TheNewsGuru

Tag: Sonnie Ekwowusi

  • Why Nigeria and others must not sign the LGBT agreement – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Why Nigeria and others must not sign the LGBT agreement – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    November 15, 2023, might be a tragic day for Africa and the entire Caribbean and Pacific region. It is the day set aside by the European Union (EU) to pressure or coax African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries into signing the deceptively and euphemistically crafted LGBT agreement between the EU and ACP countries. You may be well aware that over the past few months, several meetings have been convened between the EU and ACP parliamentarians aimed at getting ACP leaders to sign the controversial LGBT agreement. For example, a crucial meeting between the EU and ACP Ministers took place in Brussels on November 28, 2022, to potentially exert greater pressure on ACP Ministers to persuade ACP heads of governments to sign the contentious LGBT agreement. Another meeting with the same objective took place from June 19 to 28, 2023, in Brussels. The aforementioned meetings ended in a deadlock as ACP parliamentarians and leaders vehemently opposed the signing of the LGBT agreement. This is why we are shocked to hear today that November 15 has been scheduled for signing the offensive LGBT agreement. The pertinent questions are: Have ACP heads of government compromised their earlier stance on this matter and now agreed to sign the controversial LGBT agreement? If so, why? Did African leaders consult their respective parliaments and their people before agreeing to sign the agreement? Why is the African media not reporting the LGBT negotiations between the EU and the ACP countries since 2021?

    One thing is certain. If the ACP governments succumb to the EU’s intimidation and sign the LGBT agreement, it will spell doom for the ACP countries. Why? Because the agreement is primarily aimed at the homosexualization and LGBTization of ACP countries. This agreement, which takes the form of a treaty, is deceptively and deviously worded to impose the EU’s LGBT agenda on ACP countries. This is why ACP countries must unanimously rise up and resist the signing of this agreement. Why? Because once the agreement is signed, it shall automatically override their Constitutions and national sovereignties of the ACP countries. In contrast to the Monroe Doctrine, Nigeria operates the Dualist doctrine under international law. Consequently, by virtue of section 12 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, a treaty signed by Nigerian political leaders does not have the force of law in Nigeria until it is ratified and domesticated by the National Assembly. However, the LGBT agreement has been so craftily worded that once signed by Nigeria and the ACP countries, the agreement automatically supersedes their respective domestic laws and establishes LGBT as their new law.

    It is unbelievable that the West has elevated the barbaric act of inserting a penis into the anus or fingers into the vagina as a civilizational value. The anus is meant for waste elimination; waste comes out from the anus. However, today, the West is trying to teach us the opposite. Regrettably, the West is attempting to convince us that engaging in anal intercourse is a form of statecraft that supersedes more important matters.

    As far as the EU, the U.S., and many parts of Europe are concerned, any country not endorsing the practice of inserting a penis into the rectum is seen as not fulfilling its international obligations. The LGBT countries may appear as stars that reflect light, yet they are waterless clouds carried away by the winds of eroticism, uprooted and twice dead. They resemble fruitless trees in late autumn or wild waves of the sea, casting off the foams of their vomit in public. What a shame! Where has public shame gone?

    For example, U.S. President Joe Biden has made LGBT rights the centerpiece of American foreign policy. This is why Biden has ordered that the American flag be flown alongside the LGBT+ flag, portraying America as an LGBT-friendly country. The US government is now persecuting Uganda for enacting anti-homosexual laws in Uganda. In his recent remarks, Biden has claimed that LGBT rights are universal international law. He does not seem to understand that international law is binding upon the consent of nations. He is unaware that the consensus reached at various United Nations Conferences is that the laws passed in every developing country, including Nigeria and other African nations, must reflect the diverse social, economic, and environmental conditions of the country, while respecting their religious, cultural backgrounds, and philosophical convictions.

    Therefore, Nigeria should not sign the LGBT agreement on November 15 or at any other time. The same applies to other African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Instead of succumbing to the EU’s veiled intimidation and blackmail to sign the agreement, they should assert their sovereignty and walk out on the EU on November 15. Nigeria is a sovereign country, as are other African nations, the Caribbean, and the Pacific countries. We should not be dictated to by the EU. We are no longer under the tutelage of our former colonial masters. If the EU decides to stop providing financial assistance due to our refusal to sign the LGBT agreement, they may proceed to do so. However, we cannot yield to the EU’s cheap blackmail and sign the agreement. In any case, LGBT practices are illegal in Nigeria, and likely in all African countries except South Africa. The concept of same-sex cohabitation or marriage is abhorrent to Nigerian and African sensibilities. Above all, it represents a complete departure from African civilization.

    I have recently participated in a conference in London organized by world-class public intellectuals. Renowned psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson and others who spoke at the conference expressed concern that Western civilization has eroded. Speaker after speaker at the conference lamented that the West has lost its history and culture and emphasized the importance of preserving one’s civilization as a significant investment in this life.

    In the feverish pursuit of LGBT sexual pleasure and slavish freedom, the West has lost its core values and identity. Should African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries join the West in this madness? No, we must stick to our own values and traditions. It is suicidal to import practices and lifestyles that are alien to Africa and seek to impose them as laws, all in the name of observing international obligations. It is obvious that the EU has no respect for the religious and philosophical convictions of the African and Nigerian people; otherwise, it would not have been stampeding us to sign the LGBT agreement. Come to think of it, the EU lacks the locus standi to seek to impose on African countries aberrations that are alien to the lifestyle of the African people. Laws are made in consonance with the values of a people. Every country is interested in protecting what it holds dear or its cherished values. The EU has no right to dictate to us the kind of laws we should enact for our people. LGBT is not our value. Gay marriage is not our value. Neither is transgenderism our value. If the West is sinking to the bottomless pit of human civilization with LGBT and transgenderism, it should sink alone; it must not seek to sink together with the African, Pacific, or Caribbean countries.

    Happily, at the time of writing, Namibia had pulled out and sworn that it will never sign the LGBT agreement. It is not unlikely that other countries will follow suit and pull out from signing the agreement or signal their intentions to refrain from signing the agreement. In refusing to sign the agreement, Namibia said that the agreement is “not in line with the Namibian Constitution, its legal framework, nor its intended relations and cooperation policy.” It also said that the agreement does not have a definition section to ensure that all parties understand the terms of the agreement and what they entail. According to Namibia, the agreement “refers to a commitment to the full and effective implementation of future outcomes of Beijing and ICPD review Conferences that may bind parties to future processes and outcomes that cannot be predicted at the present moment.” Namibia also complains that the agreement “may elevate non-binding agreements/strategies/initiatives, progress, and processes to a legally binding position or treaty status.

    Nigeria should follow the good example of Namibia in this regard and refrain from signing the agreement. Other ACP countries should follow suit. The resolve of Namibia to exercise its national sovereignty and refrain from signing the agreement is praiseworthy. To sign the agreement is tantamount to giving the EU a blank check to fill any amount of money it likes on it and cash it in a bank. Namibia is right. The agreement is a Trojan horse. Apart from LGBT, other provisions of the agreement legalize transgenderism, human capital reduction, and queer behaviorism in a country that signs the agreement. By signing the agreement, a country consents that its children should be taught how to practice “safe”-sex, “safe”-abortion; how to do masturbation, kissing, hugging, penis touching, vagina touching, and how to avoid getting pregnant through sterilization, and so forth, all in the name of sex education or Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). It is obvious that this agreement specifically targets the children of Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific for corruption and destruction. The agreement threatens to undermine the national sovereignty of the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific countries that are parties to the agreement. It is targeted at overriding their domestic laws and constitutions as well.

    In the light of the foregoing, the African Parliamentary Forum, in conjunction with African lawyers and some notable African NGOs, organized the first-ever African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty in Entebbe, Uganda last year. The conference’s communique later gave birth to what has been christened as the Entebbe Declaration. The Entebbe Declaration has not only unequivocally rejected the LGBT agreement but has also urged the ACP governments not to sign it. Annex 1 of the Declaration states as follows: “WHEREAS the ACP-EU treaty’s supremacy clause invalidates provisions in any existing treaty with which it conflicts, thereby also violating the national sovereignty of countries and the integrity of regional and sub-regional bodies, including the African Union and the integration of regional economic communities. WHEREAS the ACP-EU treaty violates cultural and religious values and undermines the integrity of African family values by mandating the implementation of sexual and reproductive health services and “Sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR), deceptively requiring the legalization of abortion, prostitution, same-sex marriage, special LGBT “rights,” and child sexualization. THEREFORE, we collectively urge all heads of African ACP States not to sign the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and urge their respective parliaments and legislatures, which are the national law-making bodies of African States, to refuse to ratify this deceptive treaty.”

    In conclusion, the EU should leave ACP countries alone in this LGBT matter. Life is about living and letting live. The EU should allow ACP countries to make their own decisions. Practices like LGBT lifestyles cannot be referred to as “human rights”; otherwise, deviant behaviors such as embezzlement of public funds, graft, scams, murder, theft, terrorist attacks, human trafficking, and so forth could also be referred to as “human rights.” You may be aware that as far back as June 29, 2016, the prestigious and highly esteemed European Court of Human Rights, sitting in Strasbourg, France, delivered a historic and unimpeachable judgment that LGBTQ+ is not a human right. The court, which is the highest court in Europe, held that “marriages” entered into by people of the same sex cannot be considered as marriages. As important as this judgment is, the liberal media, such as pro-gay CNN or pro-gay BBC, and others refused to report it.

    Therefore, following the good example of Namibia, Nigeria, and the other ACP countries, we must not sign the LGBT agreement. The truth remains that when democracies lose their constituting philosophical and legal principles—when wrongs are described as “rights,” and the tools of law are deployed to do and justify evil—democracies metamorphose into LGBT totalitarianism.

  • Tinubu’s rising baggages – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Tinubu’s rising baggages – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    “Tinubu could not have graduated from Government College, Ibadan in 1970 because Government College was established in 1974.”. “Tinubu’s claim that he attended Richard Dailey College stemmed from a stolen identity and falsified results of a woman named Bola Adebimpe Tinubu.”. “Tinubu submitted a forged Chicago State University (CSU) certificate to INEC because CSU stated that the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC was not issued by them.”. “Tinubu is deeply involved in identity fraud.”. “The Naira currency is currently experiencing its worst free fall in the last 63 years.”. “The US dollar now exchanges for 1,050 Naira. The inflation rate has reached 30%.”. “Over 90% of Nigerians cannot afford a healthy diet.”

    “Tinubu appointed Hannatu Musawa, a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, as a Minister.”. “Tinubu is the embodiment of provincialism. 90% of his Ministers not only come from his own part of the country but are also his partners in corruption.”. “U.S. Federal Agents have successfully linked Bola Tinubu to drug-related activities.”. “Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, used a Presidential jet to attend polo games in Kano State.”. “CIA, DEA, and other agencies have announced plans to release documents related to President Bola Tinubu’s criminal convictions in the U.S.”. “Boko Haram killings are escalating, with 252 persons killed in Borno State.”

    “Tinubu appoints an unqualified Olanipekun Olukoyede as the new EFCC chairman.”. “Seyi Tinubu, along with his friends, flies on a presidential jet to celebrate his 38th birthday.”. “The Tinubu government plans to spend a staggering N3.27 trillion on palliatives.”. “Amid scarcity and economic hardships in the country, the House of Representatives purchases 360 exotic cars, each costing about N160 million, for its 360 members.”. “CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso maintains an ominous silence amid the collapsed economy.”. “It is preposterous and unconscionable that, amid the vicious cycle of poverty plaguing Nigeria, coupled with the dwindling government income, the Tinubu Presidency and the National Assembly are embarking on an overspending spree to satisfy their personal interests.”

    The foregoing and other issues represent an increasing accumulation of controversial or unfavorable topics that have become the subjects of public discourse since President Tinubu assumed office in Nigeria. Regrettably, these unfavorable matters have the potential to significantly impact President Tinubu’s public perception, his reputation, and Nigeria’s global standing. The way the name ‘Tinubu’ is now being discussed in the popular media suggests that it may become synonymous with cheating or certificate forgery. This is indeed disheartening. Instead of witnessing signs of hope being restored or steps towards the redemption of Nigeria, what we have been witnessing since President Tinubu’s election are instances of certificate forgery, fraud, extravagance, incompetence, and devastation. Meanwhile, governance appears to be in a state of suspension. The Nigerian Naira is currently experiencing its most severe depreciation, with inflation reaching 30%.

    While no one expects President Tinubu to work miracles overnight and completely heal the nation’s wounds, what the people are eager to see are indications of a fresh start, signs of renewed hope, and promises of a better future. Unfortunately, thus far, these signs have been notably absent. Instead, we are witnessing dashed dreams and disillusionment. As the saying goes, ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,’ but we have yet to witness any such steps from the Tinubu administration. Concrete actions to revitalize the dormant economy have been lacking. The prices of essential food items in the market are consistently soaring. The Central Bank Governor and other Tinubu-appointed Ministers appear to be grappling with confusion. Many Nigerians have lost hope in the Nigerian enterprise. Frustration has led both young and old Nigerians to emigrate in large numbers, seeking opportunities abroad. In fact, it is rare to find a Nigerian family without at least one member residing in Canada, America, or Europe.”

    The fallout from all this is a sagging international image. Nigeria’s image abroad is now battered and tattered. Foreigners are laughing at us. They see us as certificate forgers or potential forgers. This is why some people are summoning the courage to question the academic qualifications of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. Imagine, a whole Professor Wole Soyinka being suspected of having committed certificate fraud. The UK has unmasked over 669 Nigerian nurses who cheated in an online nursing exam in Nigeria before coming to the UK to practice nursing. The UK government has vowed to prosecute all of them. In the last nine years shepherded by Buhari, APC, and Tinubu, Nigerians have been witnessing a steady and progressive deterioration of those cherished values that form the superstructure for building our national ethos. The old image of Nigeria as a citadel of cultural and moral renaissance seems blurred. Having been betrayed several times, the people have lost confidence in the ruling party, APC.

    Our country has always had some scoundrels in public office, but never in the past have we had such a great number of scoundrels in public office as today. Look at the corrupt and inept politicians occupying the seats of government today. We are really in a moral crisis. Those keeping quiet about it and refusing to take action should bury their heads in shame. Contrary to the views of many, politics and morality are not strange bedfellows. There is morality in politics. Contrary to Machiavellianism, the political end does not justify the means. The Machiavellian doctrine simply teaches that the end justifies the means, suggesting that there is no morality in politics. It implies that a politician could commit any atrocity, such as murder, like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, to satisfy their ambitious political goals and later justify it with Lady Macbeth’s words: “A little water cleans us of this deed.” Machiavellianism is fundamentally faulty. Morality exists in politics. A political strategy does not obviate the need for moral discipline. A politician cannot, for instance, commit evil acts to achieve a greater good. They cannot, for example, bribe INEC and Prof. Yakubu to seize political power in the name of improving the welfare of the people. A thief must return what he has stolen before seeking forgiveness. Think about it carefully yourself. A thief has stolen what belongs to you. Now, without repentance and without returning what he stole from you, the same thief dramatically comes to you and starts begging you to endorse his thievery or acquiesce to it for the sake of peace and unity in this country. Obviously, the thief and his acolytes feign ignorance of the preamble to the 1999 Constitution, which states, inter alia, that in order to build Nigeria and promote the unity and welfare of all persons in Nigeria, the principles of freedom, equality, and justice must prevail. Does this thief understand that justice begets unity and unity grows in the crannies of justice? If you want progress in Nigeria, allow justice to prevail. Don’t lecture us on progress if you disdain justice. No politician can rig an election to come to power to start doing good. No, the end does not justify the means. You cannot commit evil so that good may come out of it.

    In fairness to President Tinubu, he never promised to fix Nigeria upon coming to power. He merely stated that it was his turn to assume the Presidency and follow in Buhari’s footsteps. If you have been a careful observer, you would have noticed that Tinubu has been following Buhari’s footsteps to the letter. Like Buhari, President Bola Tinubu is seriously implicated in educational certificate fraud, forgery, and identity crisis. Like Buhari, President Bola Tinubu is accused of submitting a forged educational qualification to INEC. Like Buhari, Tinubu has been taken to court over certificate forgery. Like Buhari, Tinubu is charged with identity theft. In the case against Buhari, the petitioners successfully met the burden of proof incumbent on them by showing that Buhari did not possess the educational qualifications, as he had failed to attach them to his INEC Form CF 001, as required by the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). But Buhari deposed to a false affidavit claiming that his certificates were with the military. However, both the military and Buhari’s witness and former classmate, Major-Gen. Paul Tarfa (Rtd), denied that Buhari’s purported certificates were with the military. Surprisingly, instead of ruling as aforesaid, the tribunal wrongly descended into the arena and assisted Buhari in patching up his defense by ascribing that he attended courses and trainings that could qualify him to contest the Presidential election. What was even more perplexing was that after falsely asserting that his certificates were lodged with the military, Buhari proceeded to tender, through a WAEC official, a Statement of Result of one Mohamed Buhari (not Muhammadu Buhari) showing different school subjects and different scores. Buhari also tendered, through the then Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, a Cambridge WAEC Statement of result where he purportedly scored entirely different grades in different school subjects.

    So, you can see that President Tinubu is religiously following the footsteps of Buhari. I need not remind you that Buhari destroyed Nigeria beyond repair. He took Nigeria for a ride. He destroyed institutions in Nigeria, including the judiciary. Imagine appointing Mohammadu Tanko as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Under Buhari’s watch, Nigeria’s treasury was looted as never before. Buhari put Nigeria into a serious debt burden. It is unbelievable that a man who has ruined the country in this fashion is left to be freely loitering about in his village without being brought to justice. The EFCC cannot even dare to arrest him for aiding and abetting former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele in crimes.

    Like Buhari, President Tinubu is ruling as if Nigeria were his personal fiefdom. Instead of appointing his Ministers in such a way as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and promote national unity, as stipulated in section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution, President Tinubu prefers to surround himself with the same wheeler-dealers with whom he executed many shady deals during his stint as Lagos State Governor. Like Buhari, Tinubu is not subject to the checks and balances of the National Assembly. Why? Because the current National Assembly is also a mere rubber-stamp National Assembly. It cannot refuse Tinubu anything. For example, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio (off the mic), is Tinubu’s man. Akpabio cannot refuse President Tinubu any deal. Like Buhari’s daughter, Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, flies the Presidential jet. Upon assuming office at Aso Villa, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu had boasted that her family didn’t need Nigeria’s wealth to survive because God had blessed them with wealth. But now it is manifestly clear that Mr. and Mrs. Tinubu and their family are feeding off the Federal government’s wealth. Seyi Tinubu flies the Presidential jet at his pleasure. Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu has a pet project, Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), funded from the coffers of the Federal government. The other day, she was in Jos, distributing ₦500 million as relief and resettlement packages to 500 families in Jos, Plateau State. In their first 100 days in office, President Tinubu and Vice-President Senator Shettima have been indulging in an overspending spree. For example, the Federal government spent a gargantuan sum of $507,000 on hotel accommodation for President Tinubu at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Amidst scarcity and economic hardships in the country, the government purchases 360 exotic cars, each costing about N160 million, for the 360 members of the House of Representatives. You may recall that in August 2023, it was reported that the Buhari government was spending a huge sum of N16 billion to purchase exotic cars for Buhari’s 48-member cabinet, the largest cabinet in Nigeria since 1984. It is preposterous that amid the economic hardship in Nigeria, President Buhari is retaining a bloated cabinet, a bloated number of Special Advisers, and bloated special aides, among other things. The Senate President and the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, have about 3,000 legislative aides. Like the Buhari government, the Tinubu government is also overborrowing money from abroad with little or no thought on how to repay the accumulating debts. Similar to Buhari, President Tinubu is also giving out subtle bribes, otherwise called palliatives, to the people in a bid to silence them. The Tinubu government plans to spend a whopping N3.27 trillion on palliatives alone. Like the failed Buhari’s palliative policy, the Tinubu palliative policy is already a failure. The policy is a drain for dishing out free money and bags of rice and beans to APC stalwarts and election riggers. You and I may not receive the palliatives. Assuming we did receive the palliatives, how would they help us pay our children’s exorbitant school fees or our high house rent? How would the palliatives give us access to an affordable primary healthcare system?

    As we speak, bags of rice and beans, along with other palliatives, are being distributed across the country’s communities. Elder Statesman and music legend Steve Black complained that he received one bag of rice to be shared among about 147 persons. He was in a quandary about how to distribute such a small bag of rice among 147 people, so he alerted the public and the media. Just yesterday, they brought small, tiny bags of uncooked rice and beans to my office. The rice and beans, wrapped in dirty cellophane bags, looked repulsively like offerings spread across the expressways. These were Tinubu’s palliatives brought for our office staff. As I watched, they handed each of my colleagues a tiny bag. Of course, they did not dare to give me any of the bags. They knew I would have instantly driven them out of the office or called the police to arrest them for assaulting me.

    Anyway, after they finished distributing the items to my colleagues, I called all of them and addressed them on why they should not have accepted the bribes. While respecting their freedom, I told them that collecting the palliatives was tantamount to cooperating in evil. I explained that we do not need palliatives in Nigeria, even in the short run. “We need good governance. We need a constant electricity supply. We need security of life and property. We want the government to patch or repair the potholes on our roads. They should not give us fish; instead, they should teach us how to fish so that we can fish all day, all month, and all year to our heart’s content,” I told them.

    Of course, I was unable to convince any of them to reject the palliatives. There is hunger in the land.

    The role of the government is not to distribute palliatives; the role of the government is to cultivate the enabling environment in which people can achieve their potentials and create wealth for themselves. Only in such an enabling environment can the average family be assured of shelter, food, clothing, and other basic necessities of life. But rather than creating the enabling environment for people to use their God-given talents to create wealth for themselves, the Tinubu government, like the Buhari government, is wasting money on palliatives, which are indirect ways of making money available for many idle APC supporters.

    Like the Buhari government, President Tinubu’s government has launched a manhunt for citizens and journalists perceived to be too critical of this government. Plans have been perfected to bribe media proprietors in Nigeria to stop their journalists from reporting issues that will damage the reputation of the Tinubu government. Already, some mainstream media publishers have been reached to stop publishing some critical stories about President Tinubu and his drifting government. Unimaginable.

    From the foregoing, it is obvious that, like the Buhari Presidency, the Tinubu Presidency is drifting into the abyss. It is preposterous and unconscionable that amid the vicious cycle of poverty plaguing Nigeria, coupled with the dwindling government income, the Tinubu Presidency and the National Assembly are embarking on an over-spending spree to satisfy their personal interests. It demonstrates that the Tinubu democracy is greatly challenged from within by the pursuit of personal interests at the expense of the common good. Mind you, the Presidency is the central focus of power and responsibility in presidential democracy. Therefore, it is essential that the Presidency functions effectively in a presidential democracy. If the President is imperiled by certificate forgery, corruption, or incompetence, then our presidential democracy will be imperiled.

    Solution: We must all stand up and be counted. Like we did during the Buhari misrule, we cannot get accustomed to tolerating oddities in this Tinubu government. In a democracy such as ours, power belongs to the people. It is not true that the people have ceded their power to the power-drunk politicians. If the people fail to make their leaders accountable for their stewardship, then they should stop wondering why their leaders are making a show of their stupidity and wickedness in public. Mere lamentation on social media that some politicians are incompetent or are stealing from the government is not enough. Each one must contribute something to salvage the system. We need responsible citizenry. We want citizens’ action. In an age in which most people in the world are coming together to tackle some pressing problems, we cannot remain in our various cocoons feigning ignorance or being unmindful of the reigning injustices and evils in Nigeria. Evil thrives when the so-called good people sit back and do nothing.

  • Ending LGBTQ+ totalitarianism – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Ending LGBTQ+ totalitarianism – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other queer behaviours (LGBTQ+) world community is increasingly resorting to violence to force innocent people to adopt the LGBTQ ideology and lifestyle against their will and rights. We are experiencing a one-world government of untrammeled LGBTQ+ tyranny.

    Through the corrupt mainstream media, the LGBTQ+ tyrants use psychological techniques to manipulate people and influence their behaviors and actions. In this regard, the U.S. has positioned itself as the LGBTQ+ policeman of the world. As far as the U.S. is concerned, any country that has not legalized LGBTQ+ rights is not in the good books of the U.S. Former President Obama plotted against former President Goodluck Jonathan for outlawing LGBTQ+ rights in Nigeria. U.S. President Joe Biden has made LGBTQ+ the centerpiece of American foreign policy.

    To this effect, Biden has ordered that the American flag should be flown alongside the LGBTQ+ flag, portraying America as an LGBTQ+ country. Vice President Kamala Harris is tirelessly visiting African countries and putting pressure on African leaders to legalize LGBTQ+ rights. The U.S. government is now imposing sanctions on Uganda for enacting the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act. The U.S. is also contemplating restricting the issuance of U.S. visas to Ugandan government officials.

    The European Union (EU) is presently pressuring Africa-Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) to sign the controversial and deceitful EU-ACP agreement. The EU-ACP Agreement aims to replace the controversial Cotonou Agreement of 2000. Any ACP country that signs the agreement consents to the legalization of abortion, transgender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the inclusion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in its schools, which covers topics like safe sex, safe abortion, masturbation, kissing, hugging, and intimate touching.

    Moreover, the EU-ACP agreement is targeted at overriding the domestic laws and constitutions of ACP countries. The first meeting of the parties to the agreement took place in Maputo, Mozambique, in late October 2022. That meeting ended in a deadlock as most ACP parliamentarians vehemently opposed the signing of the agreement. Another meeting of EU and ACP ministers took place in Brussels on November 28, 2022, with the aim of exerting greater pressure on ACP ministers to convince ACP heads of government to sign the agreement. Another meeting on the agreement has now been scheduled to be held from June 19 to 28, 2023, in Brussels.

    The tragic aspect is the forceful sexualization and homosexualization of little children. They want to catch the children in order to damage their character with illicit sex and LGBT. “Little children are sexual beings who must have sexual partners and must begin to have sex as soon as possible. For this reason, kindergartens and elementary schools must teach children to develop lust and sexual desire, learn masturbation, build same-sex relations, use online pornography and learn different sexual techniques such as oral sex”.

    This is one of the official guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations to educational authorities worldwide, Nigeria included. In fact sexualization of kids is part of the UN Agenda 2023. To this effect, the United Nations has directed that elementary schools must teach little kids about masturbation, sexual behaviours, sexual attractions and sexual stimulation aimed at getting them to have sexual partners in their tender ages.

    The WHO instructs schools to encourage little children to engage in homosexual relationships with their friends. Right in front of is the syllabi for teaching little kids LGBTQ+. I have in particular the LGBT curriculum issued by Rutgers Foundation. Rutgers operates in 27 countries including Nigeria and Ghana. Rudgers works closely with WHO.

    Rutgers is funded by Bill Gates and the United Nations. Rudgers’ LGBT curriculum which is meant to be pasted in elementary schools aims at luring the lids into LGBTQ+ lifestyles. Two girls are shown kissing. Another two girls are shown looking for a “safe-place” to have lesbian sex. Two boys are shown holding hands and saying” “Yes, we both want it” Afrikindness, an NGO in the UK that specializes in teaching toddlers and kids the ABCs of LGBTQ+, in conjunction with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) of Nigeria are recruiting Nigerian teachers and teaching them the principles of LGBTQ+ and how to impart LGBTQ+ in children.

    For instance, as part of their activities marking the last Children’s Day Celebration last month, Afrikindness and NAPPS organized on May 20th 2023 an online LGBTQ+ Teachers’ Training Workshop with the theme: investing in our future is investing in our children. Disney now produces gay cartoons of all kinds. Many Nigerian parents do not know that their under-7 toddlers are clued to the TV watching gay cartoons such as The Loud House, Big Mouth, The legend of Korra, Scooby Doo Mystery, Steven Universe, Hey Arnold, Clarence, Adventure time. What they are doing is to acculturate under-7 children into LGBTQ+.

    Therefore parents should be cautious of their children on TV. There is another LGBTQ+ catchy book for children in circulation with the title: Mary has a little pussy. It contains very graphic sexual and LGBT illustrations to get children imbibe the pervasive sexual and LGBTQ+ lifestyles.

    In 2010 Mr. McAlpine, a Christian preacher in the UK, was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments when a lady passer-by came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith and he told the woman that homosexuality is a sin. For saying this, he was arrested and locked in a cell. In April 2021 John Sherwood, 71, a Christian pastor, was arrested and led away in handcuffs by the police and detained overnight after being accused of preaching from the Bible and making homophobic comments which amounted to hate speech outside Uxbridge Station in West London. A new MP in the UK has called for school hours to be extended to 6 pm so that the school kids will find time to have sex among themselves.

    A Canadian court has ordered a father to henceforth address and treat his 11-year old transgendered daughter as a boy. In fact, the parents of the gender-confused 11-year old girl who is on hormone blockers are divorced, and the father disagrees with the mother with regard to the treatment of the child’s condition. In Germany and other countries, sex corners have been carved out for school children where they are taught masturbation, how to wear condoms and how to engage in so-called safe-sex all in the name sex education.

    In Canada, a lady goes to a barber’s shop that only cuts men’s hair and insists that the barber must cut her hair. The barber refuses because his faith as a Muslim prohibits him from touching women who are not family members. The woman files a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal claiming “gender discrimination” She refuses the barber’s referral to another shop willing to give her the desired haircut because she wants to force that barber to give her men’s hair. In America and Europe, some bakers who have refused to bake cake for gay “couples”, have either been jailed or have their bakeries shut down.

    I can’t remember now whether it was in the UK or Ghana that I first met Paul Diamond, Esquire. Paul is a UK attorney who specializes in defending those persecuted and prosecuted for publicly professing their Christian beliefs. He has brought leading religious liberty and human rights cases from the House of Lords to the European Court of Human Rights. For instance, in the case of Eweida & Others v United Kingdom, Paul defended a lady who was fired by British Airways because she wore a necklace containing a crucifix.

    The British kingdom had argued that wearing a necklace with a crucifix offended the secularity of the British Kingdom. The paradox is that while employees of other faiths were permitted to manifest their beliefs, Christians cannot wear a crucifix. In the case of Ngole v University of Sheffield – one of the most important cases on freedom of private religious speech – Paul defended Felix Ngole, who was recently removed from his master’s social work degree after calling homosexuality “a sin” on Facebook. Paul was a counsel in the case of R v Overd, in which the court considered whether quoting the Bible was hate speech in the criminal courts.

    A 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it is against the law of God. For saying that, he was arrested and charged in court. Police officers alleged that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

    In July 2022, in the UK, Bainbridge man Ryan Williamson, 44, was arrested in Larne and Dundalk last August and September respectively after preaching against homosexuality and was charged with public order offenses. However, his defense lawyers successfully defended him from all charges, citing his European Convention Human Rights of freedom of expression and association. In April 2023, a Christian school in north London punished a pupil who said that homosexuality is a sin.

    Recently, a schoolgirl in the UK was punished by her school for stating that homosexuality is a sin. It wasn’t that the girl condemned homosexuality. The girl was asked by a teacher to give her opinion on homosexuality, and she expressed that homosexuality was a sin. That was all. When withdrawing the girl from the school, her mom said to the school authorities, “You asked my daughter for her opinion, and after she expressed her opinion, you punished her.”

    A Nigerian engineer working in the UK has recently been fired by his employer. Why? Because, after delving into his past, his employer is now alleging that twelve years ago he made an uncomplimentary remark in Italy about the gay lifestyle.

    The foregoing attests that gay totalitarianism now looms large in the world. What used to be regarded as human civilization is being reinvented and, in the process, eroded. Studies on the rise and fall of civilizations show that most civilizations are brought down by combinations of factors, which obviously include the collapse of objective moral standards, the superstructures for the construction of societal ethos.

    For example, empires such as Greece under Pericles, Rome under Caesar, France under Napoleon, Germany under Hitler, and others collapsed due to a combination of political and moral corruption. In fact, the Roman Empire collapsed under the weight of moral corruption. Today, Western civilization is crumbling or has completely crumbled. Sad.

    Therefore, the African continent must rediscover itself and rise above the present challenges clipping its wings. Afro-pessimism should give way to Afrocentrism. Laws are made in accordance with the values of a people. Every country is interested in protecting what it holds dear or its cherished values. LGBTQ+ is a complete break with African civilization.

    The consensus reached at the various United Nations Conferences is that the laws passed in every developing country, including Nigeria, must reflect the diverse social, economic, and environmental conditions of that country, with full respect for their religious, cultural backgrounds, and philosophical convictions. LGBTQ+ shows no respect for the religious and philosophical convictions of the Nigerian people and therefore cannot be imported into Nigeria.

    African countries must adhere to our own values, traditions, and identity. It is suicidal to import practices and lifestyles that are alien to Africa and seek to impose them as laws in African countries, all in the name of observing the so-called international obligations. You cannot stay in Washington D.C. and dictate to African countries how they should enact their laws. If Nigeria and African countries do not dictate to the US the type of laws they should enact, why should the US usurp the sovereignty of Nigeria and African countries to dictate to them the kinds of laws they should enact?

    The Nigerian government, parents, churches, mosques, censorship institutions, and all stakeholders must come together now to put a stop to the sexualization and homosexualization of our children. Enough is enough. Indoctrinating children into LGBTQ+, transgender, abortion, and so-called safe-sex lifestyles under any pretext is criminal.

    Nigeria must remain resolute with its anti-gay law. We have the right as a sovereign country to decide for ourselves the kind of laws we can enact for our own good. A country without identity is a misshapen country. We should reject anything that compromises our territorial sovereignty. The European Union and other foreign countries have no right to interfere in the way we run our country or enact our laws.

  • The bill seeking to regulate Christianity lacks merit – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The bill seeking to regulate Christianity lacks merit – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The bill emanating from the Senate seeking to create a National Council to regulate the practice of Christianity in Nigeria, setting standards and modalities for the practice of Christianity in Nigeria, as well as creating curricula for the practice of Christianity in Nigeria is, with the greatest respect to the sponsors and financial backers of the bill, a violation of sections 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of our 1999 Constitution and Articles 2, 8, 9, 17, 18, 27, 28, and 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’ Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act. Titled “A Bill to Establish the National Council for Christian Education for the Purpose of Regulating and Setting Standards and for Related Matters, 2023,” the bill is sponsored by Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe, representing the Adamawa South Senatorial District, and it has already scaled Second Reading in the Senate. I pray that Senator Yaroe and the Senate announce the date for the Public Hearing of the bill to give the public the opportunity to clearly state the demerits of the bill.

    A copy of the 9-page bill is right in front of me for review. Essentially, this bill seeks to establish the National Council, to be funded by the Federal Government, whose main responsibility shall be “to develop, regulate, collate data on Christian education syllabuses at all levels of education and certify Christian Religious Education instructors at all basic and secondary school levels; approve the content of all Christian Religious Education in schools across the country; accredit programs of Christian Theological Institutions of Learning and train, retain, and recertify Christian Religious Instructors in schools.” In other words, if passed into law and signed by the President, the import and purpose of the bill is that the syllabuses of all Christian primary schools, secondary schools, and universities such as Redeemer’s University, Ede, Lagos, Covenant University, Ota, Madonna University, Okija, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Augustine University, Epe, Lagos, Caritas University, Amorji-Nike, Enugu, and so forth shall be formulated, approved, and regulated by the Council. Similarly, the syllabuses of all Christian seminaries such as Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, SS. Peter & Paul, Bodija, Ibadan, All Harrows Seminary, Onitsha, Baptist Theological Seminary Kaduna, Bethel Institute of Theology and Biblical Research, Harvesters International Theological Seminary, International Institute of Divinity and Theological Seminary, Bible Life University of Theology, and so forth shall be formulated, approved, and regulated by the Council. More importantly, if Senator Yaroe’s bill is passed into law, the mode of Christian worship in all Christian churches in Nigeria, such as the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ Embassy Church, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Winners Chapel and so forth, shall be formulated, approved, and regulated by the Council. Additionally, the training, licensing, certification, and posting of Catholic priests, Anglican priests, Methodist pastors, Protestant pastors, Pentecostal pastors, and so forth shall be the responsibility of the Council.

    As I have stated earlier, this bill is a great violation of religious freedom, the right to freedom of religious worship, and the secularity (in contrast to secularism) of the Nigerian State as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution. The bill is also incompatible with cherished human values enshrined in many African and international human rights instruments subscribed to by Nigeria. Consequently, the bill lacks merit and public consideration and should therefore be dismissed by the Senate. Apparently foreseeing that the bill would provoke national outrage, the sponsor of the bill and his backers organized a public Zoom meeting on the bill last week. Eighty percent of us who attended that Zoom meeting clearly made it known to the bill sponsor and his backers that the bill lacked merit and would neither sail in the Senate nor in the House of Representatives, let alone in the public. I imagine that by now, the bill sponsor Senator Yaroe has withdrawn the bill to avoid further embarrassment and failure, for which he would be forced to do so sooner or later.

    It is preposterous that in a multi-religious and secular state such as Nigeria, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who ought to know better, is fanning the embers of toxic religious inflammation and religious war by sponsoring a bill that infringes on the citizens’ right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as unjustified intrusion of the State into the practice of the Christian religion. Our Supreme Court, in the case of Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal v Dr. John Emewulu Nicholas Okonkwo (2002), held that the import of the fundamental human rights to privacy (section 37) and the right to freedom of thought, religion, and conscience (section 38) as enshrined in our 199 Constitution is that the State is forbidden from setting standards or modalities for the practice of the Christian religion, questioning or setting standards on the courses of the citizens’ religious life, or interfering with the ways in which the citizens have fashioned out to practice their religion.

    It is noteworthy that Nigeria has since ratified and domesticated the African Charter on Human Rights. Consequently, the articles of the African Charter apply in Nigeria. The African Charter contains political and civil rights, as well as the right to work, freedom of association, the right to representation in public office, the right to religious education, the right to health, the right of equal access to public property, and the rights of women and children recognized in all international conventions and treaties. See the case of Attorney-General of Ondo v Attorney-General of the Federation, where the Supreme Court held that the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State policy, which include the right to religious education, apply to all organs of government, authorities, and persons exercising legislative, executive, and judicial powers, and that the Fundamental Objectives do not distinguish between federal, state, and local governments. Also, see the case of Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie [Trustee of Roman-Catholic School v. Attorney-General of Lagos State, where the government of Lagos State enacted an Education law under which it closed privately owned and religious schools, including schools owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. Archbishop Okogie took the Lagos State government to court and successfully obtained a declaration that the action of the Lagos State government offended the constitutional right of the Lagos Catholic Archdiocese to own schools and operate them under the tenets and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church

    It must be pointed out that Senator Yaroe’s Bill flagrantly violates the Christians’ right to freedom from discrimination on the grounds of religion as enshrined in section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. Nigeria is a multi-religious, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society with many religions. Why should Senator Yaroe and his backers single out the Christian religion for regulation, control, intimidation, manipulation, and asphyxiation? Certainly, Senator Yaroe’s Bill is an exercise in religious bigotry and religious intolerance. Life is live and let live. We are all members of the same human family. Therefore, waging an insidious war against the Christian religion for no reason is a betrayal of our humanity.

    By sponsoring a bill to regulate Christianity or set standards for the practice of Christianity, Senator Yaroe failed to understand the separation of the state and church, also known as the separation of religion and government in a presidential democracy and secular state such as ours. He doesn’t understand that the functions and responsibilities of the state and the church should be kept separate and that the government should not promote or favor any particular religion or religious institution, let alone delve into prescribing syllabuses and modes of worship for any particular religion.

    One of the earliest significant events in this process of separating the state from the church was the Edict of Milan, which was issued in 313 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. The Edict granted tolerance to Christians throughout the Roman Empire, effectively ending the persecution of Christians and allowing them to practice their religion freely. However, prior to the Edict of Milan, Christianity had been a persecuted minority religion in the Roman Empire. The Emperor Nero had blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome in 64 AD, and subsequent emperors continued to persecute Christians for their refusal to worship the Roman gods.

    However, in the early 4th century, Constantine I became the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. He issued the Edict of Milan as a way to grant freedom of worship to Christians and end their persecution. While the Edict of Milan was a significant step towards religious tolerance, it did not necessarily represent a complete separation of state and church. In fact, Constantine himself continued to use his power and influence to promote Christianity and shape the Christian church. He called the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which was a gathering of Christian bishops that established the basic tenets of Christian doctrine and affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ.

    Over the centuries that followed, the relationship between the state and the church continued to evolve. In Europe, the Catholic Church played a significant role in the political and social order. This led to tensions between the church and the state, as well as periods of conflict such as the Investiture Controversy in the 11th and 12th centuries. Happily, in the modern era, the idea of the separation of church and state has become enshrined in many legal systems around the world. In the United States, the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits the government from establishing a state religion. The US Constitution’s First Amendment includes a clause known as the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from establishing an official state religion or giving preference to any particular religious group or prescribing syllabuses for Christian schools in the U.S. Similarly, many European countries have established constitutional protections for freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. India is home to a diverse range of religions, and its constitution establishes a secular state that does not promote or favor any particular religion. It guarantees freedom of religion and the right to worship for all citizens. The same applies to Nigeria. By virtue of section 10 of the 1999 Constitution, Nigeria is a secular state, and the government is forbidden from dictating to any religion in Nigeria the manner and ways in which it should be practiced or dictating to any religion the manner in which it should fashion out its religious education in its schools.

    One of the regrets of the United States and other countries about the outgoing Buhari government is the continued escalating ethno-religious killings, religious conquest, killing, and persecution of Christians under the government. At one time, the United States stated that the religious persecution and human rights abuse in Nigeria amounted to nothing but genocide. Aside from the killing and persecution of Christians under the Buhari government, Christian churches, Christian places of worship, and Nigerian Christians, in general, continue to be targeted by several draconian, totalitarian, and repressive policies of the government. For example, under the pretext of getting CSOs and NGOs in Nigeria to fulfill their main objectives and become transparent and accountable in their operations, Late Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, State: APC, Kogi State, sponsored a toxic NGO regulation Bill which, in actual fact, aimed at controlling, blackmailing, intimidating, manipulating, and asphyxiating Christian NGOs, which included churches, universities, and other public institutions. The Bill made it mandatory for NGOs to seek collaboration and approval from respective government ministries in order to propose and carry out social services. These requirements would not only introduce an administrative bottleneck but stymie social sector spontaneity in project execution, with the attendant corruption associated with the public sector bureaucracy in Nigeria.

    Furthermore, under the proposed bill, operations by nonprofits are premised on certification by the proposed regulatory commission, and such certification is temporary, lasting for two years at most, and subject to renewal at the expiration of the period. This entails an extraordinary administrative or bureaucratic burden for nonprofits. It also places NGOs under the unbridled control of government officials, especially by making NGOs absolutely subject to the decision of a Minister, the ministry of which is not even specified. Moreover, in cases of denial of renewal of operational licenses, the bill makes no provision for nonprofits to recourse to a court of law to seek redress against government ministries, in spite of the fact that registered nonprofits are, de facto, juridical persons. Anyway, the Bill was defeated by the people. On the day of the Public Hearing of the Bill at the National Assembly, the sponsor of the Bill, Late Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, took to his heels as he saw the battle-ready the members of civil society furiously marching to the National Assembly to stop the Bill.

    The signing of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (“CAMA, 2020”) into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 7th of August 2020, following the repeal of CAMA 2004, was seen as a revolutionary legislation that would change the general outlook of doing business in Nigeria. In fact, it was expected to ease the nature and way of doing business in Nigeria, particularly for micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises. Unfortunately, sections 839, 842, 843, 844, 845, 846, 847, 848, and 851 of CAMA 2020 infringed on the right to privacy (section 37 of the Constitution) and the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (section 38 of the 1999 Constitution).

    For instance, section 839 of CAMA 2020 authorizes the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja to suspend the trustees of church NGOs or any other incorporated trustees for various reasons. The CAC could interfere with the bank accounts of church NGOs or any other incorporated trustees and suspend the accounts for certain reasons, as stated in section 842 of CAMA 2020. Lawyers and the business committee have raised concerns about these offensive sections of CAMA 2020.

    Fortunately, in April 2023, the Federal High Court nullified the aforementioned offensive sections of CAMA 2020 in the case of Emmanuel Ekpenyong V National Assembly, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and the Attorney-General for the Federation (AGF). The court ruled that these sections infringed on the fundamental human rights of Nigerian citizens, specifically their right to privacy, right to thought, conscience, and religion, and right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, as enshrined in Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution.

    It is now evident that we are under a totalitarian democracy, where a government official can wake up any morning and issue a decree on anything without the backing of any law. For example, last year, the Honorable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, flagrantly violated section 7(5) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and sections 6(1)(2), 21, 24, 30, 36, 37, and 38 of the Marriage Act by issuing a directive imposing marriage taxes or licenses on Christian couples, Christian churches, and Christian worship centers.

    The Minister has decreed that henceforth, married couples, worship centers, and churches would be required to pay a sum of N51,000 (N21,000 for a marriage certificate and N30,000 for the licensing of a place of worship) as taxes and licenses before performing statutory marriages in Nigeria. It was evident that the Minister was targeting Christian churches, places of worship, and couples. In contrast, Muslims conduct their marriages under Islamic Customary law, which is unregulated by the Ministry of Interior. Therefore, the discrimination against churches is unjustified.

    This is why the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), and other churches demanded that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s directive be rescinded. Specifically, the Primate of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Revd. Nicholas Okoh, stated at that time that the taxation of Christian marriages by the Ministry of Interior was in bad taste. He was right. Nigeria is a secular and multi-religious society, and what is applicable to one religion should be applicable to all. If marriages conducted under Islamic law are recognized by the government without being subjected to taxation, then marriages conducted by churches should also be exempt from taxation.

    We must begin to move away from the statist mentality that portrays the state as our “Lord Almighty” and “owner” of everybody. Once the state enacts laws, all our human problems will be solved. In principle, functional bureaucracies, democratic institutions, and laws are good, but not every obligation that augurs well for the proper ordering of society can be democratized, bureaucratized, let alone legislated upon or codified in positive law. Civil society, churches, and mosques predate the state. In fact, the state or the government was created to serve civil society, not to strangulate it. Civil society, churches, and mosques are not appendages to the government; rather, they have priority over the state because it is in civil society that the government finds its origin and justification. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the government should begin to see churches, mosques, NGOs, and multiple organizations and bodies within civil society as partners in progress, not as competitors that must be crushed at all costs. In this modern era, churches, mosques, and other institutions in civil society have become veritable and viable safety nets or even mini-governments, acting as bulwarks against societal injustices, providing health services and life insurance schemes for their financial members, and tackling poverty.

    The value of democracy stands or falls with the fundamental values that it embodies and promotes. A democratic government ought to conduct its activities in line with the will and aspirations of the people. Any democracy that violates the inalienable human rights of citizens is despotism par excellence, even though it externally wears the toga of democracy. If we want peace in Nigeria, we must begin to sow the seed of peace because any peace whose seed is not sown cannot germinate, let alone sprout and grow. It is paradoxical for the government to say that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable while the same government is busy fanning the embers of religious bigotry or making policies and issuing directives capable of tearing the country apart.

  • As Buhari comes to judgement – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    As Buhari comes to judgement – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    President Buhari has come to judgment. After exercising presidential power, judgment follows. Pricked by pangs of conscience on the last Sallah Day, Buhari realized that he committed many injustices against numerous Nigerians during his 8-year misrule. Consequently, he apologized to Nigerians and begged for their pardon. “God gave me an incredible opportunity to serve the country. We are all human, and if I have hurt some people along the line of my service to the country, I ask that they pardon me… All those whom I have hurt, I ask that they pardon me,” said a seemingly remorseful Buhari.

    President Buhari has destroyed the lives of countless Nigerians during his 8-year misrule. Therefore, it is not surprising that he is now sitting in judgment with his conscience. A man reaps whatever he sows. The obligation to avoid inflicting physical or psychological harm on others is a primary ethical teaching of Prophet Mohammed (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). “He who causes harm will be harmed by Allah, and he who acts in a hostile manner will be treated in a hostile manner by Allah” (Jami’al-Tirmidhi, No. 1306). Unfortunately, the Buhari administration has caused tremendous harm to many Nigerians. As we speak, many Nigerians, young and old, are leaving the country in search of the so-called greener pastures abroad. And if the mass exodus of Nigerian medical doctors from Nigeria to Europe and America is not arrested now, there will be fewer or no medical doctors available in Nigeria by 2030. Writhing under the pains of suffocating Buhari’s policies, many multinationals shut down their operations in Nigeria, while others simply fired their staff. From 2016-2018, for example, 9.3 million Nigerians lost their jobs. From 2015-2018, poverty in Nigeria tremendously increased. Nigeria has now taken over from India as the poverty capital of the world. According to the African Development Bank (ADB) Nigeria Economic Outlook, about 152 million Nigerians live on less than $2 a day, representing approximately 80% of the country’s estimated population of 190 million.

    The United States Department of State has issued a damning assessment of Buhari’s government. In the 48-page Human Rights Violation Report, it stated that impunity remained widespread at all levels of government in Nigeria during Buhari’s reign. It notes that the Buhari government lacks transparency. The report also indicted the Buhari government for not adequately investigating or holding police or military personnel accountable for many extrajudicial killings. The Buhari government came to power on the mantra of fighting corruption. But tragically, the Buhari government is now defined by corruption. For example, the United States Human Rights Report has scored President Buhari’s government low for corruption. The Report states, among other things, “Although the law provides criminal penalties for conviction of official corruption, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government and the security services.”

    Buhari’s currency redesign policy is still inflicting pain on Nigerians. Imagine having money in your bank account and not being able to access it because of a badly-conceived currency redesign policy. Imagine bank customers endlessly queuing up under the sun to access their own money in the bank. I gather that many hospitalized sick Nigerians have died simply because their relatives were unable to withdraw money from the banks to purchase drugs for the deceased. Is this not a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance?

    At the twilight of the 2023 Election, Buhari promised Nigeria and the international community that he would leave a legacy of a free and fair 2023 election in his 8-year tenure. Now, it is no longer news that INEC organized the most rigged election in the history of elections in Nigeria. Why has President Buhari not queried or sacked the INEC chair Prof Mahmood Yakubu for organizing the most scandalous election in Nigeria?

    The foregoing attests that President Buhari has failed in office. Buhari’s suffocating policies have led to the deaths of many Nigerians. This is why the man is laboring in vain to pacify his conscience, which has adjudged him a failure. A guilty person might escape human justice wrought in the court of law; they might take flight from their guilt through ingenious rationalization, but they cannot escape from the ultimate justice in the recesses of their conscience. The natural law is written in the heart of every rational person. Therefore, every rational person, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, Marxist, internet free-thinker, juju worshipper, agnostic, animist, or otherwise, is under the judgment of the natural law written in their heart. For example, in one of the tragedies of Sophocles, the woman Antigone sought permission from the King to give her dead brother a burial befitting a human being. But the King refused because the dead brother was adjudged an enemy of the State. However, Antigone approached the King and told him that there was another law (natural law) higher than the King’s law, which obliged the King to give her brother a proper burial. Antigone was neither a Christian nor a Muslim. She had never read the Bible or the Koran, yet she recognized a higher law, the law of conscience, which obliged the King to give her brother a befitting burial. When we commit an injustice, our consciences continue to torture us until we make amends.

    There is this anecdote of some Japanese ladies who had committed several abortions in their youthful days. Pricked by their consciences, they went and molded some effigies that actually looked like the babies they had murdered, placed them one by one on a platform, and started bowing before these effigies, asking them for forgiveness for the murders they had committed. This is natural law at work. In Dostoevsky’s epic work, Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov tried to erase his crime from his heart by ingenious rationalization, but upon discovering the inescapable basis for ultimate justice in his heart, he went to Siberia and served an eight-year prison term to appease his conscience.

    Therefore, if Buhari really wants to appease his conscience and have a restful and peaceful retirement in Daura or Niger Republic, he should make amends or reparations for the many injustices he committed against Nigerians. Allah will treat him the way he treats others. Allah will not have mercy on him unless he has mercy on others. Therefore, President Buhari should treat people well in the remaining days of his tenure. He should show mercy to others to enjoy mercy and peace in Daura. He should show kindness. Allah loves those who are kind. Therefore, President Buhari should order the release of all prisoners unjustly detained in Nigerian correctional centers, including Nnamdi Kanu, who, in actual fact, has been discharged and acquitted by the court but is deliberately left to languish in prison. Buhari should also ensure that his government obeys all pending court orders served on it.

    Ninety percent of President Buhari’s key political appointees are from his part of the country, and he refused to alter this imbalance in conformity with the pluralistic and multi-ethnic nature of Nigerian society and the Federal Character principle as enshrined in section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution. Now, as he is quitting office, how would Allah judge him for this act of injustice? The Golden Rule states, “Honesty is the best policy.” Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, says, “stand firm for justice…even if it be against yourselves, your parents, and your relatives.” Therefore, Buhari should stand firm for justice and correct the lopsided political appointments in his government before he leaves office to avoid his conscience torturing him when he retires to Daura. He should also order for the arrest and prosecution of INEC chair Prof Mahmoud Yakubu for squandering a gargantuan sum of N3O5 Billion in organizing the most chaotic and rigged election in Nigeria. There is no doubt that Prof. Yakubu is a big disgrace to Nigeria. Therefore, justice demands that Buhari should fire Prof. Yakubu before he (Buhari) leaves office.

    Ethical conduct is the anchor of the Islamic personality of a Muslim. There is an obligation on Muslims to improve and enhance the welfare of others, including care for the sick. But President Buhari cares no hoot about the welfare of the sick. Rather than improve and re-equip the existing public hospitals in Nigeria so that many sick Nigerians could go there for medical treatment, Buhari prefers going for medical tourism in London to cater for his own health. Therefore, in his remaining days in office, Buhari should show mercy to sick Nigerians. He should visit the hospitals and console the sick patients there. If President Buhari wants peace in his retirement, he should ensure that the daughter of Zion and conscience of Nigeria, Leah Sharibu, regains her freedom. Otherwise, the bad prayer of this girl will never allow Buhari to enjoy peace in his retirement. President Buhari has not only over-borrowed money but also misused the borrowed money in inanities. In fact, Nigeria’s rising debt profile spells doom for the incoming government.

    Therefore, if Buhari wants peace in his retirement, he should team up with the incoming government to rein in Nigeria’s debt. Buhari is very conscious of his place in history. He is afraid that history will judge him harshly and negatively. But he should not forget that he has repeatedly promised to end insecurity in Nigeria. Even in March 2023, the President reiterated his government’s commitment to winning the war against terrorism and other forms of insecurity. The truth of the matter however is that insecurity in Nigeria has worsened despite Buhari’s assurances that he will defeat insecurity before leaving office. As Buhari leaves office without fulfilling his aforesaid promise, it is doubtful whether he will enjoy peace in his retirement.

  • Supreme Court in the eye of the storm – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Supreme Court in the eye of the storm – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    I could hear the approaching thunder and the low rumblings of the thick black cloud as I lay by the mouth of a grave, in my trepidation, while the shining lights of black, white, red, and green candles danced in the wild wind amid the rising storm. The storm tossed us up and down, and soon broke out, and then everything roared. It was a roaring dark night. For hours, it went on, a night of storm and screaming skies, with peals of black thunder reminiscent of Anna Bontemps’ novel Black Thunder (1936). I didn’t know how, but the rumbles of thunder were clearly drawn into the politics and pragmatics of slavery and freedom, and slavery, which is the condition of the overwhelming number of Nigerians. In the end, everything was black, for the flames of the candles had now gone, leaving in its wake great sorrows that crushed and assailed us.

    This is not Sonnie’s somnambulism. What is before us is nothing known to common sense: what is before us is total darkness, the eclipse of reason. What is before us are Nigerians sorrowfully writhing in pain, trying to come to terms with the flawed 2023 electoral verdicts. What pangs of excruciating pain molest us. Must we continue to dwell in slavery and servitude in our fatherland? What sorrows labor in our breasts? Far beyond our tearful feeble sight lies the Supreme Court of Nigeria. At the moment, the Supreme Court is the cynosure of all eyes. The highest court in the land is expected to dispense justice in the petitions resulting from the flawed 2023 elections. Salvation comes from Christ alone. Justice dispensed on earth is not philosophical truth. Earthly justice is not perfect justice. Perfect justice lies in the City of God, not in the City of Man. Nevertheless, we live on earth, in the City of Man, and we need earthly justice, no matter how imperfect it is, to build the City of Man. Justice, as the raison d’être of the judiciary and one of the cardinal virtues, is that vital thread that knits human society together. Without justice, it will be impossible to promote societal aims. “Remove justice, what are kingdoms but great robberies,” said St. Augustine.

    To Justice Chukwudifu Oputa (of blessed memory), “Injustice breeds intolerance, violence, and social disorder in the same way justice brings along with it the blessings of peace and mutual understanding. Small wonder Cicero praises justice to high heavens by stating that the brightest of virtues shines above all in justice.” The so-called Nigerian question revolves around the failure to do justice. If every Nigerian is given his or her due in the scheme of things in Nigeria, there would probably be less social discontent and social strife in Nigeria. Those urging Nigeria to “move forward” often forget that Nigeria cannot “move forward” without shared core values or communally-binding ideals such as justice. A nation like the U.S. has been able to build a spirit and core around the core values of “life, happiness, and the pursuit of happiness.” Apart from the Super Eagles, I can hardly think of any Nigerian core values or communally-binding ideals that act as the superstructure for the building of our national ethos. Therefore, until we begin to build a nation with shared core values such as justice, Nigeria cannot “move forward.” There will be no peace in Nigeria where justice is denied or defeated because peace resides and grows in the crannies of justice. Where there is wrong, it is only justice that can right the wrong and thus restore peace and the balance of things.

    Consequently, the Supreme Court is respectfully invited to exercise exceptional brilliance, a high sense of justice, and profound philosophical forensic legal enunciations in adjudicating the election petitions that would be brought before it in accordance with substantial justice (not technical justice). About seventy percent of the election petitions arising from the just-concluded flawed 2023 elections in Nigeria, especially the flawed presidential election, would end up at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is expected to live up to its bidding in those petitions, as the country’s highest court. You cannot steal what belongs to another person and turn around to be saying that the country should “move forward”. Move forward to where? How can the country “move forward” when it has not even started the journey? The monumental electoral frauds committed in the 2023 elections have truncated Nigeria’s journey to nationhood. The frauds have moved Nigeria back to 1964.

    Four years ago, INEC and the Buhari government deceived Nigerians into believing that what would count in the 2023 election were the PVCs and the casting of votes on Election Day. Impelled by this, most Nigerians procured their PVCs and actually went out to vote on Voting Day. At every turn, the conversation centered on acquiring the PVC and nothing more. Besides, at the twilight of the Elections, President Buhari came out to swear to high heavens that his government was out to supervise the freest and fairest elections in the world, in which many Nigerians would look forward to and be grateful for his government. At that time, we thought that Buhari had repented and was poised to leave a lasting legacy for posterity, and history would judge him well. We were wrong. The INEC chairman also appeared on National TV a few days before the election to announce that there was no going back on the issue of using the BVAS to transmit election results. Little did the Nigerian voters suspect that the PVC and the voting would not count on Election Day and that the only things that would count were bribery and corruption, intimidation and threatening the life of electoral officers to falsify results in favor of APC [Bravo to Prof. Nnnena Otti who stood her ground and called the bluff of the Abuja pressuring her to falsify the Abia Gubernatorial election], carting away of the ballot boxes by the APC thugs, refusal to upload results with the BVAS by compromised INEC staffers, pressures from Abuja on electoral officers to manipulate the electoral process in favor of the APC. But on Election Day, February 25, the APC ruling party, in conspiracy with INEC staffers, brought out their rigging machinery to rig the presidential election in favor of the APC. Ditto for the Governorship and State Assembly Election on March 18, 2023. The regrettable aspect, however, was that despite the mounting complaints before INEC that the presidential election was massively rigged in favor of Emilokan Bola Tinubu, INEC chair Prof. Mamood Yakubu ignored the complaints and swiftly proceeded to announce Emilokan Bola Tinubu President-Elect by midnight, as well as issue him with INEC’s certificate of return. It beats the imagination that Prof. Yakubu should, amid the mounting complaints on the monumental electoral frauds that were committed on February 25, still hurry down to announce and return Tinubu as the winner. Yakubu obviously did that to destroy the rest and foist a state of helplessness and fait accompli on the matter. Which means that INEC and President Buhari deceived Nigerians by telling them that the only tools needed for the elections were PVCs when, in fact, the tools needed for the elections were gun-wielding political thugs, guns, knives, juju, intimidation, killing and maiming, vote-buying and falsification of results by refusing to upload results via BVAS.

    Therefore, we respectfully urge our Supreme Court Justices, as I mentioned earlier, to do substantial justice in the petitions that will be brought before them. Justice is an indispensable human good. “Neither the morning star nor the evening star is as glorious as justice” (Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics). “Men are called good because of their justice” (Cicero). It’s a good thing that our Supreme Court Justices don’t live on the moon; they live on the part of the Earth called Nigeria. They and members of their respective families witnessed the electoral frauds committed on February 25 and March 18, respectively. If the Supreme Court Justices and their wives and members of their respective families had gone to vote on February 25 and March 18, they would have seen INEC staffers refusing to upload the results of the elections in flagrant violation of the INEC Rules and Regulations. They would have seen hired political thugs engaged in vote suppression, vote buying, and election rigging. They would have seen voters being beaten up and tortured for exercising their fundamental human right in the full glare of the public. And if they had waited for the votes to be counted and uploaded before departing the polling unit, they would have probably noticed that the votes were not uploaded via BVAS, or, as occurred in my polling unit, they would have noticed to their greatest chagrin that the APC thugs had stormed the polling unit and carted away with the presidential election ballot box. Watching TV or listening to the news, the Supreme Justices would have taken judicial notice that the February 25 and March 18 elections were the greatest electoral frauds committed in the political history of Nigeria.

    This is why the world is keeping vigil at the moment and waiting for the Nigerian Supreme Court to remedy the electoral frauds that were committed in the 2023 elections in Nigeria. The crisis of integrity afflicting the country’s Supreme Court in the last seven and a half years is quite embarrassing and regrettable. In Nigeria, the power of the Supreme Court to dispense justice has been whittled down by executive lawlessness and interference in the course of justice. Nothing destroys the public’s confidence in the judiciary more than this kind of abuse. The Supreme Court Justices should restore the eroding public confidence in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court should be reminded that it is accountable to the people in terms of its overall performance and in meeting the justice needs of the people in a timely and efficient manner. It must, therefore, interpret the law in a way that fulfills the needs and aspirations of the Nigerian people, as envisioned in sections 13, 14 (1) (2) (a) (b) (c) of the 1999 Constitution. Justice is rooted in public perception. Justice must not only be done but also be seen to be manifestly done. This is why Lord Hewart, the then Lord Chief Justice of England, laid down the dictum in the case of Rex v. Sussex Justices, [1924] 1 KB 256, that “it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.” Therefore, the Supreme Court ought not to be surprised that its decisions, particularly in the cases of Ihedioha V Hope Uzodinma and recently Lawan V Machina and Akpabio V INEC and others, are evoking excoriating public criticism because the decisions were treacherously anti-democratic, anti-justice and clearly show that the Supreme Court is slavishly adhering to technical legalisms and formalism at the expense of substantial justice. The essence of the need for justice to be manifestly seen to be done was observed by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, in Metropolitan Properties Co (FGC) Ltd v Lannon, wherein he stated, “Justice must be rooted in confidence, and confidence is destroyed when right-minded people go away thinking: ‘The judge was biased.’” To date, the public constantly refers to Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, who came fourth in the last Imo State Gubernatorial Election, as the “Supreme Court governor” because they feel that the Supreme Court was wrong in imposing him on the people of Imo State.

    Our Supreme Court Justices should not be men of timorous proclivity and timidity. They must not bow to public sentiments, electoral defilement, and electoral roguery in their judgments. They should not be afraid of doing what has not been done before. They should not be afraid of upturning the flawed verdict of the flawed presidential election of February 25. They should be Justices of avowed integrity and judicial activism. For example, the very height of Lord Denning’s judicial activism was demonstrated in his often-cited dictum in the case of Parker V Parker where he said: “If we never did a thing that has not been done before, we shall never get anywhere. The law shall never stand still while the rest of the world goes on, and it will be bad for both.” So, our Supreme Court Justices should be bold and courageous. If, for example, it is proved that Emilakon Bola Tinubu should have been disqualified from contesting the last presidential election because the U.S. court had convicted him in a drug case, our Supreme Court should be courageous enough to come to that conclusion without any equivocation. If, for example, there is evidence that the presidential election was massively rigged in favor of Emilokan Tinubu or that Tinubu failed to satisfy the constitutional requirements to be declared a President of Nigeria, the Supreme Court should also be courageous enough to come to that conclusion, no matter whose ox is gored. Fiat justicia ruat coelum (Let justice be done though the heaven fail).

    In 2017, the Kenyan election commission had declared incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta the winner by a margin of 1.4 million votes. But Raila Odinga, Mr. Kenyatta’s opponent, said the commission was “rotten” and demanded resignations and prosecutions. Chief Justice David Maraga, who was appointed by President Kenyatta, ruled that the election had not been “conducted in accordance with the constitution” and declared it “invalid, null and void.” Today, the name of Kenya’s Chief Justice David Maraga, and three of his colleagues, have been inscribed in the annals of African history. Prior to 2017, it was unprecedented in Africa for an opposition to successfully challenge a presidential election result in court. But the Chief Justice of Kenya changed that in 2017. Today, Kenyans praise Justice Maraga for having the courage to rule against President Uhuru Kenyatta, the man who appointed him as Chief Justice. So, we look forward to seeing the Nigerian Court do substantial justice in the petitions brought before it, especially the presidential election, in order to restore faith and confidence in the Supreme Court.

    I argue that there should be a departure from the age-old corrupt structure of elevating only Justices of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy in that court. We should revert back to the old selective process. In the past, senior lawyers and academics with integrity were appointed to the Supreme Court to salvage the court from the doldrums of corruption, poor legal scholarship, and inefficiency that currently afflict the court. For example, Dr. Taslim Olawale Elias was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria directly from the Bar. Augustine Nnamani SAN (of blessed memory) was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in 1979 from his position as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. He was at the Supreme Court for 11 years. Justice Okay Achike (of blessed memory) was appointed judge of the High Court from academia and elevated to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, respectively, in no distant time. There are more Dr. Eliases, Justice Nnamanis, and Justice Achikes waiting to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush has recently announced that the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission would begin to accept applications from Indiana lawyers for appointment to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Court of Appeals of Indiana. Nigeria should imbibe the Indian practice.

  • The president we all need (3) – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The president we all need (3) – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    If Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had a bit of sensitive conscience he would have gone down in sackcloth and ashes a long time ago in penance apologizing to Nigerian people for causing them untold hardships and pains by charting a course that led to the emergence of a plague called Mohammadu Buhari. The first plague occurred from 2015 to 2019. As if that plague was not hurtful and damaging enough, the same Tinubu engineered another course for the return of the same plague in 2019. That plague, as we speak, continues to hurt us day by day. Instead of going down on his knees and apologizing to Nigerians for causing this plague to be, Tinubu has the effrontery to be going around and chorusing E mi lo kan as if Nigeria were his inheritance or his father’s fiefdom.

    The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that if you lose your wealth, you have lost nothing: if you lose your health, you’ve lost something; but if you lose your character you’ve lost everything. You see, character is the core of our existence. It is the core of who you are. Show me your character and I will tell you who you are. Bereft of character a man or a woman is an empty vessel notwithstanding that he or she may have succeeded in amassing monumental material wealth for himself or herself. This is the point contained in the latest letter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo endorsing Peter Obi. “None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particular looking at where the country is today and the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi, as a metee has an edge”, writes Obasanjo

    I don’t know whether you have listened to a certain video clip that has been making the rounds. It is a video clip of Bishop Samuel Olumakinde Olawode of the Maranatha Lord Cometh Ministries, Ibadan, Oyo State. In that video clip, the outspoken Bishop was conducting a church service. Apparently sensing that many members of his congregation may be contemplating voting for Tinubu/Shettima in the 2023 presidential election, he said to his congregation: “I have discovered that it is the society that reproduces the leader. When we shout about the leaders, we are the ones that produce them. We are the ones that put people that we want there, and they represent who we are. How many of you have a candidate in mind you wish he could win. Those of you that want to vote, I want to pray a prayer for you. That man you want to vote for, may your children have his character and destiny, in Jesus name. Nobody is saying “amen”?. “That man that you are rooting for, shouting on Facebook and shouting about, may your great grandchildren behave like him. May they act like him, may they behave like him”.

    Expectedly, no member of Bishop Olawode’s congregation answered “Amen”. Instead of answering: “Amen’, they all turned and started looking at the faces of one another and chuckling down with laughter. They knew that the presidential candidate whom they are contemplating voting for on February 25 does not have good character worth emulating by their children or grandchildren. So, they all kept mum and refused to answer “Amen”. None of them want the character of their children or their grandchildren to resemble the character of the man whom they are contemplating voting for on February 25. Obviously Obasanjo and Bishop Olawode are not saying anything new. There is no culture or democracy in the world that extols bad character. Instead, all democracies in the world cherish good character. At the threshold of elections such as we are now in Nigeria, the people normally dig into the past of political contestants to ascertain their character. In the case of Tinubu, all the things that have been dug up about him attest that he lacks character and therefore doesn’t merit the votes of the electorate.

    Even if we overlook Tinubu’s character, we cannot overlook his ailment. His demeanour and utterances during his recent political campaigns and recent public outings show that he is not well. Tinubu is incapacitated to function as President. To begin with, he is about 85 now. So, age is not on his side anymore. He is too old to withstand the rigors intertwined with the exercise of power of the President. Gone were the days when old men were elected to power to probably die wielding power. Today the world electorate prefers electing youngsters to shoulder the arduous task of governance. For us in Nigeria, considering the gargatuum tax payers’ money incurred by the government in the medical treatment of former sick President Yar’ Adua and the current President Buhari, we cannot afford to elect another sick President on February 25. Pastor Oyedepo vividly recaptures it: “You can’t hand over a sick country to a sick President”. Tinubu is sick. He suffers from urinary inconvenience. Occasionally his hands can be seen visibly shaking suggesting he suffers from Parkinson. He easily loses his balance in public. He seems to be suffering from progressive disease that impairs his cognitive thinking abilities. The same illness slurs his speech. His cognitive thinking decline has so overcome the better part of him that he doesn’t succeed in saying what he intends to say or doing what he intends to do. For example, whenever he wants to say one thing another thing spontaneously comes out from his mouth. In one video clip, he was heard asking his followers to get their APV instead of PVC.

    Worse still, Tinubu’s listeners or audience hardly understand him. I agree with Rueben Abati that the man should speak the language the electorate understands. Oftentimes he speaks unintelligently blurring his words like “blablue blue blab” as if he is speaking “in tongue”. Is this how he will be speaking if elected President of Nigeria? The other day he was asked to test whether the microphone he was about to use to speak was working, and he ended up licking the microphone to the embarrassment of everybody. This is serious. It means that if the man becomes our President he would be going for medical tourism in London as President Buhari has been doing. Already Tinubu has been frequenting London for medical tourism. He is not President yet he has been frequenting London for medical treatment. Imagine what would happen if he becomes our President. He would close shop in Nigeria and start junketing to and fro London for medical treatment, of course, at the expense of the country. So, come February 25 2023 we must vote for a much younger and more intelligent presidential aspirant with the requisite good health, energy and drive to perform the arduous tasks of the President. As Obama’s wife Michelle Obama rightly observed, being a President does not change who the President is rather it reveals who the President is. According to her, if a presidential candidate is useless during his political campaigns he would equally be useless as President.

    Even if we overlook Tinubu’s character, ill-health and his other incapacities, we cannot overlook the fact that Kashim Shettima is his running mate. Shettima is not only enmeshed in a credibility crisis he is strongly allegedly linked with terrorist killings in Nigeria. Besides, Shettima vows he will continue from where President Buhari stopped if he becomes the Vice-President. He brags he owes nobody any apology for that. He talks arrogantly. More importantly, if he is allegedly linked with the on-going terrorist killings in Nigeria, why should the voters vote for Tinubu/Shettima?

  • Pope Benedict XVI: A curator of truth – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Pope Benedict XVI: A curator of truth – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    It all began on June 29 1951: Two blood brothers: Joseph Ratzinger (24), and his older brother, Georgi Ratzinger (27) are ordained to the priesthood in Freising, a university town in Bavaria, Germany. With outstretched hands the two brother priests impart their first blessing on the waiting bemused crowd, and, by extension on the 1.2 billion Catholics-one-sixth of the world’s population. April 19 2005: Joseph is elected Pope by a clear majority of 115 Cardinals. He replaces Pope Saint John Paul 11. Immediately after his election, he presents himself to the faithful on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica amid the spontaneous outbursts of “Habemus papam ex Germania”. The outbursts shake the pillars of St. Peter’s Basilica to their foundation. There are about 400,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, some of them radiantly waving the German flags. Joseph is the first German Pope succeeding St. Peter, the first Pope, for gargantuan 482 years. The new Pope chooses the name, Benedict XVI after Saint Benedict of Nursia, the great religious founder and educator whose motto is: ora et labora (“pray and work”). September 14 2005: the new Pope unveils and blesses a statue of St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, which is placed in a niche on the outside of St. Peter’s Basilica. February 28 2013: Pope Benedict XVI resigns citing his advanced age and declining health as the reasons for his decision. He is the first Pope to do so in over 600 years. I can go on and on reeling out the prominent events that shaped Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

    In his funeral homily at the funeral of Saint Pope John Paul 11, Joseph Aloysius Cardinal Ratzinger said: “This is not the time to speak of the specific content of this rich pontificate”. Likewise, this piece does not aim to cover the full extent of Pope Benedict XVI’s rich pontificate and his rich literary achievements. Instead, it serves as a way for billions of people across the world to pray for the merciful judgment of the soul of Pope Benedict XVI. We pray that the Lord Jesus will welcome him home as his humble servant and a curator of saving truth. We pray too that all those who loved and admired and inspired by him may take consolation in the following words of his homily in the solemn inaugural Mass of his pontificate at Saint Peter’s Square: “Do not be afraid of Christ. He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything..”

    As John L. Allen jr. rightly noted in his book: The rise of Benedict XV1, to be elected Pope is tantamount to being sentenced to life imprisonment, meaning that the job of a Pope is not only tasking but entails gigantic self-immolation. One of the first remarkable things about Pope Benedict, in my view, is his calm recollection, self-assurance and serenity even during seemingly turbulent times. He stood out for his surpassing intelligence, calm demeanour and strong convictions. Another remarkable thing is his towering stature and presence in the world. For short of a better expression, he was a first-class world intellectual. He could be counted among the first 10 most intelligent human beings that have lived in this world. He was known for his strong stance on issues such as the defence of traditional marriage and opposition to violence and terrorism. He was the professors’ professor. Above all, he was a professor of dogmatic theology. He was the theologians’ theologian. Elmar Bruber, who was his student in theology at the Academy of Freising, recalls that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger taught theology ex-tempore as if the whole body, branches and principles of theology was in his head. “His rational brilliance, inked with his verbal gifts, generated an unconditional admiration”, writes Bruber. Bruber recalls that whenever it was the turn of Joseph to preach on Sundays the cathedral was packed to the brim, and that even Ratzinger’s fellow professors attended and “listened to his words in a breathless silence”. After publishing his benchmark book: Introduction to Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI had published more than 135 solid theological works including Jesus of Nazareth; The nature and mission of Theology; Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium; Values in a time of Upheaval: Meeting the Challenges of the Future; What it means to Be Christian: Three Sermons, Christianity and Crisis of Cultures; The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State and the Church.

    Undoubtedly Pope Benedict XVI derived his strength in accomplishing the foregoing from prayer. I think this largely accounts for the success of his pontificate. He was rooted in the faith of his parents, in a rural, liberal-Bavarian Christian piety. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI, in collaboration with his boss, Saint Pope John Paul 11, worked indefatigably hard to ensure that the message of the Gospel might be handed down bereft of errors, untruths and falsifications. In fact, Saint Pope John Paul 11’s numerous encyclicals bear the imprint of Cardinal Ratzinger’s resolve to maintain Christian values and doctrinal purity. Small wonder Saint Pope John Paul 11 gave him the task of producing the Catechism of the Catholic Church which he successfully produced.

    Perhaps Pope Benedict XVI’s most-prized achievement was his unflinching commitments to providing the right answers to the following eschatological questions which threaten the happiness of most right-thinking persons: Who am I? What is the meaning of human existence? What am I doing in this world? Where am I going after this life?. I think Pope Benedict appreciated that his answers to the above queries would not be readily acceptable in a highly secularized world which seeks to remove God from the public space. The world crisis is essentially a crisis of religion not much crises of intellectual conviction. During the pontificate of Saint Pope John Paul 11, the primary challenge was communism and its suppression of human freedom. But at the election of Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005 the primary challenge had shifted and focused on confronting what he dubbed “dictatorship of relativism”. Pope Benedict’s crusade against dictatorship of relativism although rather diffused and amorphous was very effective. Allen writes that the real challenge which Pope Benedict faced was to convince the secularized world that there was a “dictatorship” to be resisted in Europe. As Cardinal Francis Stafford then aptly put it: “The tragedy of Europe is rooted in the eclipse of the Christian identity of individual Europeans and their society as a whole… Unfortunately that is being repeated in the European Union. There is a kind of Christophobia, a fear of Christ, not just a withdrawal from him…Pope Benedict will be able to bring the people of Europe a new, rediscovered sense of the dignity of what it means to be a child-to be chosen by God in Christ to be his child”

    Pope Benedict knew from the onset that his pontificate would be buffeted from side to side by the different forces swelling up the secularized culture. Even the cardinals who elected him had identified secularized culture or post-Christian secular culture as the dangerous ill-winds that would attempt to rock the boat of the successor of St. Peter. He was pained by the crisis of religion. He often repeated that the Church needed a revolution of faith. That probably explains why he chose the name Benedict after St. Benedict XV the great, founder of European monasticism. According to Pope Benedict XV1, St. Benedict XV “lived at a time when Roman Empire was collapsing, and he saw the role of the Church as to preserve the best in human culture throughout the centuries…in his footsteps, I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples”

    In imitating Pope Benedict V1 who preserved the best in human culture, Pope Benedict XV1, according to German journalist, Peter Seewald, decided to run a papacy of love. This is not surprising because Pope Benedict XVI loved humanity and had always nurtured love and sympathy for the poor and needy. Perhaps not many are aware that Pope Benedict XVI freely authorized the use of his organs after his death for those who are in need of them to stay alive. According to Pope Benedict, “to offer, spontaneously, parts of one’s body for someone who needs them is an act of great love”. Although Allen and others do not think that such an offer will be accepted after Pope Benedict’s death, the offer goes to illustrate the Pope’s unwavering social concerns and his love for others. In his first encyclical letter, Deus caritas est (God is Love) he extensively treats the different aspects of love. He ends up explaining why all loves should find their root in the real Love-love of God.

    Another enthralling encyclical letter of Pope Benedict XVI with masterful scholarship is Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth). This particular encyclical, in my humble view, is a must read especially for those involved in promoting or building human development, democratic culture and ethical standards in banking and financial institutions and others. The encyclical covers themes such as integral human development in our time, ethical considerations of the world economic crisis, notion of rights and duties in development, dignity of the human person and demand for justices and the search for lasting peace in the world. In this encyclical, Pope Benedict writes that world peace cannot be considered a product of mere agreements between governments or product of inter-diplomatic contacts, economic, technological and cultural exchanges. For these efforts to lead to lasting peace, according to Pope Benedict XVI, the voices of the people affected by injustice must be heard and their situation must be taken into consideration if their expectations are to be adequately corrected. In concluding the encyclical, the Pope states that while technology has greatly helped to transform the world, the supremacy of technology has prevented many people from recognizing the higher things which cannot be explained in terms of matters alone. He finally ends by stating that “a humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism”

    A good thought for Pope Benedict XVI will not be complete without mentioning his unbelievable ecumenical drive. If Saint Pope John Paul 11 provided different platforms for collaboration between Christians and Muslims, non-believers, Jews, free thinkers, atheists, agnostics and all that, Pope Benedict XVI equally did something greater in his short stint as Pope. He was excited about the growing rapprochement between the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Orthodox Church and other churches. During his pontificate, about 4,000 traditional Anglicans comprising clergymen and laymen returned to the Catholic Church, thanks to Pope Benedict’s papal endorsement.

    As the remains of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is reverently being carried for interment amid tears of sorrow and joy, we pray God to welcome him to eternal home, that heavenly convivium, as Richard John Neuhaus liked to put it, where fellowship, laughter, smile, love and conversation will never end. The legacy of Pope Benedict XVI will continue to be felt within the Church and beyond.

  • A Christmas like no other – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    A Christmas like no other – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Whether in plenty or on empty stomach or in foreboding forlorn or in distress or anxiety, we are electrified and enraptured in the magnificent allure and frenzy of Christmas amid the rendition of beautiful Christmas carols, festooning of public highways, public parks and personal houses; exchange of Christmas gifts, social parties and family Christmas gatherings.

    This year’s Christmas ought to be celebrated with pomp and pageantry. It is the first post-COVID Christmas. The last two Christmases were marred by the COVID-19 lockdown. You will recall that families, friends, relatives and acquaintances were forcefully separated from one another during the COVID lockdown. Social, family and communal interactions and socializations were paralyzed. Even public religious worship centres were banned during the lockdown. Now that the COVID lockdown and social restrictions have been lifted, I say, happy survival!. Let us make merriment and celebrate as we thank God for graciously sparing our lives at all times especially during the ravaging COVID years. From where I am seated at the moment and scribbling this I could hear resounding in the horizon the traditional Christmas carols in celebration of the dies natalis of Jesus Christ. I could feel the festive mood of the different people around me. I could sense the inner peace and joy encumbering the hearts of many people even though they have little or nothing to eat and drink.

    At the Nativity of Jesus Christ we are invited to re-live and deepen our understanding of the unfathomable Christian mystery which took place at the first Christmas more than 2000 years ago. When peaceful silence lay over the surface of the earth and the night had not run its full swift course, God chose to be born in a relatively humble city of David called Bethlehem. As St. Josemaria Escriva aptly puts it: “when the fullness of time comes, no philosophical genius, no Plato or Socrates appears to fulfill the mission of redemption. Nor does a powerful conqueror, another Alexander, take over the earth. Instead a child is born in Bethlehem. He is to redeem the world”. Poet William Butler Yeats writes that at the appointed time God caused what he dubbed the “uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor” to take place at a relatively obscure town of Bethlehem. You and I should marvel at the magnanimity of a God who took flesh in the ever-virgin womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to be born among us. We live in a society in which anybody who by any chance has accumulated some material wealth or has lots of money in his personal bank account wants to make a big statement about it with his big car, gorgeous dress and the quality of his shoes. Just take a studied look around you. What can you see around you? Noise-making, trumpeting thunder, grandstanding, flamboyance, colours, titles. Humility, in our clime, seems to be a vice. Self–effacement is a scarce virtue in our world. If you are doing any good work, the society expects you to boast about it in public, otherwise you could be accused of revelling in religious obscurantism or secrecy. Our affinity for titles is unprecedented. These days some even wear badges so that the society may not lose the good opinion they have about them.

    But Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and life, is humility personified. “Christ triumphed through humility”, writes St. Josemaria Escriva. Jesus is the Creator of all the alluring material things on this earth. He could have chosen to be born in the most expensive hospital on earth run by the best gynaecologist on earth. Instead, he chose to be born in a stable, a place where animals are kept. Can you imagine? Christ, the saviour of mankind, choosing to be born in a place where animals are kept. The Bible tells us that there was no place for him, his mother Mary and foster father Joseph in the inn. Reflect on this paradox; whereas there is room for the materially-rich of this world; there is room for those clothed in fine apparels; there is room for every traveller who has travelled far and wide. But there is no room in the inn for the Creator of the universe. He was laid in a manger not in a golden bed. Animals not only witnessed his birth but surrounded him after his birth. Prior to his public life, he spent a gargantuan 30 years in obscurity working as a carpenter with St. Joseph, his foster father. For our salvation, he allowed himself to be arrested and crucified on an ignominious cross.

    Following the exemplary humble life of Jesus, let us learn to be humble. We should reproduce Christ’s exemplary life in our individual lives. Jesus came to serve not to be served. He allowed himself to experience suffering, want and deprivation. In assuming human nature, he bore our burdens. Seeing the sufferings and distresses and deprivations and deaths of the people around him, he felt sad. He fed the hungry. He cured the blind, leper, the deaf and dumb and the infirm. Seeing the woman of Naim in tears for losing her son, he felt sorry for her and restored her son to life. Following the exemplary social concern of Jesus the Saviour, our political office holders should bring light to the dark land; hope to the hopeless; justice to the oppressed and integrity to the wasteland. At the moment life seems to have lost its meaning in Nigeria. There is untrammelled hunger in the land. Our streets and alley-ways are littered with many walking corpses whom we mistake as human beings. There is tension in the land. No peace in the hearts of many. We continue to live in fear; fear of our neighbours; fear of the air we breathe; fear of unknown gun men; fear of our shadows and fear of our surroundings. There are many Nigerians who have refused to travel to their respective country homes and villages to celebrate Christmas for fear of being kidnapped. Others will be spending Christmas at the petrol stations trying to re-fuel their cars.

    Therefore President Buhari should be reminded, perhaps for the umpteenth time, that protection of lives and property of the citizenry is his primary constitutional responsibility which he cannot contract out. In fact, if there is one Christmas gift Mr. President can give to Nigerians this Christmas it is to protect their lives and property. It makes no sense that President Buhari is trotting the world and telling all who cares to listen to him that he has done his best for Nigeria when in fact the country is now worse than he met it. When a government has failed to protect lives and property of the citizenry it is an indication that the government has woefully failed.

    At the individual level, we need a new humanism in Nigeria. President Buhari is not the cause of all our problems. Part of our main problem is the problem of political followership. As we speak, many Nigerian voters have been bought over by many fraudulent politicians. These fraudsters want to use them to try to rig the 2023 elections. Many of us do not love our fellow human beings. Therefore we must learn to see our neigbours as human beings not mere objects to be used to satisfy our selfish interests. The self-sacrificing service of Jesus, Mary and Joseph at first Christmas is a spur to us to be less self-centered and attend to the needs of our fellow men and women.

    Now that we have reached the threshold to the 2023 elections, we should get our PVCs ready to vote for competent and credible political candidates of our choice. Don’t tell me you are waiting for the miracle of God to salvage Nigeria from the doldrums of failed political leadership and failed political followership. I know that God works miracles but God needs the cooperation of you and I in order to work his miracle in Nigeria. He wants us to get our PVCs and go out to vote on Election Day. God can only work his miracle in Nigeria if we shun election rigging, PVC buying and vote buying. God can only work his miracle in Nigeria in 2023 if we refrain from voting for the incapacitated and fraudulent presidential flag-bearer simply because he comes from our tribe. Therefore this Christmas calls for a deeper reflection. We must only cast our votes for morally-upright political candidates. We can no longer vote for “419” persons, imbeciles and thieves. And if our votes must count we must wait to defend them after voting on Election Day.

    Christmas underlines the importance of the family in nation building. The Nigerian crisis is also a crisis of failed parenting. Most of the increasing societal crimes today such as rape, incest, money ritual, juvenile-kidnapping and so forth are symptoms of failed families. Therefore parents should rediscover their parental responsibilities this Christmas. Jesus was born into a family of Joseph and Mary. Everything in the Holy family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary bespeaks family values of concern, service, dedication and altruism. The family is the nucleus of the society. The family plays a vital role in the upbringing of a person. All the things that shape the life of an adult are what he/she learned from his family or from his parents in childhood. Any wonder the family has been dubbed as “the shaper of values”. The values, which the family institution imparts into the child eventually forms the superstructure around which the child’s future behaviour will revolve. And for us in Africa and Nigeria, the family viewed from historical and cultural context, essentially doubles as the provider of those “social safety-nets” which a person needs to grow up to become a responsible member of the society.

    Finally, Christmastime is a time to regain our laughter and optimism. Everything may be collapsing; politics and politicians may be synonymous with hypocrisy; your bank account may be empty; you may be unemployed; your landlord may be chasing you to pay your house rent; you might have lost your loved ones; your means of livelihood might have been destroyed; you or a member of your family may be struck down by a fatal illness. But nothing is gained by giving in to despair and despondency. Don’t lose hope. Although we live in a sad world, do not lose your cheerfulness and sense of humour. Let me wipe away the tears from your eyes. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, is born among us. Weep no more.

    Merry Christmas

  • The President we all need (2) – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The President we all need (2) – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    We need a new President who will foster the beliefs and aspirations of the Nigerian people. We need a brand new President who believes in the pre-eminence of the individual citizen and his rights-with the government his servant, not his master or oppressor. As I have constantly argued, if the Nigerian democracy must yield the so-called democratic dividends, it must have a national character, a national character that defines democracy and establishes the parameters and moral high ground in which democracy should operate in order to promote the wellbeing of the people. Devoid of character, politics and political activities in Nigeria, in the words of Federic Bastiat, French political economist and philosopher, are legalized plunder. My brother, my sister, the choice is before us. Either we choose the path of liberating principles and vote for character in 2023 in order to advance the truths and ideals which will strengthen our democracy or choose the path of perfidy and infamy and vote for a “419” person or a customs thief or a drug baron or a scallywag or a never-do-well who would hijack the political leadership once more to the ruin of our country.

    We need a President with a minimum human character and integrity. We need a President who believes in rigorous and impartial enforcement of the laws of the land. We need a brand new President who will halt the on-going radical Islamization of Nigeria. Till date, conscience of the nation and daughter of Zion, Leah Sharibu, is still languishing under the iron grips of Islamic terrorists (or, maybe they have killed her) for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam. Lai Mohammed had lied that the Buhari government would do everything possible to ensure that Leah Sharibu regains her freedom. Lai lied. We need a President who can discharge his constitutional responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the citizenry. We need a President who will pay University teachers their salaries as and when due. We need a healthy President who will not squander our hard-earned British pounds in medical tourism in London.

    It is in the foregoing context that the Tinubu/Shettima-Muslim-Muslim ticket is completely unacceptable. Voting Tinubu/Shettima-Muslim-Muslim ticket is tantamount to bringing Buhari back to power because both Tinubu and Shettima have vowed to continue from where Buhari stopped. Where did Buhari stop? He stopped at fanning the embers of nepotism in Nigeria. He stopped at Fulanization and Islamization of Nigeria. He stopped at wrecking the Nigerian economy. He stopped in incestuous narcissism. He stopped at wooden-headedness. He stopped at allowing the thieves in his government to loot the national treasury. Therefore the Tinubu/Shettima-Muslim-Muslim ticket is completely flawed. It is hereby rejected.

    Come to think of it, Mr. Ahmed Tinubu is ontologically a good man. He is not a bad human being. For example, he is generous with his money to a fault. He is a kind man. He is shrewd and astute. He has political friends across Nigeria. He is courageous and daring. He is a “king” maker. He is an optimist. He doesn’t accept No for an answer. His net worth is said to be in the neighborhood of US 8.4 billion dollars, which greatly exceeds the net worth of Atiku or Obi. Besides, Tinubu is the commander-in-chief of bullion vehicles. He can command a bullion vehicle stacked with wads of Naira notes to come to his house, a feat which Atiku and Obi cannot achieve in their lifetime.

    But unfortunately, given the avalanche of evidence constantly being reeled out almost on daily basis about Tinubu’s failing health; his progressive and incurable goofs and gaffes; his cognitive thinking decline, unsoundness of mind and general character flaws, it is crystal clear that the man would bring disgrace to Nigeria if he is elected President. He exhibits symptoms of unsoundness of mind. When he wants to say one thing another thing spontaneously comes out from his mouth. For example, in trying to rationalize his absence from the Town Hall debate organized by media organization in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the following spurted out of Tinubu’s mouth: ,“a town hall, different from “balabloo-bloo-blu-bulaba”, to the embarrassment of his listeners and Nigerians as a whole. In a video still making its round, Tinubu was shown committing another goof at the APC Presidential Rally at Teslim Balogun Stadium. Lagos. Instead of asking his followers to get their PVCs ready for the election, he slurred and said that they should go and get their APV ready. Two days earlier, the same Tinubu looked at Senator Omo-Agege and told him that he was a fit and proper person to be the next governor of Delta State, a non-existing State in Nigeria. The deduction from Tinubu’s progressive memory failure, unsoundness of mind, and cognitive thinking decline is that if he is elected President he would be unable to address an audience let alone answer questions put to him. May I invite you to reflect again on Tinubu’s shameful conduct at Chatham House, London, recently. His audience asked him some questions. Instead of responding to the questions put to him he shamelessly delegated the questions to Dele Aleke, Governor El-Rufai, Speaker Gbajagbiamila, Betta Edu and co to answer for him. Does it mean that if Tinubu becomes President the aforesaid persons would be following him everywhere and answering questions put to him? You see, what this shameful conduct indicates is that Tinubu would make a disaster President otherwise how can a candidate aspiring to be elected President of Nigeria lack the soundness of mind to answer simple questions put to him?. Section 137 (1) (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President, if he is, among other things, declared to be of unsound mind. Therefore Tinubu is not qualified to be President of Nigeria.

    Aside from Tinubu’s cognitive thinking decline, unsoundness of mind and physical incapacity disqualifying him from the job of President, overwhelming evidence abounds that he is carrying a huge character-flaw baggage. The thing is that everything about the man smacks of forgery, impersonation and fraud. To begin with, Tinubu has no past (and if he has no past, it means that he has no present or future). They can’t find the primary school which Tinubu claims he attended. They can’t find the secondary school he claims he attended. They can’t find the University he claims he attended. They can’t find his primary, secondary or University classmates. They can’t find his primary school certificate. They can’t find his secondary school certificate. They can’t find his University certificate. They can’t find his State of origin. They can’t find his identity. They can’t find photographs of his childhood. To solve this problem, Tinubu impersonates former governor of Cross Rivers State Donald Duke. He presents Donald Duke’s childhood picture as his. On seeing his childhood picture in a Tinubu documentary, poor Donald Tinubu cries out loudly: “I have seen the documentary, I have no issue with it. My issue is that my 12-year old self was used as a young Tinubu because they can’t find any picture of him when he was young”. Shamelessly, Tinubu issues a press statement apologizing to Donald Duke for impersonating him. As we speak, Donald Duke is still hoping to get justice from the impersonation. I don’t know whether his lawyers have brought an impersonation lawsuit against Tinubu. The same Tinubu impersonates Christian clerics without qualms. He recruits street urchins and motor-park touts, dresses them up in somewhat Christian clerical vestments and presents them in his political gatherings as if they were Christian clerics endorsing his candidacy.