigeria.
The Jagaban Borgu might have been weakened by age and ‘igbadun’ (the good life) such that the prospects of a showdown with Buhari, his political beneficiary, seem unpromising.
For two days, he ate and went to bed when the innocent were being mowed down in their prime, in Lagos. The Governor of Lagos couldn’t reach him for two days while the fifth largest economy in Africa burned. He read a 10-minute speech and never said a word of condolence for families who lost their children to soldiers’ bullets. His government locked up COVID-19 palliatives across the country while the masses wallowed in hunger. Tinubu should remember these credentials when considering his fightback options.
I watched videos of angry masses chasing hunger into palliative warehouses nationwide. Soon, the government will go after the hungry masses, clamping them in jail whereas the government should be the first in jail for locking up foods while starvation ravaged the land.
If my hunch is right, the palliatives would have been ‘re-bagged’ and distributed to an unsuspecting citizenry as incentives for votes during elections – in continuation of the exploitation Nigeria’s democracy has always been.
‘Abuja 2023’ looms on the horizon. Will Tinubu fight or run?
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: @tunde odesola
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TINUBU IS THE WISEST MAN EARTH -PROPHET IKURU.
by Collins Nkwocha
Nigerian prophet, prophet Godwin Ikuru of Jehovah Eye Salvation Ministry, Lagos magnetized everyone’s attention when he referred to the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the wisest man on earth regarding the appointment of Daniel Bwala as special Adviser on policy communications.
Speaking to reporters today in Lagos,
Prophet Ikuru applauded the president for choosing him and enunciated that he’s capable of delivering effectively and marketing the Renewed Hope Agenda of the president and urged Nigerians to stop the criticism because of what he said in the past “I’m personally happy with his appointment and I urge Nigerians to forget about the past, forget about what he must have said about the president some years ago which people are now disseminating on the social and taunting him a betrayal that lacks integrity, Nigerians should forget his past because he’s the best choice”.
Prophet Ikuru insisted that Bwala saw the sincerity and genuity of the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda and he decided to partake in it “even if he criticized the president, it was in the past, he saw the sincerity in the Renewed Hope Agenda and decided to join in nation building ,the president is ready to unite everyone in order to build Nigeria,that’s why someone like Wike is in his government,Bwala has what it’s required to be successful under Mr.president, as a wise man, the president saw it and decided to harness it ”
Finally, he praised Tinubu and referred to him as a great leader who is ready to involve everyone in his government, he maintained that his wisdom is magnanimous ,Baba is truly the wisest man on earth.
U.S. Courtroom Shock: Funke Ashekun, Husband Collapse as MFM Wins
Had FFK Faced Mehdi Hassan, Nigeria Would Have Spoken With Fire
By Mohammed Bello Doka
In politics, timing is everything. In diplomacy, character is everything. And in moments of national importance, leadership must be entrusted to individuals who possess not only experience but courage, intellect and an unshakable commitment to the nation they represent.
It is for this reason that the appointment of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode as Nigeria’s Ambassador to a foreign nation stands out as one of the most consequential diplomatic decisions in recent years.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, better known in the South as “FFK” and in the North as “Sadauki”, is one of the most brilliant, experienced, accomplished, vocal, respected, educated, profound, intellectual, patriotic, disciplined, well-read, historically literate, versatile, forceful, persuasive, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, charming, eloquent, courageous and resilient men in Nigerian politics and he has paid his dues and proved his worth over the last 35 years in politics and political discourse.
In each role he has played he has excelled and succeeded even when he was in opposition.
His friends value him as a great and loyal defender and his traducers and political adversaries fear and respect him because when he goes to war he is utterly relentless, takes no prisoners and literally spits fire.
How I wish it was him that was interviewed by Mehdi Hassan of Al Jazeera and not the young and inexperienced Daniel Bwala because he would have not only humbled Hassan but also done Nigeria proud.
He played Bwala’s present role in the Presidential Villa 23 years ago as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s spokesman and not only brought the then President’s domestic enemies to their knees but also had a series of very hot exchanges with foreign Government officials like America’s Under-Secreatary of State for Africa Jendaye Fraser and the White House over the Charles Taylor issue and Liberia.
Tinubu decision to appoint him as an Ambassador for our nation was a wise one because he will fight for and protect the interests of Nigeria and the Nigerian community whetever he goes and will never sell his soul or bow to foreign imperialist interests.
His appointment is not about just rewarding loyalty for the key role he played in Tinubu’s presidentiel campaign organisation as Director of New Media and Special Operations in 2023 and the staunch support he has given the President over the last three years but also about putting a square peg in a square hole.
If you want to put Nigeria first Sadauki is the one to do it.
If he runs the Nigerian Mission in the country that he is sent to in the same way he ran the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Aviation when he was Minister to each of them one after the other twenty years ago he will do very well and both our nation and whichever nation he is posted to itself will benefit from his efforts.
History teaches that diplomacy is most effective when nations deploy individuals who possess both intellect and courage.
As the American statesman Henry Kissinger once noted, “Diplomacy is the art of restraining power.”
To do so successfully requires deep historical awareness and strategic clarity—qualities that have long defined Fani-Kayode’s political career.
Sending a politically seasoned voice like FFK to any nation that is a key partner to Nigeria signals that Bola Ahmed Tinubu intends to strengthen Nigeria’s diplomatic posture with confidence.
Throughout more than three decades in the political arena, Fani-Kayode has remained one of the most resilient and outspoken figures in Nigerian public life despite numerous challenges which would have broken and destroyed lesser men.
Regardless of all that was thrown at him he continues to pull through and come out victorious which is why many refer to him as the “Akanda Eledumare” and the “Ayanfe Oluwa” which mean “the strange one of God” and “the beloved of the Lord”.
There appears to be a divine dimension to his life that makes him unstoppable and irrepressible even though his enemies are legion.
One wonders what sets him apart and makes him so different.
There is no doubt that his education played a part in it and this set him apart from most.
He never went to school in Nigeria but was educated from the age of eight in England starting off at Holmewood House School in Kent, one of the UK’s best and most famous Preparatory schools, after which he attended the famous Harrow School just outside London which is, together with Eton College, an institution that is the exclusive preserve of high society in the UK, one of the two best private schools in that country where only the ruling elite, the rich, the well-to-do, the famous and only a tiny proportion of those in British high society can afford or even qualify to attend.
No less than eight British Prime Ministers, including the great Sir Winston Churchill, and countless British cabinet ministers attended Harrow and so did many leaders, diplomats and top politicians from many foreign countries.
After finishing at Harrow he attended some of the top universities in the world, including London University (SOAS) and Cambridge University (Pembroke College) where he did so well.
As a matter of fact his great grandfather, Rev. Emmanuel Adelabi Kayode, attended Furrough Bay College which at that time was part of Durham University and graduated with an MA (Hons.) in Theology in 1893. His grandfather Justice Adedapo Kayode attended Cambridge University (Selwyn College) where he studied law and graduated in 1922. His father Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode attended Cambridge University (Downing College) where he studied law and graduated in 1943. Sadauki himself graduated in law at Cambridge University (Pembroke College) in 1984 whilst his daughter Folake Fani-Kayode graduated from Durham University in 2009.
No African family has an uninterrupted streak of 116 years of Oxbridge-level university graduates except for the Fani-Kayode’s which is something that both his family and every patriotic Nigerian should be proud of.
It therefore makes perfect sense that a man from such a distinguished pedigree and intimidating lineage and that has such an extraordinary intellectual heritage should represent Nigeria on the international stage.
There is also his role in the debate on Gaza which made him a hero in the eyes of millions of people in the Global South both amongst Christians and Muslims.
He spoke out consistently about what he described as the genocide being committed against the Palestinians and he was prepared to put his life and career on the line for this cause even though most Nigerian leaders and politicians refused to say what he was saying publicly out of fear of the Zionist lobby and the Jewish state.
His sense of patriotism is unquestionable and nothing reflects this better than his series of essays written against Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the British Opposition Conservative Party and his write up against one Ben Llewelyn-Jones, who at that time was the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, when the former consistently sought to insult and denigrate Nigeria and the Nigerian people and the latter attempted to interfere in our internal affairs by making statements in support of Peter Obi and his Obidients in the 2023 presidential elections.
Sadauki successfully put them both in their place and when American Senator Ted Cruz, President Donald Trump, Congressman Tim Riley and other American politicians began to peddle the false narrative and fake gospel of Christian genocide and persecution in Nigeria Sadauki, a devout Christian himself, rose to the challenge and more than any other Nigerian wrote about the issue in a series of essays pointing out the fact that as many Muslims were being killed as Christians by the terrorists in our country and that Christians were not being persecuted by our Government and are in fact faring better when it comes to positions in the security apparatus and governance under Tinubu than they did in the previous administration.
He also spoke out boldly against President Trump and his administration when they accused the Government of South Africa of indulging in genocide against the white minority population in their country and pointed out the fact that South Africa, like Brazil, was a shining example of a successful multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation that was treating its white minority population with the greatest respect. Few Africans said a word to defend South Africa at the time even though they knew that Trump was wrong but Sadauki did so without thinking twice.
He is clearly a strong Pan-Africanist and a believer in the importance of the African Union, African solidarity, the BRICS coalition and the Global South alliance comprising of China, Russia, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other emerging world powers.
This is commendable and it reflects his courage and disdain for those that display ignorance, disdain and contempt for our nation and people and that seek to denigrate and misrepresent us.
Sadauki is not the type that bows and quivers before Westerners like so many other Nigerian leaders and politicians but rather takes pride in his Nigerian culture, race, heritage and identity and is prepared to defend us and speak for us no matter whose ox is gored and who is involved.
In an increasingly competitive global environment, Nigeria requires diplomats capable not only of negotiation but also of defending national interests with conviction.
If the energy, eloquence and intellectual fire that have defined Fani-Kayode’s political life accompany him to the country to which he has been posted, his tenure may well become one of the most consequential chapters in Nigeria’s modern diplomatic engagements.
I wish him well and I thank God that he is back in the saddle of public office after so many years.
What more could any of us ask of this great and noble son of Nigeria?
This is undoubtedly the quality of personnel and leaders that we need on the international stage.
I hope and pray that in his endeavours and during the course of his work he meets with Mehdi Hassan in a debate and prove to him and the rest of the world that Nigeria still has men that can not only match them but that can also remove their trousers in any verbal encounter. Bwala put us to shame but FFK can redeem us before the eyes of the world.
(Mohammed Bello Doka, the author of this essay, is the publisher of Abuja Network News and can be reached via [email protected])
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