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OPINION: Travelling Through Nigeria In Tinubu’s Yacht

Published

2 years ago

November 17, 2023

Tunde Odesola

By the Rivers of Babylon, there I sat down; yeah, I wept, when I remember N-i-g-e-r-i-a. Verily, verily I say unto you, these words that I write, are words of redemption and wisdom. Therefore, I beseech you, brethren, to keep these words in your hearts, inscribe them in stones and scribble them on scrolls.

I exhort thee, keep the stones and scrolls, do not hide them under the bushel, set them on the hill for light to shine on them and bring people to know the truth, for only the truth shall set the land free.

Like the hands of a sinner spread wide on the cross, River Niger and River Benue divide the land called Nigeria into three unequal communities of the North, West and East. The Fulani dominate the North, the Yoruba have the West, and the Igbo populate the East. Each region and people had their strengths and weaknesses. The land knew peace.

But when political iniquity became official, and the supplications of the oppressed minorities rose to the ears of the Most High God, the portion of the land that flows with oil, milk and honey became gazetted as the Niger Delta, a vast treasure that was initially part of the eastern and western regions.

And the Lord regretted creating man because the heart of man was perpetually evil. So, the spirit of the Lord hovered upon the face of the waters, inspiring patriots to call traitors to repentance and justice.

It came to pass that there arose a mutiny within the Nigerian Army when some young, idealistic officers, mostly from the East, toppled the civilian government of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, who was killed, and an easterner, Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, ruled in Balewa’s stead. The January 1966 coup broke the embankment that had dammed the river of hate and suspicion from flooding the country.

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Six months later, a countercoup executed mainly by Hausa-Fulani soldiers was nicknamed a revenge coup, in which Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed. The fallout of the countercoup fed fodder to the cannons of a Civil War, which boomed between July 6, 1967, and January 13, 1970, as crazed soldiers played football with three million Igbo skulls felled by battlefield bullets, ethnic cleansing and starvation.

In anger, the Lord God of Host turned his eyes away from the people and the land, and He allowed jackboots in military uniforms to chastise them with scorpions because the innocent blood of coup victims and Biafrans refused to drain into the earth.

Here are the names and surnames of the rulers of Nigeria after the Civil War, in order of their ascension. Yakubu, the son of Gowon; Murtala, the son of Mohammed; Olusegun, the son of Obasanjo; Shehu, the son of Shagari; Muhammadu, the son of Buhari; Ibrahim, C the son of Babangida; Ernest, the son Shonekan; Sani, the son of Abacha; and Abdulsalami, the son of Abubakar. All these rulers ruled in the Old Testament.

But Babangida was wiser than a snake. Indeed, he was a deceiver extraordinaire. His bright smile has the cooling effect of iodine on a fresh wound, before the stinging pain. For is it not written that Babangida’s regime was the bloodiest in the 63-year history of Nigeria as many soldiers died in alleged coup plots while 163 senior soldiers died in a plane crash on September 28, 1992?

“They got me,” were the last words of Dele Giwa, the Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine after a letter bomb blew open his entrails in his Ikeja home on October 19, 1986, shutting his eyes in brutal death. Giwa’s deputy and comrade-in-pen, Ray Ekpu, described the killing as ‘state assassination’, adding that the Friday preceding the Sunday Giwa received the letter bomb, he (Giwa) was grilled by the State Security Service, which accused him of ‘arms importation, planning a socialist revolution, doing a follow-up story on Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, who had been removed by President Babangida, and planning to employ a former Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Alozie Ogbugbuaja, who said the expertise of the Nigerian military top brass was in drinking pepper soup and planning coups. Ekpu said Giwa was only guilty of one of the four allegations, that is, planning to employ Ogbugbuaja.

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After he annulled the June 12 presidential election won by MKO Abiola in 1993, and the backlash thereof was unbearable, Babangida planted on the throne, Sonekan, who was blown out of power by the hot air from the nostrils of Abacha. Abacha ruled for just four and a half years before karma handcuffed and flung him into the bottomless pit reserved for the shameless. Nothing confirms the looting of public treasury by successive Nigerian governments than the unending return of billions of dollars stashed in foreign countries by Abacha. Remember, Abacha spent just four and a half years in the vault and he became the Glutton of All Time!

I am a full-blooded Nigerian. I have no family roots in Niger Republic like Buhari, or ancestrial link to Mauritania like Peter Obi’s presidential running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed. Nigeria is my only home. I feel anguish daily when my hands hit the bottom of my empty trouser pockets, groping for unavailable naira, whose value equals the clap of thunder to the deaf.

Hope is dead in Nigeria’s New Testament. The testament of the latest Republic. Obasanjo’s civilian government opened the floodgates of corruption in the electricity sector, the privatisation process and the National ID card scam. Governments, thereafter, stirred the broth and served the booty, strangulating the economy.

Sadly, the chickens are back home to roost. Now, everywhere you turn, cries of economic hardship have taken over the land even within the Emi Lokan ruling party. Curses have replaced compliments. But me, I thank God I still have my mind intact. Many Nigerians don’t. Whenever I see any of the corrupt clique of 99.9% Nigerian leaders – former or present – I say in my mind, “Look at this one, it’s only God that knows how much of Nigeria’s money that this thief has stolen. Ole!” Treasury looters know what Nigerians think of them but they’re just shameless and unperturbed because the river of justice in the land has frozen.

The economy is gasping. Fathers have turned to beggars, and wives have turned to harlots. Children are deflowered for a bite of Gala. Commodity prices reside in the sky. Yet, our President buys a $6.1m yacht, and our senators and representatives crave N58bn SUVs, all living the life depicted in Luke 12:19, “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”

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Brethren, look closely at the pictures of their merriment, the voter is missing. So, tell me, what does it profit a voter, who supports bàráwò candidates, and is dehumanised after elections?

When the earth brimmed with iniquity, Noah stood up to be counted for righteousness. He built a three-deck ark with gopherwood and ushered in two of every kind of living creature, including the members of his family.

When Nigeria brimmed with escalating prices of goods, soaring foreign debts, double-digit inflation, and starvation, Tinubu, lawmakers, ministers and members of the ruling class tightened the belts harder on the masses. To cater for the insatiable gluttony, they have demanded underfunded federal universities to submit 40% of their meagre IGR to a federal purse which, characteristically, would lack accountability.

You don’t need righteousness to enter the presidential yacht. You need a brainless head and a soulless body. You need to make money your god and not flinch to proclaim all the seven colours of the rainbow black – like our judges who sell elections like pure water hawkers in traffic snarls, smashing and grabbing, kówó sá ti pe.

I thank God I have my mind intact. In my mind, I can see Noah in his robe, hewing wood and fetching water, sweating, sawing and nailing. I can see him clutching a bell, trekking the length and breadth of the land, calling the people to come and enter the ark. Noah’s ark is for salvation.

Tinubu’s yacht is for enslavement. He doesn’t need gopherwood or God’s directive to build his yacht, he needs dollarhood. He doesn’t need the masses inside his toy, he needs his people.

Barely a month left in 2023, the year of his election, Tinubu has bought a yacht for himself, SUVs for lawmakers, with the $2.176 trillion 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act he signed a few days ago, and the masses are left wondering ‘is this not the ‘son’ of Abibatu Mogaji, who claims to build modern Lagos? Emi Lokan doesn’t only mean ‘it’s my turn’; it also means ‘I’m badly hit’. Ask the Yoruba.

True, it’s Tinubu’s turn but the masses are badly hit. True.

Since Tinubu performed so well in his first year, may he sail safely in his yacht and perform much better next year.

Amen.

News

UK Police Quiz Six After Fatal Synagogue Attack

Published

2 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

Six people arrested on suspicion of “terrorism”-linked offences after a fatal car-ramming and knife attack on a UK synagogue remained in police custody on Saturday, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged people not to take part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Two people were killed and three others seriously wounded in Thursday’s attack in northwestern Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Police shot dead the assailant, Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old UK citizen of Syrian descent, within minutes of the alarm being raised.

Three men and three women are in custody.

The attack has heightened fear among Britain’s Jewish community.

Police said they were patrolling places of worship across the city “with a particular focus on providing a high-visibility presence within our Jewish communities”.

The attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in north Manchester was one of the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe since the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel led by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the occupied territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

The Gaza conflict has inflamed passions in Britain, with frequent pro-Palestinian rallies in cities that some critics allege have stoked antisemitism.

A “global movement for Gaza UK” protest went ahead in London late on Thursday, with police making 40 arrests.

London’s Metropolitan Police asked organisers delay another planned demonstration backing the banned Palestine Action group later on Saturday.

However, organisers Defend Our Juries rejected the calls.

A spokesman said the group “stood in solidarity” with the Jewish community over the attack.

– Accidental shooting –

Starmer urged protesters not to join the pro-Palestinian rally.

“I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews. This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain,” he said on X.

During the attack, Shamie was seen “with a big knife, banging his knife into the glass, trying to get through”, synagogue chairman of trustees Alan Levy, who helped barricade the doors, told ITV News.

“The heroes of the congregation who saw what was happening then came to the doors because he was trying to break the doors down to get in,” he added.

A UK police watchdog, meanwhile, said it would look at the police shooting of Shamie.

The probe would also look at the shooting of a second victim who suffered a fatal gunshot and a third person who was shot but survived.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said there was no evidence anyone other than police used firearms at the scene.

“Our independent investigation will look at the circumstances surrounding the fatal police shooting of Jihad Al-Shamie,” it said in a statement.

“A post mortem has today (Friday) concluded another man who died at the scene suffered a fatal gunshot wound.”

IOPC investigations are standard practice in situations where the use of force by police may have resulted in the death of a member of the public.

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Edo Inaugurates Committee On Drug Abuse, Healthy Living

Published

5 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

L-R: ACGN, NDLEA, Fidelis Cocodia, Deputy Governor of Edo State, Hon. Dennis Idahosa and Coordinator, Office of the First Lady, Edo State, Mrs. Edesili Okpebholo Anani during the Inauguration

Edo State Government has inaugurated Drug Control Committee for the state and local governments, aimed at curbing the menace of drug abuse in the state.

Inaugurating the committee, Governor Monday Okpehbolo said the committee was not only saddled with the responsibility of curbing the menace of illicit substances, but to promote healthier living across communities in the state.

Represented by his deputy, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, Okpebholo described the initiative as “a vital step in our unwavering commitment to stopping the menace of drug trafficking and substance use among youths.”

The governor, who bemoaned the rising tide of drug dependency and its impact on society, pointed out that the committee’s creation aligns with the national drug master plan and represents a bold stride toward protecting Edo future generations.

On his part, Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, represented by ACGN, Fidelis Cocodia, Zonal Commander, Zone 13, emphasised grassroots interventions, awareness campaigns, and support systems as the backbone of the fight against drug abuse.

Edo State commander of the NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju disclosed that while national drug use prevalence stands at 14.4 percent, Edo state surpasses the average at 15 percent.

He noted that the state is one of the hardest-hit states in the country, warning that the trend has fueled crime and heightened youth vulnerability.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cyril Oshiomhole pledged to make Edo a model in drug control through rehabilitation, youth enlightenment, and second-chance opportunities for recovering addicts.

Coordinator, Office of the First Lady, Edo State, Mrs. Edesili Okpebholo Anani, described drug abuse as a pandemic, noting that “you hardly see a crime without drugs being involved.”

She added that women’s empathy and influence must be harnessed in the campaign against drug abuse.

News

Avoid Mistakes Of 2023 Elections, EU Tells Nigeria

Published

8 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

The European Union has raised the alarm over the slow pace of electoral reforms in Nigeria, warning that without swift action, the country risks repeating the “serious shortcomings” of the 2023 general elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Barry Andrews, a member of the European Parliament and chief of the EU Election Observation Follow-up Mission to Nigeria, presented a sobering assessment of progress since the EU Election Observation Mission delivered its final report in 2023.

“In this context, we are here to reflect on how electoral reform can deepen the roots of democracy here in Nigeria,” Andrews said, adding that the EU deployed a follow-up mission comprising three experts on 9 September 2025 to engage stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Assembly, political parties, civil society, the media and development partners.

The mission chief reported that of the 23 recommendations made by the EU EOM in 2023, only one had been fully implemented; two had been partially implemented; eight were ongoing; nine were yet to be implemented; and for three, it was still too early to tell. Eleven recommendations require legal changes, and 12 are administrative in nature.

“The fully implemented recommendation is ensuring institutional accountability by consulting on the publication of election-related laws. INEC has carried this out, but that is one of 23. There is much more work to do, and I want to re-emphasise that this is a critical moment,” he said.

“Our evaluation indicates that progress in implementing the recommendations has been modest thus far and is in serious danger of falling to critically low levels.

Avoiding this outcome will require both political will from legislators and urgent, coordinated administrative actions by relevant institutions,” he warned.

Despite the slow progress, Andrews noted a strong consensus among stakeholders. “What we find especially important is the strong alignment we see between the recommendations of INEC, civil society — through the Citizens’ Memorandum — and those of the EU election observers. Each of these three processes was conducted independently, and yet they point in the same direction.”

He emphasised that Nigerians themselves — within institutions and in civil society — are calling for the same changes international observers have highlighted. “It shows that there is a broad and shared understanding of what needs to be done to strengthen future elections,” the mission chief added.

Andrews acknowledged that work has begun on electoral reform, including ongoing deliberations on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 and constitutional review processes, both of which incorporate several of the EU’s recommendations.

He welcomed growing collaboration between civil society organisations and lawmakers, noting that civil society has contributed technical expertise and advocacy while Parliament has created space for engagement.

Andrews said the success of reform hinges more on political will than on technical drafting.

He outlined six priority recommendations deemed essential for improving Nigeria’s electoral integrity and stressed the importance of transparency in the appointment of a new INEC chairperson, expected later this year.

“A transparent, non-partisan and merit-based appointment process will strengthen INEC as an institution and give citizens greater confidence that the commission will improve its professionalism, neutrality and independence,” he said.

The mission chief also highlighted the need for greater transparency in results management. “We all saw in 2023 how quickly confidence can be eroded when polling-unit results are missing, uploaded with poor quality, or collation appears disorganised.

Andrews further flagged the extremely low representation of women in Nigeria’s political institutions.

He praised the discussion around the reserved-seats bill as a potential milestone toward inclusivity.

Turning to electoral offences, Andrews warned that widespread impunity for misconduct — such as violence, vote buying and misuse of state resources — continues to threaten election integrity. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” he said, noting that prosecutions remain too few and too slow.

He described the proposed electoral offences commission as a much-needed step forward.

He also stressed the importance of legal clarity, saying INEC needs a stable legal environment to carry out its responsibilities effectively, from voter education to budgeting. “If reforms are adopted too late, they risk causing uncertainty or even becoming impossible to implement,” he said.

Finally, he raised concerns over the safety of journalists, citing ongoing reports of harassment and violence against media professionals. “What is needed is a credible system to investigate and prosecute attacks swiftly and effectively. That would show that freedom of expression is not only guaranteed on paper but also upheld in practice.”

In concluding his remarks, Andrews acknowledged progress, especially in legislative engagement and discussions around gender representation, but warned that “the window for reform is closing fast.”

He urged political actors to seize the current momentum to deliver reforms that can safeguard transparency, inclusiveness and credibility in the 2027 elections, noting that falling turnout in successive elections shows the stakes have never been higher.

“We are supporting Nigeria through our Democratic Governance in Nigeria programme,” Amb. Mignot said. “We are doing this by supporting the implementation of the recommendations of the EU observation mission with technical assistance — for stakeholder consultations, for instance — partly through institutions such as the National Assembly and civil society.”

He clarified the EU’s approach to off-cycle elections, distinguishing formal observation missions from “watch visits” by diplomats. “We don’t do observation missions in off-cycle elections,” he explained.

Recall that INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, during the EU’s visit to the commission’s headquarters on Thursday, confirmed that only eight of the 23 recommendations made by the EU in 2023 were directly addressed to the commission, and just one was marked as a priority.

Yakubu warned that failure to act swiftly on electoral law amendments could disrupt planning for the 2027 elections.