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OPINION: For the Yoruba Of Northern Nigeria [Monday Line]

Published

8 months ago

April 14, 2025

By Lasisi Olagunju

“As an Offa citizen, I am made to look like an inferior being. While competing for anything in the North, I would be told that I am a Yoruba man. If there is something to compete for in the South-West, I would be reminded that I am a northerner. Permanently, I am an inferior citizen until this lopsided, skewed, warped national structure is re-configured.”

Chief J. S. Olawoyin was the leader of the opposition in the Northern Nigerian House of Assembly from 1956 to 1961. On Wednesday, 5 February, 2025, I was in his hometown, Offa, Kwara State, to review a book launched by his family and the Offa community to posthumously mark his centenary. Olawoyin was the first Asiwaju of Offa and a Yoruba patriot who used his entire political lifetime fighting against his people being put unfairly in northern Nigeria. For this, he was jailed, released and jailed many times. At the book launch event, I used the review to interrogate the dilemma – actually the tragedy – of a floating people; bats who are neither south nor north. The quote above is on page 22 of that book.

Heaven is God’s throne; Earth, His footstool. Whether throne or footstool, whichever you are, you are part of the palace. But some people are neither throne nor stool; they are neither on earth nor in heaven. They float. That is what we see in the recent NNPCL appointments and the subsequent noise over the Yoruba of northern Nigeria’s Kogi and Kwara states, and the perceived privileges they enjoy under a south-western Yoruba president.

My Zaria friend came for me at the weekend. He called (calls) me Tinubu’s man. I don’t know what I have achieved to merit that badge of honour. He accused me and everyone around me of marginalising the North in federal appointments. “Once you people can’t get a Yoruba from Lagos, you go pick one from any of the SW (South-West) states. If none exists, you slide to Kwara or Kogi to get one. Tinubu will be an OTP (One Term President). It shall be well.” That is his WhatsApp message to me.

His mention of Kogi and Kwara strikes me. Butterflies are not birds and can’t be birds unless their Creator recreates them. Think about this: If you were born a Yoruba, and Kwara or Kogi is your state, can you ever be president of Nigeria? If you contest a major political party’s presidential primary and there is a freak, and you win the ticket, where will your running mate come from? Will he or she come from the North where you geographically belong or from the South where, ethnically, your home is? Can you even be vice president? The same factors that make you unfit for number one cancels you out for number two.

But, sometimes the butterfly enjoys birdy bounties. You are Yoruba from the North Central. You will be lucky if the president is your brother Yoruba from the South-West. Because blood is thicker than water, he will give you jobs that are zoned to northern Nigeria. Only he can do that. To any other, you are a nobody. And, if your brother does that for you, he will say Eni ò dùn mó kò gbodò wí. Those unhappy won’t be able to shout because they also need you tomorrow. You have been that lucky twice: Under Olusegun Obasanjo, you produced, twice, the Chief of Naval Staff (Admirals Samuel Afolayan and Ganiyu Adekeye). The officers, in 2001 and in 2005, respectively filled a northern slot – because they were northerners. And now under Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Yoruba of Kogi and Kwara become, once again, northern Nigerians.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: [OPINION] Omololu Olunloyo: An Egret Flies Home

Every ethnic group should be a ruling house in a just Nigeria. But no. There are Royal Houses, long decided. It is a huge misfortune to be a minority here. It is worse if your tiny conchie has to contest a space with regional hawks. Think of how really the minority have fared in the North since the beginning of Nigeria. The British were not tentative in anything they did here; they left records. And, through those records, we get great insights into what they did with the country, where we are and the likely face of the future.

I use their records to address here the spectacle of spectators called the Yoruba of the North Central. Those who created Nigeria divided the regions (north and west) along the lines of pre-colonial conquest. With painstaking dutifulness, they also maintained interesting profiles of the tribes that inhabit each of the regions. For the North, they observed and kept a meticulous account of the peoples, their features and their characters. They then decided who would rule and who would serve the rulers.

Major G. Merrick, researcher and officer of the colonial government, wrote a long list of tribes in his ‘Languages in Northern Nigeria’ (published in October 1905). Beyond listing the tribes, he has a cross-ethnic comparison of each of the peoples’ mental and physical fitness. The first group he identifies in our North are the Shuwa Arabs whom he says “are a good class of men” who have “a certain independence of spirit, objecting to being commanded by Yorubas…whom they hold to be inferior races.” This feeling, he says, “has earned them a reputation for insubordination.” The Hausas, he says, “make the best soldiers”. The (northern) Yoruba are “useless as soldiers.” The Fulani, he writes, are “an intelligent race” but they are “somewhat exclusive, and the negro is, in general, somewhat afraid of them.” The list is long. Every ethnic group mentioned in that publication has a mark of the beast.

Lord Frederick Lugard in his ‘Northern Nigeria’ (published in January 1904), has a deeper (political) assessment of the groups that make up his favourite Northern Region. To Lugard, the Hausas are “the business-men of West Africa” who also “make admirable soldiers, and are brave and reliable.” The Yoruba, Lugard notes, “are hardly less keen traders than the Hausas, at least equally industrious, and much quicker to learn.” The Fulani, he calls “the ruling race” but whose “misrule has compelled interference” by the British. Lugard, however, declares that “bad as their (Fulani) rule has been…the future of the virile races of the protectorate lies largely in the regeneration of the Fulani.” Lugard explains how he arrived at that conclusion. He says the Fulani’s “…coloured skins, their mode of life and habits of thought, appeal more to the native populations than the prosaic rule of the Anglo-Saxon can ever do.” He then declares a resolve “to regenerate this capable race, to mould them to ideas of justice and mercy, so that in a future generation, if not in this, they may become worthy instruments of rule under British supervision” (page 8).

Note what those two gentlemen wrote on the principal tribes of the North. The past is forever true with our present. It explains why some people rule forever, and others, till eternity, rue their exclusion from power. Think about T. S. Eliot’s “Time present and time past/ Are both perhaps present in time future/ And time future contained in time past.”

My Zaria friend was angry because of the appointment of the NNPCL Managing Director, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, a native of Oke Ode in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. My friend would not listen to me when I told him that Kwara and Kogi are in the North and Ojulari, from that axis, is a northerner like him. He insisted that the reason the man got the job was because of his Yoruba ethnicity. From my friend’s tempest, it would appear that the far Muslim North is the only North. He forwarded to me a social media post comparing Buhari’s nepotism with that of Tinubu. My friend gave the trophy of dubiety to Tinubu.

A very long list of Yoruba appointees of Tinubu is slithering across the World Wide Web. I looked at that list; I read through Buhari’s records. One mirrors the other. They mock Nigeria; they shame decency; they laugh at whatever our old and new national anthems say about unity and brotherhood; about truth and justice.

The government is scrambling to say the Tinubu list is a lie. The regime stutters, very embarrassingly. Can we also have lists of appointees made from other tribes? Tribe and tongue are the new identifiers. States and regions are dead.

Whatever the North does to the Yoruba and their Tinubu now and in the future serves right the Yoruba elite. They used to demand a restructuring of the Nigerian federation for better delivery. They harassed regimes after regimes with that demand. They said it was the cure-all for what ailed Nigeria. But they are quiet now; very quiet. They are either with their brother, eating with both hands and with ten fingers or they are sharpening their teeth, expecting to be called to the table. It is a shame that they forget that this Egúngún festival is never forever. At the end of this season, priests and all, including their children, will have to pay before they eat àkàrà and èko.

We read statements that talk of “Tinubu’s Yoruba government”. Can I be allowed to say that Tinubu is not building a Yoruba cult for Nigeria? The strongman is, instead, carefully building a sect of personal devotees. A majority of his worshippers being Yoruba (from Lagos) is just normal. But how far can one region, one ethnic group, or a cabal, or a family go enjoying Nigeria alone? We saw how fleeting, brief, and transient it was with the insular, north-centric regime of Muhammadu Buhari. The streets of the North enjoyed it while it lasted. And, I think some of us warned the North that time that today would come; and it is here. Where I come from, we say that if you eat alone, your eyes would be red twice: the first time is when you eat yours, the second is when others eat theirs. If I were of Buhari’s persons and region, I would be too ashamed to complain that someone is using my fake coin to pay for my service.

Ikú nde Dèdè; Dèdè nde ‘kú – Death baits Dede; Dede baits Death. Tinubu plays the tongue-twisting game. The president took the chairmanship of the NNPCL from his bosom friend in the South-West; he gave it to an ‘outsider’ from the North-East. He took the Managing Director of that company from the North-East and gave it to the North-Central. The two top jobs went to the North, yet the North is in pains. The South-West has neither of the two juicy positions, yet it is rejoicing and dancing. The region that lost the chairmanship of the oil company is grateful; the one that gained the firm’s two topmost posts is angry. Oxymoronic reactions. Outsiders would be confused. But the child that is crying knows why it is weeping; the mum knows why the child is inconsolable. From the two divides are reactions that confirm the artificiality (or superficiality) of what we call zones and states, and Nigeria. It is a stain on our claims to a banner of unity and strength.

Our president does what he wants when he wants it while leaving the dazed asses to bray. But, across the Niger is a humming volcano called the North. It is very evident that the North is mobilizing for battle. The northern establishment has gone to exhume Buhari from provincial Daura. They’ve replanted him in their regional capital, Kaduna, for proper coordination of the street and the boys. I think Tinubu knows what is going on; but he is not bothered. He thinks he is the other power bloc and is on very firm ground. He truly is. If he were in Italy, he would be addressed as Capo di tutti capi – boss of all bosses. He thinks he is Nigeria’s very first real strongman. And he acts and lives it. He has money in super abundance – his wife and son show this off dropping some billions here, some billions there – in a season of famine. The man has power and he knows how to use both with precision and to maximum effects. He combines Muhammed Ali’s stings with Iron Mike Tyson’s bulldozer punches. If I were part of his enemies, I would be very worried. This man won’t go the Goodluck Jonathan way.

In all of this, the ordinary man, north and south, are the losers. They lose life, they lose living. Under Buhari’s ‘Change’, their lives took a plunge. Today, they battle to breathe.

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ICPC, Works Ministry Launch Nationwide Audit Of 760 Road Projects Worth N36tn

Published

28 minutes ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Federal Ministry of Works have jointly embarked on an unprecedented nationwide audit of 760 federal road projects valued at more than N36 trillion.

This is according to a statement released by J. Okor Odey, spokesperson for the anti-graft commission, which described the feat as one of the most extensive infrastructure verification exercises in Nigeria’s history.

Odey said the Special Tracking Exercise, which commenced on November 14, 2025, deploys combined teams of ICPC investigators, engineers from the Works Ministry, and independent experts from professional bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS).

According to the statement, the audit teams are currently operating across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to conduct physical verification and performance assessments of the targeted projects.

The initiative aims to close financial leakages, strengthen procurement integrity, and guarantee that Nigeria’s massive investments in road infrastructure yield real value for citizens.

The commission said key objectives of the exercise include enhancing fiscal governance, exposing and deterring contract fraud, enforcing contractor accountability, and recovering funds from inflated or failed projects.

The commission emphasised that the collaborative approach was designed to ensure sustainable and cost-effective infrastructure delivery nationwide.

The field activities involve detailed inspections of project sites, scrutiny of contract documents, and evaluation of deliverables.

The commission promised that at the end of the state-by-state assessments, findings would be compiled into a comprehensive national audit report. This will form the basis for sanctions, financial recoveries, and other enforcement actions against individuals or companies implicated in wrongdoing.

“This exercise represents a proactive, system-driven approach to safeguarding our national infrastructure investments,” the commission stated.

“Tracking 760 projects of this magnitude underscores our resolve to partner with government institutions in closing leakages, promoting accountability, and ensuring that public projects translate into tangible public good.”

The ICPC reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening transparency in public procurement and ensuring full value for every naira allocated to federal road projects.

In other news, Justice Josephine Obanor of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting at Jabi, Abuja, has affirmed the powers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate scholarship funds in Kano State.

Officials from the Kano State Ministry of Higher Education, led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Hadi Bala, and those from the Kano State Scholarship Board, had dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the ICPC before the court, alleging that invitations sent to them by the commission violated their fundamental rights.

Their invitation, which requested that the officials provide documents and clarification on allegations against them, was part of the ICPC’s investigation into a petition received by the commission, alleging financial impropriety in the administration of scholarship funds in the state.

Delivering judgment in the case brought before the court in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/2857/2025, the judge upheld the power of the anti-graft agency to carry out its statutory mandate of investigation.

Justice Obanor held that an invitation letter from ICPC for investigative purposes does not constitute a breach of fundamental rights.

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Gbaboyor’s Allegations Against Otuaro Baseless, Malicious — PAP Office

Published

2 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Editor

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has described the recent allegations made by Mr Jude Gbaboyor against the Administrator of the Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, as baseless and malicious.

In a video circulating on Facebook, which he purportedly recorded in the United States, Gbaboyor levelled grave and unfounded accusations against Dr Otuaro, including claims of murder, ritualism, and kidnapping.

Reacting to the video, in a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Administrator, Mr Igoniko Oduma, on Monday, stated that the video in which he called for the Administrator’s removal, “represents yet another desperate attempt by Gbaboyor to defame Otuaro’s character and undermine the credible work of the Programme.”

The statement added that “Gbaboyor now a fugitive committed the crimes of cyberstalking among others and decided to flee the country to evade arrest and prosecution.”

The statement emphasized that the said Gbaboyor was dismissed from the PAP due to his “unacceptable conduct some years back and should be discountenanced by the reading public.”

The statement reads, ‘’This is not the first time Gbaboyor has made outrageous and unsubstantiated claims against the PAP boss. His persistent campaign of calumny prompted the PAP Administrator to formally petition relevant security agencies, citing cyberstalking and criminal intimidation.

“When invited by the Nigeria Police Force to answer questions regarding these spurious allegations, Gbaboyor fled the country, effectively making himself a fugitive from justice.

‘’It is instructive to note that Gbaboyor’s relentless attacks on Dr Otuaro began only after the Administrator rejected his request for reinstatement at the Amnesty Office, from which he was previously dismissed several years ago due to his lack of character.

“Having failed to ingratiate himself with the PAP leadership and secure reemployment through proper channels, Gbaboyor has resorted to character assassination and the dissemination of false information.

‘’Particularly troubling is Gbaboyor’s appeal to the President of the United States to interfere in what is purely a personal matter under local jurisdiction. This represents a profound insult to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a misguided attempt to internationalise personal grievances.

‘’The Presidential Amnesty Programme urges members of the public to disregard these irresponsible acts and baseless allegations in their entirety. If Gbaboyor genuinely believes in the veracity of his claims, he should demonstrate the courage of his convictions by returning to Nigeria to substantiate them before the appropriate authorities and courts of law.

‘’Instead, his flight from lawful police invitation and subsequent attacks from abroad reveal the true nature of his campaign: a calculated effort to malign a public servant from the safety of foreign shores, beyond the immediate reach of Nigerian law enforcement.

‘’Under Dr Dennis Otuaro’s leadership, the Presidential Amnesty Programme has remained focused on its mandate of fostering sustainable peace and development in the Niger Delta region. The Programme will not be distracted by spurious allegations from misguided and individuals pursuing personal vendettas.

‘’The Presidential Amnesty Programme reaffirms its commitment to transparency, accountability, and the rule of law and will continue to pursue all legal remedies available to protect the integrity and reputation of the Administrator and the agency.”

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OPINION] General Christopher Musa: Lessons And Warnings

Published

2 hours ago

December 8, 2025

Editor

By Lasisi Olagunju

Better a child is confirmed dead than a child is unaccounted for. I am not sure we remember that about 250 pupils of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri village in Niger State, remain in captivity. They’ve been with their abductors since November 21 without Nigeria losing a day’s sleep. And we say Donald Trump was wrong to say we are “a disgraced country.”

Anguish, helplessness and despair are not pleasant words to describe the state of anyone; but they perfectly fit the conditions of the parents of the missing kids. One distraught father told the BBC: “If they (the bandits) hear you speak about them, before you know it they’ll come for you. They’ll come to your house and drag you into the bush… I feel so bitter, and my wife hasn’t eaten for days… We are not happy at all. We need someone who will help us and take action.”

So, who will help them? Some of the kids, mere five-year-olds, sleep and wake up there in the bush; they must be wondering why they have to be in someone’s ‘prison’ while the country appears to have moved on. It is terrible.

It is “’Bout time this town had a new sheriff”, a law enforcer says in ‘High Plains Drifter’, a 1973 film that is about retributive justice, about criminals getting what they deserve; about a crime-wracked town that sounds almost like Lagos – it is Lago. The new sheriff is ‘The Stranger’ who brought precision guns, “reversals and exposures” and swept the town clean of crime and criminals. Read the text – it reads like Nigeria. And there is apparently a new sheriff in the Nigerian town. He is said to be Christopher Musa, smooth-talking, clean-shaven, debonair and handsome. But how far can he go?

“Be careful. You’re a man who makes people afraid, and that’s dangerous.” Sarah Belding says in the film above. Nothing should rattle a battle-tested General, yet Christopher Musa, the new minister of defence, must feel more than a flicker of awe at the sheer tumult of the welcome he has received so far. He must be even more afraid of the character of the system that has hired him. To help parents such as the quoted above, Musa has been drafted from retirement. But, what he is joining is no war council; it is a cruise party; the ship he has just boarded is not a warship built for battle against criminals. It is a yacht, a vessel for leisure, for politics, for power, and for wealth.

The man came highly recommended with very rare national acceptability. I’ve always believed that history rewards competence and exposes pretenders. If I say that your next position is encased in your present performance, I will be right. I look at the new Minister of Defence, General Musa. The whole world marked his script as our Chief of Defence Staff and said he passed. I do not have access to the marking scheme, but what I know is that the man is very fortunate. He has a sweet tongue and a good head but he has also worked hard to earn the epaulettes that light the path of his active engagements.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: The Terrorists Are Winning

Every feat and office has its witnesses. Julius Caesar did not become Rome’s most powerful figure by bribing consuls and senators and sowing discord in opposition forces. He worked positively hard in his journey of service. He was a General who solved problems. And a leader who solves problems becomes naturally indispensable. That is why Musa had to come back so soon after Nigeria retired him.

I cannot remember any appointment made by this president that has universal appeal and endorsement as we’ve seen with Christopher Musa’s. From the initial speculation to the announcement, to his Senate appearance and screening, the man suffered neither darts nor missiles. Even the fissures and factions of Nigeria spared him the usual smears. Everyone, everywhere owned him. He appeared (appears) loved by all.

A General will always earn the loyalty of his troops if they see and feel in him personal courage, discipline, and strategic clarity. Caesar did not directly lobby for leadership; his results made Rome accept his destiny. History says his rise was built on an extraordinary record in the Gallic Wars (58–50 BCE). In that war he subdued the major tribes of Gaul, captured numerous fortified towns, and brought almost the entire region covering much of what is today France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, Italy, and Germany under Roman rule. By transforming Rome’s power Caesar transformed his own political destiny. History adds that he, as a General, displayed extraordinary engineering genius by building a bridge across the Rhine in just ten days and by leading two bold expeditions to Britain. The Roman General accomplished these feats and stunned Europe; his competence imposed him on his world.

Musa was sworn in on Thursday to pursue his own destiny; his hours started counting almost immediately. There is an experience of leisure and luxury called honeymoon. Every English word possesses a history, its etymology. The history of ‘honeymoon’ is rooted in medieval times when newlyweds shared a honey-fermented drink called mead for a moon cycle (a month of thirty days). It was a rite of fortune steeped in symbolism and was believed to usher the couple into a union blessed with good fortune, sweetness, and fertility. For today’s many newlyweds, rich or poor, honeymoon is “a cachet of distinction” which they all insist they must enjoy. But this beautiful bride, Musa, cannot have a honeymoon. I hope he knows. Accepting to be defence minister of Nigeria at this point is the same as accepting to fetch hot coal with one’s bare palm. With his two palms, and with all his faculties perfect, the new minister went for Nigeria’s smoldering balls of embers. What he accepted is a hot plate. You don’t go that far and still think you can pause and rest. He cannot.

Whatever he says or has said will be used to judge him. And he has been talking: He says he won’t negotiate with bandits: “No negotiations with any criminal, because those things compromise security. If you negotiate with them, they will never abide by it. It is just a monetary tactic, what they do is try to buy more time to acquire more arms, and then they will come out again. We have seen it repeatedly,” he said. The man insists that bandits are traitorous criminals, they do not want peace: “Terrorists are enemies of Nigeria; they have no respect for human life. We are going to go after them fully, working together with all security agencies…”

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Absurd Wars, Absurd Lords

General Musa will not negotiate with terrorists but the forces he will meet on the battlefield here are more than the bandits, Boko Haram and their brother terrorists. He knows there are powerful people who profess negotiation because bandits are their brothers. A war against bandits is against such men of means.

Musa needs the support of his appointers to deliver. This is where I pity him. His makers may have already achieved their aim: respite from Donald Trump and his troublesome band, home and abroad. In other words, the positive review which the president has got from the new minister’s choice may have been the end the system wanted; nothing more. I may be wrong; if I am wrong here I will be happy. US-based Professor Moses Ochonu put it more elegantly in a Facebook post: “While having a competent and uncompromised defense minister helps, the problem ultimately is not about who is the minister. Rather, it is whether there’s the political will, unsoiled by political and electoral calculation, to go after the terrorists, and whether the Tinubu government is willing to humbly admit that its non-kinetic counterterrorism strategy has not only failed but has emboldened the terrorists, and is, as a result, ready to move to a more offensive posture.” Musa should read this again as he prepares for this phase of his life and career.

The new minister can talk, and he has been talking. Musa wants Nigeria fenced round to combat terror. He said: “Border management is very critical. We have had countries that because of the level of insecurity in their country had to fence their borders. Pakistan fenced 1,350 kilometers of border with Afghanistan; that was the only time they had peace. Saudi Arabia and Iraq, 1,400 km border, is completely fenced.” Geography says Nigeria’s total boundary stretches roughly 4,047 km by land and 853 km along its coastline, giving it an approximate total perimeter of about 4,900 km. Now, let me ask Musa: Which of our own neighbours is our own Afghanistan? The truth is that we are the Afghanistan of Africa. We, not our neighbours, are the danger to be fenced off. The new minister and his team can change our story and our status. They won’t do that with weird ideas like border fencing which is potentially another project etched in the image of an elephant painted white.

But, then, I wonder where the fencing idea came from. The intelligent General from Southern Kaduna has probably forgotten that Boko Haram in the North-East started as a Nigerian start-up. The group has essentially remained a Nigerian brand exporting abhorrence to Chad, Niger, Cameroon, even Benin.

Again, has Musa, the gadfly, forgotten that banditry in the North-West has its roots in the historical tension between the Hausa and the Fulani? Did he listen to a recent interview by the chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, where he admitted that banditry and terrorism in northern Nigeria is self-inflicted? For the records, Bashir Dalhatu said: “We have fifteen million out-of-school children roaming the streets. If we had taken care of that, it would not have gotten out of hand.” The General should read Dalhatu’s lips and ask himself what a fence would do to prevent the multi-million idle hands from becoming the devil’s workshop. A fence will be as useless as a door locked against the enemy within.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Kukah And A Nation Of Marabouts

The Musa that I watched on TV has no deficit of education. Leadership has never been an accident of luck. Those who attained it worked for it; the best among them are the truly educated ones. Because of his apparent good education, this Musa is not like the one at the gate whispering peace to bandits. His voice has been very shrill against the enemy, but he needs more than his voice to win this war. The enemy is not the Wall of Jericho. He should fight criminals and battle those who excuse their crimes.

The man has a model to copy in legendary British Iron lady, Margaret Thatcher who had the IRA extremists to pummel almost four decades ago. In the midst of “The Troubles” and their bombs, Thatcher reminded her country that: “Crime and violence injure not only the victim, but all of us, by spreading fear and making the streets no-go areas for decent people…To be soft on crime is to betray the law-abiding citizen. And to make excuses for the criminal is to offer incentives to dishonesty and violence. Crime flourishes in a culture of excuses…” Thatcher did not just talk and go to bed; she followed her talk with concrete actions and degraded the enemy.

Our new minister needs good Nigerians to succeed and he already has them. If he will keep them, he must be felt more in action rather than in words. A billion words are mere hot air, they can’t fill a basket. Everyone knows this. Policies and actions that terminate banditry and terrorism are what will sustain his name and legacy of heroism. He will achieve that only when he fences off bloodline politics and treats crime as crime.

I go back to Thatcher. To our president and his minister, I recommend the words of the Iron Lady uttered on October 12, 1990 (35 years ago). She told her Conservative Party that “crime is not a sickness to be cured; it is a temptation to be resisted, a threat to be deterred, and an evil to be punished.”