The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 616 (February 7 - 20 2024)

TheTrumpet
Africans now have a voice... Founded in 1995
V O L 30 N O 616 F E B R U A R Y 7 - 20 2024
ECOWAS HQ Abuja
Poll reveals
seeking
professional
support
improves
mental
health
Mali, Burkina
Faso and
Niger want
to leave
ECOWAS:
A political scientist
explains the fallout
By Olayinka Ajala, Leeds Beckett University
Continued on Page 2>
Anew poll by NHS England
has found that two thirds
(66%) of people from Black
communities have felt concerned
about their mental health in the last
year. In fact, just under 2 in 5 (39%)
of those asked, said that they have
experienced depression, and over a
quarter (27%) have experienced
generalised anxiety disorder.
However, the responses also
reveal that over three quarters
(77%) of those from the Black
community who have accessed
professional help for an anxiety
disorder or depression said they saw
an improvement in their mental
health.
The NHS is encouraging anyone
struggling with feelings of
depression, or anxiety such as
excessive worry, panic attacks, social
anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or
obsessions and compulsions, to seek
help through NHS Talking Therapies
services. These are effective,
confidential and free treatments
delivered by trained clinicians,
online, on the phone, or in person.
Anyone struggling with feelings of
depression or anxiety can seek help
through an NHS Talking Therapies
service and get back on track.
Taking care of your mental health
is a vital part of overall health, but it
is something that can sometimes be a
struggle to talk about with family and
friends – and this can be a particular
issue for men in the community.
Talking Therapies can offer the
opportunity to discuss your
difficulties with someone who you
don’t know, providing a welcome
Continued on Page 6

Page2 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
News
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger want to
leave ECOWAS:
A political scientist explains the fallout
Continued from Page 1<
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have
sent ECOWAS, West Africa’s
main political union of 15
countries, a formal notice of their
withdrawal from the bloc. The three
countries are governed by military rulers
who have overthrown democratically
elected leaders since 2021.
The Conversation Africa’s Godfred
Akoto Boafo asked political scientist
Olayinka Ajala about the implications of
the withdrawal.
Why are Mali, Niger and Burkina
Faso withdrawing?
The three countries have given three
main reasons.
First is what they call the “illegal,
illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible
sanctions” imposed on them for truncating
their democracies.
Second is the failure of ECOWAS to
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assist them in their “existential fight against
terrorism and insecurity”.
The juntas have also argued that
ECOWAS has deviated from the founding
principles of the organisation and is now
controlled by foreign powers.
In 2001, ECOWAS adopted a protocol
on democracy and good governance which
included a mechanism for unconstitutional
changes of government. Article 1a of the
protocol maintains a “zero tolerance for
power obtained or maintained by
unconstitutional means”.
ECOWAS cited this clause as its reason
for suspending the three countries and for
imposing sanctions against them.
ECOWAS has made it clear that it
won’t work with the regimes. Its
statements make it clear that it has taken a
strong stance because it wishes to deter
military coups in other countries within the
bloc.
The regional bloc is also clearly
frustrated at the lack of interest the three
countries have shown in returning to
democratic rule. It has asked for a clear and
definite transition timetable, especially for
Mali and Burkina Faso.
What impact will the withdrawal
have on ECOWAS?
The main impact will be on trade and
economic development. ECOWAS is
primarily an economic community and the
loss of any member will affect trade and
economic development.
The three countries collectively
account for 8% of the US$761 billion
ECOWAS Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). In 2022, the total trade volume
from the ECOWAS region totalled
US$277.22 billion.
The concern is that the exit of these
countries could affect the flow of goods
and services in the bloc.
Leaving the bloc could have other
knock-on effects too:
• The economic collapse of the countries.
These countries have strategic
importance, especially in food security.
Niger is a key source of onions while
Burkina Faso exports tomatoes to the
sub-region.
• This would lead to an exodus of
citizens to other ECOWAS countries,
further threatening the stability of the
bloc.
• Concerns that the three countries will
enter into bilateral relationships with
countries that might not be favourable
to other ECOWAS countries. For
example, there are already concerns
about Niger’s alliance with Russia after
it severed ties with France.
What impact will it have on each of
the countries?
The main impact on the countries will
be on the movement of people, goods and
services.
Under ECOWAS, members enjoy
unrestricted movement of citizens within
the bloc. Citizens of ECOWAS countries
can live and work in any country in the
bloc. For instance, there are more than 5
ECOWAS flags
million citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali and
Niger living and working in Côte d’Ivoire
alone. Ghana, Togo and Republic of Benin
also host large numbers of Nigeriens.
The citizens of all three landlocked
countries would no longer be able to travel
to other ECOWAS States without
impediments. Niger also shares a border of
over 1,600km with seven States in Nigeria
and 80% of its trade is done with Nigeria.
The sanctions imposed on Niger by
ECOWAS are already affecting citizens of
the country. Hardship is likely to increase
after the exit if Nigeria decides to police its
borders.
Also, depending on how ECOWAS
agrees to relate to the countries in future,
there could be restrictions on goods and
services which would further affect the
economies of these countries.
What impact will it have on security
in the region?
The security arrangement might not be
affected in the short term. But it could be in
the long term. There is already limited
security cooperation between the three
countries and other ECOWAS members.
For instance, they have all withdrawn from
the G5 Sahel, resulting in the collapse of
the organisation.
Although the lack of security support
from ECOWAS was stated as one of the
reasons for exiting ECOWAS, a total
collapse of existing security infrastructure
would affect not only the three countries
but also other relatively stable States such
as Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin.
The three States have joined forces to form
the Alliance of Sahel States, but without
support from regional groups such as
ECOWAS, they will struggle to curtail
insurgencies.
Currently, Mali has over 1,000
members of Africa Corps (formerly
Continued on Page 3

News
FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
TheTrumpet
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger want to
leave ECOWAS:
A political scientist explains the fallout
Page3
Continued from Page 2<
Wagner group), supported by Russia.
There are 100 in Burkina Faso. After
months of Burkina Faso insisting it would
not engage foreign mercenaries, the first
contingent arrived in January 2024 and
more are expected soon. Niger also
recently agreed to military cooperation
with Russia.
This indicates the three countries still
require external assistance to combat
insecurity. The problem is that Russia is
fighting a huge war in Ukraine and might
not be able to support the three countries
as much as they would require. If the three
countries fail to combat insurgence through
the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States,
the threat will spread to other countries in
the bloc and beyond.
ECOWAS leaders have indicated that
they are willing to have a dialogue with the
three countries. I think ECOWAS granting
some concessions to prevent them from
exiting would be in the interest of the bloc
and all the citizens of ECOWAS countries.
* Olayinka Ajala is a Senior lecturer in
Politics and International Relations at
Leeds Beckett University.
This article is republished from The
Conversation under a Creative Commons
license. Read the original article.

Page4
TheTrumpet
FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
TheTrumpet Group
News
Teenager convicted of
murdering 16-year-old
Field: 07956 385 604
E-mail:
info@the-trumpet.com
Victim - Renell Charles
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A17-year-old teenager who
can’t be named, has been
convicted of murder after a
swift investigation by detectives saw
him charged with the offence within
three days. He was found guilty at
Snaresbrook Crown Court of murder
and possession of a bladed article.
The teenager stabbed 16-year-old
Renell Charles to death on a busy east
London street as the victim waited for
a bus.
At around 16.00hrs on Friday, 5
May, Renell was sat at a bus stop on
Markhouse Road in Walthamstow E17
with friends when he was approached
by the defendant who had jumped out
of a taxi after spotting him.
Following a brief verbal altercation
between Renell and the defendant,
Renell attempted to run away from
him, but the defendant gave chase. He
was able to catch up with him and
stabbed him twice – the second time as
Renell lay defenceless on the ground.
As the defendant ran from the scene
Renell got up, but collapsed nearby.
Officers and LAS attended and
provided medical assistance, but sadly
Renell died a short time later.
Following the incident, the
defendant took deliberate steps to try
and evade capture, immediately
changing his clothes and swapping
SIM cards. On the night of the murder
instead of returning to his home in
Newham, he stayed in Clapton, so
when detectives turned up at his house
on Saturday 6 May he wasn’t there.
Then, in the early hours of Monday,
8 May, he attended Forest Gate police
station claiming to be confused as to
why police had attended his address
days earlier. He was arrested on
suspicion of murder and charged later
that day.
After initially providing a “no
comment” interview, he later claimed
that he was in fear of the victim and
had simply acted in self-defence.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark
Rogers said: “My thoughts today are
with Renell’s family and loved ones.
Nothing will ease their pain, but I hope
it is of some comfort to them that his
killer has been brought to justice. The
defendant – just a child himself -
subjected Renell to a brutal attack over
a minor dispute on a busy road in view
of countless witnesses.
“This is yet another example of a
willingness by some to carry and use
knives to resolve issues with
seemingly no care or thought for the
consequences. Such senseless acts of
violence will never cease to shock us
all, and in this case made all the more
tragic given Renell was so young.
“The defendant’s attempt to justify
his actions as an act of self-defence
were contradicted by both CCTV and
witnesses, both of which confirmed
that he chased Renell before stabbing
him. I thank the jury for rightly seeing
through his lies.”
The 17-year-old teenager will be
sentenced on Thursday, 14 March.

FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
TheTrumpet
Page5
PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH UK GOVERNMENT
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Stephen Daley
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• Reduce your boiler flow
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per year.
• Reduce your washing machine
temperature to save up to £20 per
year.

Page6 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
News
Poll reveals seeking professional
support improves mental health
Continued from Page 1<
outlet for many people.
Sharon Black, Senior Counsellor
and IPT Lead Interpersonal
Psychotherapist and accredited
Talking Therapies clinician said:
“Often in our community we prefer ‘not
to talk about it’ – but that’s not helpful for
our mental health. Anxiety and
depression can take a bigger toll on our
lives than we might like to admit, and
talking to a trained professional can
really help. We’re here to support you and
to give you an outlet to discuss issues that
you might not want to raise with your
friends and family. You don’t even have to
go to your GP to get referred to Talking
Therapies; you can simply self-refer
online.”
Nicholas Pinnock, actor, and
producer said: “When I first experienced
depression, I found it hard to articulate
Nicholas Pinnock -
(Photo credit Joseph Sinclair 32041)
what was happening to me and just
dismissed this feeling of numbing sadness
as a dark spell everybody went through.
Sharon Black
Discussing mental illness was not
something my community or anyone I
knew spoke about when I was in my early
30s and you would think I’d have known
about such things at that time in my life
but even then, I wasn’t equipped with the
knowledge to understand that I needed
help.
“It’s important to me to support
initiatives such as Talking Therapies. As
I believe speaking with a professional,
when you’re struggling with a mental
ailment, can provide the necessary tools
and processes to help get you through
each day. Seeking therapeutic support not
only helped me, I believe it saved my
life.”
When asked in the survey, over half
(57%) of Black people did not know that
they could refer themselves to NHS
Talking Therapies online to access
treatment for anxiety and depression.
You don’t need to have a diagnosed
mental health problem to refer yourself to
an NHS Talking Therapies service, and
you can choose whether to refer yourself
online, or to ask your GP to refer you. For
those whose first language is not English,
talking therapies can be delivered through
multi-lingual therapists or through
confidential interpreters. The service is
available for anyone over 18 who is
registered with a GP.
Dr Chinea Eziefula Clinical
Psychologist for NHS Talking
Therapies within the North London
Mental Health Partnership & Regional
Clinical Lead for NHS Talking
Therapies long-term physical health
conditions pathways, NHS
England: “I’ve seen many people over
the years who have struggled privately
with depression or anxiety for long
periods before seeking help, or who
haven’t known where to go to seek help
with their mental health initially. Talking
to a trained professional as part of the
NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and
depression programme can help you
learn to cope with these common
experiences – our therapists are trained
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while maintaining personal privacy as
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over the years, and we want to help you
to discover how best to help yourself in
the long-term. Talking therapies can
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that you can continue to use time and
time again.”
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• feeling anxious
• feeling low and hopeless
• having panic attacks
• finding it hard to cope with work, life
or relationships
• struggling with flashbacks or
nightmares about upsetting events from
your past
• feeling stressed
• worrying a lot
• obsessive thoughts or behaviours
• fear of social situations
• being afraid of things, such as spiders,
flying or heights (phobias)
Your GP can refer you for NHS
Talking Therapies, or you can refer
yourself online at nhs.uk/talk

FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
TheTrumpet
Page7
Produced in association with HM Government
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Page8 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
Opinion
A national emergency on
insecurity
The biggest problem Nigeria faces
at the moment beyond the parlous
state of the economy is the general
insecurity in the land and it is about time
government declared a national
emergency on the challenge. Certainly,
the phrase “national emergency” must be
familiar with most Nigerians: it has been
declared once too often by the Nigerian
government to acknowledge that a
particular aspect of national life is in
urgent need of attention but once the
spokespersons mouth the phrase,
everyone soon moves on. Nothing is
done. The problem persists. A classical
case in point would be the declaration of
an” immediate state of emergency on
food insecurity” in July 2023 by the
Tinubu administration. We were told that
the government was “not unmindful of
the rising cost of food and how it affects
the citizens.” At the time Nigeria’s
inflation rate was 22.41%. Food inflation
stood at 24.82%. The plan was to deploy
savings from the fuel subsidy removal
into the agricultural sector, and bring “all
matters pertaining to food and water
availability within the purview of the
National Security Council.”
Months down the line, the emergency
has had no effect in the short or medium
term. As of December 2023, headline
inflation had risen to 28.9%, and food
inflation was 33.93%. The situation is
now so bad that average Nigerians are
groaning under the terror of sharp rises,
over a consecutive 20-month period, in
the average prices of oil and fat, meat,
bread, cereals, potatoes, yam and other
tubers, with food prices as high as
44.73% in Kogi State, 41.33% in Kwara
and 39.55% in Imo. The so-called
savings from fuel subsidy removal is
seen majorly in terms of higher
allocations to States and the Federal
Government, the removal of fuel subsidy
itself has fuelled further distortions
within the economy to the people’s
disadvantage. People are now eating
from dustbins. Nigerians are depressed
and angry.
The focus on food insecurity may
have stemmed from the folkloric belief
that once a people can feed themselves,
then their poverty is significantly
reduced. The reality is that more
Nigerians have slipped into poverty and
misery. Government may also have done
well to recognize that insecurity is multidimensional
even if it has not made any
difference or showed any signs in that
direction. We have also seen that having
your kinsman in power and office does
not guarantee prosperity on the grounds
of proximity.
But the big elephant in the room, it
seems, is the complete dehumanization
of the Nigerian person, the increasing
worthlessness of lives and properties, the
spread of violence and anomie in the
land, in the face of an obvious and
beguiling failure of the Nigerian State.
The legitimacy of the modern State,
beyond the controversies about sources
and typologies inheres more in the
connection between State authority and
the people’s interests and how those
interests are served through the
deployment of State resources and
infrastructure. In Nigeria’s 1999
Constitution, the purpose of government
is defined as ensuring the security and
welfare of the people. But the Nigerian
government is detached. The people are
BY REUBEN ABATI
not sure if the government is for them or
against them. What they see is the State
apparatus at all levels being used to serve
the people in power who merely mouth
commitment to their primary assignment
as convenient slogans. The people do not
feel secure, hence the resort to self-help
by all manners of persons setting up
ethnic militias, State militias, vigilante
groups. The government having failed
them, and the government showing
persistently a lack of capacity to listen
and act, Nigeria is a security nightmare.
Nobody is safe, not even traditional rulers
who used to be sacred persons within the
community. Yesterday, in Ekiti State, two
traditional rulers – the Onimojo of Imojo-
Ekiti and the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti were
killed in an ambush by armed men.
Before now, there had been regular
Continued on Page 9

Opinion
FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024 TheTrumpet Page9
A national emergency on insecurity
Continued from Page 6<
reports of the abduction of traditional
rulers in the South East, the most recent
victim was the traditional ruler of Orodo
Autonomous Community in Mbaitoli
Local Government Area of Imo State.
The problem is not new, but it has
never been this bad in a literal sense. In
2014, the then emergent political Special
Purpose Vehicle (SPV), that is the All
Progressives Congress ran a campaign
against the incumbent Goodluck
Jonathan administration partly on the
grounds that as a civilian, President
Jonathan could not handle the country’s
security challenges. The party sold the
dummy to the electorate that a leader
with a military background was the best
bet for Nigeria. They advertised General
Muhammadu Buhari, a civil war hero
and former military Head of State as the
messiah who would drive the bandits, the
terrorists, crude oil thieves, insurgents
and all kinds of criminals away from the
shores of Nigeria. The people bought this
false narrative and Buhari became
President, with the additional promise
that he will strengthen the economy and
fight corruption. For eight years we kept
hearing that the Buhari government had
decimated the ranks of terrorists and
bandits. But nothing was decimated.
Under Buhari, criminals became bolder.
Trains were hijacked and attacked. Crude
oil thieves in the Niger Delta had a field
day. The economy failed, and that much
has been confirmed by members of his
own party who are now in charge in
Abuja. No amount of deodorant can
eliminate the stench of failure in those
eight years.
The APC retained power at the centre
Insecurity in Nigeria
after the 2023 general elections, in the
person of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
who says he has a “Renewed Hope
agenda.” Under him, Nigeria has now
even witnessed some of the most
shocking security breaches in recent
memory. Nobody has come forward to
say that this is so because Bola Tinubu is
a civilian and not a soldier. Buhari had
exploded the myth that a man who had
donned the uniform is best suited to fight
in an asymmetrical war. Leading troops
in a fratricidal civil war is not the same
as fighting groups of terrorists, bandits,
Jihadists and criminals. It must not be
possible to fool Nigerians with such
poppycock again. The Buhari
administration indeed worsened the
situation by sending wrong signals on the
security situation. He would on several
occasions direct the security forces to
deal with terrorists, but at the same time
his government actively sought to
appease the same terrorists.
Terrorists were for the most part
treated as agitators rather than as
criminals. The Americans killed Osama
Bin Laden, Al Baghdadi and Al
Zawahiri; in Buhari’s Nigeria, the
government pursued the task, so
vigorously of rehabilitating Nigerian
terrorists who had been identified as the
fourth deadliest in the world. They were
given money, food, clothing and
chieftaincy titles. In 2021, the Buhari
administration pardoned over 1,000
Boko Haram fighters. The same
government that talked about “Operation
Lafiya Dole”, and “Operation Last Hold”
was also the same administration that
adopted Operation Safe Corridor for
terrorists! This policy incoherence
merely emboldened the criminals. It did
not help. In 2022, terrorists attacked
innocent Nigerians travelling in a train
between Abuja and Kaduna. They also
attacked airports. The government was
helpless, if not complicit.
The Tinubu administration is facing
the harvest of that failure. Criminal
elements continue to dare his
administration with such temerity that it
is difficult to believe that Nigeria’s
security agencies take the lion share of
the country’s annual budget estimates.
What exactly do they do with all that
money? On Christmas Eve in 2023,
bandits killed close to 200 persons in
three local government areas of Bokkos,
Mangu and Barkin Ladi in Plateau State.
At the mass burial of some of the victims,
a Commander of Operation Safe Haven
told the grieving community that it was
the “work of the Devil.” The Devil has
since returned to kill more people in
Plateau and in other States like Zamfara,
turning the Middle Belt and the North
Central into the killing fields of Nigeria.
As usual, the President condemned the
killings, and gave the security chiefs
marching orders to bring the perpetrators
to book. Terrorists and kidnappers in
Nigeria are so used to these sermons that
they merely shrug off statements from
Aso Rock and move on to the next target.
Kidnappers in particular have put the
Nigerian security establishment to
shame. They operate at will, collect
ransoms openly, and even that does not
guarantee safety or the release of the
abducted persons. In one shocking
example, kidnappers went to a military
estate, and made away with people.
When policemen and soldiers cannot
protect themselves, where does that leave
the people? The government keeps
feeding the people with the pill of hope
and promises. Nigeria has a high rate of
unemployment, poverty is rife. Certain
elements have found kidnapping to be a
more enabling business ecosystem, so
much, that there have been cases of
persons who organized their own kidnap
in order to extort money from family
members! Desperate people resort to
desperate means to survive.
But perhaps, The Economist
magazine in its editorial of January 24
titled “Kidnappers are wreaking havoc in
Nigeria, yet President Tinubu’s security
plan is worryingly like his predecessor’s”
placed its fingers on why the dilemma
persists when it wrote as follows: “How
much politicians in Nigeria care about
national insecurity has long been
correlated with how close it gets to their
mansions in Abuja, the capital.” Is that
leadership? And where does that leave
the hapless people who live in places like
central Nigeria who are slaughtered in
their hundreds, and the security agencies
respond only after damage has been
done?
The Economist added: “At his
inauguration last May, Mr. Tinubu
declared security his “top priority.” Yet
more than 3,600 people were kidnapped
in 2023, the most ever, according to
ACLED, a global monitor of conflict.
The snatching rose sharply after Mr.
Tinubu took office. And almost 9,000
Nigerians were killed in conflict last
Continued on Page 11

Page10 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
Opinion
Sanwo-Olu and the
pursuit of a social market
economy (2)
Babajide Sanwo-Olu 3 (Photo - @JideSanwoolu on X)
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BY ABIODUN
KOMOLAFE
Section 25 of the Nigerian
Constitution is explicit on the
differences between citizens and
settlers. But then, there’s a saying in
Ijesaland: ‘Gbogbo ìjesà ni omo Owá,
sùgbón b’álé bá lé, àwon omo Owá mo
ara won.’ Translated literally, it means
‘Kings have many children but when
the chips are down, each king knows
his real children.’ To put it succinctly
therefore, when it comes to nativity, no
settler in Lagos can claim to be an Igbo
and a Lagosian at the same time. Not
only that, while an indigene can be
likened to a tap root with the capacity
to regenerate, a settler is like a
transplanted seedling; and it is a
common phenomenon in every
community. In other words, the fact that
an Igbo man is living in Lagos does not
make him a Lagosian. A trueborn Igbo
knows this! That’s why he would want
to build a house, first, in his hometown
before doing so elsewhere. These are
some of the areas Sanwo-Olu and,
indeed, those who mean well for Lagos
State in particular and Nigeria in
general must critically look into before
things get blown up. Failure to do it
now will be tantamount to postponing
the evil days.
In his book, ‘The Red Book of West
Africa’ (first published in 1920),
Allister Macmillan showed that, in
terms professions and commerce,
Yorubaland was probably the most
advanced part of the British West
African colonies. Macmillan
unambiguously discussed in detail the
intriguing amount of commercial
advancements in the Colony of Lagos.
Of course, what that shows is that the
advancement in Lagos was Yorubacentric.
Thus, any contrary assertion is
nothing but a repudiation of historical
facts. Besides, Lagos being a port has
also been an advantage in that it has
since time immemorial been playing
host to enterprising individuals as well
as big entry and exit economic
activities. So, the fact remains that
Lagos wasn’t just the capital of Nigeria
at a time, it was – still remains - a
dynamic port that has been defining the
path and creating the space in a liberal
environment. Lagos is a State that’s
over the years allowed non-indigenes to
thrive.
In any case, if Bola Tinubu actually
did well as Lagos State Governor, why
then did he lose the State in the
presidential election of February 25,
2023? Had the governorship election
not been shifted by two weeks, would
Sanwo-Olu have also won a return
ticket for 2 nd Term? Arguably, what
propelled the presidential election
result was different in the sense that
there was a lot of disaffection with the
APC/PDP hegemony. For example, it’s
difficult to have 133 million Nigerians
in multidimensional poverty and say
that the two political parties that have
been exchanging batons of governance
for the past 24 years have not
disappointed Nigerians. From available
indices, the issue remains pathetically
unaddressed. So, the presidential
election was practically a protest vote
in cosmopolitan Lagos. Indeed, that has
nothing to do with an individual.
To borrow from the immortal words
of Andre Gunther Frank, Nigeria is a
classic case of “the development of
underdevelopment”. Dear fatherland is
one big, pathetic example of growth
without development. Here, we keep
peddling big figures about growth but
where is the development? Admitted
that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is presently
the biggest economist in Africa! But
how has that translated into food on the
table for my two little kids, aged 13 and
10? In our very eyes, a mudu of garri is
now N800.00 while a 50kg of rice now
sells for N62,000.00. A sachet of
Paracetamol tablets, which used to cost
N70.00 a few months back, now goes
for N200.00. As if the gods are angry,
Continued on Page 11

Opinion
FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
Sanwo-Olu and the pursuit of a
social market economy (2)
TheTrumpet
Page11
Continued from Page 10<
crowd-funding has taken over the social
media space for illnesses as mild as
headache. With these and many others
currently troubling our Israel, whatever
is left of the middle class is just one
illness away from poverty.
In a social market economy, the
raging issues of Area Boys, aka
‘agberos’, illegal drugs and marijuana
consumption are a deathtrap, more so
as they are interlinked. While Area
Boys are a creation of successive
leaders’ refusal to sincerely empower
Nigerians for the future, illegal drugs
and marijuana consumption is a
dependency syndrome which has
benefitted only the ruling class. Over
the years, Nigeria’s leaders have built a
low-scale, low-wage economy and
there’s been no concrete political will
to tackle it headlong. Deliberately or
otherwise, our leaders have refused to
build the kinds of Industrial Parks or
Agricultural Settlements which
Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe
and Ahmadu Bello envisioned and built
in their respective regions.
The truth of the matter is that
agberos as a creation of the state are
convenient battering rams for the
political class who see them as willing
tools during elections. But the danger
in it is that the chickens will always
come home to roost because we can’t
have elections every day or every year.
So, what happens in-between the
elections? Of course, things will always
get worse, because we have created an
underclass of people without skills, and
without hope. Karl Marx politely
described it as a ‘dangerous class’.
Regrettably, this creation of
Frankenstein monsters has been the lot
of the urban areas and Lagos State is
not an exception. Of course, it’s going
to get worse unless the needful is done.
What do I mean? Well, has Nigeria
been doing value additioning, wouldn’t
earnings from the agriculture sector
which remains primitive have by now
been thrice the earnings from crude oil?
Much as Lagos is seen – and, truly
so – as the ‘Centre of Excellence’, it is
also where things happen! No doubt
about it, Lagos State remains a visible
template for other States in Nigeria,
with lots of things building an edge
above them all. Since the beginning of
the 4 th Republic, it has been enjoying a
stable, uninterrupted rule. With a metro
area population of 16,536,000, it is also
bigger than some countries. Nationally,
Lagos is rated as the commercial nerve
center of Nigeria. Her Value Added Tax,
VAT, remains unsurpassed by any other
State in the country and, thank God, we
are now living witnesses to the exploits
of tested and trusted leadership which,
in some decades back, one would have
considered an unattainable feat. Many
thanks to Tinubu and his successors in
office for making Lagos the 19 th best
city in the world to live in 2024! Added
to this is that Nigeria’s current
President and Commander-in-Chief of
the Armed Forces is from the State.
Sanwo-Olu is therefore blessed to
have the rare opportunity of being in
the driver’s seat of the number one
State in West Africa. But for him to
benefit from the green fruits of ruling a
State like Lagos, he needs to really aim
for the highest, and the best. After all,
hardly can one find a tribe, culture or
tradition not represented in the State,
and the Governor shouldn’t allow
partisan politics to rob him of the
opportunity of harnessing the
multidimensional benefits of such
wealth. Not too long ago, Tinubu
became the ‘Jagaban of Borgu’ through
his mastery of the art while governing
the State.
Be that as it may, the Governor must
bear in mind that Lagos State is not
only about Ikeja, or Marina, or Banana
Island. It is also about Ikorodu and
Ayobo-Ipaja! It is about Badagry and
Epe. For the State to have stability and
witness economic progress therefore,
Iyana Ipaja–Toll Gate axis of the
Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, which,
presently, is an eyesore, must be fixed;
and ditto for other roads. Let Sanwo-
Olu do his bit and leave the rest of the
impassable expressway for Dapo
Abiodun whose major achievements as
Ogun State Governor are yet to be seen.
*To be concluded.
*Komolafe wrote in from Ijebu-
Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria
(ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)
Continued from Page 6<
year.” Human beings oh, not animals!
And hear this: “the government tends to
splurge on fancy weapons systems that
fail to tackle the roots of the problem
which is poverty, poor education and
anger at many atrocities…Another huge
problem is graft in security
spending…This is worsened by a system
known as security votes, whereby parts
of defence spending are deemed too
sensitive.”
What the newspaper did not add is
that even the language of engagement has
not changed. The Defence Headquarters
is always boasting that “perpetrators will
be exposed” (for where?), when people
have been killed, properties razed, the
Police is always quick wake up from its
slumber to announce a special operation
to be led by an Assistant Inspector
General of Police, and the President
summons a National Security Council
meeting and gives directives. The Service
Chiefs for the past eight years have told
Nigerians that they are working on
Nigeria’s security architecture, or
National Security Strategy which will
deploy kinetic and non-kinetic measures.
A national emergency on insecurity
To tell the truth, when I hear anybody
talking about “kinetic and non-kinetic” I
simply conclude that some security
chiefs are again looking for an
opportunity to collect more money and
do nothing. It is pure madness to keep
doing the same thing and keep getting the
same results again and again without any
progress.
Nigeria needs new thinking, new
ideas in security management. Hard
questions need to be asked, more so as
we are now at a turning point, even in the
sub-region. The decision to withdraw,
“without delay”, from ECOWAS by
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, this week,
is bound to escalate the security crisis
within the sub-region, and pose
challenges for Nigeria. We share a border
of about 1,668 kilometres with Niger.
Our borders are porous. Niger may see
no further obligation to help fight
terrorists within its own borders to
prevent a spill-over. The only thing we
can safely assume is that the Tinubu
administration may not resort to the old
practice of providing accommodation,
clothes and food for bandits and
terrorists. Or could that be why there has
been an unprecedented resurgence of
criminality in the country?
The new ideas that we call for cannot
come from the Security Council or
Defence Headquarters and the rest of the
security establishment. It has been
established that intelligence is a problem
at the heart of Nigeria’s National Security
Strategy. Even when actionable
intelligence is made available to our
security agencies, they are hardly ever
pro-active. Our recommendation is, as a
starting point, the convocation of a
National Summit on Insecurity in Nigeria
to be attended by a broad section of
society drawn from among stakeholders
at all levels. The theme shall be strictly
focused on insecurity and what needs to
be done. A counter argument may well be
that there is nothing new under the sun,
and that even if the best ideas emerge
from the summit, how can anyone be
sure that the ideas will be implemented,
and correctly too? There may be some
merit in this. After all, there have been
studies and recommendations on the
crisis in the Plateau since 1994. But it is
either the reports are not implemented or
they are not even considered at all. Our
leaders don’t care enough.
Insecurity is making everything else
difficult; it discourages foreign and local
investments. Farmers cannot go to their
farms. It is an act of faith to travel in
certain parts of the country. The country
is under threat. Anomie is upon the land,
and the risk is real, given the manner in
which such factors as religion, ethnicity,
attachment to land, the fight over
resources and indigene/settler conflicts
have turned Nigeria into a keg of
gunpowder. With the security
establishment at its wits’ end, all hands
must be on deck to address the challenges
urgently. Let the Federal Government
declare a national emergency on
insecurity. It needs not wait till the day
when a sitting Governor is abducted, and
kidnappers ask that ransom be paid
before such a Governor and his family
members are released. It would also not
be enough to argue that some elements
are out to sabotage the Tinubu
administration. The time to act is now.
Tinubu must take the security situation in
the country more seriously. The solutions
are within, not in Paris or London.

Page12 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
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FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024 TheTrumpet
Page13

Page14 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
Opinion
Osun APC and some hard home
truths – (2)
By Abiodun Komolafe
As of July 16, 2022, Iyiola
Omisore, a Prince of Ife and a
celebrated political strategist and
master of the game, was the party’s
National Secretary. Still, APC lost very
badly in Ife land. Incidentally, that’s
where Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, the party’s
current State Chairman, was also born.
Lawal was at the time its State Vice
Chairman. Most, if not all those who
pretended to be Big Boys from Ife land
who served in the Oyetola-led
government lost even their polling units.
Was that also caused by Aregbesola?
Again, why did APC contentedly slip into
its familiar routine in Oriade and Obokun
Local Governments? Why did it end up
soaking in the enthusiasm of defeat in
Iree in Boripe Local Government, despite
what the former Governor planted in the
ancient town?
For Osun APC to have lost 28 out of
30 Local Governments and 1 Area Office,
25 out of 26 members in the State House
of Assembly, and all the National
Assembly seats, that speaks volume! But,
rather than address the whys and
wherefores that broke its heart, among
which were greed, indiscipline,
uncontrolled lust for privileges and the
love of self, blame game took over. Osun
APC surrendered to the superior
firepower of betrayal from the people in
power, failure to connect with the people,
lack of sense of purpose, lack of shared
vision and lofty ideals, lack of cohesion
in the party and lack of control, and it was
as if the gods were angry.
Whither the roles of the opposition in
democracy and why is Osun APC not
delivering on its newly-acquired
mandate? Take, for instance, reports have
it that Adeleke has for over a year been
living in his sister’s house but
unfortunately, the opposition is not seen
to have been hard on an issue which in
Yoruba culture amounts to a taboo. Well,
while it’s not unusual for Governors to
live in their private residences while
serving (as Lateef Jakande lived in his
personal house, even rode in his famous
Toyota Crown car as Governor of Lagos
State, which of course could be attributed
to his known simplicity and frugality),
Nigerians hold the notion that Adeleke
opted for that path so that the real
masquerades who’re behind the scene
can manage him and his excesses, and
shield him from those who might wish to
exploit his naivety in governance.
Although the Governor has his
personal house in Ede, he hardly ever
stays there, and it is believed that he runs
Osun State with the counsel and input
from his sister who has her imprimatur on
every appointment in the State. She’s
even believed to be the de facto
Commissioner for Works, a portfolio the
Governor withheld to himself. So,
anyone who cannot cringe in their court
had better forget getting anything from
the government. Is it any wonder that, in
Osun, the fear of ‘Yeye’ is the beginning
of wisdom?
When Oyetola was to lose power in
2022, an uninformed cross-section of the
public asked that power be taken away
from ‘alakowe’ and given to ‘alakori’. In
their opinion, if the former could not do it
well, why not hand over the destiny of
dear State to the latter? Not
unsurprisingly, ‘Imole Osun’ has now
come to town and … ‘the difference is
clear.’ Amidst a litany of avoidable
gaffes, the State Chief Judge would have
long been removed from office and the
Governor’s vuvuzelas would have stood
up and clapped for the king, were it not
for the timely intervention of the National
Judicial Council, NJC.
Again, who will help save Osun APC
from Osun APC? Well, I have argued
elsewhere that opposition roles are very
difficult, especially in a democracy like
ours. Not even in a situation where the
ruling party has many advantages to its
bidding: a monstrously rich dynasty,
power which it knows how to effectively
deploy, resources sufficient enough to
play around with, and the sympathy of
the electorate which, for obvious reasons,
the ruling party currently enjoys.
I have also had the privilege of raising
the issue of contact persons or rallying
points in some of the localities in the
State. For instance, I’ve cited the case of
Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola (Photo - Twitter @GboyegaOyetola)
High Chief Dele Faseru, a respected PDP
chieftain in Ijebu-Jesa who, for a very
long time, has been the face of the PDP in
Oriade Local Government and its
environs; and the colourful politician has
been delivering on that mandate. How
many Dele Faserus are available to Osun
APC and how many of them are
accessible in the real sense of the word?
Like him or hate him, Oyetola is a
fine gentleman and a true reflection of
himself. He is not a pretender. Some
Nigerians even accused the former
Governor of being accountable to the last
penny at the expense of those who
worked for him. In their view, it was
accountability taken too far when he left
N14 billion in Osun government coffers
while the arrears of modulated salaries
owed workers as well as November 2022
salaries of political functionaries in the
State remained unsorted.
Back to the substance of the situation,
it needs to be noted that taking Osun APC
back on the path of honour demands that
Oyetola rethink strategies that can open
the gate of hope. To get policies right,
politics has to be alive. So, he needs to
increase his efforts. He also needs to dig
deeper into what variance of illness is
actually attacking the party. He needs to
look beyond the pathetic admonitions of
the swallowers, time-servers and
transactional politicians whose personal
interests are at variance with the party’s
overall interest. In a word, unless the
party is prepared to let past troubles ignite
positive opportunities, things will only
get worse; and that will be bad for
opposition politics.
Politics isn’t a funny game; it’s just
that some of its practitioners are simply
heartless and exceptionally selfish. Since
ages, sycophancy has also been a big
problem in politics. So, the onus is on
Oyetola to rise above the deceit of the
men-pleasers because money may
manipulate the people but it doesn’t
actually deceive the enemies. Since all
politics is local, it behooves the
leadership to instill a sense of trust in the
followership and the followership to
believe in the leadership, if the battle
ahead is to be won. Who even knows if
God allowed July 16, 2022 to happen to
Osun APC so that He can use Oyetola to
change the course of progressive politics
in Nigeria, beginning with Osun State?
So, it is up to the current Minister of
Marine and Blue Economy to see to it
that this House does not fall, for this, not
the office he now occupies in Abuja, will
define his legacy. While current efforts in
that direction are a welcome
development, public opinions favour
something deeper than the ongoing
sensitization ritual. Most importantly, the
poor reward system and selection
process, which contributed significantly
to the party’s dismal outings in the past,
must also be reviewed with a view to
righting past wrongs.
In all, just as we expect in public
administration, that ‘one person cannot
know it all’; and, in democracy, that ‘one
party cannot be omnipotent’, let there be
‘room for admissibility of divergent
opinions’. Let ideas be transformed or
updated ‘in line with dispensations’.
Above all, let those working with Oyetola
in this task of repositioning Osun APC
bear in mind that politics is not a cult and
that what defines it is not always about
one geography against another but
inclusive winning streaks that will help
return the party to its past glory.
May the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world, grant us peace
in Osun State!
Concluded.

GAB Awards
FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024 TheTrumpet Page15
Faces at the 25th Annual GAB Awards
Continued on Page 16>

Page16 TheTrumpet FEBRUARY 7 - 20 2024
GAB Awards
Faces at the 25th Annual GAB Awards
Continued from Page 15<
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