Opinion
MY MENOPAUSAL STORY & JOURNEY
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…MENOPAUSE SHOWED ME SHEGE! 🤣🤣
Husbands can read too. It will help you to understand your wife better during those seasons of life and help you know what to do too.
Let me share with you my menopause experience and journey . what happened to me, why they happened and how to control them. As you read, you will understand the meaning of those pictures.
Let me also say ahead that not every menopausal woman experiences all that happened to me, some may not even have any of those symptoms except one or two. So it’s not compulsory you have all of them.
Unnnn, Menopause showed me shege oooo 🤣🤣🤣. Ah, I thought I will die. Let me explain.
Firstly what is Menopause. Menopause is that natural part of biological ageing that occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55. Menopause is caused by the loss of ovarian follicular function and a decline in circulating blood oestrogen levels. The menopausal transition can be gradual, usually beginning with changes in the menstrual cycle. This is when at that of 40 upwards ,your menstrual cycle begins to fluctuate. It’s called premenopause.
Mine started very early. By my 40th birthday I was already in full menopause. And the first set of signs I started having was this terrible fatigue, this weakness from inside as if there was no strength in me. Me Adetutu that is normally full of energy. I can do 10 things together, who born them, you can’t stop me. But suddenly to get up in the morning became an issue. I will be having this heat from inside. I naturally sweat, but this one will be like I was put in oven o. During harmattan, everyone is shivering. But I must put on the fan overnight.
Below are all that I experienced within the first 5 to 6 years of menopause:
1. Severe HOT FLASHES: Heat from inside out.
2. FAINTING SPELLS : I will be preaching in church and my eyes will go dark, people will not know why I’m holding the altar. They will think it’s anointing 😂😂😂.
3. Severe HEADACHE from morning till night: I had this headache everyday for 2 years.
4. INSOMNIA : I just wouldn’t be able to sleep.
5. SLEEP APNEA: I’ll just stop breathing while sleeping and so jerk up gasping for breath.
6. LOSS OF APPETITE and inability to decide what to eat.
7. UNEXPLAINABLE WEIGHT GAIN, especially around the midriff. I wasn’t eating, yet my tummy was getting bigger.
8. FORGETTING THINGS.: in fact, I frustrated the children with this one, because I could even forget that I was holding the car keys 🤣🤣.
9. VERTIGO: I am lying down yet the whole room is spinning.
10. SEVERE, ALMOST PARALYSING WEAKNESS and tiredness. To get up in the morning was a big issue. Me, Adetutu was getting to church late! Ah! It is well o.
11. SEVERE PAINS IN ALL MY JOINTS: knees, ankles, wrists, shoulders, neck, waste, hips. That picture of my two knees was the one I took at a time, when suddenly one of my knees swelled up becoming twice the size of the other, and I couldn’t leave the house for 4 days.
12. VAGINA DRYNESS: So I Couldn’t have sex without lubricant. In fact there was a time I couldn’t have sex at all. I just was not interested..
13. Intermittent MOODINESS and lethargy. Loss of interest in everything generally.
14. My beautiful nails just started getting weak and brittle, they were crumbling and breaking 😭😭. But thank God, they are back now. That’s them in that picture. Full, strong and long again! 💃💃💃.
The first 6 years was traumatic for me. I can’t even explain how I was able to go through all that and still meet up with all my schedules and meetings and counselling and invitations. There were times, by the time I get home from my meetings and preaching engagement, I will be in so much pain, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the car. There were times my knees will just lock up all by themselves, I wouldn’t be able to bend them for minutes 🤣🤣. All I can say is that I am standing here today because Grace upheld me.
A lot of people except my family didn’t know what I was going through. And you can imagine how it would have affected them too. That’s why you must marry a good Man o who knows what he’s doing. And You must pray for good children too and train them well because of that season. You will need them:
Heritage is not just my Son, he’s an Angel sent from God to me.
He and His Dad were always around me and on my case. Guarding me from unnecessary stress. Doing many things I should have done for me. Giving me moral and spiritual support. The girls were often in school, so they kept calling, chatting, checking up on me. Calling their brother to plan how to reduce my stress.
I can’t count the number of times that Heritage will come into my room , hold my hand and just pray for me. Same with His Dad too.
He sends unserious clients away without batting any eyelid 🤣🤣🤣.
His sisters were mostly at school, so he was the one around often with me and His Dad.
My husband First suspended sex for a while. It’s good to marry a man with sense o 🙈😂😂. Who doesn’t think with his scrotums. He helped me and gave me time to balance out.
I’m telling you, it was a season I won’t forget in a hurry.
Then the psychological trauma of not knowing on time what was going on. I first thought I have developed a terminal sickness. I thought I had a brain tumour or blood sickness. I wasn’t afraid of death, I knew I can’t die, but I wanted to know what was wrong with me!!! My husband kept telling me I was fine, it was age and hormonal changes, but I didn’t believe him😂.
It was when I called my elder sister in UK and told her that the devil wants to kill me that she now explained to me that it’s menopause. That was the first time I had peace. Because being a fellow woman, she has gone through most of the same symptoms. She was also the one who explained to me the possible reasons why my own was that severe:
Be careful of the following dangerous life style as a lady. I lived like that when I was younger and they complicated the menopause season for me:
1. I don’t take water. I can eat without drinking water. I can go a whole day without water.
2. I lived a very stressed life. For a greater part of my 30s, I don’t sleep for more than 4 hours per day. I work myself to the bone always and never rested enough.
3. I hardly take fruits or vegetables.
All these bad habits that I thought were okay also contributed to the severity of my own symptoms. So my sister told me I had to develop a totally new life style and regiment if I want the symptoms to reduce and balance out. Then I also read up on it.
So, I’ll advise that you as a woman that you shouldn’t wait till you have reached menopause before you start doing the following. Once you get to your middle or late 30s, start doing them or increase your doing of them:
LIFESTYLE FOR A MENOPAUSAL WOMAN:
1. Take More water. Plenty water, At least 3 litres daily. You can measure it through the day. But stay very hydrated.
2. Don’t be headstrong like me, get supplements and of these good supplements. Well woman, omega H3, etc
3. Take more vegetables and fruits: just make them a daily part of your diet. I just finished eating guavas now. Reduce your food portions and take less carbs too.
4. Get those good seeds: Sesame seeds , Flax seeds, Sunflower seeds, Chia seeds, etc. Add them to your water and pap etc. Cinnamon too if you don’t mind the taste. They help with the bloating, are good antioxidants, and hormonal balance too.
5. Your 8 hours sleep daily must not be compromised again. Minimum of 7 hours. That’s the cause of the headache. From the moment I started deliberately sleeping for long. The headaches stopped.
6. Do light exercises like walking as often as you can. Some jogging, cardio exercises etc. To help with the joint pains and also keep your heart strong and increase blood circulation.
7. Avoid everything and situation that can rile you up and get you Angry. Learn to ignore troublesome people.
8. In case you have started having pains during or after sex. Then get artificial lubricant. After a while, you may not need it again.
9. Reduce all types of sugars. Those soft drinks, juices etc. Reduce them or stop totally. Take green tea more or just water. If you will take soft drinks etc, let it be very seldomly.
10. Speak the word to your body like crazy. This one really helped me o. Ah, I started speaking the word of God to my body and commanding it to fall in line.
In the last two years, it’s been way better. I’m stronger, most of the symptoms have disappeared. I’m back to Bedmatics full time again 🤣🤣. The aches comes intermittently when I stress myself too much. But in all, I’m feeling more like myself again!
I wished someone had prepared me for it and told me many of those things before hand. I think it would have been easier for me. So I’m just using this post to share my experience and also to help other women out there who are either going through it or will still go through it.
I’m sure Other women too who have different experiences and used different methods, the Doctors, dieticians etc who will read this will also contribute and tell us other things we can do to prepare for this season of life as a woman. Please contribute oooo. 😁❤️🌹.
I hope I’ve helped a bit.
Love always.
Adetutu osofowora (TUSKY)
Opinion
MUSINGS ON THE “RENEWED HOPE” AGENDA CABINET
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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
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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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