Tag: Hope

2025: Harvesting hope amidst uncertainty – By Tony Eke

Entering new year seems like unveiling the face of a foretold event. As a result, its calm arrival and extinction of the preceding year accentuated the varying notes of our appreciation. A great joy that the hardship and misery of 2024 had rolled by and, in its place, emerged 2025, to the rapturous joy of mankind. As a year, 2024 confounded hapless citizens massed in Nigeria. A long dreary year of nightmares that lasted so long and made fear our constant companion!

For a reason, Nigerians were immersed in mirthful occasions. Having encountered the worst of times and seasons, 2025 may offer some rays of hope and great expectations on one hand and trepidations and uncertainty on the other hand. Gratifyingly, a thread of hope binds our collective aspirations judging from the ceaseless prayers of Nigerians on the eve of New Year. Whether those prayers are being answered or spurned by God is a topic for another day. Apparently, prayer requests for intervention in human contrivances in politics, economy, and security might be left unanswered for a long time; after all, God had given us knowledge and wisdom to sort out our problems as exemplars of the Divine Being.

No matter the elasticity of the new year’s promises, its manifestation varies from country to country. Two individuals may share the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations, but the realisation of their goals might be conditioned by the socio-economic and political indices of their respective countries. Taking a colouration of the retardation of our country, what hinders us is not the withdrawal of Nature’s blessing from our clime but the cumulative effects of poor leaderships foisted on us. So, Nigeria had witnessed sixty-five brand-new years as an ex-dependency, yet our problems have remained largely unsolved and intractable.

What our country needs is attitudinal change which is fundamental to enhancing Nigeria’s fortune in the New Year. Agreed that part of our regression as a country is rooted in its dysfunctional political structure, but our shortcomings as conveyed the Nigerian factor cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Whatever change we desire in 2025 has to start with all of us- from the the rulers to the ruled. The former has a greater work to do to inspire the country through an exemplary leadership uninhibited by ethnic bigotry, sectional consideration, and religious sentiments in policy formulation and implementation.

So, the promotion of inclusivity in appointments and siting of projects is needed. While the Buhari administration was incurably ethnocentric, it’s unconscionable for President Tinubu to walk the same loathsome path. Such actions help to feed centrifugal forces, which continue to retard Nigeria’s quest to integrate its disparate entities. Quite surprisingly, no aspect of the All Progressives Congress(APC) ideology sanctions the promotion of parochial interest of the president’s zone to the detriment of other component units.

A review of the extant policies covering the political economy is also vital to advance the country’s progress. The Tinubu administration may have spoken of its intention to address the living conditions of the people, but its undue predilection with taxation and removal of subsidy is foreboding. With almost one third of the Federal Government’s budget of N47.9 trillion allocation to debt servicing, a quarter of that sum would have made life more liveable if a caring government was in place.

Besides, the new year offers us an opportunity to reform the electoral system to accord with international best practices. With two years to the next round of general elections, a framework for its review should emerge from the middle of this year. Of course, the central government is expected to drive and sell same idea to the people who, expectedly, would key into it, knowing full well it could deepen the progress of the current democratic dispensation.

On the economic front, activating local refineries to wean Nigeria off total dependence on fuel imports as the causative factor of the high price Nigerians are paying currently is desirable. If our country had been properly run like those in the global North and few enviable examples in the Southern hemisphere, importation would be an impossibility. That itself will hallmark an exceptional growth of the economy as well as an improvement of the people’s fortune unlike what obtains at the present time.

Government at both national and sub-national levels should pay greater attention to sectors in which Nigeria had a comparative advantage prior to the discovery of crude oil. In this wise, agriculture and solid minerals sub-sectors need maximum attention to grow the economy. Apart from having capacity for generating foreign exchange, an all integrated agricultural pursuit with value addition would help to ensure food sufficiency for our people since a great country is partly measured by its ability to feed its populace.

It’s also expected that the Tinubu administration will put on a thinking cap or borrow one from any place to enable it to create opportunities for the teeming population of unemployed youths. Besides the proposed youth conference, the Federal Government should seek means to revive moribund industries and float a credit system that will grant loans to those who are willing to go into small and medium scale enterprises. While the attraction of foreign direct investments(FDIs) is quite desirable, the prevailing socio-economic state of Nigeria, partly defined by the poor macroeconomic environment and insecurity, is a hindrance.

The aspect of insecurity as a sore point needs to be tackled frontally. A country keen on development does not leave its flanks unprotected and continually assailed by non-state actors whose actions cast a shadow over the efficiency of the armed forces and the law enforcement agencies. It’s therefore important to rejig the security apparatus with a view to strengthening Nigeria’s preparedness to counter terrorist and other acts across the country.

We would gain maximally from the birth of a new year by taking the right steps. Rather than engage in mere supplications to God to alter our circumstances, we should exercise our innate skills and thought processes God endowed us with to make our country great. Greatness does not come to a people out of sheer fantasy but through hard work, honesty, commitment, and a strong drive.

Tony Eke, a journalist, based in Asaba, Delta State, can be reached via tonek6819@gmail.com or on 08035504896(text only).

January 11, 2025
Sustaining the momentum of hope – By Dakuku Peterside

Every new marriage comes with some level of excitement. This may be due to love, lust, anticipation, or newness. The everyday drudgery of living together and following the routines of life stifles excitement, and soon realities of marriage dawn on the couples. Suddenly, the marriage mates that were madly in love before and immediately after the marriage begin to face “tribulation in the flesh”. The excitement wears off if we do not make a deliberate effort to sustain it.

Marriage requires much conscious effort for the excitement and joy to last. President Bola Tinubu, by design or accident, has sparked this feeling of excitement and hope in Nigerians. He has made consequential decisions that may bring sustainable results in the long term but pains in the short term, yet Nigerians have accepted it. The international community hails the President and is rightly expectant.

The flicker of hope and excitement which the President has ignited rests on three legs: first, the major policy choices and decisions reflect much anticipated national priorities; Second, the activity pace of the new President, as I pointed out in this column last week, is faster than the previous eight years. Third, the national spread of appointments made so far reflects our national diversity. For now, the optimism is a function of its departure from the Buhari era’s pace, content and direction.

Unfortunately, but factual, some of these policy choices and decisions may inflict short-term pains on the citizens. Electricity tariff will go up from July 1, petrol subsidy is gone, with the likelihood of skyrocketing inflation in an already adverse inflation regime. Dual foreign exchange rascality is in check, and those who benefited from it are not fighting back yet, and the reality is that new imports will reflect the current value of the Naira and will add to inflationary pressures. Students loan scheme means tertiary education tuition will most likely go up, so students will pay something close to the actual value of obtaining an education. These cannot be good news for Nigerians in ordinary times, but excitement is in the air because we are in a new marriage.

Nigerians know there are no quick fixes, so they are patient with the President, believing that their new husband, Mr President, is acting out of love and knows what he is doing to fix a broken system. This marriage is anchored on a renewed hope for a better Nigeria, and to sustain this hope, Nigerians must share the vision of Mr President and clearly understand where he is taking Nigeria. No matter the excruciating pain of Mr President’s new policies in the short run, if he makes a deliberate effort to carry the nation along and keep their hope burning ever bright, they will continue to understand, at least. But this cannot be for too long.

In a few months, the amorous love affair between Nigerians and Mr President will start facing the test of time. The goodwill Mr President is enjoying will begin to wane, and the reality of dealing with the enormous challenges of Nigeria and the complexities and intricacies of managing a behemoth, Nigeria, will confront Mr President. Therefore, there is a need to sustain this momentum of hope and at least deliberately work to extend the excitement of these early times.

To sustain this momentum of hope, Mr president must do long-range planning and be deliberate not to inflict further short-term pains on Nigerians. He needs to acquire elite acceptability and popular acclaim quickly. First, he needs policies that renew and strengthen the middle class. Second, he must alleviate the consequences of tough economic choices in the areas that touch the masses: food, health, education, and transportation. Managing the immediate fallout of the excellent policies Mr president churned out in his first month in office is crucial. The new relationship between Mr President and Nigerians is formed at this crucible. But a few factors will shape this new phase of the government, and Mr president must pay attention to them.

Beyond creating policies that will quickly alleviate the pain of the masses due to recent policy choices, Mr President needs a cabinet that will give Nigerians hope – a cabinet of competent people with character who can deliver on urgent national priorities! He has a choice in the composition of his cabinet, either a development team, a political team, or a mix of both. A development team will advance the course of the President; a political team will dissipate the President’s energies on political manipulation. A balanced or mixed team can achieve developmental goals and political rightness without compromising results and value addition.

The President’s cabinet is like a gathering of medical doctors and health experts to cure sick Nigeria. It is crucial that Nigerians, like the wife in the marriage, must trust the competence and abilities of the team to fix sick Nigeria. Therefore, the competence and character of the President’s cabinet will animate hope in Nigeria in the coming days. Nigerians must see the vitality, vibrancy, and intellectual dexterity of new cabinet members and believe they are the right team for embarking on serious surgical operations in sick Nigeria.

Nigerians are victims of failed promises and dashed hopes in the past. Their patience is very slim, and they can quickly and easily lose it without seeing results. Promises and rhetoric no longer bamboozle Nigerians of today, and social media platforms have democratised opinion and given access to voices that are critical and hard to manage. Mr President must build a popular base by addressing hunger and poverty in the short term, at least to alleviate the pain of the majority, while creating medium- and long-term programmes that will improve the living standards of many Nigerians.

Providing the basics – affordable food, excellent and affordable medical care, and sound and affordable education, is what most Nigerians are expecting the government to do. Inflation is execrating and exacerbating and throwing millions of Nigerians into multi-dimensional poverty. Efforts towards stemming the tides of poverty and food insecurity will help sustain the hope of Nigerians in this government.

Mr President must build elite consensus on the country’s direction, acknowledging that the elite is part of the country’s problem. The rentier system that has been in place in Nigeria favours the elite class, and the President must convince them to join him in building a system that is against their narrow self-interest. There is no gainsaying that the Nigerian elite has had a strangling hold on Nigeria, and it is time it stopped. Mr President must fight against the morally bankrupt elitism of Nigeria and build a consensus to salvage Nigeria. The President’s body language and actions must always show that change has come, and it is not business as usual.

Furthermore, our President should be considering the practical steps beyond the usual rhetoric he will take to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to ramp up opportunities for job creation and mitigate unemployment. The inflow from foreign direct investment impacts the exchange rate and the value of the Naira. Mr President, the liberalisation of the monetary regime and unification of exchange rates has created an enabling environment for the inflow of FDI, and this must start happening fast to cushion the supply dynamics of the Dollar and stop the eroding of the value of the Naira that will dissipate the import-oriented economy we have.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must lead Nigeria towards greater productivity, which must be at the core of his economic agenda. Nigeria’s economy can only grow if we increase our productivity. The President must tackle the challenges impeding productivity, such as power problems, insecurity, a stifling business environment, and poor investment in science and technology. No magic wand can bring Nigeria out of its current economic quagmire. It must produce more goods and services for consumption locally and export. Productivity increases our GDP, strengthens our economy, and improves Nigerians’ living standards. Through his actions and policies, the President must show Nigerians that he is pro-productivity and laying the foundation for an industrialised Nigeria that will be the industrial hub of sub-Saharan Africa.

A further critical indicator of widespread acceptance would be how quickly Mr President restores peace and security throughout the country. The public must see and feel an innovative approach to internal security. Kidnapping, school abductions, assassinations, secessionist clamour, and herders vs farmers clashes must end or significantly abate. How the President quickly stems corruption, creates an enabling environment that enhances service delivery, and ensures insecurity in the next 12 months will define his Presidency.

Sustaining the momentum of hope in Nigeria is not just the work of Mr President but requires collective efforts from various stakeholders, including the government, civil society organisations, communities, and individuals. However, the President is the father of the country and must provide leadership in fostering hope and positive change in Nigeria.

To instil and maintain hope in Nigeria, the President must work towards ensuring transparent, accountable, and effective governance, fostering sustainable economic growth, reducing poverty, investing in education and skills development, developing, and maintaining robust social infrastructure, empowering young people and women, building strong and empowered communities, and cultivating international collaboration and partnerships.

Many marriages go on to last a lifetime. In successful marriages, the marriage mates build mechanisms for renewing their love, hopes and excitement. Mr President is an experienced married man. He understands his new marriage with Nigeria and will navigate the multiple nuances of this new relationship. However, what he does in the next few months will define the character and legacy of his Presidency.

June 26, 2023
Tinubu’s inaugural speech didn’t inspire hope – LP

The Labour Party (LP), said the inauguration of speech of President Bola Tinubu was without clear direction for the people of Nigeria.

The party said Tinubu’s speech clearly “exposed the shallowness and policy incongruity that his administration is hoping to bequeath Nigerians.”

In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the of the party, Obiora Ifoh, first berated the president for describing “the election that brought him to power as tough but fairly won.”

Ifoh said LP considered the “speech as defective in many ways,” pointing out,”Late President Umaru Yar’Adua, recall, on the inauguration of his government did state that the election that brought him to power was flawed and imperfect but he promised that he was going to fix the electoral system.”

“But today, Nigerians were aghast with the boldness and glee with which Tinubu declared his election as fair. We consider this audacity as a slap on the faces of millions of Nigerians, who voted their conscience but were robbed by a collective power of state institutions and brute bringandry unleashed on them.

“Nigerians will not forget in a hurry that unction by the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu, to ‘grab power and run with it’, a directive that was effected on the February 25 election day.”

Ifoh said what was witnessed yesterday “was a celebration of lies and deceit, and that explains why the streets are like grave yards with no pomp and pageantry usually associated with a major feat like what we had today.”

He called on Nigerians not to allow this government of any space to toil with the destiny of the nation again.

May 30, 2023
Christmas: Cleric rekindles hope for better Nigeria

The General Overseer, All Christians Fellowship Mission, Rev. William Okoye, has urged Nigerians to be hopeful and make positive utterances about the nation.

Okoye said all shall be well with Nigeria, just as Jesus Christ was born.

Okoye gave the admonition in Abuja during the Christmas service to mark the birth of Jesus Christ.

“God loves Nigeria and has made a lot of investments; nobody can abort His love and plans for the nation.

”Right now in the face of all the challenges, it appears God is giving us a ray of hope and many people believe what is happening in our political environment is inspired by God.

“God is going to deliver to us from the grips of men and women who have held this nation bound and down over the years and free the nation to raise to its fullest potentials and see the total fulfilment of God’s divine agenda, plans and purpose for our nations

He added that the birth of Christ in a humble and meek manner was a reminder to us that God is still with us and will do anything to save us.

Rev Okoye enjoined Christians not to take the love of God for granted and use every opportunity to serve and praise him.

December 25, 2022
Christmas: Osinbajo sends message of hope to Nigerians

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the celebration of Christmas brings hope, joy, God’s Grace and relief to Nigerians.

Osinbajo spoke with State House correspondents on Sunday after the Christmas Service at Aso Villa Chapel where he delivered the sermon.

According to him, the celebration is good news because Jesus Christ offers himself for the sins of man.

“My message is the message of Christmas which is the birth of the new covenant; the birth of Grace; God’s Grace and mercy is what we celebrate today because the birth of Jesus Christ is the birth of the Grace of God.

“From the moment Christ was born, God said he was not going to hold us to account for our sins for as long as we believed in what he did; the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ came to pay in full for all of our sins.

“So, really why we celebrate is because this is good news; before, we had to pay for our sins; the consequence of sin we have to bear.

”This is because we always continue to sin; but Jesus came to substitute all our unrighteousness and replace it with his own righteousness so long as we believe him.

“So, it is a celebration of joy and a great relief; that is why it is called the good news,’’ he said.

On his part, Pastor Seyi Malomo, Chaplain, Aso Villa Chapel, said that Jesus Christ is a bringer of the new covenant; the covenant of Emmanuel; of God with us.

According to him, one who has God lacks nothing

“What’s most important is when you have God on your side; things are definitely bound to improve.

“And as we go into the New Year, with God on our side, no matter how and whatever may be the negative forecast of people, we know that God who goes ahead of us; will make the crooked place straight.

“He will make the rough edges smooth; he will level the mountains and elevate the valleys and he will give us victory.

“Peace is for us in Jesus name,’’ he said.

December 25, 2022
Christmas: Peter Obi sends message of hope to Nigerians

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to remain hopeful for a better nation, especially as they prepare to take back their nation come 2023.

Obi made the call while delivering his Christmas message to Nigerians through his Media Aide, Mr Valentine Obienyem, on Saturday in Enugu.

He said that celebration of Christmas birthed hope in the world, while urging Nigerians to “hold unto that firm hope for a better and more productive nation”.

According to him, Christmas is a season of love and the celebration of the birth of Christ should be a constant reminder of how God gave His only begotten son for the salvation of humanity.

“We, as humans, should therefore, endeavour to make sacrifice, even when it is painful, for the good of others and for our society,” he said.

Obi encouraged Nigerians to go beyond the festivities and glamour associated with the Christmas season and strive to live out the true essence of the celebration.

The Candidate noted that fraternal love and giving to the poor are the hallmark of Christmas celebration, and enjoined all to lend helping hands to one another.

Obi urged Nigerians to see the year 2023 as a very significant year in the history of the nation.

He said it presents Nigerians the opportunity to turn around the trajectory of the nation by giving only competent leaders access to power.

“I also wish Nigerians a productive and prosperous New Year,” he said.

December 25, 2022
Amidst chaos, 13-year-old boy vows to rebuild broken bridge of hope – By Azu Ishiekwene

If he could, he might have built a highway to Sharm el-Sheikh where the world’s great and mighty gathered between November 6 and 18 at COP27 to discuss climate change. But who knows, he might yet do so. Thirteen-year-old Musa Sani, who has already taken infant steps in civil engineering, might live a bigger dream someday.

At an age when his mates are dodging bullets and running scared with nothing on their backs in the midst of the chaos that Borno, a Boko Haram hotbed in Nigeria’s North East has been for nearly two decades, Musa is building things, literally, with his bare hands.

After the state government built its first flyover, as part of its effort to rebuild infrastructure ruined following years of violent Boko Haram insurgency, Musa, who was at the time in a Quranic school in Borno’s capital, Maiduguri, asked himself what he could also do for his community.

Even though his family had just been resettled around the Gwange area of Maiduguri from one of the numerous internally-displaced-persons camps in the state, Musa was still occasionally haunted by the fear of an uncertain future.

“We lived in fear. Fear of Boko Haram,” Musa said. “Fear of being attacked and killed. Fear that something bad could happen to us at any time. At such times, I often ask myself, ‘What can I do with my life?’”

The first hint of an answer came to Musa when the Borno State government opened the state’s first flyover at Customs Roundabout, Gwange, a filthy, congested commercial spot in the capital, not far from Musa’s house. In a state pockmarked by years of violent extremism and broken infrastructure, beauty remains a rare thing. Imagining it, even rarer.

“Scenes of the opening of the flyover and the beautification of the Customs Roundabout touched me,” enthused Musa, who snuck out of the house to take it all in after the opening ceremonies. “I immediately started asking myself what I could do to beautify the environment.”

That was how he came about constructing his own prototype Roundabout – not with asphalt or steel, but with a mixture of cement, clay and stones! He sourced the materials locally, with little money provided by his mother, a food seller. To the discomfort of his eight other siblings, he quickly converted a portion of the verandah inside their three-room bungalow into his construction site!

He said building the model bridge with locally sourced materials was “an important win for conservation” and that it also opened his eyes to what he could do to improve his environment which, apart from insurgency, is also severely threatened by desert encroachment.

“I used my clay model to test my creative ability and also to show the world my talent,” he said.

The model bridge is a mishmash of clay, cement, and oil painting done in six days of July this year. Musa worked at it whenever he had time off Quranic school, hoping that it would take him closer to his dream of becoming a civil engineer one day. That day may not be too far away.

In the six days that it took to complete the biblical story of creation, Musa’s model clay bridge was ready. It may be a far cry from the model that guided the concrete Roundabout in his community, but for the 13-year-old, it’s an engineering wonder that may have changed the course of his life for good.

Did neighbours and friends think he was just mucking about with clay and paint when he started out?

“At first,” Musa said, “people were wondering what I actually intended to do. A few were even laughing. But when the work got fully under way, more and more people took me seriously. They saw that I was not joking.”

He still bears the scars on his hands and knees from wounds sustained while he mucked about on the floor with cement, stones and a water paint brush. But the joy of his finished work and the fame that it has brought have wiped off the pain.

His mother, Hafsat, said she knew her son was not joking. “He’s been like that since he was three,” she said. “He’s always loved doing things with his hands, especially things from nature. I’m not surprised.”

And that means a lot in a region of the country with an estimated 20 million out-of-school children, who are also potential recruits for Boko Haram and violent extremism.

Musa’s clay model bridge has become a museum of sorts. State governor, Babagana Zulum, visited Musa’s Gwange home in July to see for himself, with scores of state officials in tow. Apart from a cash gift of N5 million to Musa, the governor also withdrew him from the Quranic school and enrolled him, on a scholarship, in Primary Four at Golden Olives Academy, where he has a far better chance to turn out well.

Musa hopes to go on to the university to study architecture or civil engineering and, beyond clay models, build greater things to beautify his community.

“The little that I have done,” he said, “has brought recognition and positive attention to my community. My success will encourage me and others to do more, instead of being idle.”

And just when he thought he might be starting a mini-museum, misfortune struck! The model Roundabout that he had carefully laid on the verandah, making his parents’ house a tourist centre of sorts, was destroyed!

“There was insufficient space in the house,” he said in an interview this week. “Also, people were trooping to see the work, causing chaos in our compound. Some boys even fought before they could come through to see the Roundabout.”

Alas, the same talisman that brought Musa a small fortune and considerable fame, including a personal visit by the governor, now lies in ruins! Has his magic become his misery? He is taking it all in his stride, blaming the lack of space at home for this misfortune.

“The destruction could have been prevented if we had enough space at home,” he said.

Is he planning a re-make or would another project almost amount to a re-invention of the wheel? Musa is not fazed. The talent that produced the crushed prototype appears ready to rebuild or even produce a bigger surprise. For now, though, he is occupied by the challenges in his new school environment and is relishing the opportunities and competitive spirit.

An immediate concern for him appears to be plans by his family to relocate to old Maiduguri, in Jere Local Government, about three kilometres away from his new school. If he cannot find a place or family to stay with in town, he’ll have to commute this distance to school daily and live with the uncertainty that his parents would be able to provide daily transport fare.

“I have so many things on my mind to construct in the future. These would include houses, cars and even airplanes,” he said.

By the time the world is ready for Cop28 in Dubai, who knows if Musa might have built more than a clay bridge to connect not just his community, but perhaps his country, to the big stage?

Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

December 16, 2022
Peter Obi: Nigeria’s Beacon of Hope – By Promise Adiele

By Promise Adiele PhD

Overwhelming excitement. Sheer euphoria mixed with anger. Ecstatic frenzy sustained by passionate commitment. That is the story of Nigeria’s current revolution predicated on the ideology of omniscient humanitarianism. Peter Obi is the proponent of that ideology and millions of Obidients are the protagonists. Make no mistakes about it, there is a battle for the soul of Nigeria. While millions of youths are determined to save their country from all the spiralling contradictions of suffering and hardship, the human principalities responsible for these conditions are also fighting back. Thus the war rages. It is class struggle, the cornerstone of Marxist sensibilities. Within four months, the Peter Obi story has become folklore, upsetting the subsisting narrative in Nigeria’s political terrain. The historical peregrination of revolution across the world follows a familiar pattern with what is happening in Nigeria now. However, the Nigerian revolution transcends nebulous categories such as ethnicity and religion. Indeed, it is a new beginning in Nigeria.

On October 1st, Nigeria’s Independence Day, under the bright, Saturday sky across the country, Nigerians were in thousands, their voices saturating the air. In Lagos, they were in millions. In faraway London, they were in thousands. A few days back in Abuja, they were also in millions. They joyously shouted, sang, danced, waving the national flag and celebrating the rave of the moment, Nigeria’s beacon of hope, Mr Peter Obi. The scenes looked like that of a country celebrating freedom from colonial rule. They sang like birds set free from a restrictive aviary. They were organized and orderly. Hope was written all over their faces, the hope of a new beginning, a new country different from the oppressive, insecure, enervating, economic-hellish country they have been used to for many years. It was the day despair gave way to hope, ennui birthed revival, and languor transmuted to vitality.

It didn’t matter that Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, and Manchester City, English football clubs with an intoxicating, maniac followership, were all playing that weekend. It also didn’t matter that Big Brother Naija, the TV reality show that activates the interest of millions of youths in Nigeria was about to end. No, many Nigerians had something more important to attend – a rally of hope and renaissance. For many of them, there is something divine about the new awakening in Nigeria. Some are convinced that the hand of God is in it. Mortar and pestle, the ant and antelope, land and sea, and life and death are all witnesses to the new political developments in Nigeria. It has never happened before, not in the history of Nigeria. Such support, enthusiasm and hope have never been seen in Nigeria. The face of that hope is Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential flag bearer.

Certainly, there are justifiable indications in Nigeria’s political evolution that the people are currently steering the ship of their destiny through a bewildering sense of unity and oneness. Given the fractious nature of Nigeria’s socio-political atmosphere over time, it was unthinkable that millions of youths, hitherto balkanized by religion, ethnicity, and political differences will be united by a single consciousness geared towards the emergence of a new country. It is encouraging, even to the most committed detractors of the Obidient Movement, to see millions of Nigerian youths demonstrate an uncanny enthusiasm and hope anchored on Peter Obi in the revival of an ailing country. Those who think that the groundswell of support for Peter Obi is cosmetic are in error. What is happening in Nigeria is an angry response to the many years of ruin carefully and primitively orchestrated by the PDP and APC ruling class. The current revolution across the land has unsettled existing power protocols. The demagogues and potentates assume that Nigeria is their private property therefore they have the right to manipulate all the indices of nationhood.

The political class has been caught unawares. They didn’t envisage what has come upon them. From the East to the West, North to the South and all the remote corners of the country, the message is the same – a New Nigeria is possible, anchored on Peter Obi. His popularity is daily propagated by those who think he is inconsequential, yet they can’t ignore him. His critics and detractors dream about him. They eat him and see him in their dreams. They derive a certain measure of pleasure by talking about him and flooding social media platforms daily with spurious, unfounded information about him, yet they insist he is an outsider. Insanity has many dimensions that have not yet been researched by psychiatrists. There must be a name for a mental disorder which explains a person’s disregard for something yet can’t do without thinking or talking about that same thing.

Peter Obi’s emergence accounts for the collective resurgence of political interest among millions of Nigerians. His appearance on the stage has freed millions of youths from the constricting chambers of despondency and inertia within which their political consciousness has long been subsumed. Initially, the lame argument was that Peter Obi did not have the political apparatus to win elections across Nigeria. Those inclined to such base argument are only rehashing the existence of corrupt structures of political crime and immorality which has over time accounted for electoral criminality all over the country. I understand the argument that a political party must have structures across the country in terms of representatives at the ward levels, local government levels, state levels and regional levels. The structures do not refer to architectural wonders but human beings, flesh and blood. These human traditional structures personify Nigeria’s political tragedy over time because they negate the wishes of the people by influencing them wrongly. Let Nigerians march to the polls, monitor their votes and ensure their votes count.

Something is happening in Nigeria which has never happened before. Millions of Nigerians are awake and ready to take charge of their destiny. Fortunately for Peter Obi, he represents that lost hope for millions of Nigerians but it goes beyond him. Today, events in Nigeria are a perfect corollary of the real meaning of democracy which, as we were taught in school is the ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’ – kudos to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the US. Today, Nigerians are taking charge of their political destiny with Peter Obi as the anchor. He is a verified product of zero tolerance for corruption. Nigerians know this fact. Is Obi a saint? Absolutely No. Is he different in many ways from the rest of the contestants? Yes and Nigerians are duly aware of these facts.

I have read many stale arguments that Peter Obi is an outsider in the race because Labour Party is weak. These arguments are unfounded, lack merit, and hover over the chaotic senses of grudge and envy. What is happening in Nigeria now is a peaceful revolution which seeks to overthrow a superstructure that has castrated the Nigerian potential and blighted the future of millions of young people. PDP and APC have grounded Nigeria. There is no better way to say it. If Peter Obi is the flag bearer of APC or PDP, will millions of youths across the country support him? The answer is no. Those who still argue that PDP and APC should return to power must stop for a minute and take a second look at Nigeria’s socio-economic realities. When a bird is used to crawling, it assumes that flying is a crime. Nigeria has the potential to fly but has been crippled by successive governments spearheaded by the PDP and APC in the last twenty-three years. Therefore some people think that crawling is Nigeria’s allotted portion. PDP apologized to Nigerians after they were chased out of power in 2015. APC has stubbornly refused to apologize for devastating the Nigerian entity rather, they are impudently asking Nigerians to reinforce and revalidate their failure. Perhaps they are minded to lead over 200 million people to Golgotha for the ultimate crucifixion. No, Nigerians will not be spectators to their final annihilation by APC or PDP.

The Buhari administration and the electoral umpire have a responsibility to ensure that the 2023 general elections are free and fair. Millions of Nigerians cannot be wrong. Their disenchantment with the twenty-three years of PDP and APC conspiracy is resonating across the world. The world is aware Nigeria is on the cusp of a new beginning. Nigeria is setting a pace for other African countries that are victims of socio-political trickery by old, expired persons who see their countries as conquered fiefdoms. Those who oppose the Obi Movement have the right to do so but let the opposition be informed by reason. That he is Igbo is a retrogressive argument. That he was once in PDP is a discredited sophistry. That he should be blamed for the insecurity in the South-East and his state Anambra is blatant ignorance of ancestral proportion. The insecurity in the South-East is a prime example of the failure of the APC government to secure the country or is the South-East not part of Nigeria anymore? So those who mock Peter Obi with the security situation in the South-East deserve pity. In the Nigerian constitution, is security in the Exclusive list, Concurrent List or Residual List? Regrettably, the consistent antagonism among the different political interests in Nigeria is far from ideological but rather pedestrian and hackneyed. While the Obi Movement celebrates new converts every day, it is believed that these changes will reflect on the ballot boxes next year for the revolution to be complete. A New Nigeria is possible. God bless Nigeria!!!

Promise Adiele PhD

Mountain Top University

promee01@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Drpee4

October 6, 2022
Hope amid desolation – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

Unmistakably the battle line for 2023 Presidential election has been drawn among three competing groups-the Obi-dients, BAT and Atikulation- even though it appears Atikulation, which is still battling to survive the phenomenal internal squabble threatening its very soul, is yet to throw down the gage. The Obi-dients affirm again and again that theirs is not a political party: theirs is a mass movement comprising the country’s vibrant young people that constitute the bulk of the Nigerian population. Theirs is a mass movement of the oppressed, University students left to rot at home, ASUU, the hungry, the sick, the dying, the suffering, pensioners, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), men and women who have not been eking out a simple living in the last seven years. The aforesaid categories of Nigerians come from a variegated bloodstream of Nigerian society. They are united in their unalterable resolution and demand for a breakaway from the ruinous pre-existing legal order. They are demanding for a creation of a new Nigerian order where work culture and serviceable public ethics would guarantee hard work, honesty, diligence, meritocracy and human flourishing.

Unfortunately we live in a time in which brainlessness and stupidity are being assumed into politics. Most Nigerians have lost faith in the Nigerian project. Walk into a beer parlour, for instance, and say you feel optimistic about the future, and you may be asked to vamoose on account of your reveling in an uncommon utopia. That is how bad things have become in Nigeria. With its separation from reason and noble ideals, the banal politics we play in Nigeria finds itself unable to distinguish the good from the ugly. Certainly a political culture that creates perennial loopholes for flourishing incompetence, parasitism, official corruption, graft and conversion of the people’s commonwealth into personal fiefdom calls for an immediate change. Merely casting hope in an empty democracy run by brainless men to provide the much-needed instant miracle to improve the living condition in Nigeria is to live in a fool’s paradise.

The truth is bitter. But the bitterness ingrained in the truth does not alter the truth. The truth remains the truth even if it is hotly contested. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. We should reflect on the fact that BAT has publicly vowed to continue the perfidious legacies- official corruption, nepotism, insecurity of lives and property, islamization of Nigeria, incestuous narcissism, stone-headedness, cluelessness-of President Buhari. Ask BAT about national rebirth they would mumble something to the effect that it is their turn to rule Nigeria or they will throw their overflowing colourful agbada attire here and there in a way that suggests that insanity has taken a permanent residence in the land. It beats the imagination that amid the grounding, ambushing, conquest and occupation of Nigeria by the Jihadists, and, of course, amid the endless killing and persecutions of Nigerian Christians, BAT is remorselessly fielding a Muslim-Muslim team in the Presidential race. This is evidence that BAT has no respect for the teeming population of Nigerian Christians. Another evidence is that BAT has never condemned the escalating ethno-religious killings in the country. For instance, BAT finds nothing wrong in the recent massacre of innocent church worshippers at St. Francis Catholic in Owo, Ondo State by terrorists. After Deborah Samuel was murdered by fanatical Muslim students and the whole country was thrown into mourning, BAT did not condemn the murder. When a member of the Vigilante Group was stoned to death and set ablaze by Muslim extremists for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed or an Imam, BAT also kept mum. BAT did not publicly condemn the Abuja-Kaduna-train bombing and abduction which occurred on March 28 2022. Amid complete collapse of State security architecture, the terrorists have laid monumental siege not only in Kaduna State but in Niger, Bornu and Nasarawa States murdering, maiming, raping, intimidating, and terrorizing their victims unabated. Yet BAT has not uttered a word in condemnation. Instead BAT is busy saying that it is their turn to be crowned the President of Nigeria. The politics of BAT is not the politics imbue with ideas but the politics of entitlement.

This is BAT for you. It is obvious that BAT lacks a sense of justice. It is clear that if elected President BAT would make a disaster President. Electing BAT as President of Nigeria would trigger off more Islamic terrorist attacks in different parts of Nigeria. By his action and inaction, BAT has shown that they are in sympathy with the Islamic terrorists. Can you believe what I am about to say now?. Can you believe how debased the political culture of BAT is?. How broken is their politics? How intimidating and barbaric their political campaigns are?. Ostensibly unable to match the Obi-dients’ wisdom; Obi-dients’ sustained mass mobilization of the people; Obi-dients’ call to a return to the fundamental values that once made this country a great country, BAT has recently resolved to, among other things, threaten the lives of key Obi-dient figures on social media. They also intend to threaten the family members of the Obi-dients so that they would be compelled to abandon the Obi-dient movement. Keyamo is already issuing some violent and intimidating statements against political opponents. Also the DSS and security agents are likely to be recruited to go after key members of the Obi-dient movement. They will likely link some Obi-dients with IPOB and thereafter bring trumped up charges against them in order to arrest them and charge them to court, if possible. Many Obi-dients are likely to be arrested and falsely accused of financing IPOB. The businesses of some Obi-dients and the businesses of their respective family members are likely to be threatened as well. They may recruit the EFCC to intimate the donors to and fund- raisers of the Obi-dient movement. It is not unlikely that they are also planning to use prominent members of BAT to intensify their false accusations against the Obi-dients through the electronic, print media and on social media too. They are not unlikely to use the Igbo language to link Peter Obi to IPOB in order to call for his arrest. Already Malami is threatening that Peter Obi might be prosecuted for allegedly receiving financial sponsorship from abroad. At the moment they are compiling a list of key Obi-dients who must be stopped before they use the Obi-dient movement to stop BAT. Already instruction has come from the top that public advert spaces should be denied the Obi-dients in Lagos so that they would not use them to advertise the Obi-dient political campaigns when the political campaigns kick off on September 28.

With BAT in power, there would never be a separate place for Christianity in the public order except on the terms defined and dictated by BAT. Truth would become a matter of indifference. And peace would disintegrate when truth becomes a matter of indifference or a purely interior sentiment. Thus peace would not be that “tranquility of order” that St. Augustine had postulated wherein the individual persons saw and understood the truth of things and agreed to live accordingly. Peace would be built on the supposition that no truth existed or could exist.

This is why you and I must fight now for the future of our country. The Nigerian nationalist taught us many lessons. They taught us that freedom is a cause worth fighting for. “Give me liberty or give me death,” said Patrick Henry. So many brave country men and women of ours have died in the pursuit of freedom. As we see threats to freedom and those ideals which our nationalists lived for and died for, we need to fight to reclaim our freedom. Even though Nigerians have lost faith in President Buhari and the APC they have not lost faith in themselves. We will defend Nigerian values, rights, and freedoms. We will not let President Buhari ruin this great country. We can retake our Nigeria from Buhari in February 2023. But before that can happen, BAT is advised to eschew bitterness, violence and intimidation. Violence has never been used to solve the problems of mankind. Violence is a recipe for anarchy. We don’t want anarchy that could stall the elections next year. BAT should play the politics of ideas not the politics of violence and intimidation of political opponents. INEC must jealously guard its independence and its impartiality.

INEC must conduct a free and fair Presidential election to prevent the Nigerian young, majority of whom would be monitoring the election, to attempt to set Nigeria ablaze. President Buhari has publicly said that he is looking forward to handing over power to his fellow BAT member. This is probably why some of the 19 newly-nominated Resident Election Commissioners (RECs) Are members of the APC. SERAP and others are calling for inclusion and transparency in the nomination of RECs. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. If the Presidency is the sole nominator and financier of INEC’s RECs it means that the RECs are under control and bidding of the President. This is why SERAP and others are saying that the power of nominating the RECs should be taken away from the Presidency and given to an impartial and independent body comprising Nigerians from different cultural, religious and political spectrum. Therefore the National Assembly, political parties and Nigerian stakeholders should reject 19 newly-appointed (RECs) so that the 2023 election results will not be compromised.

Finally, it is true that the day is dying but we must be hopeful. We must be optimistic. The rock rejected by them would soon become the corner rock. A rock that will make them stumble, a solid rock on which foundation a flourishing Nigeria will be built. So, be ready to vote wisely in February 2023. This is the only way you can account for the hope that is in you. And say to those whose hearts are frightened: be strong, fear not. Do not return evil for evil, reviling for reviling; but on the contrary, bless those who oppress you, for the eyes of the Almighty are upon the just, the face of the Lord is against those who concoct evil and his ears are not open to their prayer. With the sun rising from the East and setting in the West, North and South, streams of living water will flow out in abundance for all; the lame will leap like a stag; streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning stand will become pools and the thirst ground springs of drinkable water.

September 6, 2022
The goodness of God – By Femi Aribisala

“There is nothing we need that God has not buried in the earth”.

When we are socialized on the wrath of God and on the doctrines of the eternal damnation of sinners in hellfire, it becomes difficult to appreciate the goodness of God. We end up being afraid of God. We see Him as someone with a frown who is out to get us.

It took the revelation of Jesus to reveal conclusively that God is love. Moreover, “there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18).

Since God is love, then God is good. God is a good God. Indeed, Jesus says: “No one is good but One, that is, God. (Matthew 19:17). But God’s goodness is often anathema to man’s sense of goodness.

Quite simply, we do not know what goodness is. We call evil good and good evil. We put darkness for light and light for darkness. We put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isaiah 5:20). As a result, many of us are dissatisfied with the goodness of God. (Ecclesiastes 6:3).

We call the proud blessed because evildoers seem to get away with evil. (Malachi 3:15). We foolishly think it is good not to have problems. But Jesus says some evil is necessary for the soul. (Matthew 6:34).

God would not be good if He does not punish evil. He would not be good if He were not a God of justice and judgment. David says to God: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71).

God’s commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3). On the contrary, they are: “holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:12).

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them (God’s) servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.” (Psalm 19:9-11).

“For when (God’s) judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9).

God’s goodness is not like the so-called goodness of men. It is not incidental. It is not occasional. And it is not unidimensional.

When I sat down to make an appraisal of my life, I discovered that everything that has ever happened to me testifies to the same thing. God has been good to me. His goodness is the story of my life.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” (Psalm 34:8-10).

Just think about it and you will discover that God has been good, He is good, and He will be good. Because God is good, He would never allow anything bad to happen to us. When we get to heaven, we will not complain about anything but will thank God for everything.

God is not only good to us, He invests us with His goodness. The gift of the Holy Spirit is one of God’s blessings of goodness. (Psalm 21:3). He lives in us and causes us to be good and to do good, for goodness is one of His fruits. (Galatians 5:22).

In effect, when we are born of God, goodness becomes our nature. We can now be good to everybody because: “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” (Psalm 145:9). “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45-46).

God is God because He is good. He is good because He is God. Only a good God can create the world and all that is in it. The goodness of God is self-evident everywhere. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:5).

Just think, for example, of the different types of food and fruits in the world, all created by the same good God: “who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” (1 Timothy 6:17). God is so good, He satisfies the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:16).

Think of the water we drink and the air we breathe, God created them. He created herbs for medicine, trees for wood and paper, chemicals, plants, and animals. There is nothing we need that God has not buried in the earth.

God is always good. But we cannot fully appreciate how good He is until we first conclude that He is not good all the time. This is because God is especially good at those times we think He is not. He is particularly good at those times we think things are bad.

Otherwise, He would not tell us to give thanks in everything. (1 Thessalonians 5:18). But because God is in control of everything, we come to realize that all things, even the bad and the ugly, work together for our good.

If the moon never changes its shape, nevertheless, we sometimes see it as a half-moon, so it is with the goodness of God. The less we see, the more there is.

God cannot help but be God. Because He is God, He cannot but be good. Goodness is His nature. He cannot be bad. Jesus says we should deny ourselves to be His disciples. (Matthew 16:24). But God cannot deny Himself.

God cannot be anything but good. He cannot even decide to be bad. Paul says: “If we are faithless, (God) remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13).

God can do no evil. He cannot have evil thoughts. (Jeremiah 32:35). He is: “of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.” (Habakkuk 1:13).

The goodness of God gives us hope for the future. Indeed, it secures our future. David says: “I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13).

Our hope in a good God is the anchor of the soul. (Hebrews 6:19). Even when He was sending the Israelites into captivity, God assured them of His unfailing goodness: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

But nowhere is the goodness of God more pronounced than in God’s plan of salvation: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

We must not take God’s goodness for granted. We must respond with thanksgiving and “thanks living” to God’s goodness. We must not despise the riches of God’s goodness for they are designed to lead us to repentance. (Romans 2:4).

Those who love the Lord and appreciate His goodness must hate evil. (Psalm 97:10). For surely, God’s goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives; and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6).

August 7, 2022