The corridors of life are replete with individuals who must work for the people as they work for any particular government in power. No matter how good a government is, its term of office must come to an end either by term limits or in the case of dictatorship or monarchy, by death or an overthrow of the government.
People must work. That is not an issue. When there’s a good man in power, one who has respect for norms, customs, conventions and laws, those who work honestly will not have any trouble making moral, ethical or administrative decisions whenever they are needed. The real problem is how to work for a bad man, if you are a good man who must also pay rent, pay School fees and feed his family.
This is why, notably, each individual is sworn into office by themselves. What this means is that whereas you were appointed by a particular president, you are by your oath pledged to work for the people—-“I do solemnly swear that—-“
After the fall of Nazi Germany, one of the most notable expressions coming out of the Nuremberg trials, (1945 to 1949) was the well worn phrase “I was following orders.”
The International Tribunal refused to bite on that excuse. Several former Nazi government officials were sent to the Hangman while some got life imprisonment. Beyond the famous political appointees and military commanders, there were Judges, Prosecutors, Doctors and other high ranking government officials who were punished. The Second World War ended 81 years ago, but up till 2022, a former Nazi official, Irmgard Furchner, a 97-year-old former secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp, was found guilty of being an accessory to more than 10,000 murders. Her conviction was upheld by the German Federal Court of Justice in August 2024, and she died in January 2025 at age 99.
The wheels of Justice may have taken her time, but surely they never stopped grinding.
It is in the light of the foregoing historical events that one must seek to locate government officials who seek to out-Trump President D.J. Trump in the conduct of the duties of their office. In the last two months, two high ranking cabinet officials have kissed the dust. One of them, the Attorney General was so widely hated that it did not take minutes after the news of her ouster came out for her pictures to be taken down and trashed. What was her crime?——-She went only so far in doing Trump’s dirty laundry but refused to go even further. Now, she’s asking Trump for a pardon. This is probably the first time that an Attorney General will be asking for a pardon in American history. She knows that she crossed the line.
The other lady, the now former Homeland Security Secretary will have her day in Congress no later than January, 2027 if the Democrats win the House. She may go to jail for questionable expenditure in the Department of Homeland Security. While she sought to make life pure hell for immigrants, she did not spare any expense at buying a new luxury Jet for her department while at the same time, she tried to build herself into some sort of folk heroine riding on a horse to rescue Americans from ‘evil’ immigrants. In the process, she created havoc across America.
If you live in America, when you go to a Gas Station at 5am, you will see the people who build America. They are not White and Blonde. They are Brown and Black.
Black like me. Black like my friend, Teju. They work tirelessly at underpaid jobs without health insurance, never going on vacations, never calling off work. Hear Teju in his own words, “I was one of them in my younger days while at the same time carrying the full weight of the biggest privilege of my life—-getting my three children ready for school every morning, picking them up from school, taking them to the library, doing homework with them, teaching my son to play soccer, taking my older daughter to learn Tennis and later Basketball, taking the girls to Ballet lessons, taking my younger daughter to Piano lessons and my boy to Karate classes.
I worked nights and entire weekends, 72 hours a week for 8 straight years. I never called in sick one day while partly financing vacations for the family which I could not go on, beyond paying mortgage or rent and putting food on the table.”
Teju continued, “the question that always lingered for me was—who will pay the next mortgage if I go on vacation?”
America is good. America is also brutal. Two things can be true at the same time.
A journey to America has at its philosophical underpinning, the eternal truths expressed by Lady Liberty.
She says: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”.
That is the dream America holds. It is deep. It is fundamental. It is inalienable. This dream can be claimed by anyone, Black, Brown, Yellow or White.
In the coming weeks other shoes may drop if ‘victory’ is not achieved quickly in Iran. The self-styled Secretary of War may be next to be sacrificed. Already, the FBI Chief appears to have generated enough ruckus in his department that may send him to the chopping block. The thing is, the people working for Trump now, saw what happened to the people who worked for him in his first term. They should never have taken a job if they only wanted to offer 80% percent of themselves at doing his extreme bidding. It must always be 100 percent.
THE IRAN WAR
Iran appears to be resilient. Just like Ukraine. Just like Afghanistan. Just like Vietnam. Two articles ago, I wrote that no country wants its pride to be hurt. Iranians may not like the extremes of the Ayatollahs, but neither do they desire a foreign occupier. Big, bad Wolves can no longer ride roughshod over smaller countries. Wars are now more complicated with the introduction of Drones. In a little over 4 years of war for example, Ukraine has developed a capability to produce 4 million drones annually. The power of 4 million drones is bigger than an army of 20 million people. Iran has a capacity for 5,000 drones a month. Short of dropping a Nuclear Weapon to obliterate Teheran, this war is unwinnable.
APROPOS 2027
Election season in Nigeria is bigger than Christmas. One may actually think of it as Christmas that comes every 4 years. This is when Politicians and the people who back them up pull out all the stops. Suddenly, ordinary folks can begin to have access to them. Journalists strategize about whom to support. Podcasters and Television Networks scramble for advertising revenue. There is a money rain—in the billions, for rice, for vegetable oil, for T-Shirts, Face caps, vehicles and branding, etc. Almost no one cares about the quality of candidates anymore as debates have ceased to be a barometer for gauging the quality of a candidate.
At the Presidential level, we have, Atiku, Obi, Amaechi and Kwakwanso on one side of the ring. On the other side, we have the Jagaban, confident in his stride as a champion should be, with a slight grin on his face. In African politics, it is almost impossible to defeat a sitting president. However, in 2015, a script was written by a certain man referred to as the Lion of Bourdillon. No one paid attention.
I was at the Teslim Balogun Stadium when he introduced candidate Buhari to the nation. The Lion of Bourdillon was swallowed up in his big Agbada when he came on stage to speak. The people drowned him with ovation. He had them already at Hello. There was no need to say anything. It’s like when a girl likes a boy. As the boy—typically as we are at 16–we are shy— as we fumble to express ourselves—imagine that the girl saves you from agony and kisses you at that point. The Nigerian people kissed Jagaban on that day. Buhari was going to be president. The Opposition was united. That’s the script. Unity.
It would appear that the Opposition today as in 2023 is still not paying attention. Atiku has hired a Lobbyist to represent him in America. He does not want to play Kingmaker. He wants to be King. There’s no doubt that he will run. Peter Obi and Kwakwanso are working together. Amaechi appears to be marching solo thus far. Elections are too close for this sort of nonsense. If they really want to win, they should read the script that the Jagaban wrote. As 2027 is around the corner, with a disparate Opposition as our alternative, it may not be too early to call the election as already won and lost. Barring an unlikely ‘Hail Mary’ move, it will be a smack down of a magnitude of 10.0 on the political Richter scale for the Jagaban.
INSECURITY CHALLENGES
If I could get 5 minutes with the president, I would tell him to hire young boys and girls and give them a charge to solve the security problems of our country. In a one hour session, we should have the solution that we need to address this problem. We have local capabilities. We should tap into them. Use them, Mr. President.
EDO POLITICS
I have said it a number of times that Governor Monday Okpebholo has his work cut out for him in the lead-up to election 2027. A very popular contestant, Hon. E.J Agbonayinma has resigned from the APC. That is not good news. How many more people will resign because they are not happy about the rules of the game being applied at the whims and discretion of privileged political players as E.J claims in his Press Release?
Mr. Governor, you must learn from the mistakes of your immediate past predecessor. Do not allow your Party to hemorrhage. It does not bode well for the future.
Until we meet again next week, my friends, goodbye and Goodluck.
