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OPINION: Protest, Dangote And Other Stories [Monday Lines]

Published

1 year ago

July 29, 2024

By Lasisi Olagunju

Nigeria is a drama, an entertainment. Listen to the ‘Wahala’ singer, Portable, as he wonders why anyone would want him to join this week’s proposed protests. Yes, he admits that he joined protests in the past. But he says that was when he was poor. “Now I am rich…You want a rich man to protest?” He asks cynically. He does not want an answer. Portable’s video looks like it would be the end of all protests if we all became wealthy. The government should love it. I do.

The government and Portable join forces to beg you not to protest on August 1. I don’t care if you protest or you protect your turf. All I crave is no violence. I urge you to look deeply at other areas of our governance. Look at the laws being made and the laws being interpreted. They can make your protests useless, your bad worse and the worse disastrous. Can you remember what Judge Gideon John Tucker said about lawmakers and the laws they make? The American, in 1866, wrote in a court record: “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” Fortunately, at this moment, our own legislators are on break. Or how would we have combined their presence with threats of protests from the north to the south?

However, whether the lawmakers are in session or not, they are still working very hard and harder like obedient Boxer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Boxer is that Orwellian horse who believes strongly that “if Comrade Napoleon says it, (then) it must be right.” His motto is: “I will work harder.” With them, Tinubu is the Big Brother; always right. A democracy can have a bumbling executive but it must not have a stupid, servile legislature and a deliberately ‘illiterate’ judiciary. The country is in the throes of a to-be-or-not-to-be protest over these very bad times. In desperate moments as we are, the legislature and the judiciary should be stabilizing forces. Sadly, they are not. They’ve willingly donated their freedom to the Villa. I heard an elder say no one begs to be sold into slavery. It is not in all cases. I remember a character, Kent, in Shakespeare’s King Lear whose ambition is to be servile to power:

King Lear: Who are you?

Kent: A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king.

King Lear: If you’re as poor a subject as the king, then you’re certainly poor enough. What do you want?

Kent: To serve.

Lear: Whom do you want to serve?

Kent: You.

King Lear: Do you know me, fellow?

Kent: No, sir. But there’s something in your face that makes me want to call you master.

King Lear: What’s that in my face?

Kent: Authority.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Protestant Greeks in Abuja [Monday Lines]

What Kent sees in King Lear’s face is exactly what Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, and his men see in President Bola Tinubu. The ‘authority’ in the cap of the president makes our lawmakers desperately seek to serve Tinubu and call him master.

This president is lucky to have Akpabio as Senate president. If President Olusegun Obasanjo had had him as the head of the National Assembly, he would have got his third term. Today, there is a bill before the Senate seeking a single-term of six years for the president and the governors. Thirty-five senators sponsored the bill. If the president wants this Senate to pass the bill today and the implementation to start this moment with him as the first beneficiary, his will shall be done. The lawmakers will do it “in national interest.” The Supreme Court will approve it.

There are other matters that should concern you. A justice of the Supreme Court addressed tenure extension in the court’s recent judgment on Local Government funds. He wrote: “Under Section 135 (3) of the Constitution, the tenure of 4 (four) years for the president provided for by Section 135(2) thereof, shall be extended for periods not exceeding ‘a period of six months at any time’ by a resolution of the National Assembly, if it ‘is not practicable to hold elections’. By the same token, by a law of a State House of Assembly, the tenure of local government councils can be legally extended, for any reason, such as insecurity or war, if it becomes impracticable or impossible for elections into the local government councils to be conducted. The mandate given to an elected local government council is the mandate of the electorate of that local government area and if the tenure is extended, it is the people’s mandate that is extended…” I found that reasoning quite ingenious! Was that point one of the issues canvassed before the court? Read it again.

Someone said Nigeria is a Netflix series. Two deputy governors in Edo; two speakers in Rivers, two emirs in Kano. All courtesy of the judiciary. We wait to see the next set of twins in our mad political ward. But while we wait, I salute the spell makers who started the blockbuster protest drama going on. They have corralled this government into working for their scheme. They couldn’t have given better oxygen to their protest agenda than the government spin doctors have done so far. August 1 may be an anti-climax; the audience is satisfied already.

Meanwhile, the Bola Tinubu government has been dancing to Da Grin’s music lately:

“T’an ba s’eyin bi aya,

Won a s’are kabakaba.”

The song is too onomatopoeic to accept the corruption of translation. I should just say it warns that you will run helter-skelter if you cross the line of decency. Is the government truly in panic mode because of threats of protests? Or is it acting its own scene in the tragedy that mocks the people’s pains? The Villa has become a house of feasts. It hosts kings and priests; princes and principals. And when they come out, they tell the hungry: “Peace!” I also join them to chant peace be upon Nigeria. If the protest organizers want to protest despite the state’s pleas and threats, they should please tell looters of stores and warehouses not to come out. They should also tell those who killed and ate human beings in the name of protests in 2022 that they are not welcome. All these happened during the EndSARS crisis and they were not funny. They gave activism a very bad name. I don’t think anyone wants such mayhem added to the headache of hunger in every home.

The protest drama has got an interlude. The Dangote/NNPC series. In size, strength and beauty, the Dangote horse in Lekki fits the race and the battle. But Aliko Dangote’s observers demand to know why the super-rich man started looking for feedstock after building a refinery. No Muslim prays first before doing ablution. “May not an ass know when the cart draws the horse?” That is Shakespeare again in King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4. No one does that without injuring the horse and stalling the cart. Why did he do that? We are talking of a master sculptor here, not a woodpecker. Cricket (Lántètè in Yoruba) was asked why he fixed his wedding date and on that very day commenced cooking the expected baby’s teething medicine. He answered that whatever should be fast should never be delayed.

I want to believe that Dangote did not become this super rich by doing things in the wrong order. No. It just happened that: “Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph…” – Exodus, chapter 1, verse 8. Whether in Egypt or Israel, the one who trusts in their chariots and takes things for granted always have their journey extended well into the night. Even those who claimed affinity with God roamed the wilderness for 40 years. But the refinery is a national asset that should be made to work. This is where a pro-business government should come in to still the boiling waters. And I think it has. NNPC’s Alsatian appears on a leash. The investment is huge. Nigerians say they need that refinery.

There will be hunger, anger and protests where 20 bean cakes serve two hundred masquerades. The next scene flows directly from the Dangote/NNPC Act. The scene is where 200 million Nigerians scramble for proceeds of 200,000 barrels of crude oil. Nigeria’s daily crude production is about 1.4 million barrels. But the country is left with 200,000 barrels per day to finance its budget. You wonder why and ask where the remaining 1.2 million barrels go? The government we have, and the ones we have had, helped us to eat tomorrow’s food yesterday. In simple prose, today’s crude production pays for money already collected and spent. That is why the government is broke and has gone for the broke; that is why the government squeezes honey out of us. It is a revelation that shows that things are worse for Nigeria than is ever imagined.

I once quoted a report in the Washington Post of May 4, 2016 which spoke of an oil-rich nation that should be rich but “instead, it’s becoming a failed state”; that had been run down so much that it “can’t afford to brew its own beer, stay in its own time zone, or even have its own people show up to work more than two times a week.” How did that country get here? The report describes the tragedy as an entirely man-made catastrophe. “Economic mismanagement at a world-historical scale had barely left it with enough money to even, well, pay for printing money anymore.” That country got here by “spending more than it had and not having as much as it should.” That is a country that thought of spending money, and did spend money that it did not earn. “You can’t redistribute oil profits if there aren’t oil profits to redistribute,” the report says the country did just that and followed it up with policies like the president replacing “people who knew what they were doing with people he knew would be loyal to him at the state-owned oil company.” That action, among others, it says, scared oil companies out. That country is not Nigeria. It is Venezuela, Nigeria’s twin brother.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Tinubu’s ‘Taste’ Gerontocracy

The August protest will come and go; the problem of Nigeria will remain. Protests have failed to melt the hardened heart of the rulers of Venezuela. Suffering-and-smiling has failed them too. The country has continued to dwell in a maelstrom of violence and grinding poverty. The United Nations keeps a tab on what goes on in that country. Its report says, today, Venezuela suffers from one of the highest rates of undernourishment in South America, and 68% of the people struggle to afford food. The country faces a humanitarian crisis with nearly 8 million people (out of 29.4 million) taking refuge in other countries. Some 2,000 people flee Venezuela every day, displaced because of rising crime and violence and shortages of food, medicine and essential services. It held a presidential election yesterday.

August is this week. The country is on edge. People with the right oracle say the actual protesters are the entity called the north. They say the aggrieved harbor the anger of the conned. And they cannot be named. You would think that those who offended them would know how to appease them. Both sides should know what they ate that is giving them constipation. They should also tell us the broth they cooked that is setting the house ablaze.

Nigeria’s drama, like Venezuela’s, is unending. Every Scene is linked to an Act. The link could be through the characters, or the theme, or the sub-themes. The plot is predictable. So much is happening right now. So much may still happen. May Thursday, August 1 meet us in peace.

News

Lagos Inaugurates 24-hour Traffic Management Operations

Published

4 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

The Lagos State Government has launched two transformative initiatives designed to recalibrate traffic governance and restore environmental sanctity across the metropolis.

In a visionary bid to guarantee seamless mobility and safe commuting at all hours, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has formally instituted a 24-hour operational framework for traffic management and enforcement across Lagos State.

The groundbreaking initiative, officially commissioned by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, constitutes a seminal moment in the evolution of Lagos’s transportation governance.

It manifests Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s strategic ambition to ensure the uninterrupted movement of people, goods and services within Nigeria’s economic epicentre—a city that operates continuously, unhindered by congestion or disorder.

According to Giwa, the 24-hour operational regime epitomises the administration’s steadfast dedication to constant vigilance, operational efficiency and disciplined traffic regulation, especially as the metropolis approaches the festive period, traditionally characterised by heightened vehicular and commercial activity.

This information was contained in a statement yesterday by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq.

He elaborated that the framework is meticulously designed to facilitate continuous monitoring, rapid emergency response and immediate clearance of traffic obstructions irrespective of time, thereby mitigating congestion and enhancing the commuter experience.

“This initiative exemplifies the Lagos State Government’s resolute commitment to safeguarding mobility, preserving lives and sustaining economic productivity through perpetual traffic oversight,” Giwa stated.

A pivotal component of the initiative is the establishment of the Night Rapid Response Gang, a specialised unit within LASTMA charged with swiftly addressing nocturnal traffic incidents, including vehicular breakdowns, collisions and other obstructions along critical arteries of the metropolis.

In tandem with these traffic management reforms, the Lagos State Government also executed a comprehensive clearance operation along Apapa Road, Costain and the Ijora Under Bridge, eliminating illegal structures, shanties and unregulated trading that had long obstructed free vehicular flow and compromised public safety.

The far-reaching enforcement exercise, spearheaded by Sola Giwa in coordination with LASTMA, the Nigeria Police Force, Mobile Police (MOPOL), the Lagos State Task Force and the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), culminated in the removal of unauthorised traders, makeshift structures and multiple environmental infractions.

During the operation, enforcement teams uncovered an illegal diesel dumping site and impounded substantial quantities of expired plantain chips and cheese balls, stored under unsanitary conditions—a testament to the government’s prioritisation of public health and environmental integrity.

The exercise followed persistent warnings and public sensitisation campaigns urging illegal occupants under bridges to vacate. Teams also identified blocked drainage channels choked with metallic debris, contributing to perennial flooding and environmental degradation.

Furthermore, several commercial buses and tricycles operating unlawfully along the newly constructed Costain Bridge and Apapa Road were impounded.

Shanties adjacent to St. Catholic Church School, Apapa Road, were demolished, reinstating the area to its intended urban and educational purpose, while criminal hideouts beneath the Ijora Bridge were dismantled to enhance public security.

Giwa reaffirmed that the Sanwo-Olu administration will not compromise on public safety, environmental protection or the rule of law, stressing that Lagos must remain a city distinguished by structure, order and discipline.

General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, appealed to traders, transport operators and commuters to comply with government directives, utilise designated markets and parking facilities, and actively support the administration’s efforts to maintain a safe, efficient and orderly metropolis.

He emphasised that the integration of 24-hour traffic management with environmental enforcement represents the Lagos State Government’s holistic approach to sustainable urban mobility—one that blends innovative regulation, proactive enforcement and civic responsibility.

News

Delta Assembly Suspends Poly Rector, Bursar Over Financial Misconduct

Published

4 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

Delta State House of Assembly has imposed a six-month suspension on the Rector of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, Professor Emmanuel Achuenu, over alleged financial recklessness, misappropriation of funds, and gross administrative misconduct.

Also suspended for six months is the institution’s Bursar, who was found complicit in the financial irregularities uncovered during the Assembly’s investigation.

The resolution followed the consideration and adoption of a report by a parliamentary investigative committee set up by the House to probe the financial and administrative operations of the polytechnic.

Presiding over the plenary, Speaker Hon. Dennis Guwor said the investigation revealed “multiple instances of unauthorized expenditures and administrative lapses” under Professor Achuenu’s leadership.

Lawmakers described his conduct as a “flagrant abuse of office” and a “violation of the statutes governing public tertiary institutions.”

According to the committee’s findings, the Rector allegedly disregarded the directives of the Governing Council and violated established financial procedures in managing the institution’s resources.

In its resolution, the Assembly upheld the six-month suspension earlier imposed by the Governing Council, noting that the move was necessary to reinforce accountability and discipline within the institution.

The House also directed the Delta State Ministry of Higher Education to supervise the polytechnic’s affairs during the suspension period to ensure transparency, stability, and adherence to due process.

Lawmakers reaffirmed the Assembly’s zero tolerance for financial mismanagement in public institutions, emphasizing that the decision was aimed at restoring integrity and public confidence in the state’s tertiary education system.

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Nnamdi Kanu: Court Summons Wike, Buratai, T. Y Danjuma, Uzodinma, Others As Witnesses

Published

7 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has disclosed that the witness summons requested by Nnamdi Kanu to be issued against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and 22 others to give evidence in his terrorism trial have been signed and are ready for dispatch to the listed witnesses.

Others whose summons have been signed and ready for delivery are Imo state governor, Hope Uzodinma, Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwoolu and two former Chiefs of Army Staff, General T. Y Danjuma and Tukur Buratai.

They are part of notable Nigerians listed by Kanu to be compelled by the judge to appear in court to give evidence in the terrorism charges slammed against him by the Federal Government since 2015.

Justice Omotosho announced in the open court on Thursday that he had given effect to Kanu’s request, signed the witness summons and that they are available for him to collect and serve on the said witnesses as required.

Kanu, had in a notice to defend, filed on October 21, listed the names of prominent Nigerians, including former and serving governors, ministers, military and security chiefs as his intended witnesses, who he said should be compelled to attend court.

The judge directed Kanu to pick up the witness summons and serve them individually as required by law to ensure quick response of the witnesses.

At Thursday’s proceedings, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, announced that he had fired all members of his legal team.

Kanu, who announced the decision himself on Thursday, told the court that he was willing and ready to now conduct his own case by himself.

At the resumed hearing in Kanu’s terrorism trial on Thursday, the prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, announced his team for the prosecution.

When it was time for the defendant’s legal team to announce appearance, the leader of the team, Kanu Agabi, SAN, stood up and told the court they were only present out of the respect for the court.

Kanu said they were in court to formally announce their withdrawal from further participation in the trial.

Agabi explained that the reason for their decision “is because the defendant has taken this case back from us and we respect that”.

He gave the names of the other SANs, who are also withdrawing to include: Onyechi Ikpeazu, Joseph Akubo, Paul Erokoro, Emeka Etiaba and one other.

Following Agabi’s announcement, Justice James Omotosho turned to Kanu, who was in the dock, for his response.

Kanu confirmed sacking all his lawyers and told the court that he was willing and ready to conduct his own case by himself.

Justice Omotosho then ordered other members of the defendant’s legal team, who were in court, except the SANs, to vacate the courtroom immediately, a directive they promptly complied with.

The judge then turned to Kanu and asked him to open his case.

In response, Kanu commenced by indicating his intention to make an oral submission, an indulgence the judge granted him despite opposition from the Federal Government lawyer.

Kanu said he would not open his defence as ordered by the court, because he was questioning the jurisdiction of the court to try him, adding: “This is a jurisdictional issue that goes to the heart of this case.”

He hinged his objection to the court’s jurisdiction on four grounds, the first being his claim that the Federal Government, through the prosecution, was in contempt of a Court of Appeal judgment, which he said ordered his acquittal and release.

Kanu argued that for the court to grant the prosecution audience, it (the prosecution) must first comply with the said Court of Appeal judgment.

He said the second ground was that the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 and and Customs and Excise Act, under which the charge against him was brought, are repealed laws.

On the third ground, he claimed to have been denied fair hearing. He said his continued detention in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, has denied him the opportunity for adequate consultation with his lawyers to enable him prepare for his defence.

He hinged the fourth ground on his claim that the medical report submitted to the court by a medical team empanelled by the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, which certified him fit to stand trial, was forged.

Kanu denied being examined by any medical team, insisting that his blood and urine samples were never obtained for analyses.

He urged the court to declare the proceedings void and order his immediate release in line with the Court of Appeal judgment.

Reacting, Awomolo said Kanu deserved no formal response from the prosecution because all the allegations he made ought to be put down in the form of a sworn affidavit and effectively demonstrated to enable the other party respond appropriately.

Awomolo faulted Kanu’s claim that a Court of Appeal decision acquitted him, arguing that the said judgment was set aside by the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on December 15, 2023.

He said: “The judgments of the Supreme Court that was given on December 15, 2023 has set aside the judgment they are claiming discharged him.

“If he has a preliminary objection he should file it and demonstrate all his claims,” Awomolo said.

The prosecuting lawyer also faulted Kanu’s claim that his right to fair hearing has been breached.

Awomolo argued that Kanu’s claim that the medical report was forged was an indictment on the senior lawyers.who were in his legal team, who, according to him, saw the report and found no fault in it.

He prayed the judge to determine all the issues that Kanu raised in his Thursday’s submission when delivering the final judgment.

In his intervention, Justice Omotosho noted that when the medical report was bought up in court on October 16, he sought the views of lawyers to both parties, who did not raise any objection to the report.

The judge said since the report has been admitted by the court, which acted on same and made decisions based on it, the court could no longer go back on the issue.

He said all the decisions taken by the court, based on the medical report, stand.

The judge noted that all the issues raised by Kanu in his Thursday’s submission were substantially raised in the no-case submission which the court overruled in a ruling delivered on September 26.

The judge said: “On the 26th of September 2015, I considered those issues and held that he has a case to answer. This was to enable him exercise his right to fair hearing to make his case.”

Justice Omotosho recalled that in the spirit of fair hearing, he vacated this courtroom on Wednesday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm to enable Kanu and his lawyers have a private consultation session, despite the absence of evidence to support his claim that his conversation was being secretly recorded by the DSS, in whose custody he is being detained.

The judge said although all the issues raised by Kanu in his Thursday’s submission had previously been determined by the court, the defendant is not foreclosed and he can still raise them at the final written address.

He then proceeded to call on Kanu to open his defence and overruled him when the IPOB leader attempted to insist on his objection to the court’s jurisdiction.

Justice Omotosho said: “I call upon and appeal to the defendant to open his defence. I beg the defendant, in the name of the Almighty God, to comport himself and conduct his defence.

“This is the opportunity that the Constitution gives him under Section 36. It is a right that he can exercise or waive either expressly or by conduct.

“I beg and I appeal to the defendant to make use of the opportunity, given him by the Constitution to put in his defence, except he choses to waive it either expressly or by conduct.”

At that point, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, intervened and drew the attention of the court to the fact that Kanu’s lawyers’ withdrawal took effect on the morning of Thursday.

He prayed the court to grant Kanu time to gather his thoughts and compose himself for the task ahead.

Taking a hint from what Ikpeazu said, Kanu said: “In the exercise of my right, I wish to state on record that I have not had the opportunity to prepare for my defence.

“I only had three hours yesterday in this courtroom. Section 36 of the Constitution allows me to be given adequate facilities to defend myself. My lord, I need time,” he said.

The prosecuting lawyer did not object, following which Justice Omotosho adjourned till Friday, October 24 for Kanu to open his defence.

He said the opportunity given the defendant to conduct his defence began to run from Thursday.