MAZI MBONU OJIKE: REMEMBERING THE BOYCOTT KING 69 YEARS AFTER

On November 29, 1956, in a hospital ward in Enugu, a brief but blazing life came to an abrupt end. The man who died that day was only 42, but he had already etched his name in the annals of Nigerian history as the Boycott King, the Freedom Choirmaster, and the Cultural Evangelist. His name was Mazi Mbonu Ojike – a teacher, journalist, pan-Africanist, politician and one of the most original minds of the nationalist generation. Sixty-nine years after his passing, the story of his life remains evergreen, poignant and a fascinating chronicle of selflessness, uncommon focus and commitment.

Mbonu Ojike was born in 1914 at Ndiakeme Uno, Arondizuogu, in present-day Ideato North LGA, Imo State, into the large polygamous household of Mazi Ojike Emeanulu. Mbonu's mother was Mgbeke. His father was a prosperous Aro trader, and like many traders of his generation he preferred his sons to follow his footsteps rather than waste time in school. Young Mbonu thought otherwise. Defying family expectations, he insisted on formal education and enrolled at CMS School, Arondizuogu, where he distinguished himself as a bright and serious pupil. By 1925 he was already a pupil-teacher at the Anglican Central School in Arondizuogu and, later, at Abagana, teaching during the day while studying advanced lessons at night. In 1929, he gained admission into the prestigious CMS Teachers' Training College, Awka, graduating in 1931 with a Higher Elementary Teacher’s Certificate. There, he won the college prize associated with the famous book "Aggrey of Africa", an experience that sharpened his awareness of the African predicament under colonial rule. Shortly afterward, he joined the staff of Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha, one of the leading secondary schools in Eastern Nigeria. At DMGS, he served as choirmaster, Sunday school supervisor, and organist. These roles would later bolster his flair for music and performance at political rallies. But he also became restless. Disturbed by discrimination against African junior teachers, he led an agitation in 1936 for salary justice, accusing the authorities of unfairly raising only senior staff salaries. It was an early sign of his refusal to accept inequality quietly.

Gradually, young Mbonu grew disillusioned with a missionary education system he felt did not serve African development and suppressed African culture. He resigned from DMGS and worked briefly for West African Pilot in Lagos, where he came under the influence of the paper’s publisher, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik). Inspired by the writings and example of Zik and other African thinkers, Ojike decided to seek higher education abroad. In November 1938, he left the shores of Nigeria for the United States with other young men - part of the group that his kinsman and ally, Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe later romanticised as the “Seven Argonauts”. Mbonu Ojike and K.O. Mbadiwe were among those seven young men who were inspired to sail to the United States on December 31, 1938, in search of the Golden Fleece: others were George Igbodebe Mbadiwe, Otuka Okala, Dr. Nnodu Okongwu, Engr. Nwankwo Chukwuemeka, and Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani. They were later joined by Dr. Abyssinia Akweke Nwafor Orizu.

In 1997 when we were preparing to deploy the A-Jets to Sierra Leone, the pilots for the Sierra Leone operations were drawn from Kano, Yola and Kaduna and were made to undergo some recurrence and simulated combat training missions at 99, Air Combat Training Group in Kainji. On one of such recurrence flights, Okejuju and I flew to Kaduna to practice some instrument approaches and landings. On arrival at the Kaduna military airfield, we commenced the usual approaches and after about three of such approaches, the Air traffic controller called to inform us that our exercises were disrupting the flying operations of the student pilots who were equally training with the air beetle aircraft. He subsequently instructed that we vacate the airspace for the young pilots and come back after about 25 minutes. In his words: "Aggressor 01, please work northwards and return to continue your approaches after twenty-five minutes". The call sign. Aggressor 01 was always reserved for the Commander of the unit or whoever was the Air Component Commander. We obeyed his instructions and my Commander directed that we proceed northwards, Northwards of Kaduna is in the general direction of Jaji and it could further be extended to Zaria and Kano if need be. As I was flying northwards of Kaduna, I suddenly noticed that there were so many vehicles at Jaji. I pointed this out to my commander who then said that the day was for graduands at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) hence he presence of so many vehicles.

Buhari, Galadima’s revelation, and Nigeria's field of landmines

An epic event passed two weeks ago without significant notice. It was as if a giant comet scurried through the sky without anyone showing interest or an incubus beast running on a tarmac without any notice from the control tower.

In the bitter game for political power in Nigeria and the often vicious scramble for state capture in Africa’s largest democracy, the revelation came that former President Mohammadu Buhari was invited to contest the Presidential election for one major reason: to stop the O’odua Peoples Congress, (OPC), in a way, the euphemism Yoruba agitation for self-determination.

It has rekindled old wounds: There are two major contending forces in Nigerian post-colonial history: Ethnicity and Religion, the most profound being ethnicity, tied to religion. These factors have dominated power and politics in Nigeria since 1960 and may shape the future. We have four major ethnic contenders in Nigeria: Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, and ethnic minorities. Of these four, three have fought to seize the trophy through violent means: The January 1996 coup saw the Igbo outcry, irrespective of the propaganda to cover the motive; the second was the counter coup of July 1966, led by the Fulani using a Northern minority, General Yakubu Gowon as a pun, the third attempts were by ethnic minorities; first the 1976 led by Col Bukar Dimka from Plateau and on April 22, 1990 by Major Gideon Orkar, a Tiv from Benue State. Only the coups planned by the Fulani or their rookies had ever succeeded. Both Orkar and Dimka have been demonised as villains, but the reality is that their mission was to resolve the power equation they felt was against ethnic minorities.
A few weeks ago, the prominent Northern politician from Yobe State, Buba Galadima, brought the debate into the front burner when he made the most chilling, heart-throbbing revelation about Northern power game. He spoke about what motivated the North, a section of it, powerful but small, to look out for late Nigerian leader, Mohammadu Buhari to contest the Presidential elections, the last of which he won in 2015, was to promote Fulani interest in Ilorin and put an end to O’odua Peoples Congress, (OPC). It indicated that the race run by Buhari was predetermined. The truth is that with the advantage of power inheritance from the British, the Fulani are the most successful power brokers in Nigeria, either through coups or democratic means, they have managed to hold the aces. However, let us examine Galadima’s revelation first by looking at the Fulani ruling class and their successful manipulation of power and politics in Nigerian history.

Fulani and the ABC of power and politics in Nigeria

Since the medieval period, the Fulani, a product of the union of Arabs, Judaizancy, Berber, and Tuarad, have organised along a common cause. In Roman times, they lived in Togent and Adrar in Mauritania, an excellent transmitter of cultures, preserving their language as a secret weapon. They were driven by the Tuaregs down to Senegal and Mali. Their mention once came in the book al-Berkri described as an ‘indigenous white race alien to the surrounding populations.’ Soni Alli once raided and sold them to slavery. One of the first Fulani states ever to be established was led by Alfa Ba, whose son Karamoko Ibrahim took over after his father had killed a Madingo King during a festival and then occupied the territory. Karamoko declared himself the Al-Imani and then divided the state into nine provinces. Around 11th century, the Fulani formed three groups, one to the East, the other to Massina, Timbuktu, Dori, Upper volta, Niger Republic, present day Nigeria, Cameroon, even Saudi Arabia and Chad. One of their leaders, Toable, moved with 400 horsemen and went to Konni in Niger Republic, while Musa Jokolo’s grandchild, Sa’adu led some from Konn Gobir in Sokoto. They came with cattle, camel, and many books. Among these groups was Usman Dan Fodio, known for his ‘esteem and reverence for his piety and learning.’ It was this group that left the greatest impact in Nigeria, having taken over Hausa territories and some parts of Yoruba indigenous land.

Galadima’s revelation has told us again what we should have known that the Fulani uprising led by Uthman Dan Fodio today continues to have a great impact on Nigerian political economy including all elections since the 1950s. The intelligence and prowess of the Fulani ruling class should not be in doubt, and so also is their prowess to organise beyond the capacity of their numerical strength. Though found in more than 10 countries, the Fulani have no country of their own even with their population of some 20 million people across Africa.

As it is, for them, Nigeria is the last hope that must never be allowed to slip away, perhaps by all means necessary. It is the only country they can own and control.

PRESS STATEMENTS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Position of the Middle Belt Forum on the Proposed Legislation Making the Sultan of Sokoto, Permanent Co-chairmen of National Council for Traditional Rulers of Nigeria

🧵 The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) wishes to categorically express its firm opposition to a contentious clause in the National Council for Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024, currently before the National Assembly. The Bill, sponsored by Senator Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau South), who is respected son of the Middle Belt and the Gwad-Goemai of the Goemai ethnic nation, has passed its second reading as of March 2025 and is now under consideration by the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service.

At the heart of the controversy lies a deeply troubling clause in the Bill which proposes that the Sultan of Sokoto and the Ooni of Ife be made permanent co-chairmen of the proposed National Council for Traditional Rulers.

While we leave our esteemed partners from the Southern region, to determine their position on the inclusion of the Ooni of Ife, the Middle Belt Forum unequivocally rejects, abhors, and condemns the institutionalisation of the Sultan of Sokoto as a permanent co-chairman of this proposed council.

THE FALL OF THE TEFLON DON? NIGERIA’S 2027 SHOWDOWN WITH TINUBU

No institution has been able to rein in Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has evaded accountability at every turn with deliberate indifference. Like Teflon, nothing sticks to him. Not yet.

Each time he crossed a line, the system didn’t push back, it adjusted. The boundaries of legality, ethics, and public decency were redrawn to accommodate him. Every time an institution had the power to stop him, it chose instead to serve him. What should have been checks on his power became enablers of impunity.

I have painstakingly documented the twenty six most egregious examples of this pattern. Clear, disturbing instances where Tinubu got away with breaking the law, ignoring it, or twisting it to his advantage, and where those meant to hold him accountable chose silence, complicity, or active collaboration. Together, they form a portrait not just of a man, but of a captured state that bends for power, not principle.

🧵 Given this pattern, there is little surprise in Tinubu’s behavior; he is acting exactly as expected. What’s more troubling is the response of many Nigerians, their willingness to excuse, ignore, or rationalize his behavior and record. Rather than demand accountability, they cling to the illusion that change will somehow arrive through hope alone, without resistance, accountability, or demand for justice.

This collective disillusionment has come at a steep cost. Nigerians, bruised, broken, and betrayed, have withdrawn, not out of approval but because they have been conditioned to believe that nothing will ever change. Tinubu has not merely survived scrutiny; he has neutralized it. He has not only ruled; he has rewritten the rules. And in the Nigeria he governs, impunity has become the only law that still functions.

As the nation edges closer to 2027, a more urgent question comes into view: will Nigerians finally see him for who he truly is and understand the scale of the damage his leadership has already inflicted? Will those who have endured the consequences of his reckless, self-serving policies find the courage to hold him accountable? Or will silence and resignation once again prevail?

The urgency of these questions is underscored by the past two years of his presidency, years marked by the rise of ethnocracy, where key positions in government are dominated by his ethnic kin, creating resentment and division. Layered on top are staggering levels of incompetence, frequent policy failures, entrenched corruption, widespread insecurity, creeping authoritarianism, growing hunger, and a collapse of public trust. These trends are not isolated missteps; they are dangerous patterns that, if left unchecked, could plunge the country further into deeper instability.

BURIED FOR 50 YEARS: BRITAIN’S SHAMEFUL ROLE IN THE BIAFRAN WAR

It is a good thing to be proud of one’s country, and I am – most of the time. But it would be impossible to scan the centuries of Britain’s history without coming across a few incidents that evoke not pride but shame. Among those I would list are the creation by British officialdom in South Africa of the concentration camp, to persecute the families of Boers. Add to that the Amritsar massacre of 1919 and the Hola camps set up and run during the struggle against Mau Mau.

🧵 The northern and western regions of Nigeria were swept by a pogrom in which thousands of Igbo were slaughtered.
But there is one truly disgusting policy practised by our officialdom during the lifetime of anyone over 50, and one word will suffice: Biafra.

This referred to the civil war in Nigeria that ended 50 years ago this month. It stemmed from the decision of the people of the eastern region of that already riot-racked country to strike for independence as the Republic of Biafra. As I learned when I got there as a BBC correspondent, the Biafrans, mostly of the Igbo people, had their reasons.

THE MEETING THAT STOLE A NATION: HOW THE ABANDONED PROPERTY ACT WAS BORN

Port Harcourt, Late 1975.

The Nigerian Civil War had ended five years earlier. The guns were silent. The Biafran flag was lowered. But for the Igbo people, the battle was far from over. The new war was no longer fought on the blood-soaked fields of Enugu or Nsukka. It was a quiet war, fought in offices, courtrooms, and government houses.

In a nondescript room inside the Rivers State Government House, a secret meeting convened behind closed doors. The ceiling fan hummed relentlessly as a group of men gathered around a heavy wooden table strewn with maps, legal documents, and property claims. They were about to forge a legal instrument that would devastate the Igbo people for generations.

🧵 At the head of the table sat Navy Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff, then the young and ambitious Military Governor of Rivers State. With him were key figures who would shape one of Nigeria’s most painful post-war legacies:

Justice Ephraim Akpata, Chief Judge of Rivers State

Colonel Anthony Ukpo, liaison officer from the Supreme Military Council

Dr. Okoi Arikpo, federal advisor and Foreign Minister

A Yoruba constitutional lawyer from Lagos (name withheld for privacy) tasked with drafting the legal framework

Senior civil commissioners and property officials from Rivers and South Eastern States.

For those saying Tinubu designed and handed the template for Lagos, please read and digest.

From Lade Bonuola, founding editor of The Guardian Newspaper:

I have restrained myself from getting involved in this kind of controversy. This was why I made a strenuous effort from being drawn into the brickbat between Bayo Onanuga/Dele Alake on the one hand and Arise News on the other despite pressure on me to say something. “Oga, this is shameful, won’t you say something to guide us?” I resisted the pressure. The drive for political power in this clime has no respect for anything. Not for honor, nor anything with the tinge of sublimity! You will be hailed for calling black white and white, black, even on the platform of journalists who are not just observers but chroniclers of developments and events. How can anybody say LASU was a glorified school? Oh, really?
The Metro line was stopped by the Buhari junta, not by NPN!

What NPN attempted to do was to stop the establishment of Lagos Radio and Television. The Shagari Administration sought to vest the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria with the power to establish and operate state radio stations. The Nigerian Television Authority was to set up at least one television station in each state of the Federation. They said states setting up radios and TV would amount to the proliferation of broadcast stations. They did not know the person they were dealing with—someone who for years was the President of IPI, the founder of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, the founder of Newspapers Proprietors Association, (NPAN); founder of NIJ, managing director/editor of the Nigerian Tribune, one who led the media in battles with the military as well as irresponsible civilian administrations. Jakande fought it and was victorious. His administration was therefore the first state government to own a TV station in Nigeria.

What hunters see in the forest is enough to make children of men without balls blind. An ethnographic study of hunters in a wild called Ìgbẹ Alágogo conducted by a scholar at the University of Ibadan, Ayo Adeduntan, gave birth to the narrative. Ọláníyì Ọládèj̣ọ Yáwóọ̣ré had gone hunting one day and came face to face with a deer breastfeeding her young. Stupefied by this weird sight, an unusual dizziness pounced upon the hunter. But "an animal is pursuing me" is a disgraceful song that must never be sung by a man born to hunt. Yáwóọ̣ré quickly picked himself up and fought back with a dose of potent Ọfọ (incantation), one of the priceless assets he inherited from his father: “The ladybird beetle does not suffer from sight impairment…" Hunter dipped his hand into his cloak and brought out a phial, the content of which he then used to wipe his face. Now he can see! Now that he could see, he had very little difficulty making sumptuous meat of the deer. At home, hunter skinned his game and hung its hide to dry in the open. This is where the story starts to be sweet like a soup of deer meat.

The second day, a mysterious woman visited Yáwóọ̣ré and a conversation ensued. The mysterious woman then told the hunter: “I know you killed a deer. But you did because we wanted you to. Now, why do you show off with its skin? Why did you spread it out, pegged to the ground outside? You sure want to show the whole world that you it was that killed the animal. Were you the one who actually killed the animal or we gave it to you? Don’t you know spreading out the hide in the open that way is exposing our clothing to the mundane world?” Yawoore got the message. He made amends.

IF YOU ARE A NIGERIAN, WAKE UP FROM YOUR SLEEP AND READ THIS DISTURBING PIECE WRITTEN BY:

While the Igbo, Yoruba, and Fulani continue to quarrel over political crumbs and tribal pride, a far more dangerous and silent conquest is taking place across Nigeria. It’s not waged with guns or tanks—but with pen strokes, bank loans, and real estate acquisitions. If nothing changes, in fifteen years, the real landlords of Nigeria may not be Nigerians—they’ll be Chinese.

Across the South-West, Chinese nationals are purchasing land at an alarming rate. In cities and towns, Chinese investors are sealing land deals with little to no resistance. The very soil our ancestors fought to defend is being traded in quiet transactions, buried in legal paperwork and political indifference. At this rate, the day is coming when our children will be forced to rent their futures from foreign landlords. The Abuja-Kaduna railway gleams like a badge of progress, but few Nigerians know what lies beneath the steel and cement—a spider web of hidden loan agreements, sovereignty waivers, and debt traps. What was presented as development is looking more like a masterclass in quiet colonisation. China has made itself indispensable to Nigeria’s infrastructure: roads, railways, power plants, airport terminals—all courtesy of Chinese financing. But what are we mortgaging in return?

Investigations by The Streetjournal reveal alarming clauses tucked inside loan agreements—clauses that allow China to take over key national assets in the event of default. One such clause, signed under the Jonathan administration, practically waives Nigeria’s sovereign immunity. In other words, if we default, China has legal grounds to claim what it finances.

Nigeria is radicalizing the Igbo, one injustice at a time.

There’s something about persecution that does two things to a people: it either breaks them, or it makes them beasts of survival.

Ask the Jews.

For centuries, they were hunted, hated, and humiliated by empires. But they didn’t vanish. They evolved. They adapted. And today, the Jews are arguably the most powerful tribe in the world economically, intellectually, and politically. Ruthless when necessary.
They are unapologetic about their survival. Now, look at the Igbo.

A tribe known for industry, resilience, and brilliance. A people who just want to live, do business, and thrive. But Nigeria doesn’t want that. Nigeria wants control.
Nigeria wants submission. And the one thing the Igbo have never known how to do is bow.

And that’s the real issue.

Anambra North senatorial constituency comprises seven Local Government Areas (LGAs). These are: Anambra East, Anambra West, Anyamelum, Ogbaru, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, and Oyi. The contest to represent it in the election to the Senate in 2007 turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Voting in the election occurred on 28 April 2007. At the end of the contest, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), returned Joy Emordi, the incumbent senator and candidate of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner. In the race for the party ticket which preceded the election, Senator Emordi beat out the challenge of a little-known member of the House of Representatives, Ubanese Alphonsus Igbeke. Having lost the contest for the party ticket, however, Ubanese promptly defected to the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), which granted him the ticket to fly its flag in the contest for the election to the senate in Anambra North.

The Numerous Dark Worlds Controlling Nigeria

Nigeria is the only OPEC nation where individuals, not the state, own oilfields. Nowhere else do national assets transition so seamlessly into private hands under the pretense of legality. But who are these individuals? And why is their ownership never questioned in court? Road contracts are inflated by as much as 5000%—a scale of fraud that should provoke outrage. Yet, no investigations follow. Who is orchestrating these crimes? Why are there no legal consequences for looting on this scale?

I offer my opinion on the coalition against President Tinubu's second term.

In 2027, Tinubu Won’t Win; The Opposition Will Lose

🧵 If economic health, social vitality, and the raw pulse of public opinion were the only indicators relied upon to prognosticate the chances of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reelection in 2027, I would say with cocksure certitude that he is condemned to be a one-term president.

Not even the most hopelessly unthinking defenders of the Tinubu presidency can deny that his reign so far has been defined by unrelieved economic hardship, staggering inflation, a collapsing naira, and a deepening sense of despair among Nigerians. In other words, the objective conditions for his political repudiation are overripe.

Nonetheless, elections, especially in Nigeria, are not won on the basis of public frustration alone. They are won — or lost — on the strength of political organization, elite consensus, strategic emotional manipulation, and the ability to convert popular anger into electoral mathematics. Call those the subjective conditions of electoral triumph, if you like. And this is where the tragedy of the opposition begins.

Protest Against Marginalization of the South East in the CBN
@cenbank

A thread We, the umbrella body of South East Socio-cultural Associations in the diaspora, express deep concern and disappointment over the recent directorship appointments at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A particular publication by Rufai Oseni, a respected columnist and TV personality, has brought to light serious allegations of lopsided and exclusionary appointments within the CBN. The article, which can be found here veonewsng.com/index.php/2025…  provides a detailed and well-researched analysis of these appointments.

The Tinubu-Wike alliance is not a political partnership; it is an unholy merger of ambition and ruthless pragmatism. Together, they have reduced Nigerian politics to a zero-sum, winner-takes-all game – a dangerous, short-sighted strategy that threatens democracy, economic stability, and national cohesion.

But while Wike plays the game for relevance, Tinubu is operating at an entirely different level. His moves are not reactionary; they are premeditated and calculated. Unlike his political allies and opponents, Tinubu does not play for survival – he plays for absolute control. What is his endgame? How does he intend to manipulate 2027? What will be the consequences for Nigeria?

This is not just a battle for power; it is a battle for the soul of Nigeria. And if history has taught us anything, it is that unchecked ambition often leads to self-destruction.

Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived.

🧵 “It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of the Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.

“We don’t give our name,” one responds. “Can you please specify what agency is taking him?” she pleads. No response. We know now that Khalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.

Those of us who have lived in countries terrorized by a secret police force can’t shake a feeling of dreadful familiarity. “I never realized until this moment how much fear I carried with me from my childhood in Communist Romania,” another friend, the literary scholar Marianne Hirsch, told me. “Arrests were arbitrary and every time the doorbell rang, I started to shiver.”

Chief Tony Anenih Memoirs.

Abiola Invited Abacha To Overthrow Shonekan And Handover To Him After. - SDP Party Chairman.

🧵 “I was returning from one of such trips to a prominent Emir one afternoon when I heard from my car radio Chief Abiola calling on General Abacha to come and ease Chief Shonekan as he eased out Babangida, I was shocked.

I called Chief Abiola and asked for an explanation of what I had just heard.

His reply was, “Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to have worked for you. You are a strong-willed man, but you see, if you want to go to Kano by road and you later decide to go to Kano by air, as long as you get to Kano, there is nothing wrong with that”.

At this time, the party did not know and I did not know Chief Abiola was having discussions with General Abacha who had promised him that if Chief Abiola supported, and if he, General Abacha, took over from Chief Shonekan today, he would hand-over the reins of Government to Chief Abiola the next day, and Chief Abiola bought the idea.

We later got to know that there were series of meetings in Ikeja where names of those who would serve in Abacha government were discussed and forwarded. When we found out that things were not moving well and that the interim government was a lame duck, I went to have a meeting with the then Secretary for Agriculture, Alhaji Isa Muhammed, and I expressed my disgust at the way the government was being run.

Nigeria's Triangle Of Incest

"No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session."
- Gideon J. Tucker

🧵 A Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos would not vacate his seat for anyone appointed illegally from Abuja - or from anywhere. If the heavens wanted to fall, he would ask them to fall. He would not go hide somewhere in his wife's handbag, and from the safety of his ghetto be issuing gutless press releases. If Abuja insisted on his suspension, he would mobilise the law and lawyers for eruptions of seismic proportions. He would ask the Supreme Court to determine whether the president could sack or suspend elected governors, appoint caretaker governors and take over the role of state Houses of Assembly. He would ask the apex court to reconcile this case with its earlier verdict which outlawed caretaker governments for one of our tiers of government. He would put everything he had into the mix; he would count the teeth of the tiger in Abuja. But Rivers is not Lagos, and Siminalayi Fubara is not Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The difference between both is the difference between courage and cowardice.

There is a royal family in Lagos called Oniru. In the earliest times when there was no Lagos and Eko knew its boundaries, that family owned all lands that house today’s Awolowo Road, the prime area called Falomo, Tafawa Balewa Square, the Independence Building, Island Club, Yoruba Tennis Club, et cetera, et cetera. Add Oyinkan Abayomi to that list, and, in addition to those places, input 18 other villages – all in pricey Lagos Island. The family that owned all those is the family that produced the new and contentious speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mrs Mojisola Lasbat Meranda. Do not mind her surname; she is an Oniru. Her brother is the reigning Oba of their Iruland. She is a princess but being a princess is not enough for her to join the big league of Lagos. Her election as speaker by almost all her colleagues, means little or nothing. In the pantheon of Lagos politics, there is always one god whose one vote trumps a million ballots. In some places, you do not have to enter the grove before you become an elder; grey hair is enough. Not in Lagos. In Lagos, the godfather is the igbó’rò, the sacred grove that confers age, that vests authority in and breathes life into all figurines.

SENATOR AKPABIO: I CAN NO LONGER HOLD IT

🧵 I “kind of” like Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and his lovely wife, Unoma. She is Igbo, married to Akwa Ibom, so she also bears the name Ekaette.

When Akpabio was the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, I admired the couple so much. The two usually displayed their love for each other publicly. Unoma would use fan on her husband each time she was there and he was making a speech. Atimes, she would use a white handkerchief to wipe sweat off Akpabio as he read. Akpabio also reciprocated in kind. He did the same for her.