At the end of July 2017, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, UNODC, and Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, issued a joint report on the public experience of and response to bribery in Nigeria. Among its findings, the report ranked several institutions with reference to public perceptions or experience of demand for bribes from officials at the point of service delivery. With a score of 46.4%, the report ranked the Nigeria Police Force highest in public perceptions of bribery. The report also noted that “at 33 per cent the prevalence of bribery in relation to prosecutors is the second highest, closely followed by judges and magistrates, at 31.5 per cent.”

It took a little while before the National Judicial Council, NJC, could dignify the report with acknowledgement. When it did, it was not to show institutional contrition for the serious findings contained therein or indicate what it would do to address it. Rather, in a release issued 18 days after the report, the NJC took issue with its content and rankings, complaining that it found the conclusions of the report “not only subjective but speculative”. Tellingly, the Council acknowledged that “there are a few bad eggs in the judiciary, like in every other arm of Government”, but rhetorically asked how many of the 1,059 judges and about 4,000 magistrates had been “caught receiving bribe”. With a touch of institutional insouciance, the NJC thundered: “How many Judges or Magistrates have been arrested and/or prosecuted and convicted of corruption till date?” 

To the extent that it telegraphed the dispositions of the NJC on the question of judicial integrity, the contents of this release were staggering in many respects. First, for an institution lacking in direct electoral legitimacy, the NJC did not appear to be particularly bothered about the foundations of the pedestal on which the judicial institution whose authority it is supposed to guarantee, oversights the elected branches or brings to the resolution of disputes. Instead, it appeared to be entirely comfortable to compete with the average politician or bureaucrat in the grubbiness league tables. 

Second, the Council put forward an implausible threshold for judicial accountability, confining it only to when a judge is actively caught in the act of bribery. If this were to be the standard of accountability applicable to judges, it would place them well below the average criminal, in terms of credibility. For the record, the applicable standard at common law is not whether or not a judge has been caught in the act of receiving a bribe but that nothing is “done which creates even a suspicion that there has been an improper interference with the course of justice.” 

Third, in querying how many judges and magistrates had been successfully prosecuted for such issues, the Council clearly diminished the role of judges in bringing about success or failure of accountability for the failure of judicial integrity, placing the burden for that outside the realm of judicial responsibility. 

The month preceding the UNODC-NBS report that drew its ire, at the beginning of June 2017, the NJC had announced the “recall” of six of the eight judges, whom it had previously suspended from judicial duties. The EFCC was also interested the case of one of them(names withheld) until the Appeal and the Supreme Courts cleared him without acquitting him.  

This sequence of complicit jurisprudence effectively killed any fantasies of judicial accountability in Nigeria, all but clothing judges with impunity for acts and crimes that no one would brook if committed by lesser mortals. Despite the clear findings of its own committee of investigation, the NJC allowed the judge and many of his ilk to return to judicial functions. The consequences of this sequence have not been slow to advertise themselves. 

Seven years after their first report of 2017 that roiled the NJC, at the beginning of July 2024, the UNODC and NBS issued the report of their third survey on corruption as experienced by the population of Nigeria. This 170-page report contains 15 references to judges none of which is particularly flattering. Among its many findings, the report deadpans that “among all types of public official for which there was sufficient data, with an average of NGN 31,000, the largest cash bribes were paid to judges and magistrates, followed by Customs or Immigration Service officers (NGN 17,800) and members of the armed forces (NGN 16,600).” 

It is a fitting coda to the tenure of outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, that the judiciary that he will leave behind has toppled both the Police and Customs services to reach the top of the institutional corruption grease pole in Nigeria. That is not a mean feat. The report finds a close relationship between corruption and nepotism, noting that “around 60 per cent of public sector applicants in Nigeria were hired as a result of nepotism, bribery or both – about 1.2 times the share found in the 2019 survey.”

When he retired as a Justice of the Supreme Court 20 years ago, Samson Odemwingie Uwaifo feared that the appellate courts “may soon be infested if not already contaminated with” the vice of judicial corruption. Today, his fears appear to have come true to an extent that even he would find frightening. That has been made possible with the baleful benediction of the National Judicial Council under its current leadership. In 2017, it took the Council 18 days to finish reading the first UNODC-NBS Corruption Experience Report. We will hopefully find out soon enough how long it will take the Council to digest the 170-page-long successor to that report in 2024. 

A professor of law, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The summer is a good time to take stock of how your kids are faring. Are they doing something that excites them? Do they wake up every morning eager to get going? Are they happy? 

I did not ask about their grades, because if you answered “yes” to those questions, their GPA truly doesn’t matter. It matters if they are thriving. 

For my book “Raising an Entrepreneur,” I interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful adults about how they helped their kids achieve their dreams. It was a diverse group, and the cohort included people of different races, religions, incomes, family structures and educational backgrounds.

While many of these young people were not great students, all of them excelled because they found interests and communities that lit a fire in them.

Here are the four things that the parents of the most successful people always did when their kids were young: 

1. They supported their children’s passions

Every successful adult I spoke to had a passion growing up. With the exception of the artists, who maintained their practice into adulthood, many of these leaders pursued careers that have nothing to do with what they loved as kids. 

So why was it so important that the parents encouraged whatever passion their children had?

Since the activity was something they chose for themselves, they were excited to work hard at it. They learned grit and perseverance and became quite skilled. These experiences taught them to believe in their ability to succeed when they put their all into something.

Although many of the parents didn’t understand their kid’s passion, they supported them, because they saw the joy their child got from it. The most successful adults grew up knowing that their parents would always be there for them, no matter what they tackled.

2. They taught their children to embrace failure 

The most successful entrepreneurs I profiled in my book are risk takers. 

In my research, I found that the people who are most willing to take risks are the people who weren’t punished for, or taught to fear, failure when they were young. This approach reminds me of a Billie Jean King quote I love: “We don’t call it failure, we call it feedback.”

Their parents always taught them that while it’s good to compete, to fight to succeed, and to win, it’s also good to lose. Setbacks are a chance to learn, grow and develop a sense of resilience.

The parents I interviewed always cheered on their children’s efforts, rather than only focusing on their achievements. 

3. They encouraged curiosity and autonomy

Children who are invited to be curious learn that if they keep exploring, they will figure out a way to improve, or expand, or reinvent something they love and know a lot about. 

The future entrepreneurs in my book were taught by their parents to ask, “Does it have to be this way? How can I make it better?” These questions are often how the most successful companies get started. 

Many parents told me that they didn’t want their kids to be satisfied with something “because that is the way it is.” 

As their children grew more capable, the parents also resisted the temptation to do or fix things for them. Instead, they give their kids the tools to solve problems themselves.

4. They emphasized empathy and compassion

Most of the entrepreneurs in my book were taught early on to empathize with others, and they grew up wanting to solve the concerns and problems of the people around them and in their communities. 

They were raised with a genuine desire to improve people’s lives. Their parents never told them that the goal was to make the most money, although that was often the result. 

This sense of compassion is what led them to want to create that piece of art, or product, or service that could bring people a sense of ease and joy. In turn, that foundation helped them build successful careers and lives. 

** Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC. She spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and is the author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dream.”

CNBC

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has refuted claims that petroleum products from his refinery are substandard.

Dangote rejected the allegations on Saturday when members of the house of representatives visited the refinery in Lagos.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representative and Benjamin Kalu, the deputy, led the delegation.

On July 18, Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said local refineries, including the Dangote refinery, were producing inferior products compared to imports. 

In his defense during the visit on Saturday, Dangote said diesel bought from two filling stations and that from his refinery were tested at the refinery’s laboratories.

Dangote said the test was carried out using an Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) Spectro Photometer, using the ASTM D4294 method.

ASTM D4294 test method provides rapid and precise measurement of total sulfur in petroleum and petroleum products with a minimum of sample preparation. A typical analysis time is 1 min to 5 min per sample.

He said the diesel was bought in the presence of the lawmakers.

“Our quality is about 600 to 650 ppm and is one of the best in terms of quality at that time when we started.  But as at today, we’re at 87 ppm,” he said

“I want to plead with the regulator to come at any time, whether Sunday or Monday, or take the sample and I guarantee you before he gets here, our PPM will be even below 10. 

“When we’re coming here, the speaker said, can we please wait to pick up samples from two filling stations? And also when we get into our plant, they will pick a sample to check the results.

“The results are actually out and I’m going to share the same results with you.

“The sample from TotalEnergies’s diesel showed 1,829ppm sulphur concentration. The sample from Matrix Retail showed 2,653ppm. Matrix was 61 below 66 and Total is 26 flash point 

“Our flash point showed 96. If you want to do the rest, we can run it at any given time.

“Today I want to announce to Nigerians that our parameters today are extremely, very good parameters.

“By the end of next week, we should be on 50ppm and by August, it should be down to 10ppm.”

The flash point of any liquid is the lowest temperature at which it will produce sufficient vapour to produce a flammable mixture in the air.

Dangote also said the best way to determine the quality of products being imported and sold to Nigerians is by going to the filling stations and buying and testing them.

“The most important thing is to note that the imported one they are encouraging, is the spec in the test, but in certain cases when you check (independently), different results will show,” Dangote added.

‘INVESTIGATION MUST BE DONE’

He further said the result does not only prove the reality of products from his refinery, but it also shows that substandard petroleum products are being imported into the country and sold to unsuspecting Nigerians.

“Abbas said going by the presentation and the contradictory claims, there was a need for an investigation,” Dangote added.

“I don’t know how we have this contradiction of two players representing the public and private sector.

“I think it is something we need to investigate further to find out if there are ulterior motives.”

On June 4, Dangote said some international oil companies (IOCs) werestruggling to supply crude to his refinery.

Speaking on Arise TV on July 15, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) described the claim as “erroneous” as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has provisions that guide willing buyer-willing seller transactions.

A few days later, the management of DIL insisted that IOCs were frustrating its request to purchase crude feedstock for the Dangote refinery.

The Dangote refinery intends to commence the supply of petrol in August.

The Cable

Borno South senator Ali Ndume has criticised the new N70,000 minimum wage approved by President Bola Tinubu for Nigerian workers.

Ndume, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the president, said the approved minimum wage cannot sustain a household because it can only buy 50kg of rice.

The senator stated this in a viral video posted by Channels Television on Friday.

Tinubu and the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) met on Wednesday at the State House and agreed on the new minimum wage.

While the government reviewed its offer from N62,000 to N70,000, the labour leaders led by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, brought their demand down from N250,000, which they had earlier proposed at the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on New Minimum Wage.

The labour leaders have since accepted the new wage.

Ndume, who was removed as Senate chief whip on Wednesday for criticising Tinubu, advised him to review the new minimum wage to show solidarity with Nigerians.

“People are suffering, people are angry, people are not happy. I am happy that yesterday, the president agreed with NLC to increase the salary to N70,000, which is a good move, but it takes more than that because, realistically, that is like a bag of rice, money that will buy a bag of rice or cover the cost of a bag of rice.

“So, I call on the president to still open up and listen to the people,” Ndume said.

The outspoken senator was fired as Senate principal officer following a letter from Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman and Basiru Ajibola, the party’s national secretary.

In the letter, the APC leaders referenced an interview Ndume granted where he criticised the Tinubu administration and subsequently recommended that the Senate relieve him (Ndume) of his position.

In response to the letter, Ndume reiterated that many Nigerians are angry because of the harsh economy.

Cost of basic foodstuff

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES reviewed Mr Ndume’s comment and discovered that a bag of rice costs over N70,000, the new minimum wage.

In a market survey by this newspaper on Saturday, 50kg of rice was sold between N78,000 and N79,000.

Also, 50kg of white garri is sold between N57,000 and N58,000, while 50kg of brown beans is N130,000. Yam is N8,000 for five pieces while a basket of tomatoes goes for N10,000.

In May, The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country recordedan increase in the price of five essential food items by 140.4 per cent in April.

According to the NBS, the food items are local rice, garri, tomatoes, beans and yams.

PT

18 residents of Mbache ward in Katsina-Ala LGA of Benue state have reportedly been killed by gunmen.

According to NAN, Justine Shaku, the caretaker chairman of the LGA, said the gunmen also abducted three people — a father and his two children — during the attack.

Shaku said he received a distress call around 11pm on Friday about gunmen forcefully taking people from their homes.

“I quickly notified military officers at Tor Donga, but the gunmen had killed 18 people and kidnapped three others before they arrived,” he said.

“Yesterday night, I was told it was 17, but today, 18 bodies have been confirmed. All of them were assembled in one place and killed.

“This morning, I, the assembly member and adviser on legislative matters held a meeting and we communicated the development to the commissioner of police.

“He is on his way coming. Since he is coming, we asked the villagers to wait and let him join us here in Katsina-Ala town before we visit the scene.

“Yes, some people were kidnapped. One man and his two children were kidnapped. In the recent days, apart from what happened yesterday, we have pockets of kidnappings.

“Kidnapping is also resurfacing in the area.”

Shaku said the gunmen were using guerilla war tactics where “they hit and run away.”

The council chairman lamented the poor state of security in the council, while expressing hope for improvement.

“In June, the security situation was very bad, but this month we have not witnessed such attacks,” Shaku said. 

“Even those they ransacked their houses have moved back to their homes and things appeared to be calm before this attack.

“They are local terrorists. I no longer call them bandits because I’m seeing hands/elements of terrorism in their activities.

“The people should be calm, Gov. Hyacinth Alia is committed to keeping our societies safe from such acts.

“They should be assured that very soon it will be things in the past.”

Sewuese Anene, the police public relations officer (PPRO) in the state, also confirmed the attack and said investigation is ongoing.

Anene assured that security had been reinforced and normalcy restored in the area.

He urged residents to remain calm and maintain restraint in the face of provocation.

The Cable

Bandits have killed two people and abducted some members of the National Youth Services Corps (NYSC), travelling on the Ifon/Owo road in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo state. 

The bandits attacked the passengers transiting en route to the state, on Friday night.

Sources revealed that the bandits, who were over 20, ambushed the passenger vehicle – a Sienna space bus.

One of the sources, who spoke to our reporter, Oluwaseun Ogunmola, said some of the passengers were heading for Owo from Anambra state when they were waylaid.

Ogunmola revealed that one of the corps members, identified as Adewole Paul Oluwaseun, who was returning from the camp was among the kidnap victims.

“He was returning from NYSC camp in Enugu when he was kidnapped with others by the bandits. The incident has created tension in the family,” he said.

He further revealed that the bandits had contacted the family of a corps member, demanding a ransom of N30 million.

It was gathered that the driver of the vehicle and a young lady sitting at the front were both hit by bullets while attempting to escape the kidnappers.

The corpses of the deceased have been deposited in the morgue of a private hospital in Ifon town.

Confirming the incident in a telephone chat, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, Police Public Relations Officer in Ondo, said security agencies had swung into action to rescue the victims.

Odunlami-Omisanya, who also confirmed the death of the driver and a passenger in the vehicle, could not immediately ascertain the number of kidnapped victims.

“We’re after them. I can assure you that those kidnapped would be rescued unhurt,” the police spokeswoman said.

Daily Trust

Israeli jets strike Houthi targets in Yemen after Tel Aviv attack

Israeli fighter jets struck Houthi military targets near Yemen's Hodeidah port on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding 87, a day after a drone launched by the Iranian-backed group hit Israeli economic hub Tel Aviv.

Most of the wounded suffered severe burns in air strikes that targeted oil facilities and a power station, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, quoted the health ministry as saying.

Hodeidah residents told Reuters by phone that explosions were heard throughout the city during an intensive bombardment, and Al-Masirah TV said civil defence forces and firefighters were trying to extinguish fires in the port's oil tanks.

Israel's military spokesperson said the port had been used by the Houthis to receive weapons shipments from Iran. The targets, more than 1,700 km (1,056 miles) from Israel, included dual-use sites such as energy infrastructure, he said.

Israel had informed allies before the strike, which the military said was carried out by Israeli F-15 fighters that all returned safely.

The Houthis' Supreme Political Council said there would be an "effective response" to the strikes. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Houthis "will not hesitate to strike vital targets of the Israeli enemy."

The strike on Yemen, which Israeli officials said came after more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israel, underlined fears that the Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, could spiral into a regional conflict.

"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.

"The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required."

On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen hit the centre of Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthis, killing one man and wounding four others.

That attack followed an escalation in the daily exchange of fire between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanonand came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington, where he is due to address the U.S. Congress.

Netanyahu called on the international community to step up pressure on Tehran and its proxies - the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah - and in so doing help secure international trade routes.

"Whoever wants to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran's axis of evil, and support Israel's struggle against Iran and its proxies," Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, condemned the Israeli attacks and "warned against the risk of escalation of tension and the spread of war in the region as a result of the dangerous adventurism of the Zionists," Iranian state media reported.

In a statement, Hezbollah also condemned the attack on Hodeidah, describing it as "a foolish step ... that marks a new and dangerous phase of the extremely important ongoing confrontation."

As the war in Gaza has gone on, the Houthis have stepped up attacks against Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Their attacks have upended global trade by forcing ship owners to reroute vessels away from the vital Suez Canal shortcut, and drawn retaliatory U.S. and British strikes since February.

"A brutal Israeli aggression targeted civilian buildings, oil facilities and power station in Hodeidah aiming at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza," Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief negotiator for Houthi movement, said on X.

He said the attack would "only increase our determination, steadfastness, (and) continuity".

A Saudi ministry of defence spokesperson said that the kingdom was not involved in or participating in the targeting of Hodeidah, adding Saudi Arabia "will not allow its airspace to be infiltrated by any party" whatsoever.

Egypt, which has been trying to help broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, said it was following "with great concern" the Israeli strike.

Hamas stormed Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian thermobaric weapons thwart Ukrainian attack

New drone footage shows TOS-1A Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) strikes on Ukrainian positions in Volchansk, Kharkov Region, according to a Telegram channel allegedly run by Russian forces from the north grouping, which is primarily responsible for combat operations there.

The video was reportedly taken in eastern Volchansk earlier this week when two groups of Kiev’s shock troops moved out to attack Russian positions, the Telegram channel North Wind wrote on Saturday. They posted infrared camera drone footage of the Russian MLRS systems striking the Ukrainian positions with thermobaric munitions.

The TOS-1A is a heavy short-range 220-mm MLRS on a T-72 tank chassis, classified in Russia as a “heavy flamethrower.” Volchansk is a small town in the Kharkov region near the border with Russia, some 60 km from the regional capital, Kharkov.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet authenticated the footage but reported in their daily briefing on Saturday that Army Group North has struck Ukrainian forces in several settlements along the line of contact in the Kharkov region. It added that overall, Kiev’s daily losses amounted to up to 1,895 service members.

The offensive is part of a wider operation to push Ukrainian troops further away from the Russian border to prevent Kiev’s systematic shelling and drone attacks on the Belgorod Region.

Just last week, a Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on a residential courtyard in the town of Shebekino, injuring five children, one of whom died in the hospital on Friday. According to the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the strike was a deliberate attack on children, as “there were no military installations at the site and no soldiers, just five boys, one of whom was only eight years old.”

Moscow intends to form a “buffer zone”between Russian cities and Ukrainian troops to prevent such attacks, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In May, he stated that the Kharkov offensive was not aimed at capturing the city but was merely a necessary reaction to Kiev’s continued shelling of Russian civilians.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia attempts fifth drone attack on Kyiv in two weeks, Ukraine's military says

Russia launched its fifth drone attack on Kyiv in two weeks with Ukraine's air defence systems destroying all the air weapons before they reached the Ukrainian capital, Ukraine's military said on Sunday.

There were no casualties and no immediate damage reported, Serhiy Popko, head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

"These systematic attacks... with drones, once again prove that the invader is actively looking for an opportunity to strike Kyiv," Popko said. "They're testing new tactics, looking for new approach routes to the capital, trying to expose the location of our air defence."

The size of the attack was not immediately clear.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attack.

RT/Reuters

Last Wednesday, Nigeria’s upper parliament became a grammar class where semantics, syntax and structure are examined. The Senate President of Nigeria, Godswill Akpabio, suddenly became an emergency interpreter and lexicographer. Akpabio’s interpreter’s dilemma reminds me of Field Marshal Gerald Templer. A senior British Army officer, Templer was best known for the implementation of strategies that heavily contributed to the defeat of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) during the Malayan Emergency of 1949 to 1960. On the instruction of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to temper communist insurgency among the Malays, Templer arrived a Malayan village where some communist guerillas were getting assistance from villagers. In anger, Templer burst out, “You are a lot of bastards!” His interpreter reported this to the people in Malay as, “His Excellency informs you that he knows that none of your mothers and fathers were married when you were born.” Templer, still fuming like an angry python, shot another arrow, “You may be bastards but you’ll find out I’m a bigger one!” Missing the point of Templer’s vituperations completely, the interpreter announced to the bemused villagers, “His Excellency does admit however that his father was not married to his mother when he was born”!

In his language surgeon role last week, Akpabio acted like Templer’s interpreter. Cyril Fasuyi, senator representing Ekiti North in the senate, had stirred the hornet’s nest. In the process, he played the role of the wife of Odogo. The whole village had been in turmoil over the theft of a villager’s goat. It necessitated a house-to-house search. When the search party got to Odogo’s house, he was absent. Asked if the family had seen the missing goat, Odogo’s wife told the party to wait for her husband’s arrival; perhaps he might know where the goat was kept? When someone is trying to be clever by half like Fasuyi and in the process causes the escalation of a notorious fact, Yoruba compare such persons to “Adasi’ni l’orun aya Odogo.”

While raising a point of order, Fasuyi alleged that the petrel of the parliament, the voluble Senator Ali Ndume, breached his privilege in a recent comment while granting a Lagos television station an interview. At the interview session, Ndume alleged that the Bola Tinubu government had made life miserable for Nigerians and was, more or less, a Kleptocrats’ Republic. “It happened over the weekend, on the allegation, blanket allegation, by Ndume that everyone of us are (sic) thieves. That is a very blanket statement. I need a lot of explanation to my children and my loved ones. They want an explanation on the inference of what Ndume said about all of us in government… This statement has put me under public ridicule in my constituency,” Fasuyi said.

But Akpabio, the Templer interpreter, worsened the take even more. “He did not say you are a thief, he said all of you in government are kleptocrats. A thief is different,” Akpabio had explained to Fasuyi. This makes one wonder whether the Senate president goes to the parliament with his butler. Or he was plain ignorant of the grammatical connotations of kleptocracy? Akpabio’s persistent Freudian slips may speak to a certain limitation or deeper issue that we may want to look up. Same week, he chided a fellow senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan with a sexist comment. He reminded her that the senate was not a nightclub. Only narrow-minded chauvinists who believe that every beautiful woman must be a slut who frequents pubs make such remarks. Same Akpabio, during a visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja in June, had made the scientifically disjunctive statement that the reintroduced national anthem – “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” – could have prevented banditry if Nigeria had not changed it in 1978. How many of such slips can one remember?

Oh, so Fasuyi was just hearing the allegation for the first time that the parliament of which he is a member, the Nigerian presidency and the Nigerian political class in general, are one colony of rogues and thieves? Wonderful! If Nigerian Senators’ children, like Fasuyi’s, and their said constituencies, compare their financial statuses before they became senators, with their stupendous wealth now, none of them will disagree that they are indeed kleptocrats. Only kleptocracy could make one transform into such stupendous material majesty. Ndume merely stated the obvious that the APC, which currently represents the Nigerian political class, is indeed a republic of kleptocrats. It however doesn’t mean that the PDP, its progenitor in government, and even Labour Party, if it ever gets into office, wouldn’t be one, too. Kleptocracy runs in the gene of the Nigerian political class. The truth of Ndume’s statement is not lost on Nigerians.

We all know that Ndume, being part of the gang of kleptocrats himself, knows the modus operandi of this kleptocracy. He is obviously shackled from revealing the specifics of his allegation by the Nigerian law of defamation. However, as my people say, we may be ignorant of all we do not know but we are certain that three people cannot stand in twos. Statistics has shown that the Nigerian political class has stolen, at a conservative estimate, over 90% of Nigeria’s resources since independence. And it is not about to stop. The pervasiveness of corruption in Nigeria, especially among the political class who occupy governmental positions, has led many to suggest that, perhaps we should stop troubling this troublous genie called corruption, welcome it with open hands as a major component of our blood corpuscles and create a hallowed space for it in our national development.

Two Thursdays ago was the United Nation’s Anti-corruption day. It is a day set aside to campaign against this lumberjack that has cut the plummest of the wealth of developing countries of the world. Chief among these lumberjacks is the political class. About this time, a report was published on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It showed that, a total of N721 billion ($1.26 billion) was paid as bribes to public officials in 2023, the bulk of whom, I am sure, were members of the political class. The dramatic irony in this is that, Abdullahi Ganduje, the man who wrote the senate for the removal of Ndume from his position as Senate Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, is currently embroiled in a kleptocracy allegation, theft of stupendous public fund. The N721 billion theft report came from findings by an NBS partnership with the United Nations office on Drugs and Crimes. In August last year, after concluding ministerial screening, Akpabio allowed slip a tiny speck of how the National Assembly is a major kleptocracy hub. While addressing senators, Akpabio said, “In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the clerk of the national assembly.” That token is a euphemism for bribe, details of which can never be found in any books. It will be subsumed under an opaque graft heading.

So, when Fasuyi, like a harlot feigning prudery, claims his children and constituents were shocked that his party had been called kleptocrats, Nigerians must have smothered a rude giggle. The Distinguished kleptocracy-denouncing Senator will first have to prove, as it is said in law, that the Nigerian political class has honour, ab-initio.

More telling in this kleptocratic discourse is a growing atmosphere of despotism and impatience for opposing view in Nigeria’s parliament. When former Senate president Ahmad Lawan made that noxious statement that every bill brought by the Buhari government would be passed in the Red Chambers, Nigerians thought his’ was the height of legislative groveling. Today, we witness a senate that confidently and unashamedly weaves a groveling before the executive with legislative tyranny. The result is a disgraceful national coat-of-many-colours. For saying the obvious, Abdul Ningi was suspended by this same senate and nothing happened.

Similar fate befell Ndume last week for saying what every Nigerian knows about this government. Fasuyi even set up a Ningi-type crucifix for Ndume so that he could be similarly hanged. In the executive last week, a bill seeking the establishment of a Local Government Election Commission found its way into the senate. Perhaps, what will follow is Alpha Beta collecting taxes in councils and all LG funds paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The federal government is already a behemoth controlling 52.68% revenue. States and local governments are left with 26.72% and 20.60% to share. The question then is, who peers searchlight into what FG does with its own money? It is why we periodically throw up the Diezani Maduekes, Godwin Emefieles (who knows who the corruption poster-boy of this government will be). It is also why the humongous corruption at the Humanitarian Affairs ministry will not abate; why a minister could fuel her car from Abuja to Anambra state with a whopping N1.5million and yet arrogantly ask, “what is the big deal?”

All these remind me of Late Adebayo Faleti’s “Òrò yìí ó mà l’éyìn” warning in the famed Yoruba movie, Saworoide. “Òrò yìí ó mà l’éyìn", literally translated, means, there sure is a repercussion or eventuality to any action. Nigeria has already established the trinity of a kow-towing, lapdog and tyrannical senate. An executive of doubtful probity and accountability pedigree, but with humongous resources, is also a done deal. When mixed with a captive judiciary inside the presidential pouch, we may just be walking down the alley of a scenario predicted by Anthony Enahoro on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1962. Looking into his divinity board, I presume, Enahoro proclaimed that Nigeria was embarking on a journey the end of which no one knew. That end happened four years after. With a Nigerian public whose capacity to dispassionately interrogate the honesty of thoughts of their leaders is yielding space, we are already in trouble. Add this to a Hallelujah chorus group that grows everyday, in spite of the overwhelming hunger in the land, the trouble quadruples. Together, they are leading us to how Germans and Italians clapped on their leaders while busy fiddling with trivialities. Gradually, Hitler and Mussolini cobbled together the wools of dictatorship.

For Olatunji Dare at 80

I have, on countless occasions, told the story of how then 1990 killing of journalists, Kris Imodibie of The Guardian and Tayo Awotunsin of the Champion newspapers by Charles Taylor in the Liberian war tilled the land of my path to journalism. As a retelling, I had been downcast as a student of Philosophy at the University of Lagos on the prospect of a job upon graduation. Yet a sophomore, one day, as I read Imodibie’s profile in the Daily Times inside the library of Unilag, I found out that he graduated from my department in 1984. I was super-excited and told myself that I could be a journalist, too. Beginning from then, I spent every penny of allowances given me by my father on typing articles which I subsequently sent to virtually all Nigerian newspapers. One of those newspapers was The Guardian.

One day, I walked into Rutam House. I had a typed copy of an opinion article I wrote. Directed to the office of the chairman of the editorial board, I met the chair’s secretary who casually waved me into the chair’s office. There sat a man I had idolized over the years in the calmest of miens I had ever seen, Olatunji Dare. Even as a student, his serpentine weave of language and mesmerizing satire stood him out among writers of the time. That unexampled craft, especially his satire, has been aped unsuccessfully, indeed fatally, by many who attempted to patent it.

Dare looked up the young boy before him that day as I thrust a copy of the article in his hands. He apparently read the first paragraph. “Young man, are you sure you wrote the piece?” he asked me. I assured him I did. He then thanked me as I left his office. A few days after, the piece was published. I nearly set my room on fire that day. To be published by the Guardian! I hadn’t finished celebrating meeting my writing idol when the joy of being published in the Guardian came.

I didn’t get to converse with one of Nigeria’s greatest essayists and columnists until many years after. I had been guest of Wale Adebanwi, then of the University of California, Davis, in his house in Sacramento when he engaged in a phone conversation with Dare. He promptly told him I was his guest and Prof sought to speak with me. He wondered why I declined to partake in a festschcrift in his honour and I apologized that a communication breakdown must have been responsible.

Dare has over the years earned his badge as one of Nigeria’s major public sphere assets. On his 80th birthday, we can only wish him many more fruitful years. And the grace to witness the maturation of the Eldorado he wishfully penned for Nigeria. 

Three Gbosas for the god of the gut

Perhaps the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) didn’t know: Since the days of Paschal Bafyau, Nigerians have had a huge trust deficit for so-called labour activists who sell their people at the drop of a hat. So, when on Thursday last week, officials of the NLC walked to the Aso Rock Villa, singing a mimed “three Gbosas” song like kindergarten children just given a pack of noodles, the people suspected that the ancient alimentary consideration had interfered with a laudable activism.

How did the wage construct of N650,000 that the NLC built suddenly collapse to N70,000? If the NLC knew it was heading towards that miserable sum in the face of the daunting existential crises that Nigerian workers face, why shoot up the people’s adrenaline this high? The truth is that the union's sincerity exemplified by the likes of Michael Imoudu, Wahab Goodluck, Hassan Sunmonu and Ali Chiroma is gone forever. Who will take labour seriously any longer? The NLC wasted the time of Nigerians and took the people for granted.

And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi …. And straightway the damsel arose ~ Mark 5:39-42.

Introduction

Every good thing that has ever happened in your life happened because something changed. By the same token, every good thing that will yet happen to you will wait until you create an atmosphere conducive for it. Certain things must change in your life-space before the untoward situations around you can change.

George Eliot said: “it is never too late to be what you might have been". Nonetheless, if you want to enjoy supernatural interventions, you must defiantly refuse to be a captive of any negative environment in which you ever find yourself (Isaiah 30:15). This is a regular fact in the realities of life!

Undoubtedly, the spiritual environment and the spiritual atmospheric conditions around you play major roles in your capacity to receive divine intervention, and to maintain the blessings of God.

Whether you want personal miracles, or you’re hoping to become significantly relevant to God with great impacts on your trail, the demand remains strong for you to follow the Master in the spiritual art of regulating spiritual environments (Mark 5:40). You must long to know what to allow or forgo in life.

The spiritual atmosphere you create (or allow) in your habitation determines the quality of life you will live. Why? The atmosphere around you creates what grows inside of you and, hence, determines the future of your spiritual strength or weakness.

Recently, a friend sent me the following beautiful lines via a cyberspace messenger. Even though the author is unknown, but I think it's worth sharing.

It reads: “When God created the fish, He spoke to the sea; when He created trees, He spoke to the earth; but, when He created man, He spoke to Himself”.

It states further: “Take a fish out of the water, it will die; pull a tree off the ground, it will also die. Hence, when man is disconnected from God, he dies spiritually”.

The major takeaway from the above is that God is our native environment, our natural habitat, and we were created to live in His presence. As His offering, we must stay closely connected to Him. In Him is the essence of our lives: “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Meanwhile, God normally reveals Himself to us in our solitude: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). We seldom get the Word of the Lord in the midst of a noisy crowd.

The influence of the Lord in our lives is proportional to the quality and quantity of time we spend with Him (1 Samuel 9:27). We must, therefore, condition our life-spaces, our habitations and the spiritual firmament around us to host the presence of God.

This is both possible and achievable! More so, it’s a responsibility, which we must accept enthusiastically. Quite unfortunately, however, just like Ed Silvoso observed, "For far too long, we have left control of the spiritual climate in the hands of the devil".

Even if we cannot outrightly change the spiritual atmospheric conditions, we can significantly alter their harsh impacts upon our lives. Like we normally regulate our physical atmosphere with air conditioners, air dryers and heaters, whenever it becomes unfavorable, we must also accept responsibility to regulate our spiritual atmosphere (1Corinthians 11:14).

We must eliminate doubt, hypocrisy, unbelief, godlessness, levity, etcetera, and replace them with faith and confidence in the integrity of the spoken Word (Genesis 19:17). Then, the destruction of the present shall be simultaneously eliminated, and our tomorrow shall be a beautiful wonder to behold (2 Kings 19:30).

The Price of Changing the Atmosphere

Meanwhile, whenever you decide to create a spiritual atmosphere conducive for God’s intervention around you, there are certain irreducible minimum atmospheric conditions to consider. These include the ambience of healthy relationship with God’s Word, love and compassion, eagerness of faith, genuine worship and positive actions.

The Word of God is a living entity (John 6:63). Hearing, reading or speaking the Word opens you up for the supernatural intervention (Psalms 33:6). Speaking God’s Word sparks the atmosphere with light and power.

Each time the Word is spoken from a sincere heart, divine light is turned on, and our destinies find engagement with supernatural illumination. This is vividly demonstrated in the creation details. God said, "let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Divine light automatically terminates darkness and its nefarious work.

There is creative power in the spoken Word (Matthew 21:21-22). We must stay on top of this if we want our spiritual environments to become rich in God’s glory, power and abundance.

This may call for some cost and, especially, painstaking devotion to deploying spiritual arsenals of truth. But, it is worth the cost! We’re enabled to put under any situation that’s incongruent with God’s agenda, or any element that attempts to work against our expected miracles (2 Corinthians 10:4).

It may even call for a wrestle (Ephesians 6:12). However, our victory is assured. When Jesus changed the atmosphere, the dead damsel arose, and walked to the amazement of all (Mark 5:41-42). Alleluia!

The Arena of Our Flight Is Here

Brethren, I firmly believe that the angels of God are swinging into the mode of dramatic interventions on our behalves, right now.(Ezekiel 1:14). They’re ready to impart strength for dizzying testimonies, but, we must never refuse Him that speaks from heaven (Hebrews 12:25).

You were blessed, raised and seated in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6). You were empowered to be whomever God has called you to be, to do whatever He has chosen you to do, and to have whatsoever He has positioned you to enjoy.

These include victory, health, wealth, promotion, on-time supernatural intervention, good marriage, eternal bliss, etcetera. These facts remain unchanged whether you feel or look blessed or not.

Friends, shake off those old mindsets right now. Continuously adjust the spiritual atmosphere around you, ensuring it’s ever favorable for supernatural intervention. Firmly believe and act as you declare God’s truth over your life with faith and confidence.

Live a lifestyle of holiness, obedience and discipline. Be sincere. Be generous. Stand rightly in God’s presence; surely you’ll soon begin to enjoy the fullness of His supernatural provisions, and every negative cycle in your life will break off by fire (Luke 8:40-56).

Today, I sack every spirit that contradicts your joy and miracles. I put an end to every devil that secretly works against your supernatural expectations. You won’t miss this, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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