Opinion

In many parts of Nigeria, onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, has been as common as it has been devastating – having stolen the eyesight of an estimated 120,000 Nigerians and causing debilitating complications in many others.

The disease has been so common, that researchers interviewing rural Nigerians in 1991 reported its symptoms, including the impairment of vision, are “believed by Nigerian rural dwellers to be part of the natural vicissitudes of aging.” No other country, in fact, has had more people infected or people at risk of contracting the neglected tropical disease (NTD).

One of the leading infectious causes of blindness in the world, onchocerciasis is caused by a worm transmitted by repeated bites of infected female blackflies. It is notoriously difficult to cure – treatment requires reaching affected communities, often in remote locations, with annual or biannual doses of an anti-parasitical medicine for periods spanning a decade.

It has been such a stubborn scourge that when Nigerian health leaders launched their most recent anti-river blindness effort in 1991, their goal was not elimination – instead their goal was simply to reduce the number of people falling ill.

“We thought we would be treating onchocerciasis indefinitely,” said Dr. Abel Eigege, the program director for The Carter Center in Nigeria for the past 25 years. “It was a daunting challenge that had plagued our forefathers for generations.”But 30 years later, health leaders in Nigeria’s Plateau (population 3 million) and Nasarawa states (population 2.5 million) have achieved what few initially thought possible – they have delivered 27 million doses of medication over more than 20 years, to eliminate transmission of river blindness.

Another four Nigerian states: Abia (population 4.2 million), Anambra (population 6.2 million), Enugu (population 4.8 million), Imo (population 5.8 million) appear close to the same historic milestone.

After molecular testing of more than 52,000 black flies and blood samples from more than 12,000 people, the Ministry of Health has just announced that it will no longer be distributing drugs to stop transmission in those four states and instead will monitor to confirm elimination of transmission.

And another three states, Sokoto (population 6.3 million), Yobe (population 3.6 million), and Gombe (population 4 million), are also suspected of having stopped transmission and are launching the widespread surveying and testing of flies and humans necessary to determine if they can confidently stop distribution of anti-parasitic medicine.

Efforts to control the disease continue across more than 20 other Nigerian states. These efforts are led by health officials like Jacob Danboyi, whose own father lost his vision because of river blindness. Danboyi went on to serve as coordinator of Nasarawa state’s neglected tropical disease elimination program.

“I cannot express how gratifying it is to see millions of Nigerians free from the threat of river blindness,” Professor B.E.B. Nwoke, chair of Nigeria’s Onchocerciasis Elimination Committee said in a statement.

“When we started, many questioned our ambition. Today, I’m proud that Nigeria, once again, serves as a beacon of inspiration.”What’s more, river blindness efforts served as the backbone for historic progress against other NTDs. The same 17,102 community volunteers across the Plateau and Nasarawa states who educated their neighbors about river blindness and delivered the 27 million doses of ivermectin, also educated their neighbors about lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis) and delivered 36 million ivermectin-albendazole treatments for the disease – eliminating it from Plateau and Nasarawa states in 2012.

This same network of community volunteers also reduced schistosomiasis, commonly known as snail fever, by 62 percent in the two states, and delivered hundreds of thousands of insecticide-treated bed nets to help eliminate lymphatic filariasis and reduce malaria.

This remarkable success demonstrates the potential power of community-based interventions, the benefits that may accrue by breaking down silos in vertical health initiatives, and how leveraging existing health structures can help accelerate progress.

“This success confirms that health interventions that logically fit together should go together,” said Dr. Frank Richards, who served as director of the Carter Center’s River Blindness Elimination Program, Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program, and Schistosomiasis Control Program from 2005-2020.

“It shows the benefits of moving away from silos. We can’t have a different vertical team delivering each medicine. There are a lot of logistical, economical, and epidemiological reasons for an integrated approach.”

The effort against river blindness in Plateau and Nasarawa states began in 1987 with a historic announcement: the pharmaceutical company Merck had agreed to donate ivermectin – “as much as needed, for as long as needed” – to help eliminate river blindness.

Nigerian health authorities soon launched a vertical initiative, sending out health workers by foot, in four-wheel drive vehicles, or on motorcycles to deliver the medication to far-flung villages once a year. By the mid-1990s, authorities realized that this approach wasn’t regularly reaching the most remote villages, which often had the highest rates of the disease.

They shifted their approach and, with the support of the Carter Center, established a community-based distribution network.Thousands of community volunteers across both states quickly began conducting annual censuses to determine how many doses of medicine each village would require and followed up by delivering ivermectin to every single household.

Many of these communities had never before been reached by the national health system.Soon, community volunteers across the two states were delivering 2.2 million annual doses to their neighbors. As people’s health improved, communities rallied around the program.

In 2000, efforts to stop the transmission of river blindness were presented with a new opportunity and challenge, when another pharmaceutical company, GSK, formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline, stepped forward with its own historic announcement: it would donate albendazole to be used to treat another neglected tropical disease: elephantiasis. The disease is spread by infected female mosquitos and is often found in many of the same areas where river blindness is endemic.

A single annual dose of albendazole, when used in combination with ivermectin (that was already being delivered to prevent river blindness), can wipe out the parasite that causes elephantiasis.

Rural Nigerians were eager for a treatment for elephantiasis, which often causes heavily swollen legs, disfigurement, and disability. In communities afflicted by this disease in Plateau and Nasarawa states, as many as 10% of residents were affected with heavily swollen limbs and as many as half of men suffered from swollen genitals (hydrocele) from the infection. Authorities estimated that in these two states alone, nearly four million Nigerians would need to be treated for at least 5-6 years to eliminate transmission of the disease.

But there was a serious concern: might integrating the medicines for elephantiasis overburden and derail the successful river blindness program?Authorities cautiously moved forward with the expansion, increasing the footprint of the program in the two states to serve five to six times as many communities.

Program logistics were complicated by the expansion – some communities needed the treatment only for elephantiasis, some only needed the treatment for river blindness, and some needed the medication for both elephantiasis and river blindness.

Dr. Eigege and Dr. Richards, together with their colleagues, noted in follow-up research that rather than dilute the impact of the program, an integrated approach accelerated progress. He and his colleagues wrote in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene that “the integrated concept demonstrated here represented an important opportunity that should be seized by governments and donors alike, as it may ultimately be as important to the public health of Africa as childhood immunization.”Dr. Eigege explained that “integration is better for the patient, better for the community, and reduces costs by about 41%. When you think about sustainability and impact – integration is key.”

Buoyed by successful integration, authorities incorporated the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets into their program in 2004.

The bed nets not only helped prevent the spread of lymphatic filariasis, but also helped prevent malaria.The Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health and its partners developed co-implementation guidelines for a coordinated effort to eliminate both malaria and lymphatic filariasis.

The guidelines strategically map out shared interventions to maximize impact and reduce redundancies, aligning activities including health education, community-based action, distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bed nets, and mass drug administration.

These guidelines are the first of their kind in Africa.In 2006, authorities further expanded efforts, training the same community volunteers addressing river blindness and elephantiasis to also deliver treatment for schistosomiasis, another common neglected tropical disease caused by a worm that can cause malnutrition, anemia, and organ damage.

Community volunteers provided a single dose of praziquantel to all school-aged children and eligible adults. By delivering the medication outside of schools, community volunteers were able to reach even the poorest families, whose children sometimes never enroll, have poor attendance, or leave school early.

Again, Dr. Eigege, Dr. Richards, and their research colleagues found that integrating schistosomiasis and elephantiasis into the river blindness program improved “the latter’s sustainability, by capitalizing on cost savings and broadening the programs’ benefits and popularity. In fact, the enthusiasm expressed for the expansion of the popular Plateau/Nasarawa state programs during surveys suggests that integration with LF and SH could increase [ivermectin] consumption for [onchocerciasis] rather than decrease it.”

Explained Dr. Richards, “All of this worked because it was community based. You couldn’t achieve this by getting mobile teams into a land cruiser and distributing medicines to thousands of communities.”

By Tonnie Iredia

The writings and teachings of leadership theorists and scholars have over the years established that the best way to achieve the goals of an entity is to hand the entity over to a leader with vision, passion and integrity. This probably explains why many developing countries including Nigeria believe that the only solution to their myriad of developmental challenges is leadership change. Their position is hugely reinforced by the age-long belief that everything whose head is bad is virtually irredeemable. Nigerians have however not bothered to identify and isolate for resolution, other causative factors to their nation’s stunted growth. To make matters worse, it is only political leaders and perhaps some of their close aides that people are blaming. Indeed, some even think, it is only the president that should be blamed for every failure in the country, family disagreements inclusive. In reality, so much is happening in other areas of public affairs that is worth interrogating. Is stinking corruption in our places of worship managed by political leaders or was it political leaders who were dispensing fake COVID 19 cards to unvaccinated citizens?

Bearing in mind that Nigerians have continued to view their country’s problems from only one perspective forgetting that doing the same thing repeatedly can hardly end with a different result, it is time to draw attention to the extent to which several groups of people in Nigeria other than those in the political leadership class have contributed to the nation’s dilemma. There is no better time to do so than this period of political confusion that could blur strategic reasoning. It has in fact, become necessary to make the point that although leadership is always a critical factor, it is also interestingly a dependent variable, subject to factors such as situations and followership. Indeed, that there is a leader, presupposes that there are people – followers, with many of them constantly unwilling to follow the acclaimed leader; opposing leadership on every subject just for the sake of doing so. And as history has shown, many leaders fail or succeed only because of the situation they find themselves.

Another wrong notion of leadership is that it can only be located at the apex of an entity’s hierarchy. This is wrong because there is leadership at all levels. In a typical democracy, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary have different leaders. At the federal, state and local governments levels, there are separate leaders. In the public sector, ministries, departments and agencies have distinct leaders, so do directorates, divisions, sections and units. In truth, messengers, cleaners, typists etc. have their own leaders making it obvious that the concept of leadership is applicable to a large number of people whose activities are usually discountenanced. While citizens in developed economies keep to the established norms of performing their functions diligently without prompting, operatives in Nigeria do not really work well enough to deserve any pay. Why does a people need to be pleaded with to not use impatience to create congestion at every junction of our roads which keep themselves stranded all the time?

Based on greed and a general inclination to profiteer, members of the Nigerian civil society have over the years assisted political leaders to destroy the country. I remember the case of an operative in a government agency who told a disciplinary panel that he declared a brand new vehicle unserviceable so it could be sold to his chief executive. He claimed to have done so because the boss promised to put him in charge of the sale of all the agency’s unserviceable vehicles across the country. In several public offices, many operatives claim huge overtime allowances though they hardly work for as much as the prescribed 8 hours a day. It is only supervisors who approve such illegal claims that are popular in different public organizations in Nigeria. But should such supervisors and their fraudulent staff blame leadership over the poor state of finances in the country? Surprisingly, they do and very loudly too, heaping blame on the proverbial leadership that must be changed. But then, would any improvement be recorded if bad leaders are changed while fraudulent operatives are left to sustain the ‘business-as-usual’ posture to the detriment of the nation?

Another observable problem is the ease with which Nigerians support policies they do not understand. For example, after the civil war, everything in Nigeria was federalized under the guise of furthering national unity. Intellectuals and eloquent activists supported the move thereby helping the military to seamlessly conclude the subject. Today, everyone who wants restructuring, another name for decentralization is blaming leadership for the emergence of our previously preferred almighty federal government. State police that we are agitating for now was loathed then because the regional leaders used them to persecute their opponents. Today, those enjoying the bogus federal police are not willing to let go because they are useful for rigging elections. If only we had critically examined the changes we made then, we could have moderated our support for putting every subject in the exclusive legislative list. We assumed that the parliamentary system of government was our problem, so we quickly adopted the presidential system. Now, how do we get out of the expensive bicameral legislature whose members collude to produce an annual fraudulent budget?

The vocal elites are not only still actively around but have developed expertise in blowing cosmetic issues out of proportion while leaving substance to pursue shadows. Last week, when former president Olusegun Obasanjo announced his support for a particular candidate in the forthcoming presidential election, many people cried foul as if the man has no right to determine his preference on the subject. Some have aggressively argued that Obasanjo having had his time in government should not dabble into the current electioneering process. They refer specifically to how other former leaders stay quiet and dignified. The critics got it all wrong. First, the fact that certain former leaders are quiet does not mean they are impartial. Apart from the fact that each leader is entitled to his mannerism and chosen disposition, nothing suggests that those who are quiet love Nigeria more. But perhaps the most irritating aspect of the attack on Obasanjo is the fact that because many Nigerians never want to be in the bad books of those in government, they say nothing at the right time thereby rendering our democracy impotent. Is it Obasanjo whose tenure ended 16 years ago that we should be holding accountable now?

Every day, ordinary Nigerians who support the present administration are falling on each other publicizing what they call the gigantic achievements of president Buhari. Why not let us feel the achievements ourselves? After May 29th and especially if another party forms the next government we shall begin to hear the same people loudly condemning what they will call the atrocities of the former government. If as it is said everywhere democracy is about people, Nigerians should make their preferences about policies and leaders known as and when due. But if as we did in the past, we are going to vote for the highest spender as the legendary Afe Babalola recently predicted, we should be honest enough to keep shut when an incompetent government emerges. We must put an end to our old practice of ‘wisdom-after-event’ in which we begin to apologize for supposedly being misled in our decision making. Luckily, we are currently at a strategic junction of history, where we must reject the failing-signs of yesteryears

Nigeria’s next president ought to be a person with a strong character that can rescue our dying nation. In other words, the personality should matter more than the sponsoring political party. Our next president must be one who would in real terms win by lawful majority of votes cast in authorized voting centres; and must be prepared to serve as president of Nigeria and not that of his political party. Our next president must employ the best hands for every job from all over the country. Along with the next president, Nigerians must resolve to stop the blame-game and take appropriate steps to build strong institutions that can help the nation to survive over time.
January 08, 2023

By Tonnie Iredia

Each time I come across a statement by the different support groups and campaign managers of some political parties, I am immediately reminded of certain issues that are yet to change in politics and elections in Nigeria. One of them is the ease with which the closest sect of loyalists to Nigerian leaders complicate their tenures. It has become the practice for candidates who had during electioneering campaigns rolled out numerous programmes and policies to renege on or deemphasize them once they assume office. Each of them is always able to do so even without blinking because of the covert influence of ‘cabals’- a recent more popular nomenclature for powerful loyalists who position themselves to call the shots from the corridors of power. Painfully, most of the shots which clearly portray absolute power hardly help the respective principals to sustain the built-up hopes and expectations of the electorate. It is certainly unwise for leaders to allow their followers to drive their dreams or to in any way suggest that they are incapable of making independent decisions.

During the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan such political loyalists were quite active dissuading the then president from decisions he would ordinarily have made; a good example being the cancellation of his planned visit to comfort the Chibok community where hundreds of young female students had been abducted. Indeed, every opportunity was seized at that period of insecurity to use ‘security advice’ to rationalize every action or omission by government. At a point, the nation’s independence anniversary celebrations were moved from the Eagle Square into the Villa. Could it be true that our military were incapable at the time of securing the Square? No one appeared to have fully appreciated the propensity of such decisions underscoring the invincibility of the insurgents and inflicting more fear on the public. When therefore the then opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised to change the precarious situation, not many found cause to doubt the party’s campaign team but it didn’t take long for the APC to fully inherit the same trait we had all thought belonged to only the PDP.

Those who have keenly followed the activities of the Buhari administration would readily agree that the president is always patient with his appointees allowing each one, ample opportunity to exercise his or her discretion while implementing their assignments. Despite several public outbursts, he gave the immediate past service chiefs more than enough room to make it. But vice president Osinbajo has not been that lucky. After the opportunity he had during Buhari’s long medical leave to the UK, there was no more. Those who imagine that it was close loyalists of the president that worked against Osinbajo have a point because how he has been handled is not consistent with Buhari’s liberal posture of delegating duties to subordinates. Those who argue that Buhari did not need to handover during trips not exceeding 21 days are probably enjoying the cabal status because everywhere, the standard practice is for a president to handover if he or she would be away for even one day. The 21-day limit in our Constitution is when his refusal to handover is to be formally challenged by the legislature.

Supporters of our current leading candidates for the 2023 elections are already showing signs that they are anxious to set up the dreaded cabal team if their principals are elected. Nowhere else is this more obvious than the ruling APC where handlers of Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu are not allowing the man to be himself. Presidential debates, the world over constitute the highest and most exciting form of political broadcasts. Understandably, that is the form which creates room for diametrically opposed viewpoints to be canvassed by candidates in one forum for meaningful comparison by voters for informed decision making. Although some of our candidates in the past, always out of fear, shunned presidential debates, Nigeria cannot continue to replace debates with boring party talks in which everyone makes claims that are not interrogated by others. That format is certainly unexciting, though it can coexist with other forms.

The decision of the APC candidate to shun political broadcasts organized by Arise TV is unfortunate. To start with, Arise TV is today closest in proactive performance to John Momoh’s leading Channels TV, making it obvious that it can easily attract viewers. Besides, the station is just one of the organizers of the programmes which include many other credible organs. As a result, having a misgiving with just one of the organizers is insufficient to deprive Tinubu from using such a popular platform to attract votes through a good debate. The controversy as to whether or not Section 22 of our Constitution compels the candidate to appear in a debate should not be used to hold-on to the letter rather than the spirit of the law. This is because if any candidate is free to ignore any medium, such a candidate would be deliberately stopping the particular medium from performing a constitutional mandate. This is why Tinubu should attend every debate especially where his competitors are present. To be the only absentee among the select few is open to several interpretations by different people.

More importantly, the impression being created that Tinubu cannot stand a debate is not only untrue, it is a seed sown and frequently watered by some of his followers who are probably nursing the secret ambition of serving as cabals. The performance of Tinubu at Chatham House last week shows clearly that he is quite fit to speak to any audience. He even danced with vigour to Kizz Daniel’s ‘Buga’ after the Chatham House outing. Indeed, the question that was best answered at the Chatham forum was the one on his real identity and credentials which he personally answered. His decision to ask one of his followers to answer the question on foreign policy for example was unnecessary having himself in his opening remarks clearly stated the expedience of predicating foreign policy on domestic policy. In other words, his decision to delegate some followers to answer some cheaper questions only showed that he was anxious to formally compliment some of his powerful followers. In fact, the argument that the candidate wanted to show that he is a man who is good at delegating powers is exceedingly weak because before he is elected as president, he has no presidential powers to delegate. This does not derogate from the fact that he has a powerful team of former and present governors etc.

Perhaps it is necessary at this point to draw the attention of the APC to the ‘Uses and Gratification Theory’ in Mass Communication which has since established that people deliberately seek out the particular medium which satisfies their specific needs. Therefore, it is viewers and listeners in the case of broadcasting that ultimately make a choice of which medium to tune to and which of its programmes to get exposed to. For this reason, APC ought to pursue her public enlightenment and voter education schemes by utilizing every opportunity to reach the different segments of the society. It is self-hurting to unwittingly ignore any medium because that would automatically shut out voters who prefer to patronize the particular medium that was so treated.

Undoubtedly, other competitors who do not engage in such discriminating practice would at the end of the day gain more media leverage and greater public attention. The point to be made is that the period of political broadcasts is not a time for fighting media enemies, real or perceived. Rather, it is a time for aggregating all available chances for selling a candidate. The personal appeal by Tinubu on Channels TV for undecided Nigerians to quickly make up their minds and vote for him as the most credible candidate according to him is stronger than several press releases; it would be strongest if made in a debate. As previously articulated by this column, other candidates particularly Peter Obi who has always spoken, should never shun opportunities to further elucidate on their campaign promises and manifestos.

December 11, 2022

In quick succession, three chief executive officers of Nigeria’s most power societal institutions were convicted of contempt of court in the last one month. It all started when Justice Chizoba Orji of the Abuja High Court ordered the remand of Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Kuje Correctional Centre Abuja for disobeying an earlier order of the court directed at the Commission. A Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment dated November 3, 2022 and sighted by the media revealed the directive of the court to the Inspector General of Police to ensure that the order was executed forthwith. Of course, consistent with public expectation, the court order was not executed. What happened was an attempt by the EFCC to establish that the disobedience was neither willful nor in the character of the Commission to so act. EFCC’s point was however superfluous

A few weeks later, another Judge in the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Abuja, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon sentenced Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP) himself to three months’ imprisonment for also disobeying a valid court order which had directed the Police many years ago to reinstate one of its own, Patrick Okoli, who was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian Police Force. The IGP according to Justice Olajuwon would remain in custody until he obeys the subsisting order of the court. The implication of this is that if he fails to purge himself of the contempt at the end of 3months, another order would be made for him to remain there. Like the case of the EFCC chair, the IGP did not obey the order of the court by proceeding to serve the punishment. Instead, he caused a press release to be issued to explain that he had not even joined the Police Force when the order was first made.

Only 4 days back, a High Court sitting in Minna, Niger State, heard a case concerning one Adamu Makama and 42 others against the governor of Niger State and seven others with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, and the Commandant, Training and Doctrine Command, Minna, Major Gen. Stevenson Olabanji, listed as 6th and 7th defendants respectively. Before adjourning the case to December 8, 2022, Justice Halim Abdulmalik who presided found cause to issue a warrant of arrest to remand at the Minna Custodial centre, the two military chiefs for contempt of court. In other words, the military chiefs would remain in custody in the first instance until next Thursday. Unlike the cases of the EFCC chair and the Inspector General of Police, the military had remained silent on the matter from when the order was made till when this piece was being packaged a few hours ago making it difficult to include its reaction in this write-up.

In today’s global village, the 3 cases above successfully inflicted incalculable damage on the nation’s image. Not many Nigerians in diaspora and other people reading the reports would be amused by their bizarre colouration. Quite often, our leaders challenge the Nigerian media to be more patriotic by engaging in development communication while playing down on the nation’s negative stories. But what would the media have done with these three reports which establish beyond reasonable doubt that ours is a nation where public officers disobey court orders with impunity? Interestingly, the three reports are not isolated cases, what seems to make them look like a bang is that they happened at about the same time when some courageous judges were in the mood of standing their grounds. Some of our public bodies are always into contempt of court behaving now and again as if their institutions are officially above the law

Police operatives in particular are notorious for disobeying court orders. In 2018 for example, Justice Sylvanus Oriji sitting at an FCT High Court in Apo, Abuja, insisted that the then Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, must appear before him to explain why he should not be committed to prison for flouting court orders that barred the Police from interfering with activities of Peace Corps of Nigeria, (PCN). The head office of the Corps had been unlawfully sealed-off by armed policemen on the directive of their Inspector General. Consequently, the PCN brought an application to court to commit the IGP to prison for flouting the subsisting judgment of the court regarding its activities. Justice Oriji did not only condemn the attitude of the Police but specifically imposed a fine of N25, 000 on the IGP

Other agencies behave similarly. In 2015, contempt proceedings were brought against the then Chief Executive of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, for allegedly disobeying a court order barring the corps’ imposition of fines on motorists. Justice, John Tosho of the Federal High Court in Lagos, had indeed nullified the powers of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to fine motorists for violating traffic rules. The position of the Judge was that only a court of law can pronounce a motorist or driver guilty of violating traffic rules and order him or her to pay a fine. What the FRSC can do is to arrest motorists for traffic offences and take them to the relevant court which has the powers to punish traffic offenders. Despite this ruling, many uniformed officials are seen daily on our roads apprehending and imposing fines on motorists. Under the guise of revenue generation for government, a number of regulatory agencies are continuously usurping judicial functions

Under the rule of law, everyone is equal before the law but well placed office holders seem to behave as if they are among persons who enjoy immunity from prosecution. Some even attempt to direct the judiciary. There is no better way of understanding the posture of the EFCC and the Police bosses who after conviction by courts of competent jurisdiction remain in the comfort of their offices to begin to tell their own side of the story which they would have promptly presented to the courts during trial. The EFCC boss in particular should not have been convicted if the conscious efforts he had made to comply with the order in question had been properly narrated in court. In the case of the Police, the argument that the current IGP had not even joined the service when the order was made and was not personally served are unacceptable technicalities to hamper substantive justice. The current IGP having inherited the case remains liable.

There are several lessons to be learnt from the latest development in which the Judiciary has woken from slumber to insist on the rule of law in Nigeria. First, commendation must go to Justices Orji, Olajuwon and Abdulmalik who had the courage to convict top office holders for contempt of court. From the names of the Judges, it would appear that they are all female which seemingly validates the publicly held belief that they are more committed and forthright in the performance of their duties. It is hoped that other Judges especially those to handle the coming election petitions will keep the flag flying in the interest of the nation. Whereas some of the indicted organizations may feel humiliated, the convictions are more likely to strengthen their processes. They need to note in particular that they were not targetted for harassment. The prompt discharge of the EFCC chair as soon as his efforts at complying with the court orders were made known is instructive.

The 3 memorable cases have also shown that chief executives of agencies mandated by the law to take charge of the day to day running of their organizations must always remember that buck-passing stops at their desks and that quite often they should prepare to take vicarious liability for what their subordinates do. As pointed out in the Peace Corps’ case, the assumption is that the IGP had been duly informed of court papers served through his Commissioner of Police. The cases show the importance of proper handing over notes to successors in office. From now on, many government agencies would hopefully put themselves in check. As the last hope of the common man, Nigerians ought to celebrate the new stance of their Judiciary.

Tonnie O. Iredia
December 04, 2022

Money and power are two toxic and very inflammable elements that can usher a man from a supposed humble background into a world of mouthed recklessness, super bloated ego, over damning pride and inexcusable foolishness.

No wonder there’s a local saying that one can’t readily predict a man until he’s handed a money vault and at the same time, robed with power and authority! Such is the case of Comrade Philip Shuaibu, a once upon a time adopted kid of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; erstwhile governor of Edo state and immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.

I watched disgustingly for the umpteenth time on a national television station wherein the Deputy governor of Edo state; just like an ostracized ostrich attempted to downplay and devalue the immeasurable roles and qualitative inputs of his former mentor in his uninspiring life. The heart of man is indeed very wicked!

Firstly, let it be stated in clear terms that I have never been an antagonist of the Deputy governor, but when men of goodwill and strong character continue to conceal truth and turn blind eyes to facts and realities on ground, lies and falsehood will abound. This is the sad reality in the political dismemberment and superiority fight between the disowned father and the disowned son!

Many of us grew up to know Oshiomhole as a social crusader and a dogged fighter especially in his days as the NLC boss when he was even referred to as an alternate President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo because of the absolute trust Nigerian workers and a larger percentage of the voting masses reposed in him at the time. He was resilient, dutiful, vociferous, fearless, dependable and not an easy nut to crack at all! His voice has always been heard by anyone who cared to listen both locally and internationally.

That was the reason why people like us stuck out our necks, and campaigned vigorously for him when he indicated interest to contest the number one political seat in our dear state of Edo, and the testaments of his stewardship abound in all nooks and crannies of the state even up till now as against the infrastructural emptiness and governmental decadence that now pervade the state due to Obaseki/Shuaibu’s hollowness, shallowness, cluelessness, callousness and incongruous recklessness. Edo is on a reverse gear as we speak!

Philip Shuaibu on the other hand; an acclaimed adopted son of Oshiomhole, whose true identify and biological linings have remained grossly unknown and one whose chromosomal circle and genetic history have been a subject of research, is sadly now the privileged child priding himself as the political Lord of his foster father and one who pressurized him to contest the governorship election in 2007 instead of the latter taking a shot at the number one seat of the International Labour Organization (ILO). What a fallacious inuendo!

Let it be firmly stated that Shuaibu’s voice was not at anytime a resonating voice in the political affairs of the state, neither was he also relevant in the minutest term whether politically, socially or otherwise in the period under review. Apart from his uninspiring stint as the former partial President of The National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS), he was just a random guy like me, until Oshiomhole decorated his life and gave him a platform!

How this funny character has now claimed to have brought Oshiomhole into the political firmament of Edo state remains a cartoon series to me.

There’s an addendum that I call consequential retributive justice; and such a weighty consequence awaits Philip Shuaibu and his
likes, no matter how long it takes! You cannot wish a good man evil and expect to reap sweet berries.

Conclusively, let me even accept the fact that oga Shuaibu brought Oshiomhole into politics, and sacrificing so much for him thereafter; while his new found lover and boss; Governor Godwin Obaseki also contributed immensely by organizing a fundraising event for Oshiomhole in the months leading to the gubernatorial election. The question then is; Did he, Oshiomhole repay the duo with ingratitude, wickedness and interloping distrust? None that I know of!

REASONS:

1. For the eight years Oshiomhole served as governor, Philip Shuaibu was never left idle! As Majority leader in the House of Assembly, he was more powerful than even the Speaker of the House because Oshiomhole created that avenue. He boasted of so much powers and privileges which saw him having loyalists here and there. From the House of Assembly, Oshiomhole catapulted him to the House of Representatives to represent Etsako Federal Constituency. He had barely done two years in the Green Chambers when Oshiomhole withdrew him back to fly the deputy governorship ticket, with Obaseki as the governorship candidate then.
2. For the eight years Oshiomhole served as governor, Obaseki served as Special Adviser to the governor on Economic matters as well as the Executive Chairman of the State’s Economic team; a position that was more lucrative than the office of the Secretary to State Government even though he was a coopted member of the State Executive Council. His new office saw to the resuscitation of his hitherto bankrupt Afrinvest Ltd, an investment company which he served as a major shareholder.

That was the consultancy firm that Oshiomhole engaged throughout the duration of his administration in executing some of the major contracts that he undertook including the Edo specialist hospital, all in a bid to patronize his friend and supposed (benefactor). Fast forward to 2016, the unknown taunted technocrat was favoured by this same Oshiomhole to succeed him even though he was the least on the party hierarchy as a possible successor, where we had the likes of forceful governorship materials like Oshiomhole’s deputy at the time, Dr. Pius Odubu and his super commissioner for works; Barr. Osarodion Ogie.

All entreaties and advices to Oshiomhole by political pundits and future readers for him to see reasons why he; Obaseki was a very terrible, unreliable, untrustworthy and rotten product to sell to the larger populace, fell on deaf ears as Oshiomhole was hell-bent on making him his successor after all, at least to pay him back for the kind gesture that was rendered to him by the accidental economist if there truly existed any. The rest is history!

Philip Shuaibu has now hurriedly forgotten his base, pitching tent with Obaseki to continually denigrate and assassinate Oshiomhole’s character with the hope that Obaseki in return will support him to become the next governor after their uneventful and failure ridden administration!

With too much money and governmental power at his disposal, Philip Shuaibu is now ‘The god of war’ who’s ever ready to crush his former father and render him voiceless as far as the politics of Edo is concerned. The real betrayers have therefore been exposed! And the corresponding consequences are very dire…..

Nelson Iyore writes from Lagos, Nigeria

By Tonnie Iredia

This year’s convocation lecture of the fast growing Edo State University, Uzairue, the 4th since its inception has been held at the university campus in Uzairue, Etsako local government area of Edo state. The topic was ‘Rethinking the role of mainstream and social media in national development’- a topic which aptly suited the times coming some 48 hours after this year’s International day to end impunity for crimes against journalists. The occasion gave me the opportunity as the convocation lecturer to make the point that in spite of hostility towards the media by politicians using the law enforcement agencies, Nigerian journalists must continue to push for more development in their country. They must reject political intimidation while remaining steadfast in meeting the obligation of their chosen profession. They did it before under a more severe and tense atmosphere and can do it better now if they are strategic and organized.

At several junctions in Nigeria’s history, the media has always faced persecution for fighting a noble cause in the interest of the nation. During the colonial era for instance, the anti-colonial posture of Nigerian activists made up mostly of journalists was countered by a plethora of legal anti-media provisions beginning with the Newspapers Ordinance No, 10 of 1903. The law required every prospective newspaper proprietor to make, sign and swear affidavits containing their addresses and those of their printers and publishers before embarking on any newspaper production. It also required each media proprietor, to execute a bond of 250 pounds with two sureties. This was to make it easy to trace any person who breached any of the provisions of the ordinance. Expectedly, many journalists were harassed, fined and jailed for their critical writings against alien rule.

At independence when everyone had imagined that peace had eventually come, media battles for the development of the nation did not abate. This time, the media was obliged to reflect the frustrations of Nigerians over the anti-democratic attitudes of the indigenous leaders of the first republic who criminalized dissent and rejected the democratic principles of accountability and credible elections. In 1961, regional elections in the North and the East were massively rigged. The 1964 elections into the federal house of representatives and the nation-wide workers strike which followed in the year were all poorly managed. The violence which greeted the fake election results in the 1965 elections in Western Nigeria gave the media the impetus to mount huge criticisms against the government of the day. This helped the military to seize political power in 1966.

The rigidity of military disposition showed through several military coups that the media would have to fight the military. Several decrees promulgated by the military put both the media and the average Nigerian in jeopardy. Activists were detained without trial while the few kangaroo prosecutions organized by the military were done using a strange law requiring accused persons and not the prosecution to prove innocence. Publishing strong editorials criticising the highhandedness of the military led to the banning of the circulation of several newspapers. Many journalists got bruised but the media survived. The implication of this therefore is that if the media could survive a battle with armed military leaders, nothing can successfully intimidate its professionals from continuing to act as the watch-dog and mirror of society as well as the voice of the voiceless.

Luckily two major developments have since occurred to embolden the media. To start with, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the media was in 1999 specifically mandated to hold leaders accountable to the people. This assignment was embedded in the highest law of the land – the constitution, specifically Section 22. The provision makes sense because the sovereignty of the people is the highest feature of democracy; the rationale being that anyone in power is there to represent the people. Every leader ought to be accountable to the people. In other words, Nigerian media professionals are since 1999, legally empowered to take-on a function they assumed on their own in the past. There is thus no reason why the journalists of today should allow themselves to be intimidated from carrying out a constitutional assignment.

The second strong point which seamlessly strengthens the media is the efficacy of the digital platforms of the social media. Unlike the mainstream media, social media platforms are exceedingly pervasive. In the absence of allocation of frequencies used by government to curtail the broadcast media, they have no limitations as to scope of operations. The social media is interactive and conversational thereby attracting public participation. It is true that its availability for use by all stands the risk of its being used to propagate fake news and misinformation but media professionals who are trained to practice journalism know what to do to use the new media form to perform well. The digital platforms are quite useful for speedy gathering and prompt delivery of information to the public. The only caution is that while using the platforms, media professionals should always remember the highest ethical value of their profession which is the sanctity of truth. Put differently, the media should use the platforms provided they ascertain the veracity of every material they decide to use.

There is no better time than now for the Nigerian media to rise to rescue the nation. Apart from Nigeria’s current insecurity, the highest since its existence, the country has suddenly become the poverty capital of the world. It is time to halt the nation’s poor governance and in the spirit of section 22 of our constitution compel our politicians to stop replacing governance with unending electioneering campaigns. Ordinarily, this would not have been the best time to insist on this, because we are now in the normal time allocated to electioneering but we need to remember that the current electioneering began as soon the last elections ended. Politicians did not wait for the electoral body to signal the beginning of campaigns for the 2023 elections. There are indeed some politicians who are already allowing the 2027 contests to consume them right now. The media should never allow the campaign against social media by politicians to discourage them from using the digital platforms to create some political sanity in the country.

It is time for the leadership of the media at all levels to insist that when a journalist raises an allegation against a political leader, the subsisting collusion between government officials and the security agencies to immediately convert the allegation into a charge of treason and terrorism should stop. The way forward is for the allegation to be investigated. If it is false, the law should take its course and the journalist should be duly penalized. The present attitude of sweeping the allegation under the carpet by incarcerating the maker is not in the interest of the nation. It only festers unbridled corruption and impunity. By virtue of section 35 of our constitution, no security agency has a right to detain an accused person beyond 48 hours without a court order as they have been doing in Cross River, Imo and Ebonyi states. No political leader has a right to order the detention of journalists simply because the materials published by them are not in his favour. As I stated at Edo University last Friday, section 308 of our constitution gives immunity from prosecution to president and his vice as well as governors and their deputies while they are in office but that immunity from prosecution cannot be extended to immunity from criticism or immunity from being held accountable to the people.

The Nigerian Union of Journalists NUJ and the Nigerian Guild of Editors NGE must immediate depart from mundane unionism and offer robust leadership to their members. Both bodies must combine to take-on any authority that deprives the media from carrying out the assignment given to it by the constitution. This is electioneering time, the media particularly television should stop providing valuable air time to party representatives to tell us their different sides to intra or inter party conflicts. Such time should be given at all times between now and voting day to throw light on party manifestos and strategies for implementing them. Nigerians have since become tired of hearing campaigns that are devoid of the real issues that can uplift our nation.

November 6, 2022