Pendulum

Pendulum: How the South Can Win the 2023 Presidential Election

Published

3 years ago

September 25, 2021

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, please, allow me to remind you of an article I wrote in 2014 titled IN SEARCH OF MATHEMATICIANS. It was a simple calculation and permutation I made about how Major General Muhammadu Buhari was going to defeat the incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the 2015 Presidential election. As at that time, the confidence level of the Buhari camp was still quite shaky, indeed it was quite low. The APC candidate had lost three previous elections and had virtually given up before the daredevilry of Bola Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, Bukola Saraki, Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal and others exhumed and resurrected his dead ambition. It is interesting to note that of those from that list, who gave their all in ensuring Buhari’s success at the 2015 polls, only Amaechi and to a much lesser extent, Tinubu continue to enjoy some sort of romance with the President. It seems that this is not only the way of politicians but the way of Nigerians generally. We always seem to strive to ignore most of our benefactors.

Anyway, I remember how many of Buhari’s supporters bombarded my phones in utter excitement about my favourable prediction. That was the first time I ever spoke to Senator Hadi Sirika, the current Minister of Aviation. He was in the company of his friend Honourable Farouk, another protege of Buhari. I took Senator Sirika’s call in Ghana and they both took turns to speak with me. They saluted my brilliant analysis and wanted a brief clarification which I obliged. According to them my impassionate calculations and permutations had the semblance of reality. It had buoyed their hopes and given them more confidence that the goal, and task of making Buhari the President, was easily achievable if they followed my blueprint. I will explain this preamble in a moment and point out the important lessons in it.

Let’s fast forward to 2021 before we land in 2023. Those Northern politicians who are already gloating and boasting that they will contest and win and produce the next President and that heavens will not fall are merely trying to bully the Southern politicians who have suffered so much intimidation in the past and have since lost their self-confidence. The Northern politicians know the truth as well as the reality that no Northern politician can ever win a Presidential election if he can’t penetrate the South substantially. I do not talk on this matter or engage in this discourse on a fanciful, wishful basis. I do so with justification premised on scientific and empirical knowledge of Nigeria’s political and electoral history and practice since the advent of a Presidential system of government in the second Republic.

In 1979, the National Party of Nigeria found it almost impossible to win in a straight fight between its candidate, Alhaji Aliyu Shehu Shagari and Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria. The logjam and apparent looming impasse was only resolved when the highest court of the land went through the rigmarole of mathematical somersaults and ended up with the infamous, and forever notorious, two thirds of nineteen is twelve two-thirds algorithm of the existing States in Nigeria, a computation which fractionalised one of the states simply for electoral purposes, in order to fulfil the constitutional requirements to make Shagari win at the first ballot and save NPN from the potential slippery debacle of a run-off election. Had Shagari won a simple number of 13 states, Nigeria would have been saved the hoopla and hullabaloo. Even with Awolowo winning mainly in the South West and a sprinkling of other places, he gave Shagari a good fight and nearly recorded a stalemate until the ill-fated intervention of the court.

My next example would come from 1993 when Chief Moshood Abiola, from political hibernation, came out of the blue to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He instantly made it known that his reason for joining the Party was that he was ready and prepared to run in the Presidential race. Notwithstanding that this seemed an impossible mission for several reasons, Abiola was resolute in his mission and convinced of the attainment of his vision. For the purpose of the lessons that I am about to impart I will now go through some of those reasons.

SDP was largely a party of the South while its arch-rival, the National Republican Party (NRC) was dominantly a Northern Party. Interestingly, the SDP actually had a strong Chairman, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe from the Northern Borno State.

Chief Abiola was confronted by at least three gargantuan hurdles. How to grab the SDP tickets from the political heavyweights that littered the SDP, and in particular Kingibe, who enjoyed the unflinching support of most of the SDP Governors and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who enjoyed the avuncular support of the hugely politically influential Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who himself had only recently been banned from contesting by the military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. These were formidable leaders within his own party.

He had no guarantees or assurances that the military was ready to hand over power coupled with the fact that the top echelon of the military was populated by Northerners and so a Southerner could be perceived as taking a big risk with such a Northern military conclave.

Despite these seemingly insurmountable challenges, Chief Abiola remained undaunted and pursued his dream with uncommon gusto, conscientiousness and industry. An average Southerner would have panicked and possibly chickened out. But Abiola was supremely confident that he had done most of the work required to successfully take him past the finishing post in pole position in the past three decades. The Presidential race is not a day or month’s journey. You must have toured the world extensively and touched so many lives expansively and expensively to succeed. It is first a popularity contest. It is also a game of personal interests for members of the privilegentsia who call the shots in most countries. Above all, it is a game of wit and skill. A complex game of chess with very grave even fatal consequences if there is as much as a tiny misstep. It is, simply put, a tough and rough game. Abiola eventually stood against Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa of NRC, a Northerner from Kano and took him to the cleaners with the mathematical and clinical precision that an astute and cosmopolitan accountant can muster. When the military top brass realized what had happened against all odds, they had to annul the election summarily. But there was never a doubt that Abiola won fair and square. He has now been vindicated posthumously by the Buhari administration, something which General Buhari will always be positively remembered for through the ages.

Let’s fast forward to 2003 when President Olusegun Obasanjo was seeking re-election. His then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, was also eyeing the top seat and had to be begged and importuned to allow his boss to complete his second term, in peace and not in pieces. There was another challenger, former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari. I must note that by then, Buhari had succeeded in building a cult following in the North and his teeming supporters were blindly loyal and absolutely fanatical in their unalloyed support of him. It is doubtful if anyone, since the emergence of Sir Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, The Sardauna of Sokoto, had ever been that apotheosised in his lifetime in vast swathes of Northern Nigeria. Only Aminu Kano could be said to have enjoyed something similar, but his reach was limited to Kano and Kaduna States. However, despite his significant popularity in the North, Buhari could not defeat President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003. Forget the cries of being rigged out. The truth is that Baba Buhari’s acolytes could not have made him President through Northern votes alone. Buhari again contested against an ailing Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007 and still lost the election. Yar’Adua won because he enjoyed sizable numbers in the South. No irredentist can ever win a national election without a crossover appeal. Buhari’s Northern appeal was still not enough for him to tilt the popular vote in his favour.

One more example should suffice. Buhari took on President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. I’m proud to say I also contested in that election, and I learnt very useful lessons. Once again, Buhari lost the election despite massive support from the North. Whilst Jonathan, his opponent, did relatively well in the South, he was able to garner some significant votes in the North and thus the quest by Buhari to wrest the Presidency from Jonathan ended up in tatters and flames. Reports claimed that Buhari was so devastated that he wept and vowed never to contest again. The big lesson in my view is that Buhari lost because the South had a pathological fear of Buhari as an ethnic bigot and religious fundamentalist. I need not prove anything further. Buhari is the all-time example of the unjustifiable, unwarrantable and unfounded myth that the North can win Presidential elections permanently based on its numbers alone. It is a tale told by lazy and indolent politicians who are happy playing second fiddle to some nebulous and ephemeral mythical politicians in the North. When did it become the norm for the place of birth to be the only prerequisite for becoming the President of a country as ethnically diverse and religiously divided as Nigeria? As I have tried to demonstrate, nobody who has relied on the Northern votes alone has ever managed to achieve it in the Presidential system. It is remarkable that people, especially Southern politicians, forget that between 1999 and 2011 three out of the four Presidential elections were won by Southern candidates including a Southern minority.

Let me now propound the thesis of why Southerners may easily lose elections to Northern candidates. Firstly. it may be said that the Southern politicians always work at cross purposes and undermine and undercut themselves. They are so scared and frightened, of the illusionary Northern might, that they make no attempt to probe or challenge it, but rather accept it as a truism. Northern politicians are only too happy to exploit and manipulate them as they wallow in their folly. Secondly, the fable of a monolithic North has long been shattered into smithereens. No such thing exists. The Middle Belt, and now The North Central part of Nigeria, has never been fully subjugated by the core North. This fact is always glossed over or ignored by the dozy, sleepy somnolent South.

The only advantage the North had for a long time was its ability to suddenly unite during elections. But it is obvious things are no longer at ease in the North since things fell apart under the watch of the amazing Buhari. The North is haemorrhaging badly, bleeding ceaselessly and the question on most lips is of what benefit has holding power endlessly been to the long-suffering people of the North?! The current President is from Katsina State, same as former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, yet Katsina has since fallen into the hands of bandits and terrorists. So, on what basis are some Northern politicians insisting that another Northerner should take over President Buhari, in a country where many groups are clamouring for a breakup into different nations. Some of those Northerners warming up as candidates have done little or nothing in their private or public lives to request us to trust them with our political, social and economic life. Even those who have been in public life suffer from the same disability. They have neither managed people nor resources successfully. Any experience they have is one of failure, flop or fiasco! What then is their motivation for God’s sake?

My practical proposition is that we must no longer allow these artful dodgers to browbeat us into submission again with their folktales and fables. The South should wake up from its somnambulist and narcoleptic state. For 2023, PDP as the leading opposition party must stand up for its traditional role as a veritable opposition party and act responsibly by playing a joker or an ace, depending on your viewpoint. Majority of Nigerian youths today are tired of voting for recycled leaders. That is the reason for the low voter turnout in most States nowadays.

If the Southern leaders are serious, the journey should start from uniting the three geo-political zones of the South. Today, those zones face similar problems and common enemies. Some of the same issues are also prevalent in the North Central. Let the South agree for once that South is South and look for two candidates in APC and PDP with an Abiola kind of template, not necessarily a hardcore politician but people who cut across: successful, bright, tolerant, cosmopolitan, and so on. But if the Southerners continue to insist on asserting that it is the turn of Yoruba, or Igbo or Ijaw, and fail to embrace one another as Southerners, it will be a monumental disaster. This is my honest opinion.

The Arithmetic is easy, three regions in the South with a firm handshake across the North Central and it is a done deal. victory will be assured. The truth is that some inroad will be made into the massive votes that will come from Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states as well. Let nobody fool or hoodwink us that all the votes from those areas will totally be for the ruling Party. Experience has shown that this is not the case. It will not change now. It will be a lot easier for the PDP if it can get its act together and turn to pastures green in sourcing a candidate. One that is without much blemish and is not associated with the rot that the Party was known for in the 16 years of its controversial rule.

The critical question and crux of the matter is whether the older generation or the established politicians will leave power without a serious fight from the supposed new breed? Time will tell.

Pendulum

Pendulum: Why I Have Faith in the Supreme Court

Published

7 months ago

October 13, 2023

Eric

By Dele Momodu

“WE MUST DO WHAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE.

What is the argument on the other side? Only this, that no case has been found in which it has been done before. That argument does not appeal to me in the least. If we never do anything which has not been done before, we shall never get anywhere. The law will stand still while the rest of the world goes on, and that will be bad for both.” Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls (1899- 1999) PARKER v PARKER.”

Fellow Nigerians,

I’m not a Lawyer. But I’m surrounded by friends who are Lawyers. I enjoyed seeing Lawyers in their wigs and gowns and was tempted to read Law after my first degree at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you view my trajectory today, my application was bounced by the egg heads at the Faculty of Law, despite my first degree which, in some universities, would have been a prerequisite for my entry into a Law degree program. That is a story for another day. I simply accepted my destiny, with equanimity.

Since I had a fascination for Law, I privately engaged in picking and reading legal textbooks, especially anything to do with Jurisprudence and a bit of Company Law. I was particularly fascinated by the landmark cases of the iconic Jurist, Lord Denning, and how he broke rank with the traditional rules and previously held presumptions in English Law, by taking the road less travelled. I enjoyed, and relished, his radical views and witticisms. The above quote of Lord Denning is very relevant to my current topic about the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The main reason for my epistle to you today is simple and straightforward. Many Nigerians seem to have given up on our Judiciary. There are at least two monumental cases ongoing at the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the Presidential election appeals that were separately filed by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi against Bola Tinubu and INEC. Many people have called to ask why my principal, Atiku Abubakar, is wasting his time and resources on pursuing a fruitless case. None of them ever said he never had a good case. They merely gave the usual conspiracy theories as to how corrupt the Judiciary is in Nigeria, as well as the war chest of Bola Tinubu, which he’d never been known to shy away from deploying to maximum advantage. While it may be true that bribery and corruption is of a pandemic status in Nigeria, I still believe there are good people, and Judges, in Nigeria. We should therefore resist this campaign of calumny against our Judges. I have personally thrown this question at Atiku Abubakar a couple of times and he told me very firmly that he believes in the rule of Law. He mentioned how he’s been saved several times by taking his matter to the Judiciary.

The doubting Thomases in Nigeria often predicate their skepticism on the fact that no Presidential election appeal has ever succeeded in removing an incumbent President. While this may true, I believe there is always the possibility of a first time in every situation, and this is the origin of statistics.

At least, we have the reinvigorating example of Sidi Dauda Bage, a Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria who said in the case of SALEH v. ABAH & ORS (2017) LPELR-41914(SC)

“This Court must take the lead, in righting the wrongs in our society, if and when the opportunity presents itself as in this appeal. Allowing criminality and certificate forgery to continue to percolate into the streams, waters and oceans of our national polity would only mean our waters are and will remain dangerously contaminated. The purification efforts must start now, and be sustained as we seek, as a nation, to now ‘change’ from our old culture of reckless impunity. The Nigerian Constitution is supreme. It desires that no one who had ever presented forged certificate to INEC should contest election into Nigeria’s National Assembly. This is clear and sacrosanct. More compelling as a judicial determination had been taken by no less a technical panel sitting in, at least, a panel of three judges as Election Tribunal with constitutional mandate to determine such issues as they relate to elections and its outcomes, including eligibility. This has also been affirmed by the trial Court in this appeal. On these issues, our duty is to apply the Constitution and the law in its start, original form undiluted by ‘colourated’ interpretations.” (Pp 26 – 31 Paras E – B)

There is yet another superlative example: “THE POWER OF THE SUPREME COURT TO RECEIVE FRESH EVIDENCE:

Section 22 of The Supreme Court Act provides, inter alia, that *“The Supreme Court may, from time to time, make any order necessary for determining the real question in controversy in the appeal, and may amend any defect or error in the record of appeal, … and generally shall have full jurisdiction over the whole proceedings as if the proceedings had been instituted and prosecuted in the Supreme Court as a court of first instance and may rehear the case in whole or in part or may remit it to the court below for the purpose of such rehearing or may give such other directions as to the manner in which the court below shall deal with the case in accordance with the powers of that court.”*

In SENATOR HOSEA EHINLANWO V. CHIEF OLUSOLA OKE & ORS
(2008) JELR 48885 (SC), Onnoghen JSC (as he then was) held:

“Order 2 Rule 12 (1) of the Supreme Court Rules which guides the court in the applications of this nature provides, thus: “A party who wishes the court to receive the evidence of witnesses (where they were not called at the trial) or to order the production of any document, exhibit or other thing connected with the proceedings in accordance with the provisions of section 33 of the Act shall apply for leave on notice of motion prior to the date set down for the hearing of the appeal.” It is settled law that it is within the discretion of the court to decide whether or not to admit further/additional evidence on appeal. It is also settled that for the court to exercise that discretion one way or the other, it must act not only judicially but also judiciously. It is in an effort at attaining the standard of exercising its discretion judicially and judiciously that the courts have set down certain principles/conditions as guides. *The principles are: 1) the evidence sought to be adduced must be such that could not have been with reasonable diligence obtained for use at the trial; 2) the evidence should be such that if admitted would have an important, not necessarily crucial effect on the whole case, and, 3) the evidence must be such that it is apparently credible in the sense that it is capable of being believed and it need not be incontrovertible — see UBA Plc v. BTL Ind. Ltd. (2005) 10 NWLR (Pt. 933) 356 at 370–371. The above conditions must co-exist for the court to exercise its discretion in favour of the applicant.”
-SNC-U.

Thank God for social media, we are all learning Law on the go. The world is watching us and our Judiciary in particular. It is sad that our Executive arm of government is already on trial. Our Legislature is considered reckless, unpatriotic and irresponsible by many citizens and non-citizens alike. I do not know why and how they have fallen so low in the eyes of the same electorates who supposedly voted them into the hallowed Chambers. To make matters worse, the Nigerian media, which ordinarily should be the fourth estate of the realm, is also under severe attack of being compromised and divided across ethnic considerations and pecuniary gains by the government of Nigeria. This is the tragedy of our nation. So, to who then do we turn in this season of anomie? Atiku Abubakar had to approach the American Judiciary before he could unravel what should not take up to one hour to confirm at home, if the government agencies agreed to do their jobs according to international best practices.

Even foreign analysts are now painting lurid pictures of Armageddon, the final battle between the good and evil elements in our country. This should worry all of us. The Judiciary today can restore instant global prestige and adulation to our country. The Judges can automatically improve our economy by not kowtowing to the overbearing appurtenances of power, by not delivering technical judgments but being seen to ensure real justice. They can bring back the sinking influence and relevance of their profession.

A CBS newsreport that went viral yesterday should tell us that outsiders, apparently, understand the issues at stake more than us, and they appear even more concerned about the impending catastrophe, if adequate care is not taken. The explosive interview was granted by Gregory Copley, an expert in Defense and Foreign Affairs, an Editor and Publisher, to John Batchelor.This brutal analysis of our predicaments is worth listening to, reading, and digesting, if you can find it online…

Please, join me, in saying the Lord’s prayer, if you wish…

Pendulum

Pendulum: The Truth Tinubu Must Be Told

Published

7 months ago

October 7, 2023

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, once again, this is not the best of times in our dear beloved country, Nigeria. After we had thought, gladly and gleefully, that no government could be worse than the recent Buhari administration, we are now confronted by yet another monstrosity. In less than two months in power, Tinubu’s government started collapsing whatever positive legacy Buhari left behind. Yet, we would have assumed and expected a President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be far better prepared and more visionary than Buhari and his lacklustre team was. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case. While I’m not about to give an overview of Tinubu’s wobbly stewardship so far, and so soon, I’m constrained to put my thoughts and unequivocal opinion on the ongoing Tinubugate on paper. I’m doing this in my personal capacity as a Nigerian citizen and as a true and truthful friend of Tinubu. I believe only a true friend can look you straight, eyeballs to eyeballs, in the face, and tell one of the world’s most powerful men, the Gospel truth.

I have no doubts in my mind that the majority of Tinubu’s so-called friends and ubiquitous hangers-on are pretentious hypocrites. Tinubu has also not helped himself by encouraging both royals and puppets alike to worship at his feet and turning him into a demi-god. I’m convinced that they serve him no useful purpose. I will establish this fact in a minute.

The Tinubugate did not begin yesterday. It started after Tinubu returned from exile and metamorphosed into the Governor of Lagos State in 1999 and instantly became the biggest beneficiary of our epic battles in exile during the NADECO days. In all honesty, we were all happy that he was amply compensated for his salutary efforts.

But unknown to us, trouble was brewing. We didn’t know how or what led the legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, to exhume all manner of “false declarations” contained in the forms submitted for Tinubu’s gubernatorial bid. On October 11, 1999, just months after Tinubu contested and won his election, Chief Fawehinmi’s powerful interview was published on the cover of Newswatch magazine, with the screaming headline: WHY TINUBU MUST GO – Gani Fawehinmi. The fearless Lawyer also granted another interview on the cover of The Source magazine, with an even more acerbic headline: “TINUBU IS A CRIMINAL – Gani, and a rider below: Deserves 10 years in jail! On top of the same magazine was published a worrisome story: The Tinubu Story: THE SOURCE UNDER THREAT. This was the first tell-tale sign of the new and toxic Lagos State to come, a Lagos of one man, one permanent ruler, reminiscent of the Sicilian Mafia, which we privately rechristened the “Cosa Nostra” of Nigeria.
Some members of our “exile confraternity” were naturally alarmed. But we were somehow timid and, thus, carelessly dismissed Gani’s case as, at the very best, alarmist and unnecessarily meddlesome. A few of us who were very close to Gani Fawehinmi knew it would be difficult and of no effect, to approach him and try to persuade him to drop the case. The other sad revelation was when some of Tinubu’s commissioners started fretting and sweating profusely. God is my witness. Many of them, out of panic, about the imminent impeachment of Tinubu, were, stylishly, dissociating themselves from their boss. We heard all kinds of gibberish, from some of them, who are even in government today: “we brought our integrity into this government, we can’t allow anyone to tarnish it…”

Let us digress a little. One of them, extremely close to Tinubu, was the first to tell us about “the falsification of Tinubu’s age, the identity of his original parents from Iragbiji, his forged academic records”, and so on. This chain-smoker claimed absolute knowledge of Tinubu’s life. He told us in my Accra home that anyone who tells Tinubu the truth is instantly marked down as an enemy, so he has stopped telling him the truth. With this kind of mindset, you can imagine what quality of advice Tinubu gets regularly.

Then, out of the blues, my very daring and loyal friend, Tokunbo Afikuyomi, decided to bite the bullet on behalf of Tinubu. What he did was reminiscent of the “lamb of God who took away the sins of the earth…” He, like a kamikaze soldier, took absolute responsibility for the errors contained in Tinubu’s files. Miraculously, Tinubu was saved, and we were all relieved. Everyone is asking me how has Tinubu compensated Afikuyomi, and my answer is I don’t know.

It is noteworthy that Festus Keyamo had jumped on the bandwagon of those seeking to impeach Tinubu at that time. This is another story for another day. I cannot wait for my memoirs to be ready in order to put names and faces to the main dramatis personae.

Let’s now fast forward to the year 2002. There was a popular magazine known as The Week. It planned a cover story on Tinubu. Somehow, the story leaked out to then Governor of Lagos State. Tinubu immediately, and with automatic alacrity, reached out to the Publisher of the magazine, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and pleaded that the scandalous story should be dropped. Out of love and respect for his friend, Atiku reached out to The Week magazine Management and got the story to be stepped down. The Editors were miffed by this development, and in the aftermath, led to the resignation and exit of the Editor, Mr Simon Kolawole.

The meat of my epistle today is that there are many didactic lessons to pick from this Tinubugate. Tinubu eventually left office in 2007. But he never really left Lagos alone. He became Nigeria’s ultimate godfather, who determined, almost to the pin, who gets what. Many of his acolytes knew he was capable of turning them into emergency Billionaires and were ready to stand ramrod on his mandate. This, I believe, is the crux of the matter.

Now, why do I blame Tinubu and his die-hard fans? Two major reasons are carelessness (or is it negligence?) and recklessness. Why would a man who left office since 2007, 16 long years ago, fail to clean up the records that nearly got him impeached in the first instance? And given the fact that he couldn’t have personally handled those documents himself, why did the hordes of minions claiming to love him till eternity fail to deliver a world-class file for his documents?

The Laws of Nigeria never insisted that a Presidential candidate must attend a university. In the last 16 years, Tinubu should have ensured his personal documents were thoroughly checked to be squeaky clean before submitting them to INEC. If necessary, he could have easily gone back to school (Atiku still went to school recently to update and upgrade himself) and try to erase all the previous controversial details. As for his conflicting dates of birth, he should have settled for a preferred birthday date, like President Olusegun Obasanjo did. It can never be a crime that a child’s parent did not record or obtain his birth certificate. As for claiming to have worked for Deloitte and others, he should have limited himself to “I have worked for big multinationals globally and they truly enjoyed my services and valued my contributions” without mentioning specific companies and dates.

As for parentage, I would have told the world about my humble background and poor parentage. It is nothing to be ashamed of, and it is not a crime to be adopted and acquire the name of one’s foster-parents. Everyone knew how Chief MKO Abiola played the role of a father figure in my life, including travelling all the way to Ijebu-Igbo and Ijebu-Ode for my wedding in 1992, but that never stopped me from celebrating my poor parents. And if there were peculiar reasons for obliterating ones original family history, that can still be easily explained. A public figure cannot afford to keep too many secrets. For far too long, Tinubu has blatantly refused to open up his private life to the members of the public. The repercussions of this stifness have been hugely calamitous to him and his immediate family. With more openness, this could have been avoided.

Let me now go to the specific handling of the Chicago scandals. For me, Tinubu and his noisy supporters have made matters far worse than it should have been. Only his blind and shameless supporters will continue to argue over a saga that started over five decades ago. All of us who knew the truth and looked the other way brought this calamity upon our country. And it is grossly unfair.

Instead of Tinubu standing up as a man to offer sincere and unreserved apologies to Nigerians, his “brood of vipers” are busy insulting the long-suffering people of Nigeria, and studiously rubbing salt and pepper on our festering wounds. This is most unfair. This can only aggravate the anger of our citizens, especially the youths.

The first thing Tinubu should do is to climb down his high horse and experience reality for once. No man, no matter how powerful, can achieve everything by force, all the time. The popular story of EFUNSETAN ANIWURA, IYALODE IBADAN is very instructive. Power is transient.

I’m certain there is a hand of God in this latest eruption about Tinubu’s record, which has refused to go away.it is no longer about Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, Sowore and others. This is about Nigeria. Atiku has played his part honorably at home and abroad. What he achieved in Chicago was a monumental victory for our democracy. Because of Atiku, many Nigerians will have their pride restored. The burden has already been transferred to all of us. Whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court case, it is obvious to me that a new era beckons for us all except for those who choose to be voluntary slaves.

Pendulum

Pendulum: Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr: Refreshing Lessons for Generations

Published

12 months ago

May 6, 2023

Eric

By Japheth J. Omojuwa

This is neither a tribute to nor a piece in praise of Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. Presidents have defied protocol to offer praises, even across the ocean. Kings have broken tradition in offering tributes and titles, captains of industry have queued behind themselves sharing memorable and inspiring accolades to a timeless icon who did his best to moderate the celebrations. Even if one defied these and decided to try against reason, King Sunny Ade’s Fayeyemi tribute is matchless and inimitable, and I could never reach Chief Ebenezer Obey’s depth and artistry in celebration of the man. Thus, there is nothing left to be said in form of praise or tributes that could surpass those already offered by these great men and women.

I have not come to praise the man; I have only come to address the spectators who were held spellbound by the spectacle and were left wondering what could be so great about a man whom most of them have never seen and only ever get to hear of. Often, when one gets sucked into the attraction of the show, the lessons get lost.

This once, we cannot afford to miss the lessons. The stories that contributed to the making of the man provide vital context for his greatness and offer a rich source of learning and inspiration for generations to come. When these stories are left untold, myths and falsehoods can fill the vacuum, perpetuating disempowering beliefs that hinder progress and growth. For instance, some may believe that wealth can only be acquired through unscrupulous means or cronyism.

When President Emmanuel Macron of France wrote in his tribute, ‘you are humble enough to often publicly declare that the confidence of several French companies at the beginning of your entrepreneurial adventure was instrumental in building the success that is yours today’, among other French alliances, he was making reference to the man who explored for more capital through the banks. A much harder way than through the disempowering stories that people tell to explain wealth they do not understand and in the same breath excuse their own misfortune.

The moniker, ‘The Bull,’ is not merely a name with a golden insignia; it reflects some of Adenuga’s most essential characteristics. The Bull is traditionally seen as a symbol of wealth and subterranean powers. It does not just make an entry; it makes an unforgettable one. It does not recognize defeat; any appearance of defeat is a retreat that often proves costly for those who stand in its path. These traits find expression in the success story of Globacom, which is a testament to Adenuga’s tenacity and determination.

Many exited at the point the government cancelled their mobile telecom licenses. Instead, The Bull charged on, refusing the small battle of a legal pursuit and instead focused on the big prize at the end of what was going to be a protracted bidding war for GSM licenses. Adenuga had to call on his grit again when the prize he won came without the trophy. The government had its cake and ate it. The Bull’s bouncebackability came into play again because well over a year later, he got the license that was fairly won in an open bidding process. When the stories get told, you cannot have a single blot on his shield. The Bull played by the rules, even when the rules were shifted against him, his staying power meant his team returned with victory. A hard-fought one but The Bull stayed invincible.

Other companies would have been happy to just start and do a continuous chase of those who had gone ahead of them, Mike Adenuga’s Globacom defied the norm by starting out with a paradigm shift that remains unmatched in Nigeria. Instead of chasing the competition and playing by their rules, by crashing the price of SIM cards and starting out with per second billing – others said this was not possible at the time – the competition had to bend to his game. The horses that started the race earlier were now doing the chase.

Adenuga’s Globacom dragged the industry on the path of perfect competition with his early moves, he then differentiated immediately by offering services the first and second movers had not even thought of. They were left competing with him at one end in a game whose rules he had redefined by his paradigm shifting bullish entry. He left himself alone without competition at other ends, advancing and flexing with technology above what was on offer. Translated to Yoruba, o ti ilekun mo won, o fi kokoro pa mo.

One reference the tributes intersect is his humility. Humility is an interesting phenomenon. You cannot be poor and be said to be humble. Poverty and humility appear to be parallel lines, yet they find intersection because poverty is already a humble position. Albeit a position that appears to be without the choice of the bearer. When it is said that a person is humble, one must pay attention. When you are so rich with means and power but appear to be unconscious of that elevated state of being especially in your dealings with people, that is humility. Some go out of their way to be seen to be humble. That defeats the purpose. Feigned humility is not humility. The Adenuga tributes refer to the sort of humility that the man himself would only come to see in the description of the people who experienced it. The humility of a man who just is.

Attention seeking appears to be humanity’s contemporary collective de rigueur. That could be explained by the ubiquity of the Internet and its appurtenances. Contemporary culture has now birthed a world where billionaires want to evolve into bloggers even as blogger aspire to be billionaires. We have built a universe and culture where staying relevant has become a daily endeavour, yet in all of that world, we all aspire to Mike Adenuga. The one who would rather not be seen, the one who finds comfort and apparent fulfilment in not being heard. Yet the one who has impacted people and institutions so much he brings life to another moniker of his, The Spirit of Africa. A reference that captures the essence of his values and the fact that one needs not be seen to make change happen, one needs not speak to be heard. And to make great impact, intentions and action are greater than fugazi moves, vain aesthetics and puerile drama.

The rich, in observing the tradition of noblesse oblige, have often committed to philanthropy. The Mike Adenuga principle goes above that sense of obligation because giving is entrenched in his persona. In a world where many keep records of those that they helped that never returned to say ‘thank you’, the millions opportune to be blessed by The Spirit of Africa do not get a chance to. Because his generosity leaves no room to collect appreciations. The giving and the changed lives are the essence of it all.

Conversely, you won’t find a person with a higher sense of appreciation, even for the little things.

Writing about personalities can be enjoyable, but there are times when addressing important issues should take precedence. This piece is not solely about an individual’s personality, but rather the enduring values necessary to navigate a constantly changing world. While exploring Dr. Mike Adenuga’s achievements could fill volumes, the focus here is on some of the values that propelled him to success and how we can apply them to our own daily challenges. As we confront new and complex problems, the lessons we learn from those who have gone before us can be invaluable. Dr. Adenuga’s life offers a powerful example of how these values can lead to great rewards, and this is a message that deserves to be heard by this generation and beyond.

He exemplifies E pluribus unum, and of him, there are lessons to be learned for generations to come. This is the legacy one must have a sense of appreciation for. Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. GCON, CSG, CdrLH at 70 has left lessons for us in these Platinum number of years, we cannot afford to lose sight of these precious gems.

Japheth J. Omojuwa is the author of Digital: The New Code of Wealth and founder of Alpha Reach