Opinion
ATIKU, NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY OWES YOU ONE
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/atiku-abubakar-1.jpg)
*By Tunde Olusunle*
I’ve paid quite some attention in recent years to espousing the person, ideals and vision of Atiku Abubakar. A colourful and outspoken politician and statesman, he was the first Vice President of the present Fourth Republic who was in office from May 1999 to May 2007 and deputy to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been celebrated in places for his sacrifices in ensuring in his time that democracy in the country was not subverted on the abattoir of greed and covetousness. He compelled legal inquisitions into and interpretations of sections of the constitution which were hitherto jettisoned by power-drunk leaders who desired to privatise leadership and governance. His sacrifices back in the days mitigated the propensity of people elected into executive positions to undermine their deputies with whom they were voted in on the same ticket. His perspiration also straightened up political parties, dissuading them from arbitrariness especially with regards to the imposition of candidates for electoral offices.
The manner of my immersion into “Atiku studies” reminds me of my proximity to my respected teacher and mentor, the distinguished Professor Olu Obafemi whose works I’ve also deeply engaged. Years ago, I subjected him to bouts and bouts of exhaustive interviews between his base in Ilorin and the nation’s capital Abuja. His oeuvre constituted part of the data for my doctoral thesis and I subjected him to rigorous inquisition on his literary works. On the sidelines, some of us his mentees were planning a 70th birthday festschrift for him and I had to grill him for an interview to be published in the compendium. Back in time in 1990, my schoolmate and fellow scholar, Wumi Raji, a professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) and I had interviewed Obafemi for the “Times Review of Literature and the Arts.” The literary digest was a creation of the Yemi Ogunbiyi era in the good old *Daily Times* which contributed tremendously to Nigeria’s cultural development.
Obafemi had remarked during my last interview engagement with him in January 2017 that he didn’t want to see me “anytime soon” on related issues! I had, he said, sufficiently “harangued, terrorised and squeezed” him that he would henceforth direct scholars desirous of engaging with his works to see me. I’ve had similar conversations with the multiple award-winning poet and scholar, Professor Niyi Osundare whose works I’ve been deeply engaging with since my undergraduate days. I remember the very hard bargaining we both had when I sent him a questionnaire of 20 questions as I assembled material for my research in 2013. We haggled and battled until we settled at 12 questions. Non-initiates often don’t know a fraction of what goes on in academics and the academia.
I beat even my own imagination when I took stock of my essays on the variegated strands of Atiku and his purpose sometime last year. I discovered I could actually come up with a handy compendium of my writeups. Yes the world is going “paperless” but the crinkling pages of a book would always stand the test of time. So I came up with a book of 120 pages titled: *Atiku: Perspectives On A Phenomenon* last November. For the discerning and instinctual, it takes conscientious lapping up of the atmosphere around Atiku to derive the inspiration to string words and expressions together. There’s typically some dynamism, some activity within his space which tells you a thing or two. Because Atiku is an area of interest for me, I also regularly dig up and study documents and dimensions about him.
This is the same way I stumbled on an essay titled “Atiku Abubakar: A journey of conviction” written by Anjorin Oludolapo and published in the November 8, 2023 edition of *Nigerian Tribune.* The presidential election had come and gone, the widely believed chicanery of the nation’s electoral umpire had been perpetrated, the contentious judicial adjudication by the highest court in the land on the poll had been pronounced. Even at that, Oludolapo felt compelled to revisit the person and ideals of Atiku Abubakar. For him, Atiku is “a symbol of unwavering courage and deep-rooted conviction.” The man he observes has “faced adversity and remained unyielding in his commitment to democratic principles and the betterment of Nigeria.” Submissions such as this are critical to focused perspectivisation of the classic Atiku Abubakar.
Oludolapo, a seeming Atiku aficionado notes that the trajectory of the *Wazirin Adamawa,* the traditional “prime minister” of the global Adamawa emirate epitomises “the spirit where the path chosen is fraught with challenges and where the outcome is uncertain.” Atiku, Oludolapo observes, has made humongous sacrifices and encountered a myriad of challenges often at great personal risk. Historicising Atiku’s endeavours on the democratic trail, Oludolapo notes that together with Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Atiku embarked on a “perilous journey to build a pan-Nigeria anchored on democratic ideals.” Lives and resources were lost to this project according to Oludolapo, while aggregating a generation of young Nigerians who shared the vision of a more inclusive and democratic future.
In an unusually clear-headed contention, Oludolapo remarks that Atiku’s vision for Nigeria has always extended beyond personal ambitions as has been more commonly bandied. His judicial victories in the face of adversity he observes have entrenched democratic norms which many political actors gloss over and take for granted contempraneously. Atiku, Oludolapo notes “is a testament to the enduring spirit of a man who has remained resolute in his commitment to democratic principles regardless of the challenges that he has faced.” He recalls Atiku’s successful judicial challenge of the emasculation of the Office of the Vice President by Obasanjo between 2006 and 2007, all the way to the Supreme Court. This he says has tempered the condescension with which the Offices of Vice President and Deputy Governor are viewed by their principals. Atiku’s action was not one of defiance but a commitment to upholding the rule of law.
Oludolapo alludes to Atiku’s sense of ethno-religious sensitivity and the imperative for balancing. In 1998, he chose a Christian, Bonnie Haruna to pair with him on his gubernatorial ticket in Adamawa State. Even when fate thrust him upwards to the position of Vice President in 1999, he rallied support for Haruna to be duly recognised as governor. He reaffirmed his support for Haruna to serve the constitutionally allowable two terms of four years each when he backed him for reelection in 2003. He refused to be swayed by jingoists intent on beating the drums of the numerical superiority of one section of the state over another. Atiku’s deft navigation of the Sharia brouhaha when he was Vice President also receives attention by Oludolapo. The subject was a potential time bomb capable of pitting the North against the South and festering a toxic atmosphere of fissions in the polity. Atiku ate the bullets when he castigated the “political implementation of Sharia law.” He took this position at the risk of being profiled as pro-South when he was expected to stand with his fellow northerners.
Beyond the puerile reduction of Atiku’s politics as being solely focused on ascending the highest office in the land, the documentation of Nigerian democracy will be incomplete without a fair and honest acknowledgement of his enormous contributions to the processes. His political career has been patently committed to the imperative to grow democracy, accord equitable platforms for political participation with strict adherence to rule of law, justice, equity and fairness. His mantra is to tap the best brains for national development and foster unity, fully cognisant of the availability of world class technocrats and professionals from across the country. Atiku is credited with identifying some of the key operatives in the Obasanjo/Atiku government all of whom have continued to hold their own on the global stage.
Moving forward, democracy in Nigeria must take firm root beyond orchestrated false starts, deliberate disregard for rule of law and the sickeningly eternal rat race for primitive acquisition. Tertiary institutions should by then find it imperative to endow chairs and establish institutes to advance the principles which the authentic frontrunners of democracy embodied. Initiatives such as an “Atiku Abubakar Institute for Leadership and Governance” should be purposely endowed in a rainbow of institutions across the land. My departed senior colleague and elder brother Ayo Olukotun was the pioneer occupant of the “Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona Professorial Chair for Governance” at the Babcock University, Ilishan, Ogun State before he left us early last year for example.
Atiku’s *alma mater* the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria must lead the way in the cannonisation of his ideals and perspiration over time and space in the service of democracy. Such an invention will fast track the advancement of the frontiers of popular rule and rule of law beyond subsisting genuflections, the recurring “brake and quench” democracy. That’s the way a roadside mechanic would describe a malfunctioning automobile perennially coming on and ever going off each time it is ignited. As many as have been impacted by Atiku’s sweat, investments, dedication and selflessness in the deepening of true democracy in Nigeria owe him one, certainly and deservedly. This is the irreducible minimum bouquet of flowers for a man who continues, daringly, to take risks in the entrenchment and evolution of genuine democracy in our clime, into the fourth successive decade now.
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA)
Opinion
MUSINGS ON THE “RENEWED HOPE” AGENDA CABINET
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot_20240728-094317.png)
BY BOLAJI AFOLABI
For many football loving Nigerians, commencement of the 2024/25 league season across Europe was a welcoming break from the recurring palpitations occasioned by multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral challenges pervading national space. Given the ecstasy and excitement it provides, spectators and fans are very hopeful that for about 40 weekends, something cheering would occupy their minds; away from the ever-increasing national problems. Back in the ’80s, *INDEEP* , was a New York-based musical group that released ‘ *when boys talk’* after it’s hugely successful ‘ *last night a DJ saved my life* .’ A line in the former that, ‘ *boys* *talk politics* …’ came to mind after the Liverpool versus Ipswich Town English Premier League opener few weeks back.
Over an hour of chit chat which included analysis, opinions, arguments, and more; a regular fixture at most viewing centres the topic of discourse veered into politics. From national to states and party politics, it was a robust and enlightening exchange between and among all. To add colour, panache, and rib-cracking to the scenario, the writer threw a puzzle; asking the name of the person who superintendents a particular ministry. For over thirty minutes, the gathering became a mini “who wants to be a millionaire” show. Responses were funny, cynical, and befuddling. At the end, many got it wrong, no where near the actual answer.
Buoyed by this disturbing discovery, the writer did random survey asking name(s) of ministers from people. The results were thought provoking, challenging and revealing. Names of few ministers are readily called. Somehow, the ‘playful’ exercise brought concerns to the writer. That people cannot readily recall names of their respective state’s representative on the cabinet list was shocking. That many had to resort to Google for “escape route” was saddening. That educated elites flunked the poser gives worrying signs.
August last year, when President Bola Tinubu sworn in his 46-member cabinet team after successful screening and confirmation by the Senate, there were varied opinions. While some people criticized the number arguing that it would stifle the economy, others believed it was the right way to go considering urgent need for pragmatic development. A school of thought postulated that aside being the largest ministerial cabinet since 1999, the names do not evoke confidence and believability. Another school countered that with the injection of achievers in the private sector, and creation of new ministries, Tinubu’s cabinet should perform. Yet, a different group inferred that with the creation of new ministries including Creative Economy; and re-modelling of few such as Health and Social Welfare; Agriculture and Food Security; Water Resources and Sanitation the cabinet was primed to deliver.
After one year in their various capacities as ministers, just as it was during composition, opinions and views of Nigerians are divided about their performances. There has been wide-ranging comments and criticisms about the cabinet. From reports, it has been deluge of condemnation and few commendation. What about consistent talks of large numbers; wrong deployments; lack of understanding of briefs; and more? For many people, the ministerial team has not lived to the expectations of Nigerians. Some opined that they have not justified the confidence reposed in them by Tinubu.
By their actions, inactions, and activities one can categorize the cabinet in five groups. There are the performers; those showing promises; those who flatter; those missing in action; and outright failures. Some merely make ‘politically correct’ statements with less or no corresponding action. Sadly, there are those who have taken, and maintained sleeping-modes. Some do not have any concrete and ‘see-able’ programme. Some have been innocuously silent, absent, and forgotten by Nigerians. Some have performed abysmally low in spite their initial boastful, and pretentious posturing.
Though there has been near-unanimity of opinion about the whimsical and undulating performances of the ministers, it is not all gloom and moody. Given the aggregation of views and opinions by people, there are few bright lights that evokes inspiration and confidence. In the midst of the class of largely non-ingenious, somewhat confused, overwhelmed, and disappointing failures, few have earned the applause and encomium of Nigerians. To reasonable extent, they have added depth and deliveries to the Tinubu administration. A bird’s eye review of these ministers; in no ranking order will suffice.
Nyesom Wike as the 17th minister of the federal capital territory is a paradox. To some, he is controversial and aggressive. Many others love his direct, frank, and open style of administration. Like or loathe him, vast majority of Abuja residents, and regular visitors commend his business-like approach to the delivery of outstanding projects and programmes spread in and around Nigeria’s capital. Under his watch, in addition to massive infrastructural development geared towards transforming Abuja, he has increased revenue generation to about 126.54 billion naira in the first 6 months of 2024, which is 53.5 percent higher than the figure in 2023. Public service reforms leading to establishment of FCT Civil Service Commission; appointments of Head of Service, and a dozen Permanent Secretaries; creation of Women Affairs, and Youth Development Secretariats. Extension of development to Area Councils to open up, and boost rural economy. Impressed by his excellent work rate and visible achievements, many describe him as the ‘poster boy’ of Tinubu’s government.
One can conclude that the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo has shown passion, dedication, commitment in his tour of duty. The 42-year old Ondo state-born former lawmaker has displayed ingenuity and fervour in piloting the ministry. With the rare combination of brilliance, education, exposure, and experience, he has recorded achievements. These includes innovative templates for passport processing; clearance of over 200,000 passport backlogs in just 3 weeks. Facilitated the release of over 4,000 prison inmates; payment of outstanding allowances, and improvement of existing welfare structures of agencies; rehabilitation and upgrade of facilities. Cleared over 10 billion naira debts, owed by his predecessors in his first few months; procurement of patrol vehicles, and other necessary operational components for surveillance activities.
Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, the medical doctor turned banker and financial investment expert superintendents the nation’s industry, trade, investment ministry. Though she oversee a largely unknown but critical sector, she has made encouraging achievements which is expected to manifest from the third quarter of 2025. These includes $30 billion investment commitments by some international companies and agencies; $14 billion worth of FDI inflow; $10 billion offshore investments commitment in Nigeria’s oil and gas free zones. Secured $3 billion facility from AFREXIM to build an industrial park, and light manufacturing expected to generate about 20,000 jobs; over $2 billion partnership with an African Finance Corporation subsidiary to resuscitate the cotton and textile industries for massive economic boost, and job creation. Arguably, the best in the ministry since 1999, she needs to improve her public affairs management.
Under the pragmatic leadership of Engr. Dave Umahi, the Works ministry is being positioned to effectively and efficiently meet the expectations of Nigerians.The Abuja-Kano, Port Harcourt-Enugu expressways, and other federal roads critical to national development are receiving positive look-in. It is expected that Umahi will galvanise the FERMA to fix bad patches of roads across the country. The Aviation and Aerospace Development Ministry has posted some encouraging feats. Under the leadership of Festus Keyamo, the ministry facilitated Air Peace’s Lagos-London route; the US-Nigeria Open Skies Air Transport Agreement which is expected to enable local airlines operate more freely on this routes; resolution of trapped funds for foreign airlines; resolution of the Nigeria/Emirates Airline crisis, and few other initiatives.
Few other ministers overseeing justice; solid minerals; housing and urban development; finance and budget; health and social welfare; digital economy merits measured commendation. Can one say same about their colleagues in defence; education; environment; tourism; science and technology; creative economy; blue economy; agriculture and food security; steel development; water resources and sanitation; and niger delta affairs? Indeed, their respective contributions to the renewed hope agenda requires robust public scrutiny and citizenry inquisition.
Having grossed one year as cabinet ministers, the searchlight has been on them. There has been repeated calls for total overhaul of the team. Some believe that the non-performance of many ministers has led to preponderance of socio-economic challenges. Pushing further, some argue that Nigerians are wallowing in pervasive poverty, escalating inflation, and gradual moral depravity due to the glaring disconnect between government and citizens. There is the general believe that re-jigging the cabinet is most ideal. Tinubu’s ministers should count themselves lucky for being chosen among 200 million Nigerians. A Yoruba proverb that you can facilitate employment for someone but you can’t do the job is most appropriate at this time. Tinubu should do the needful by embarking upon major surgery on his cabinet; to increase citizens believe, re-focus government, and ensure immediate service delivery. Capacity, competence, experience, and relevance should form the criterion for emplacing the proposed cabinet makeover.
* *BOLAJI AFOLABI, a development communications specialist was with the Office of Public Affairs in The Presidency*
Opinion
Before load shedding by telecoms operators begins
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Telecom.jpg)
By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
Nigerians are commonly used to electricity power load shedding which strategically reduces or cuts off electricity supply to different consumers or areas in a controlled manner. “This process helps balance demand with available resources.”
It is often planned and negotiated with local building owners. Utility providers monitor electricity demand and identify when it exceeds supply or nears capacity limits. They then create a load shedding plan that entails rotating power outages, temporary current disconnections and incentives to building owners for complying. Once demand decreases or additional power resources become available, the utility provider restores power to the affected areas.
Load shedding can also happen without prior planning. Power customers might experience involuntary load shedding when a utility electrical provider lowers or stops electricity distribution across a coverage area for a short period of time.
This type of load shedding is commonly referred to as a rolling blackout. Brownouts, another type of involuntary load shedding, are caused by a power supplier lowering voltage distribution during peak usage times to balance supply and demand.
Load shedding is about survival when telecom operators might start turning off some of their cell sites during less busy times to save on energy and costs.
This could help them minimize resources better and keep services running, even when it’s not a perfect solution. If telecom operators implement load-shedding, the quality of service could decline sharply. Load-shedding would likely result in reduced network coverage, slower internet speeds, and an increase in dropped calls according to an analyst.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria had over 164 million million active internet subscriptions as of March 2024,with mobile data accounting for the majority. A reduction in service quality could severely impact these users, leading to widespread frustration,this analyst added.
An alalyst describes load shedding as a deliberate shutdown of telecom services in a part or parts, generally to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand strains the capacity of available infrastructure.
Plagued by incessant rising cost of operations, including the increased prices of diesel, infrastructure maintenance, and a depreciating naira, “have called on the NCC to approve a tariff increase to help mitigate their financial burdens.”
MTN, for instance,with a subscriber base of 81.7million as of March 2024,reported a first loss after tax of N137 billion since its 2019 listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2023. The telco incurred FX losses of N740 billion ($815.79 million at N907.1/$).
> “Airtel Africa, which had 63.3 million subscribers in Nigeria as of March 2024, reported a loss after tax of $89 million for its full year ended March 2024, primarily due to FX headwinds in Nigeria and Malawi. It lost $1.26 billion to derivative and FX exposures, with $770 million attributed to the naira’s devaluation.”
This has led to dwindled investment in the telecoms sector, Carl Cruz, chief executive officer of Airtel Nigeria, stated, adding that, “The devaluation of the Naira moving from N420/dollar to N760/dollar in a month’s time, to about N1500/dollar today, had indeed affected telecoms industry who rely heavily on importation of infrastructure to grow the sector.’
In the same vein, Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria, said operators are reluctant to invest, simply because of the high operating cost and the devaluation of naira, among other issues that have marred the growth of the sector.
According to him, the telecoms sector in Nigeria is now in an intensive care unit (ICU) gasping for breath, while calling on the government to intervene.
The sector is facing a lot of challenges of which if urgent action is not taken, it will dry up. The truth is that investors are not going to come to invest in the sector if the fundamental issues are not addressed. To rescue the sector from collapsing, there is a need to increase prices of telecom services.”
Despite repeated pleas, the regulatory body has remained silent on the issue, causing frustration and uncertainty among industry players.
ALTON had earlier sent a working paper (memo) to the telecom regulator (NCC) saying that “the telecommunications industry has been significantly impacted by a myriad of macroeconomic challenges experienced in recent years due to the resulting exponential increase in broad business costs.”
“Of particular importance are:
*the upward trajectory in the inflation rate from 11.98% in 2019 to 21.34% in 2022 and currently 27.33% as at October 2023;
•rapid devaluation of the Naira evidenced by the recent upward movement at a rate of 68.5% from N461/$1 in December 2022 to N777/US$ as at the end of September 2023;and now over 1,590/a dollar.
•Sustained rise in energy prices with diesel currently retailing at an average price of N1,400/litre from N250/litre in January 2022.
With energy costs representing >40% of Mobile Network Operators’ operating expenses, tighter external financing conditions, higher debt service payments, and increased pressure on the Nigerian FOREX market, there has been a significant increase in the cost of production which has jeopardized MNOs’ capacity to maintain healthy margins in such a capital-intensive and FOREX- dependent industry as ours.
Despite these adverse economic headwinds, the telecommunications industry remains the only industry that has yet to effect any general tariff increase for its services in the last five years due to regulatory and political restrictions limiting the MNOs’ ability to react to the increased cost of doing business with our applications for these general increases still pending with the Commission one year after submission. The same cannot be said for our counterparts in other critical industries who have adjusted the retail prices of their goods and services with the support of their industry regulators to be reflective of their true business costs of production as a means of cushioning the net effect of the sky rocketing costs of doing business. We have attached, for the EVC’s consideration, a detailed overview of examples of such price increases in other sectors.
The operators also lament regulatory overlaps where unbudgetted expenditures are spent to defray unexpected expenses.
In their own position,ALTON also advocates for the co-creation of policies for the ICT sector,
better collaboration between ICT and non-ICT regulators with oversight over the sector (environment and consumer and corporate
governance) given the cross-cutting nature of digital services, which span multiple subject areas and regulatory frameworks.
“The Federal Government should also give the telecoms sector a special status like
> Agriculture and Manufacturing and introduce fiscal incentives for the sector, for example, the reduction of spectrum and numbering fees,replicate Road Infrastructure Tax Credit scheme for digital infrastructure projects.”
“ There is also a need to encourage market consolidation/collaboration arrangements to build stronger market players in the industry.”
“Implementation of the Open Data policy to make data accessible such that companies can collaborate with third-party developers, startups,
>> and other industries to develop applications, analytics tools, and
>> personalized services which will unlock new data-driven revenue
>> streams not only for telecoms but also for other industries such as banking, agriculture, manufacturing, “
“ We also require capable regulatory agencies overseeing and regulating these innovations. As such, the staff of relevant agencies will need to upskill and broaden their knowledge base while revising their frameworks to enhance technical and analytical capabilities.”
> ALTON laments that amid the formidable challenges facing the industry, “MNOs have also had to contend with a protracted history of non-payment by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other Financial Institutions (FIs) for their utilization of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services provided by MNOs from September 2019 till date.”
> “Regardless of the numerous ministerial and joint regulator-led interventions on this issue, commencing with the intervention of the immediate past Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (HMoCDE) in 2021, the consequent approval for disconnection of the banks issued by the Commission further to the HMoCDE’s directive in 2022, and the recent joint resolutions issued by the Commission and the CBN in August 2023 on the terms for defraying the debts owed, the DMBs and FIs have brazenly and persistently refused to meet their obligations to the MNOs through the malicious non-payment or, in many instances, the payment of a minuscule portion of their monthly invoices which has led to the accumulation of a massive debt of ⁓N200 Billion.”
> As a former Executive Director, Technical Services at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC (NIBSS), “we believe the EVC appreciates the facilitative role of telecommunications in the provision of financial services to Nigerians and how the USSD service has transformed digital banking and advanced financial inclusion in Nigeria, thereby, positively impacting the balance sheet of the DMBs and FIs.”
> “We maintain that it is beyond the pale for the banking industry to hold the telecommunications industry to ransom by its impenitent freeloading activities.
We, therefore, respectfully urge the EVC to take decisive action to put an end to this deplorable practice moreso as the provision of such USSD services to DMBs and FIs come at considerable cost to MNOs. “
> USSD services require substantial investment in enabling platforms such as Applications Programming Interface (APIs) and USSD Gateways for service delivery, cost of establishing signaling channels (a limited and critical network resource essential for the hitch-free service delivery) and the opportunity cost of utilizing these signaling channels and network services for USSD services instead of other prepaid network services such as Call/SMS set-up and delivery which cannot run in parallel with a USSD session.
Opinion
MAN LIKE WIKE
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/images-2024-08-06T183021.959.jpeg)
By Elder OSF
I don’t want this piece to be about the man Wike. But in truth I’m writing about him. I believe there’s a difference between writing about someone and writing of someone, or by someone and with someone.
Don’t mind me I’m just messing with you. It’s about Wike I’m writing, yes. Whether it’s of him or by, through or with him is, at best, misleading semantics.
There’s something in Wike that everybody should have. Yes, your mind has caught it too.
That relentless drive to push beyond limits, to chart new courses, to break barriers, is something every human being needs to have.
First off, Wike is not Jesus Christ. This is not about his values as a person. We will have to agree that our opinions on his values will be different, and that despite the difference we can examine his life to pick some lessons.
Why Wike, someone might ask. It’s because it is Wike. His story checks out well in the space we occupy as Nigerians. It is Wike. Everybody knows Wike – with all his flaws and accomplishments.
How Wike became a Minister, no I don’t mean being the Minister-Governor of Abuja, I mean being junior Minister of Education under President Jonathan, was by defying the odds placed before him by the political system of that era. It also involved facing stiff opposition by his erstwhile boss, our forever beloved CRA, the then powerful Governor of Rivers State.
How Wike became Governor, was by first refusing to cancel himself even on the basis of ethnicity, given that CRA whom he was seeking to succeed was of the same ethnic stock as he was in a multi-ethnic and diverse state as Rivers. He was relentless. He went the full nine yards and beyond. Some of his tactics are definitely indefensible but his relentless drive somehow counts for something.
How Wike ousted Atiku from being President, insisting on power rotation to the South, which favoured the incumbent President is itself worth studying. Make no mistakes about the fact that I am aware that there are various variants of narratives on how that happened. My interest is not the story. It is the fact that Wike got what he wanted.
He got more. He is the first Nigerian politician to influence the politics of both the ruling political party and its main opposition in his home State of Rivers. The very first person in history to accomplish that.
How does Wike’s mind work?
I’d tell you. It is solutions oriented. The impossibility of accomplishing anything has been so stifled in Wike’s thinking that it is impossible not to see possibilities, a way out of the myriad of complexities he navigates in the labyrinth of his daily political affairs. He is like a slippery fish. At least he’s proven to be that so far. You can’t hold him down.
Many times we’ve expected it to be the end of his political career, but somehow, he manages to wriggle himself out. Fayose his friend knows some things he has not told us. He only alluded to Wike’s opponents seeing spirits when they oppose him. But that’s not enough. What does Fayose know?
He knows how Wike’s mind works. He knows that Wike finds the way and where he can’t, he creates a new pathway.
This is how every human being should be wired. Wike’s creativity is not unique to him. But he has masterly mined the power of the human mind to his own advantage. Showing time and again, that impossibility is nothing.
As I said earlier, this is not about Wike. It is about the mind that powers his moves. If we can frame our minds like that and taint them with the values that we cherish, we will live more fulfilled lives.
This is how a regular guy from Rumuepirikom was able to be Governor of two Nigerian states back to back even without being a member of the political party of the latter.
Curse him for many reasons. He is a politician. He signed up for it. But when you’re done, give the man his flowers. He deserves them.
Elder OSF
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