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Fola Adeola Identifies 12 Giant Evils Plaguing Nigeria, Suggests Means of Tackling Them

Published

7 years ago

January 22, 2019

Eric

The Founding Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Mr. Fola Adeola, has identified the 12 giant evils plaguing the nation as well as ways to tackle the scourge.

These evils, according to him include the evils of hunger, ignorance, disease, idleness, darkness, voidness, barrenness, wastage, aimlessness, crookedness and insecurity.

Adeola identified these evils in a lecture he delivered on “Human Development Index vs Economic Growth: Nigeria’s Policy Options” at the third edition of Vanguard Economic Discourse in Lagos.

He warned that if the evils are not addressed, they would ruin the nation.

Below is a full text of his lecture:

Recent public policy debates have put forward the idea that Nigeria’s policy options center around an Economic Growth versus Human Development Index (HDI) dichotomy. I am concerned that this juxtaposition sets up the false premise that the choice can ever, in fact, be binary – that it is possible for a good leader, or even one that aspires to simply average results, to choose either economic growth (usually expressed as GDP growth) OR human development (as represented by HDI) as the basis for a national policy – either because one is sufficient, in itself, or because the other will naturally follow.

Proponents of an “economic growth” policy thrust put forward the position that if we just focus on growing the economy, human development will naturally follow. They would have us believe that the cure for what ails Nigeria is a leader who will focus on growing the economy, because if our economy grows, the rest of what ails us will naturally be dealt with – and our country will be transported from third to first world on the back of the prosperity that is created. This is an alluring proposition: it is attractive in its simplicity, and is even logical in the same basic sort of way. The reasoning goes something like this: if there was more money to go around, the government would have money to fund intervention, people would have more to spend, and the country would be better. Economic growth advocates, therefore focus on annual increases in GDP (i.e. the value of goods and services produced in a country) of GDP per capita (GDP relative to the size of a country’s population. There are obvious issues with limiting policy to a GDP conversation. The most commonly cited are that GDP only measures the formal economy (leaving out the value of activity in the informal economy), and that GDP per capita does not address issues such as wealth distribution – both important issues in developing countries. GDP also does not track how money is spend, or what investments are made. As a headline progress indicator for countries like the US or UK, already in some steady state, economic growth as a sole indicator of progress and compass for policy may well be instructive. Not for Nigeria.

Perhaps to circumvent these gaps, and in search of a more inclusive measure of progress, a clamour for the human development index (HDI) as a policy barometer has increasingly found voice. Advocates believe that because HDI also takes into account life expectancy, access to knowledge (as measured by average years of education in the adult population, and expected years of schooling for young children) as well as the “standard of living” (as measured by the country’s Gross National Income – a measure similar to GDP, but which includes income made by nationals who live abroad, and excludes what is made by non-national in the country), it puts offers a measure that is robust, reflective of the population’s reality, and internationally understood. What could possibly be wrong with that?

My answer is this: that as an index for speaking to the world about our progress, HDI is worth calculating, and tracking, as it offers some insight into the effect of a country’s social policies. But those insights are limited, to health and educational duration – not quality – and, again, to national income figures that say nothing about allocation and distribution. We should admit, also, that as headline communication measures, even GDP and GDP per capita have their uses: they can be both externally and internally instructive about the state of the nation relative to other countries, and as a measure of the effect that population growth has on revenue management. The more people there are, the higher GDP has to be for there to be growth on a per capita basis. That much we can glean. Those concessions notwithstanding, if we accept that the purpose of national policy is to effect real change, and not simply to speak to the world in headlines, then we must consider that neither economic growth nor HDI can be sufficient as a basis for driving national policy – we are too far off course for these to be our policy development anchors.

To my mind, a more granular, more responsive approach to policy formulation is required for Nigeria, and we must begin by asking the question “what are we developing policies to address?” In other words, what do I mean by “we are too far gone?” In researching this paper, I came across the London School of Economics’ definition of social policy as “the services and support provided by the state across the life course of citizens, from childhood to old age: including child and family support, schooling and education, housing and neighbourhood renewal, income maintenance and poverty reduction, unemployment support and training, pensions, health, and social care: with an emphasis on reducing inequalities in access to services.” It sounded almost utopian. I, frankly, had to remind myself that that speaks more to how far we have fallen than it belies the fact that those – indeed – are the issues with which responsible governments should be concerned. I say “remind myself,” not because I recall it from something I read or watched, but because I have lived it. Not that long ago, in my own lifetime, the Nigerian government (or at least the Western Region Government) had policies and programs in place to address most, if not all, of those social needs. I am sisty-five years old. Imagining our present condition, even fifty years ago, would probably have been considered ludicrous pessimism; yet here we are.

What exactly is our present condition?

We are a bastion of penury, as evidenced by the living standards of our people. According to research produced by the Brookings Institute, Nigeria has 87 million people living in extreme poverty – more than any other country in the world. Can this be true? Let’s go back for a minute to the discussion on GDP per capita. We are told that Nigeria made 375.8 billion dollars in 2017 (I do not have the figures for 2018), and that there are 190.9 million people in the country, so GPD per capita is $375.8 billion divided by 190.9 million, that is $1,968 or N708,480. Now, even if we had the luxury of spending all our income on citizens, this would still only come to about 5 dollars a day per person. If we then consider the country’s other financial obligations, size of government, and general income disparity, it makes sense that almost half of us are living in extreme poverty. Both HDI and economic growth indices will reveal this.

We are a debt-burdened nation – numbers from the Budget Office of the Federation indicate that Nigeria spent 66% of its earnings on servicing debt in the first half of 2018 – up from 22% in 2012, and ascending all the way to 68% in 2017. Neither HDI nor economic growth figures can guide debt and revenue management.

We are an increasingly illiterate nation – UNICEF estimates that 13.2 million Nigerian children were out of school in 2015, up from 10.5 in 2010. Even those who are in school have little hope of receiving quality education, with only 0.5% of national GDP allocated to education. While economic growth will be impacted by this, it will not measure it. An HDI-focus will track, but not address it.

We are an irresponsibly procreating people – Every four seconds… That is the statistic. Every four seconds, a child is born in Nigeria. At an annual population growth rate of about 2.6% per annum, Nigeria will apparently be the world’s 3rd most populated country by 2050 – at about which time, the country is projected to have depleted 85% of its oil reserves. Considering that almost half of our population is already impoverished, what sense can there possibly be in breeding like rabbits? Both HDI and economic growth will reveal this, as trends after the fact

Crookedness has become synonymous with our national brand – Transparency International ranked us No. 148, out of 180 countries in the world in 2017 Transparency Index. In 2012, we were No. 121. And the way we are fighting corruption, if indeed we are fighting, then surely we must consider that our fight is both toothless and ineffective, and rethink our approach. Neither HDI nor economic growth-centered policies can address this.

It is a grim condition, indeed, which is why we must do better than base our interventions on “tidy” indices that do not guide responsive policy formulation. This is not a start-up sovereign, such as Israel. Rather, we are a country on a collision course, barely a nation in any real sense, and deeply plagued by fundamental evils which if not addressed, will ensure our ruin. It is through this lens – of the evils that plague us – that my own view of a development policy for Nigeria is constructed. You might ask why I would choose to define policy on the back of problems – evils. My polite answer is that the role of a government is to respond to/create an enabling environment for the needs, challenges and aspirations of its population to be addressed; and, that where there are barriers to this, taking them down must be the foundation of policy. This is why they are called policy interventions – their singular purpose is to remove the barriers to national ascension.

The choice of the word “evils” in describing our particular barriers is a function of their depth and destructiveness, and is quite deliberate. To call them challenges would be a lie, it would cause us to underestimate their pervasiveness and leave any responses we may craft inadequate to address their rot. If we are running away from the insufficiency of GDP and HDI as foundations for policy, then we must run toward the kind of brutal honesty that will compel us to strive for a different existence. I also believe that by first describing our afflictions, it becomes possible to define organised remedies (or policy interventions) and articulate a future state (in other words, a vision) for our country.

The idea of naming a nation’s ills as a foundation for policy-making is not an altogether original position, I should admit. In 1942, during World War II, the United Kingdom commissioned a national survey with a view to developing a comprehensive social policy. The result, the Social Insurance and Allied Services report, more popularly dubbed the Beveridge Report identified 5 giant evils in British society – squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. In response to each of them, policy interventions were crafted, modified versions of which remain part of the fabric of British society today – Council Housing, Grammar Schools, The Dole, Job Centres, and the National Health Service (NHS).

The severity of our situation suggests to me that we may well already be in a minefield of evils; but even minefields must be mapped in order to be disabled. That said, I have been unable to distil just 5 evils – particularly because our scope must extend beyond social policy, if any impact is to be realisable. What I have arrived at, after much musing, is a list of twelve gtiant evils, that are fundamental to our present condition. There are, of course, other evils; only that they are yet to attain the size of giants. Nigeria’s TWELVE GIANT EVILS, in my view, are the following, and they break down as social, structural, economic and psychological.

The first five are social, and in fact, identical to the findings of the UK Beveridge Commission during World War II – and that may tell us something, both about the universality of the human condition, and the state of our country.

Hunger – the inability of citizens to access food, due to extreme poverty.
Ignorance – the absence of quality basic education, fueling an inability to make informed decisions about their leadership, followership and lives.
Squalor – decrepit living conditions – from clean water to housing
Disease – preventable sickness and deaths, borne of poverty, ignorance, and abysmal health-care options.
Idleness – lack of jobs, and access to opportunity/resources.

The next two are structural:

Darkness – the absence of steady or predictable power,
Voidness – compounding the absence of power, is a dearth of infrastructure (pillars to support a productive economy, inadequate and poorly maintained roads, public transit systems, etc.) has translated to stagnation of key industries.

The next two economic:
Barrenness – A failure to produce, and therefore to generate adequate revenues to fund our development.
Wastage – A failure to manage even the available resources. Poor expenditure, taxation, and debt management, cost of government (particularly the national assembly).

And the final three phyhological:

Aimlessness – Leaderless, visionless, directionless, and without order. Just existing, subsisting actually.
Crookedness – Intentional and devious creativity, aimed at taking unethical (often illegal) advantage of a poorly managed system.
Insecurity – Living in fear of violence, exploitation, without protection or just recourse.

It is certainly possible to nuance, unpack, and debate, ad nauseum, my choice of twelve, but all good debates are limited by time. Let us therefore take these as sufficient for the purpose of advancing this discussion. What we are trying to establish is first that we are a country plagued by some very fundamental and pervasive problems and, second, that confronting those problems systematically and comprehensively is the responsibility of a responsible government, and must be the foundation of policymaking. Any national agenda that does not address, or at least consider the breadth of our afflictions is, by definition, inadequate and unworthy. You cannot restore health to an HIV positive patient by treating pneumonia. Nor can you administer HIV cocktails and ignore the already-present opportunistic infection. Ask the doctors, broad-spectrum ailments require broad-spectrum treatment. Sometimes this calls for sequencing, sometimes trade-offs, but the life of the patient hangs on accurate diagnosis of all underlying conditions, and the physician’s skill, in determining a treatment protocol. The grace of God, of course, is implied; first in assembling this confluence of factors, and then in completing what lies beyond the limits of human endeavour. But first, let’s deliver appropriate and directed human endeavor, over which, we have been given both choice, and control.

Given the bleak picture painted of our country, it is not an unreasonable question to ask whether this writer has not entirely given up on Nigeria. What future can one possibly envisage if we acknowledge these evils to be true? “Can our present circumstances be changed, or are we beyond redemption?” I believe they can be changed, I believe redemption is possible, but I also strongly believe that it cannot be accidental. It must be deliberate and systematic, and it must be based on difficult truths, because there are too many of us for denial and natural resource booms to be our ticket out of penury. Also, although the scope of a Nigeria turnaround must necessarily go beyond social evils, I have ordered my dozen giant evils in this way for a reason: listing the social first, and not second or third, because, even having first made the point that our policy priorities must be entire and mutually propelling, I also believe that order, not priority now, but the sequencing of our thoughts and interventions must begin with people. To the extent that it is people who make up a nation, their lives must matter first, and their needs must lead our other priorities.

My reasoning rests on the strategic logic of starting with the end in mind, and I will give you a non-statistical, non-clinical, though no less valid insight into my leaning on this. I grew up in a world where parents considered their children an investment, and made financial sacrifices for the child as well as the parents’ future. Parents, sometimes communities, ensured that children were fed, healthy, and went to school, often at great personal cost, in the belief that those opportunities would afford the child an opportunity build a better life for himself, and that the fruit of that improved future would be shared by the collective. Oftentimes, there were trade-offs between children, on the basis of aptitude, or attitude, or both. Sometimes it was gender, but the basis and fairness of tradeoffs notwithstanding, they were made. The result was that the poor birthed the rich, and many of the successful people we celebrate today can speak of “humble beginnings”. Between the knowledge of want, and a refusal to go back to it, and the sense of responsibility imbued by the sacrificers, the motivation to succeed was not in short supply. “From those to whom much is given, much is expected”, so goes the adage, and in order to give, parents went without; they borrowed, they nurtured a sense of responsibility. I believe that a developing nation, particularly one plagued as we are with these many evils, must take the same view. That its leaders must, as custodians of citizens, prioritise the development of people, and do so with an investment mentality. I believe that by first planning for it citizens, a nation puts itself in a position to understand what its actual financial requirements are (for those of you who are commercially inclined, we can call it a target budget), and can then set economic growth goals and unpack the strategies by which to achieve them.

Having named our shame, what do we do about it? These evils have, after all, been laid out, not to revel in despair, but to craft policy interventions that directly address our most intractable problems. To that extent, it would be irresponsible to speak of evils without offering a framework on which policy responses can be anchored. I should

Describe the evil, and why it is evil…
What is the future state that we want to replace the current? (We must take the time to describe this is painstaking detail)
What cadre of peers do we anticipate we will have in that future state? (This is an important question, as it takes account of the fact that we live in an evolving world. Our peer comparisons cannot be static, they must be informed by our desired place in the world).
What specific interventions will bring about this outcome? And what role must the people themselves play? What will happen if citizens fail to play their role
What resources will we require (financial, and otherwise)? How will we get them?
How will we measure success, internally, and relative to our future peers?

If we are able to take all 12 evils, and rigorously run each of them through these six critical questions, I suspect our policy options will be laid bare before us. For illustrative purposes, let us examine the evil of ignorance:

Describe the evil, and why it is evil…
Nigeria is beset by the evil of ignorance. Of the 180 plus people in our country, 75million do not have basic literacy skills. In addition, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world – accounting for more than half of the 20 million out-of school children globally. Ignorance is evil because it negatively impacts ability of our citizens to make informed choices about their future and the future of their children, it limits their earning potential, and robs them of the opportunity to participate, much less compete, in a global marketplace. With the largest population in Africa (almost twice that of Ethiopia, which is second in line), continued illiteracy in Nigeria will spell disaster for the continent, and almost certainly result in a humanitarian crisis.

What is the future state that we want to replace the current?
We believe it is possible to avert disaster and develop and formidable talent pool for Africa by eliminating ignorance in Nigeria. An informed, knowledgeable and educated Nigerian population will have the capacity to innovate for Africa, and the world.

What cadre of peers do we anticipate we will have in that future state?
We will be one of the world’s Top 3 emerging knowledge economies within 25 years.

What specific interventions will bring about this outcome? And what role must the people themselves do? What will happen if citizens fail to play their role?
We believe that the journey must start with the provision of free high-quality universal basic education, and subsidised targeted and functional tertiary education. To achieve this, government will make it mandatory for ALL children to primary school age to attend school. Parents who do not adhere to this will face legal consequences. Tertiary institutions will deliver world-class education in the fields necessary to propel the nation’s development e.g. engineering. Education at these tertiary institutions will be at par, with the best in the world. To slow the rate of population explosion, and allow for judicious management of the nation’s resources, only families with children within the recommend limit will be permitted to enrol their children in state-funded tertiary establishments.

What resources will we require? How will we get them?
We will dimension the costs, and state the budget. We will articulate the skills, curriculum, number of teachers, facilities required. We will identify models around the world and options to borrow or leapfrog modern approaches to learning.

How will we measure success, internally, and relative to our future peers?
We will define metrics – for example, 80% minimum C average pass rates on the first school leaving exams across the country, a 90% basic literacy target within 25 years, the lowest illiteracy level of any African country.

By defining our aspirations with precision, and addressing the questions comprehensively, our policy direction for ignorance and all of the other 11 giant evils that plague us can be determined based on this proposed framework.

While space limitations will not permit a full review of all 12 giant evils, there are two in particular that require some further exposition, as I believe they are central to any hope we may have of turning this country around. The first is the evil of aimlessness. Where are we going? What is our national vision, and what is our plan for getting there? To my mind, this even more essential than many of the restructuring debates that proliferate our polity. Structure follows strategy, not the other way around. So we must define (either by adopting the vision of a leader who presents us with a rigorously considered, viable and aspirational roadmap, or through representational participation in a conversation about national direction) a path for Nigeria.

To me, envisioning a future for Nigeria starts with having a vision for the people. “The people perish, no have no vision…”What do we want the lives of the people of Nigeria to look like in 25 years; and the answer to that question must go beyond “good” or “prosperous” or “world class”, none of which actually means very much. To address this comprehensively, we must go back to the giant social evils and be specific – e.g. want to reduce the percentage of our people living in extreme poverty to 5%, etc. We must find a leader who will speak to us every day, reminding us of that collective dream. We must instill it in schools, and in the public space. We must become unapologetically brainwashed, steeped in our vision of a better future.

The second is the evil of barrenness. I find it interesting that we so readily and derogatorily call women barren in our society, referring to biological processes over which they invariably have no control. Yet, we – the nation – despite having significant control over our ability to produce, fail to recognise our own national sterility. We produce nothing. Nor do we have any concise national plan that I am aware of, to build and hone expertise in producing anything. A country that does not make does sustain, and extraction is not the same as production.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 99% of Nigeria’s export revenues come from oil. There is a lot of narrative around diversification today, but I have heard nobody say, ”we will be the best at producing these 3, or 4, or 5 things globally”. We either talk about solid minerals, and gas, which, incidentally are also extractive, or we pay lip service to agribusiness. Where is the land to accommodate endless commercial production of anything and everything? Where will this uncontrolled population live, if cassava and rice are our competing for space with people and livestock? We must get real. I am not saying the country does not have agricultural potential, but we must focus, and do so from the beginning to the end of high-value chains only. The primary agricultural level, it has been established, is where the smallest profit resides. Switzerland, the home of premium chocolate, does not grow cocoa. Yet it is they who set the standards; chocolates are now graded, based on the level of cocoa inclusion. We, on the other hand, continue to peddle a pedestrian narrative of growing enough to feed an endlessly growing number of mouths. We don’t plan for wealth, we plan for subsistence. This cannot be a viable path.

The first question, in my view, is this: what do we need to fund the future we desire? This is the reason why I insist that we must lead policy formulation by addressing social evils first. By understanding the kind of future we desire for our people, we can work out what the cost of that future is, and plan for how we will generate the funds for it. Funding sources will require creativity, some borrowing possibly, ambitious revenue generation targets, and clear strategies for achieving them. We already are the 7th most populous country in the world. Even if we were to magically stop procreating today, we would still remain in the 90th percentile on population size for a while to come. This means, if we go back to the discussion on GDP per capita, that we need to have a GDP in the top quartile globally to give our citizens a world class lifestyle. How will we build that wealth? Surely, not by subsistence. Nationally, we must plan to bear fruit – premium, high value, fruit and on more than one front. And that planning, the identification of transformative sweet spots, has already tarried.

A word of note is probably prudent here. A country that plans to produce on a global scale, must be prepared to make significant sacrifices. No country with a populatiom like ours has gone from 3rd to 1st world by keeping doors completely open, and continuing to import everything from luxury cars to toothpicks. China closed its doors. India closed its doors. Singapore didn’t, but hey don’t have out population If shutting doors has become unfashionable, the use of tariffs has not. Perhaps it is time that those who have amassed sufficient wealth to live above the development of their nation, begin pay for the luxury of their imported lives.

The clock is ticking on Nigeria. Oil reserves are dwindling, the population is rapidly increasing. From a country that planned, and saved and provided high quality social services, we have devolved into one that is entirely dependent on its revenues, practically, from one product, oil. When the global price is high, we declare a boom. When the world is not quite as interested in our subterranean treasures, or those in whose backyards the oil wells actually lie refuse to be appeased by token payments that have not, in 60 years, improved the livelihoods of the inhabitants, we plunge into a recession.

If we continue to ignore the reality that we are a country on the precipice, it is almost certain that we will fall over. It can get worse, and there are examples all around us. Yemen, Sudan, Libya, the DRC; these are all countries with people who also pray to “the living God”. Between the opioid optimism of the religious, and the parochial preoccupation with the nuclear that numbs the elite, we are stumbling towards Armageddon. And the thing about Armageddon is it engulfs all: the poor, the rich, the innocent and the guilty.

Less than thirty days to the next election, it might be worth pausing to ask ourselves what we are looking for? Is it the leader who offers us change (to what, and from what?), or the one who offers us prosperity (for whom, and by what means?). Is it the one who offers youth (as an elixir for what?), or the one that offers experience (as a credential in lieu of a vision)? Why do we consistently choose between less than and nothing? Can we start now, to demand more? Can we take this country and own it? Do we care enough about our futures and our children’s tomorrow, to wrestle it away from these giant evils? Who are we waiting for? The strongman who will close our borders and insist we start to fill the void? Or do we continue with this survival of the fittest, where the weak are destroyed, until none of us is left? We have choices to make… about our votes, and about our roles. May God bless Nigeria, and teach her people to be a blessing unto themselves. Our lives depend on it.

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Ribadu’s Office Denies Arming Miyetti Allah in Kwara

Published

10 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Eric

The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), under the office of the National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has refuted claims that it armed members of the Miyetti Allah group for counter-terrorism operations in Kwara State.

The Head of Strategic Communication at NCTC, Mr. Michael Abu, issued the rebuttal on Wednesday in Abuja.

Abu described the reports circulated by some online platforms as false and misleading, saying they misrepresented ongoing security operations in forested areas of the state.

He said that in line with the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022, it continued to coordinate and support law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies in countering all forms of terrorism across the country.

NCTC spokesman explained that Nigeria’s counter-terrorism efforts guided by the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), involved the deployment of hybrid forces comprising regular security personnel and trained auxiliaries such as hunters and vigilante elements, particularly in difficult terrains.

According to him, the hybrid approach, which was previously deployed with the Civilian Joint Task Force in the North-East, is currently being applied in parts of the North-West and North-Central, including Kwara State, and has recorded several successes against banditry and other criminal activities.

He stressed that the Federal government was not conducting kinetic operations with any socio-cultural group, adding that claims that the Office of the National Security Adviser provided arms to such organisations are unfounded and should be disregarded.

According to him, all auxiliary personnel involved in hybrid operations were recruited directly by authorised security and intelligence agencies after due diligence, and that all operations were conducted strictly in line with the law and established standard operating procedures.

He urged the media to exercise responsibility by protecting sensitive security information and seeking clarification through designated official spokespersons, while advising the public to ignore unverified reports capable of undermining ongoing operations.

He reaffirmed the centre’s commitment to transparency and stakeholder engagement to deepen public understanding of Nigeria’s counter-terrorism efforts.

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Respite As Court Stops Police, IGP from Enforcing Tinted Glass Permit Nationwide

Published

13 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Eric

A Delta State Court sitting in Orerokpe has restrained the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Nigeria Police Force from resuming the enforcement of the tinted glass permit policy nationwide.

Justice Joe Egwu, while ruling on a motion ex-parte in a suit marked HOR/FHR/M/31/2025 filed by Isreal Joe against the IGP and two others, through his counsel, Mr. Kunle Edun (SAN), who led other lawyers, restrained, stopped and barred the respondents from resuming the enforcement of the tinted glass permit policy nationwide.

The order was sequel to the announcement by the Nigeria Police of its decision to resume the tinted glass permit enforcement on January 2, 2026.

Aside from the IGP, the court also restrained the Nigeria Police Force and the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Police Command, from resuming the enforcement of the tinted glass permit policy nationwide.

Justice Egwu also barred the police from harassing, arresting, detaining or extorting citizens and motorists on account of the said policy, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

The case has also reignited a dispute between the Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The NBA has maintained that the matter remains before the courts and warned that enforcement could constitute contempt.

The association said a suit challenging the constitutionality of the policy had been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, and that a judgment had been reserved following the conclusion of hearings.

The NBA further cited a Federal High Court order in Warri directing parties to maintain the status quo pending an interlocutory injunction. The association accused the police of disregarding the rule of law and urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene. “Any contrary executive action amounts to overreaching the Court and undermines the rule of law,” NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) said.

The police, through Force Public Relations Officer CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, insisted that no court order barred enforcement and defended its planned resumption on grounds of public security. Hundeyin noted a rise in crimes facilitated by vehicles with unauthorised tinted glass, citing incidents ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping.

“The Inspector-General of Police, out of respect and understanding, temporarily suspended enforcement to give Nigerians additional time to regularise their tinted glass permits.

That decision was not based on any court order but was a discretionary move to accommodate public concerns,” he said.

The announcement prompted warnings from the NBA that enforcement could trigger committal proceedings against the IGP and the Force spokesperson. The police, however, maintained that enforcement continues until directed otherwise by a court, highlighting recent incidents in which occupants of vehicles with tinted glass allegedly attacked officers.

The ruling by the Delta State High Court now legally bars the police from implementing the tinted glass permit policy nationwide while litigation on the policy’s constitutionality continues.

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Operation Wetie of the Western Region in Sweet Retrospect: Its Metaphors and Lessons

Published

15 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Eric

By Hon. Femi Kehinde

History, it has been said, is a reflection seen through the eyes of others into events of the past.

The world rotates around its history, and the universality of its lessons and constancy. Like beauty, history is in the eyes of the beholder.

In the old Western Region, attempts were made to stifle democracy, and give the region a government she did not vote for; that really drove the people wild, and justifiably so.

The disturbance was confined to the floor of the House; it did not extend to other parts of the city, and all other parts of the region were completely at peace and were not in the least aware of what was happening in the House of Assembly, until they heard the broadcast of the Prime Minister from Lagos.
The trail that started from the crisis in the Action Group went on to cause at the federal level, a major crisis between the coalition partners that destabilized the Western Region, ultimately leading to the intervention of the military and the collapse of the First Republic. The ramifications and scars of that crisis are still visible today.

The crisis in the Action Group was in retrospect, a watershed in the course of Nigeria’s journey to nationhood. All countries that became Nation-states have their watersheds, which at the time they were happening looked insignificant. Their significance is usually realized long after they have happened. The storming of the Bastilles in France was a spontaneous reaction to the excesses of the monarch and his wife, but it led to a revolution. This revolution, which caused the death of Louis the sixteenth and his wife – Marie Antoinette.

The Action Group crisis which started as a localized brawl, catalyzed into a bloody civil war and much more. During the debate on the motion which was to authorize the state of emergency in the western region, Chief Anthony Enahoro warned against setting in motion a chain of events, the end of which nobody could see or desire. What a prediction! So prophetic, so profound and so historic. He was not taken seriously then. The protagonist of the state of emergency could not see through their noses. They forgot to take to heart the lessons of history.
Ibadan is anything but far away, in fact below 100 miles to Lagos. Just about three years later, not only the prime minister, but two regional premiers, several civilians and military leaders lost their lives. Had the warning of Chief Anthony Enahoro been heeded and had there been no precipitous rush to declare state of emergency in the region, the course of Nigerian history might have been different and certainly less bloody.

A French philosopher, Paul Valery said “History is the science of things which do not repeat themselves”. History does not repeat itself. It is fools who are forced by their folly to repeat history.

The West was demonized and the plot to create disorder was hatched to give a pretext to take over running of the government and use that period to install a puppet government.

Nigeria has always suffered for lack of courage and conviction on the part of those whose duty it is to advise and counsel. Sycophancy, spinelessness, and lack of moral courage, intellectual dishonesty in the ivory tower are commonplace characteristics in all echelons of life in the country and the leadership has to be acutely focused, courageous and discerning not to fall victim.

The leaders did have moments to pause and reflects on the catastrophe they were about to unleash on themselves, but they failed to utilize these opportunities because they were blinded by their own self-interest and personal aggrandizement. They walked into the trap set for them with their eyes wide open. It was a tragedy of errors.

The Western Region, gradually going into the abyss, formally inaugurated the Egbe Omo Olofin, as against the well known Egbe Omo Oduduwa at the Mapo hall, Ibadan. Very prominent dignitaries and first class Yoruba Obas, Oba Akran, Oba Olagbegi, Oba Gbadegbo, the Alake of Egba Land, Oba Abimbola, the Oluwo of Iwo, were very prominent. Chief S.L.A Akintola and the highly partisan Chief Justice of the Federation- Justice Adetokunbo Ademola were the host. The leader of the opposition, Alhaji D.S Adegbenro, a man with few words, regarded these developments as “a sad mistake”. It should be well noted that the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Adetokunbo Ademola had in 1964 affirmed the treasonable felony jail sentence imposed on Obafemi Awolowo by Justice George Sodeinde Sowemimo in 1963.

The Federal Cabinet in its super belief of being all in all, accepted the census result and asked NCNC members, unwilling to accept the result to resign.

The Ogunde Concert Party organized a theatre tour of the Western Region, to show Yoruba Ronu, its new play from March 28 to April 25, 1964. The concert was to kick off at Ile-Ife and thereafter, move to Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, Owo, Shagamu, Ilesha Ikare, Oka, Osogbo, Gbongan, Iwo, Ado-Ekiti, Ijebu Ode. In the midst of this Concert Tour, the epic play, Yoruba Ronu, was banned by the Government of the Western Region and thus, another gradual descent into anarchy.

Earlier, on the 27th of March, 1964, Kola Balogun lost his seat as a special member of the House of Chiefs, following the withdrawal of recognition of his Chieftaincy title as Jagun of Otan Ayegbaju, by the NNDP Government of the Western Region. Kola Balogun had lost face with the Akintola Government. The electioneering campaign towards the 1965 election had started. The Premier, Samuel Ladoke, was on tour of Ijesha Division on Saturday, the 4th of April, 1964. At Ilesha, in front of Ilesha Grammar School, the Premier and his entourage were booed by students of Ilesha Grammar School, perhaps with the encouragement of their principal – Rev. Josiah Akinyemi, a staunch member of the Action Group and father of Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi.

Rev. Akinyemi was the following morning, transferred to Oyo to replace Bishop Seth Kale as Principal of St. Andrews College, Oyo. An NNDP Chieftain in llesha and a member of the Western House of Assembly- Barrister Oladiran Olaitan, had his car severely damaged and in an attempt to escape the onslaught, bottles and stones were thrown at him.

Ilesha Grammar School was eventually shut down and was only reopened after the intervention of prominent Ilesha elites, like Chief S.T Adelegan, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and also Principal of Ipetu-ljesha Grammar School, the Attorney-General, Chief Olowofoyeku and the Governor, Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi.

Also in April, 1964, a scion of the Agbaje Family, Mojeed Agbaje, was removed as Minister for Information and the Odemo of Isara, Oba Samuel Akisanya, a first class Oba, was removed as a member of the House of Chiefs.

On the 8th of June, 1964, Chief SLA Akintola, the Premier, was driving to Mapo hall, when a pregnant woman hopped her head out of the crowd and shouted, “SLA OLE! SLA THIEF!” The visibly disturbed Premier, ordered his driver to detain the woman, who was put in the Land Rover that carried the Premier’s Body guards. The accused, Kehinde Arowolo, a native of Ikenne, was charged before the Ibadan Magistrate Court for conduct likely to disturb public peace. The accused pleaded not guilty, and she denied the charge. The case was subsequently adjourned to the 4th of November, 1964.

Alhaji Busari Obisesan for the defence said, “don’t forget to bring Chief Akintola to court as his evidence would be vital to the case!” What an audacious statement.

Around this period, an Oba in one of the Ijebu towns was burnt to ashes for being sympathetic towards Akintola’s cause. Ayo Rosiji, an Akintola apologist in July 1964, had his car stoned at a car park in Marina Lagos. His confidant in his constituency, Shittu Bamidele, had also been killed by thugs, who drove a six-inch nail through his forehead. Rosiji eventually lost the Federal Election in 1964.

When there is a quarrel, even ordinary songs would have added meanings and political songs, drums, its coinages and interpretations were now being stronger than even bazooka guns. To Awolowo’s loyalist, the popular sing song was “Se lo lo ko ogbon wa o hee, Se lo lo ko ogbon wa haa, Awolowo, baba layinka i.e. Awolowo has gone to the Prison to be fortified. Interestingly, Awolowo had no child by the name Layinka.

The Federal General Election of 1964 conducted by E. E. Esua as Federal Electoral Commissioner had showed that the Government had lost control of the Western Region, but it also introduced violence throughout the electioneering campaign, arson and assault featured throughout the election. It was a precursor of what was to be expected at the Regional General Elections coming up in 1965.

In some towns and communities, arson visited upon dwelling houses, and public buildings were also added to public roasting of government supporters in the so called “operation weti e”.

The petrol poured on human beings, and such individuals were left to be burnt to death. Indeed, law and order had broken down and perhaps irretrievably and yet, NNDP was declared the winner of a massively rigged general election and his leader, was called upon by the Governor of the Western Region, Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi to form the new government.

Undoubtedly, the region was in an uproar and tumoil. Security had broken down and no one was safe on the road. There were several unofficial road blocks, everywhere and the high level of fear, indignation and security was heightened. When the Chief Justice of the Federation, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola was manhandled on the road between Abeokuta and Lagos, the gravity of the situation became very apparent to all. It became urgent that something must be done to restore law and order to the Western Region. The NNDP was a member of the COALITION – the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA), which it had formed with the ruling NPC and so it was difficult for the Federal Government to intervene to remove a regional Government formed by its surrogate, the NNDP. Yet, something must be done.

The events in the Western Region was certainly laying the foundation to the apocalypse, that was to engulf the country. The Premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara told his counterpart in the Western Region, Chief SLA Akintola, that he was coming on a visit to Ibadan. SLA Akintola told him he would not be welcome, because he could not guarantee his safety.

The visit took place nevertheless, and as an act of defiance, Premier Michael Okpara still went ahead to visit the Premier at the Premier’s lodge, Iyaganku, Ibadan. The host Premier, SLA Akintola, was nowhere to be found. Michael Okpara nonetheless, signed the visitors register and left.

It was an irony of circumstance, that Premier Ladoke Akintola, who in 1962 was prepared to defile his Party, to welcome a Northern Premier and aristocrat, on the grounds of protocol and hospitality, could not do the same thing for the Premier of the Eastern Region, who was his ally not too long ago. It would be recalled that Okpara had now joined forces with the Action Group, led by Chief (Mrs) H.I.D Awolowo and Alhaji D.S Adegbenro to form UPGA.

In the north, in the west, and in the mid-west, all was confusion. A team of lawyers sent to northern Nigeria by the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) for the purpose of looking after the legal interest of AG members was not allowed to function.

In the Western Region, trenches were dug, all in order to prevent political opponent the freedom of expression and movement. In October 1965, the Western Region went to the polls to elect a new House of Assembly, the first regional election since the Action Group crisis, an opportunity for Chief Akintola to test his popularity.

The conduct of the election caused wide spread anger which resulted in so much incidence of arson, murder, rioting and general insecurity that the army was sent to the region to maintain law and order. More than 2000 people were killed during and after the election.

After winning the 1965 election, Samuel Ladoke Akintola was called by the governor, Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi to form the new government in October 1965. His taped recorded acceptance speech and message to the people of western region to be rebroadcast by the Nigerian broadcasting corporation (NBC) had been removed and replaced with another recorded message by a mystery gunman who had stepped into the studio and made his own broadcast, denouncing Akintola. This popular gunman was later alleged to be a popular playwright, Wole Soyinka.

On the 15th of October, the newsroom of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was more fortified than ever. It was a fortress which was armed to the teeth. In the newsroom was a cubicle where the whole activity normally took place. That evening, the occupants of the cubicle, apart from the leader of the crew were Lajide Ishola, Stephen Oyewole and John Okungbona. The crew men had in their possession the recording of the speech of the Premier of the western region of Nigeria, Chief Ladoke Akintola, which had earlier been recorded at the premier’s lodge at lyaganku. The recordings which contained the message of the premier were made in both English and Yoruba. The premier had finished with the recording a few minutes before 7 o’clock in the evening and he was looking forward to listening to his speech which he had regarded as a masterpiece that will explain the situation of things in the western region.

At about quarter past 7 in the evening, Oshin breezed in into the studio cubicle with his crew men, taking with him the 2 recorded tapes which contained the premier’s speech i.e. both the English and the Yoruba version. Funnily and interestingly, just as Oshin was about to slot in the first tape, a bearded man appeared at the door, and suddenly from nowhere produced a gun and held it to Oshin’s head. There was an abrupt silence. The gunman, goatee-bearded and unmasked, demanded that the radio technician hand over the two tapes he was holding. Oshin quietly handed over the tapes to him, while the other three men in the cubicle, watched the unfolding drama with apparent shock and disbelief.

The gunman handed a tape over to Oshin and ordered him to play it. For fear of his life, Oshin slotted in the gunman’s tape and played it. The gunman listened to part of the content and quietly disappeared as mysteriously as he had come in. The whole operation was swift, brief, effective and decisive.

Pandemonium broke in as soon as members of the public heard the recording on air. Oshin had apparently run out of the studio and the gunman was nowhere to be found. The other three occupants of the cubicle were arrested and taken to the police station, where they made statements to the effect that they had no clue to who the gunman was. They had a clinical description of what exactly happened and the near unanimity about the description of the unmasked mystery gunman. The mystery gunman was eventually arrested and brought before a newly appointed Judge of the High Court, Justice Kayode Esho, sitting in High Court 6. Justice Esho was a stern, disciplined and incorruptible judge. Before the trial, the Chief Justice of the western region, Justice Adeyinka Morgan called Kayode Esho, and straight to the point said, “I have an assignment for you. It is this very important case of the hold-up of the radio station and the robbery of the premier’s tapes. It is a very sensitive assignment, which I would have undertaken myself, having regard to the importance and sensitivity, but the accused person, Wole Soyinka, is a relation of mine. I have full confidence that you will handle it very well’.

Interestingly, the Chief Justice further said, “by the way” and in a measured tone said “they are already saying you will not be able to jail this man”, Justice Kayode Esho wondered ” who are the “they”, “they” “they”. Who are those that the pronoun “they” represent.

According to Esho, why should those “they” be talking to the Chief Justice? why according to Esho? If the “they” talked to the Chief Justice, should he mention it to me while I was trying such a sensitive case, or even any case, for that matter? I got up, pretending not to have been ruffled by the statement, thanked the Chief Justice again, and left for my chambers.”

On the 26th of October, 1965, i.e exactly two weeks after the general election, Akintola lost his most cherished daughter and confidant, Omodele. Omodele died as a result of an overdose of sleeping pills.

After Omodele’s death, Akintola was beginning to have a second thought about his ability to continue with the crisis, and asked rhetorically “whether the whole warfare was worth it at all”. It was apparent then that Ladoke Akintola was greatly distressed.

According to one of the sentries at the Government house, Mr Olabode, a regional police officer attached to the government’s lodge, the premier was in a state of utter confusion, and after meetings, however late, will still travel to Ogbomoso to sleep, and come back to Ibadan in the morning. The Premier’s driver confided in the young police officer, Olabode, that the premier was fond of this trip, because the late night trip from Ibadan afforded him the opportunity of a thoughtful silence and a deep sleep.

Prince Adewale Kazeem, another known confidant of the Premier, also noticed a premier whose hands were shivering and could no longer append his signature on a straight line. Prince Adewale noticed this again and advised the premier, “Baba, why don’t you resign?” and the soberly premier replied “Adewale, O ti bo, iku lo ma gbeyin eleyi- Adewale, it is too late, it is only death that will end this feud.”

Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was in this state of disillusionment when on the 14th of January 1966, he asked his aide, R.A Obaleke, upon resumption of duty to get prepared for a trip to Kaduna. There was a plane already waiting for them at the Ibadan Airport, arranged from Lagos. On the premier’s entourage to Kaduna were Chief Lekan Salami, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, R. A. Obaleke, N.A.B Kotoye and a host of others, to meet with the Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello. At this meeting at the Premier’s lodge in Kaduna, the two premiers went into a long private session. Before the commencement of the meeting, Premier Ladoke Akintola had given some money to his Personal assistant, R.A Obaleke to buy some books for him at the bookshop.

After a long while, Obaleke came back to still find the two premiers in a very serious dialogue. Obaleke informed the premier of the need to go back to Ibadan in a good time, because there was no night landing facility at the Ibadan Airport. Premier Ladoke Akintola immediately proceeded to the Kaduna airport and was seen off by his host- the Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello. On arrival in Ibadan, the Premier and his entourage proceeded to the premier’s lodge. The cook, Effiong, a Calabar man, provided dinner for the premier, before their departure. On the 14th of January 1966, the Premier had earlier told his wife, Faderera to proceed to Ogbomoso to prepare their Ogbomoso residence for a private visit of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. In the Premier’s lodge were Yomi, his eldest son and his wife Dupe, and their son, Akinwumi, and Gbolahan Odunjo, Omodele’s son, and the visiting Tokunbo Akintola, who came in on holidays from Eton College London. It will be recalled once again, that the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in Lagos in January 1966, warned the host of the conference of an impending military insurrection and offered the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, asylum in one of the British frigates on the Atlantic water.

The Prime Minister rebuffed this intelligence report and Akintola’s report, fears and apprehensions, as mere hearsay and unfounded.

In the early hours of January 15, at about 2am, and as predicted, the army struck like a thief in the night. The army mobilized from the Alamala Abeokuta Garrison of the Nigerian Army. It was led by Captain Nwobosi, to effect a change of government in the Western Region.

The Military officers after picking Deputy Premier, Fani Kayode, moved to the Premier’s Lodge. At the Premier’s lodge, with their Military trucks, they forcibly entered the lodge. The head of sentries/Police security, Chief Inspector Sokunbi, an Ijebu man, immediately put off the flood light and was chased by the soldiers. The officer manning the back of the premier’s lodge, Police Corporal Bernard Olabode, a native of Gbongan, was equally chased, but was not discovered inside the drainage where he hid.

The Military officers, immediately put off the electricity supply to the Premier’s lodge. The officer from the ministry of works, posted to the Premier’s lodge, and whose responsibility was maintenance of the two generators at the Premier’s lodge, thought it was a power outage and immediately went to put on the manual generator, since the automatic generator could not come up immediately after the power outage. He was shot on the forehead by one of the officers and he died instantly.

The leader of the Military officers, shouted the name of the Premier, “Akintola come out you are under house arrest.” They also asked his Deputy, already in their custody, to call him, “Sir, Ladoke Akintola, it is me Fani Kayode please come out.” After hearing this voice, the Premier who had immediately upon the arrival of the army officers moved his family through the walkway from the official residence, to his office in the Premier’s lodge, knew there was real danger.

A maid of one of his children, started crying saying “E jo woooo E jo woooo” meaning “please please.” The outcry of this maid exposed the location of the Premier. There was then a gunshot from the Premier to the rampaging soldiers.

According to the Police Officer, Bernard Olabode, in his hiding location he saw bullet shots going towards the Premier’s Office. One of the shots, hit the Premier on the wrist and the Officers were still insisting that he must come out of hiding. They had promised to finish the entire family.

For the Safety of his children, the Are Ona kankanfo of Yoruba land had no choice, but to come down. He was instantly arrested by the soldiers. The leader of the group according to PC Olabode, asked Fani Kayode to identify the Premier. Apparently, they didn’t even know him. Fani Power identified him as the Premier.

According to Olabode, two Officers were placed on his right and left hand, as if facing a firing squad and volley of bullets were hurled at him. The first shot hit the Premier on his forehead, some on his chest and later the Premier gave up.

When he fell down, the leader of the group placed his leg on the Premiers forehead and asked some of his soldiers to rain further bullets on the lying Premier. The group leader, speaking in various languages, said according to Olabode, “he is a juju man, perforate him further with bullets” and thus the end of Are-Ona Kankanfo, who had fought a bitter struggle with his tongue, pen and strength.

The army had also arrested Lt. Col Largemma of the Ibadan Garrison and killed him. Col. Largemma was very close to the Premier of the Western Region, and also Premier of Northern Region. The Federal Brigade of Guards Commander in Lagos, was also killed. Major Okafor had ordered the abduction and eventual murder of the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, the Minister of Finance, Okotie-Eboh, whilst Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, also invaded the Premier’s lodge in Kaduna and killed Sir Ahmadu Bello, one of his wives, Hafsat and some Military Officers, like Brigadier Ademulegun, Col. Ralph Sodeinde and several other officers and thus the end of Civil Government in Nigeria and the beginning of Military interregnum, that did not end effectively until the 29th of May 1999, when another Military man and former Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, became President of the Civilian Government.

In retrospect, the state of emergency on the Western Region was declared on the 29th of May 1962 by the Federal Government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. No wonder, George Santyana rightly said- “those who do not know history are doomed to repeat its failures”. The “operation weti e” of Western Region certainly left its metaphors and lessons for the discerning minds!

Hon. (Barr.) Femi Kehinde is the
Principal Partner, Femi Kehinde & Co (Solicitors), and Former Member, House of Representatives, National Assembly, Abuja, representing Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa Federal Constituency of Osun State, (1999-2003).