When we were small, we looked to our parents for guidance in developing commonsense. At 16, many of us thought we had arrived and we began to defy our parents. Some of us recovered from the foolishness of our teenage years. Some did not. Those who refused to retrace their steps in those teen years are still paying the price of their foolishness at 70. As it is with individuals, so it is with nations. Nigeria was only a few years old when foolishness took root in Western Nigeria. The major actors, Akintola and Awo were at daggers drawn already by 1962. Their fight was titanic in all its forms. The fire that was lit in the Western Region culminated in Emergency Rule, the January 15th 1966 Coup, the July 29th counter coup, and eventually, the Nigerian Civil War.
I was 8 when the war began. I was already reading the Daily Times, one of Nigeria’s premier newspapers at the time.
I remember asking my father what was civil about a Civil War. I could not understand it. Now that I am an old man, I still do not understand why people fight, why nations go to war. Why? Is it really impossible to live in peace with other humans whether they look like us or not, whether they agree with us or not?
I am puzzled by humanity. Will humans ever learn? We have unwittingly established a cycle:
“Build—Destroy—Rebuild.”
From century to century, the cycle endures. This is 2026. Ordinarily, one would think that humanity would have learned some things from previous tragedies with a vow not to repeat them again, but no.
In 1849, almost 176 years ago, a French writer, Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr coined an Aphorism: “Plus Ça Change, plus c’est la même chose.” Translation—- the more things change, the more they remain the same. Humanity may have evolved from the time when there were only 4 people on earth and Cane still managed to kill his brother Abel. Apparently, nothing has really changed since the beginning.
Every observer must be flummoxed by the state of humanity on many levels—-from Northern Nigeria to the Middle East; from Europe to the United States of America, there is trouble everywhere. As the Supreme Court guts Voting Rights in the United States, we may have Selma all over again.
In Nigeria, the North has eaten up itself. I call it the “willful suicide of a region.”One Northern Governor rose in frustration a few weeks ago when results of performance in NECO were released. He said, “our people are dull.” He was referring to the North. I was exasperated at that statement. No sir. I wanted to scream at what I was reading. No sir. If you make the investment in education instead of building mosques in every corner of the North, the development curve in the North will change. Start building schools today. Start training teachers today. Build houses for the teachers. Give them car loans. Give them tenure on their jobs. Give the North 10 solid years and their test scores will be at par with Edo and Anambra and Imo.
No sir, Northerners are not dull.
The North has operated wrong policies and they are paying the price at 65 just like the teenager who refused to listen at 16. The Sun rises and sets every single day. Everyone, every nation has 24 hours to do and to think and to create or to destroy. What the individual chooses to devote their time to will without a doubt reflect in the eventual outcome. If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. The North has sown the wind. Nigeria is reaping the whirlwind.
We live in uncertain times in Nigeria because of the North. We also live in difficult times because of leaders everywhere across the country. The way God designed the world, even deserts have an oasis. What State in Nigeria today can really be called an oasis?
THE CHINA VISIT
Recently, Trump paid a State visit to China. Trust the Chinese. They know how to do business. If you go to China to do business, first, they feed you, then they’re ready to talk business. They rolled out the red carpet for POTUS, with all the pomp and pageantry. The Chinese had only two things to say. Firstly, on the matter of Taiwan—-Xi reiterated—“we must find a way to resolve it peacefully.”
Secondly, Xi said—-“Do we really have to be adversaries? Is it not better for the world, if we work together?”
Even Xi knows that he might as well be talking to himself. White supremacy does not think cooperation. The only language they know is domination. War over Taiwan is inevitable. The West is incorrigible and belligerent. The West will lose the long term game for influence across the world because of their poor mindset. In the long run, no nation wants to be just a hub for extraction of resources. Nations are coming of age.
A NEW SEASON
In Nigeria, there are three seasons, the rainy season, the dry season and the political season. We have just entered the political season. Look out for intrigues; look out for grand declarations; look out for friendships going asunder. During this season, a lot of money will change hands. Fools will allow themselves to be cannon fodder—- all of these, to promote the interests of incoming looters. 2027 is getting exciting. The Opposition is fractured.
The government, with all of its super majority is not at ease. In all of these uncertainties, one thing is constant—- “He that keepeth Nigeria neither slumbers nor sleeps.”
Dear Nigerians, if we survived SAP, June 12, Abacha, Obasanjo, Jonathan and Buhari, we will be here when Tinubu is gone.
Many of my readers might not like what I have to say next, but I believe it from the bottom of my heart. History bears me out. When I was a child, I remember planting corn and uprooting it three days later wondering why it had not germinated. That is what we do to our political leadership in Nigeria.
Can we be patient with Tinubu? Can we just let him reach out into his innermost heart to pull out cards for the long term health of our nation? There’s a Chinese proverb that says—“If you want to be rich, first, build roads.” Tinubu is building roads. If we don’t let him finish the super highways he’s building, the next administration will turn them into abandoned projects. Let’s not be so angry that we cut our noses to spite our faces.
THE EDO MAFIA.
Last week, at the gates of a Federal University in Edo State, a JLK Mercedes Wagon was cornered and the occupants were executed by the foot soldiers of the Benin Mafia. In Benin, they don’t play. In everything they do, they do to the extreme. Benin is the epicenter of the Mafia in charge of financial crimes. Ekpoma is the base of the Cultists, the enforcers. There are training schools for future fraudsters. Parents pay for their children to attend.
At the height of human trafficking, Edo State led the way. Parents paid for their daughters to be trafficked. Husbands paid for their wives to be trafficked. There’s a reason why the hit movie—“To Kill a Monkey” has the major actors and themes rooted in Benin fraud mythology. If you haven’t seen that movie, go and watch it on Netflix. It is the Nigerian equivalent of Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather.”
There are hierarchies in the Edo Mafia. When a group makes a hit, monies are paid to someone called the “Aza man.” He is the banker for a unit of fraudsters.
He must share the money according to an agreed formula. This is why they take blood oaths. It is the equivalent of the Omertà. Life for life. A young man, a university student in Benin has lost his life to the fast life. His girlfriend was also executed. There will be more casualties as gang war breaks out.
The Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo recognized this problem immediately he assumed office. He came up with a law that provides for demolition of properties linked to Cultism and Kidnapping. Parents are complicit in the crimes of their children in Edo State. They have stopped asking their children questions about the source of their sudden wealth.
Children now parent the parents.
That is the Eclipse of Reasoning.
Parents will continue to watch with heads bowed in shame as bulldozers come roaring to level down the homes built for them from proceeds of fraud.
The man who should know what’s going on said it a few weeks ago.
The EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede, recently stated that
“60 percent of university students in Nigeria are involved in cybercrime,”commonly known as “Yahoo-Yahoo.”
If you didn’t know, now you know.
SCHOOL KIDNAPPING
Kidnappers kidnapped 45 pupils and some teachers last week in Oyo State. Where was Amotekun? We need State Police now.
Everyone in Nigeria should hashtag: State Police now. We must let the President know that we are serious.
Until we meet again next week, keep your head down.
Goodbye and Goodluck.
