Osinbajo meets doctors via Zoom to end strike, NMA adamant by Deborah Tolu-Kolawole

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has intervened in the ongoing industrial action by members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Sunday PUNCH has learnt. The NARD declared the strike action on July 30 at its National Executive Council meeting with the theme ‘The Nigerian doctor, an endangered species: grappling with a pandemic, poor workplace infrastructure and security threats.’ Announcing the action would begin on August 2 after the meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, the National President of NARD, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, had cited the failure of the Federal Government to implement the agreements it entered into with the union 113 days after it suspended the previous strike. However, 33 days after the commencement of the strike, Osinbajo reached out to the doctors in a bid to find a lasting solution to the crisis. Our correspondent gathered that the vice president had a zoom meeting with one of the officials of the doctors’ association on Friday where issues relating to the strike were discussed. Sources that were privy to the meeting revealed that Osinbajo asked for details of the grievances of the striking doctors. “He reached out to us and told us he needed all the details of our grievances and that he would not want us to end the strike and commence another later in the future,” a source close to the meeting said. When contacted, the Vice President of NARD, Adejo Arome, confirmed that the vice president had a zoom meeting with an official of the association on Friday. According to Arome, while reaching out to the association, the Vice President said he needed first-hand information on the issues involved. He said, “Vice President Osinbajo reached out to us. He met with the President yesterday (Friday). It was actually a zoom meeting he had with our president ( Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi) though some of us were there. He (Osinbajo) initiated the meeting because he wanted to get the information about what was going on. “He said he needed details of everything that happened. He asked calmly and we believe that he would do something and we also believe that very soon, he would call us officially (for a meeting). “We gave him the information (that he requested). The information we gave him was first-hand and authentic. We are sure other government officials won’t give him such details at all about the whole issue. “He told us that he did not want the issue to be resolved now and later there would be another strike. “He said he wants to put the problem to rest once and for all. We are waiting for him to invite us officially and we are certain that he is going to do it. We trust his judgement.” FG yet to reach out, 21 days’ notice stands -NMA Meanwhile, the Nigerian Medical Association said the Federal Government has yet to reach out to the association. Notwithstanding, the association stated that the 21-day strike notice it issued to the Federal Government stands regardless. The association’s General Secretary, Dr Philips Ekpe, disclosed this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH in Abuja. According to him, the notice period was to enable the Federal Government to attend to the lingering issues with the NMA’s affiliate members. He said, “The 21-day notice was to give the government time to meet the demands of our affiliate members such as NARD, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria and Medical and Dental Specialist Association in Basic Medical Sciences. “Apparently, nothing has been forthcoming as they have not reached out to us and even NARD and as you are aware, the matter with NARD is still in the court of law. “Once government cooperates and attends to the demands of NARD and the other affiliates, then there won’t be any problem. “But at the end of the ultimatum, if things don’t meet our expectations, the National Executive Council of our association will take decisions. “On the issues of the salary of resident doctors that was withheld, we are working behind closed doors to make sure that things are resolved.” Recall that the NMA had on August 28 issued a 21-day strike notice to the Federal Government, with effect from Monday, August 30. At the end of its National Executive Council meeting held in Benin City, Edo State, the NMA and all its affiliates resolved to give the Federal Government 21-day notice to fully resolve all the issues contained in the various agreements signed with the doctors. JOHESU, AHPA issue 15-day ultimatum While the Federal Government is still battling to resolve the ongoing strike action by the Resident Doctors, members of the Joint Health Sector Unions and Assembly of Healthcare Professional Association have threatened to embark on an industrial action in 15 days’ time if the government fails to meet their demands. JOHESU’s National President, Mr Biobelemonye Josiah, gave the ultimatum in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and other relevant stakeholders. Copy of the letter was made available to journalists on Saturday in Abuja. Josiah said that the 15-day ultimatum was necessitated by the nonchalant attitude of the government to the plight of his members. Josiah said his association and APHA are demanding an adjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure as was done with Consolidated Medical Salary Structure since 2014; payment of all withheld April and May 2018 Salaries of members and withheld Salaries in Federal Medical Center, Owerri, Jos University Hospital and Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Others include the review of the defective implementation of COVID-19 Special Inducement and Hazard Allowance; implementation of National Industrial Court of Nigeria Alternative Dispute Resolution, Consent judgment and other court judgments; increase in retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for Consultant Health Professionals. “Others are payment of reviewed hazard allowance in terms of payment that guarantees fairness and justice to all concerned, payment of actual 30 per cent consolidated basic shift duty allowance to Nurses/Midwives and others. ”Payment of teaching allowance to members on CONHESS 7 and 8 (nurses, midwives and others) and proper placement of Nurse Graduates and Interns,” he said. He added that their demands also include payment of outstanding salaries of intern health professionals and all the Tertiary Health Institutions, proper implementation of the consultant pharmacist cadre for pharmacists in the public sector, among others. According to him, “the Federal Government has not deemed it fit to honour the Terms of Settlement entered into with JOHESU since September 2017. “This is especially the upward review of CONHESS Salary Structure as agreed, to be completed within five weeks from the date of agreement amongst other requests. The Government did not deem it fit to address these key issues during the duration of the last seven days warning strike and has only met with JOHESU on July 12,” he said. “In July 2020, the Minister of Health agreed that a mistake was made by government in the payment of COVID-19 Special Inducement and Hazard Allowances. He noted that the shortfall was in the payment of 50 per cent Basic of Consolidated allowances to all Health Workers. It was a mistake on the part of government and the shortfall shall be paid accordingly to affected health workers.” 1,851 Nigerian-trained doctors get US licences in five years – Medical Board No fewer than 1,851 Nigerian-trained medical doctors acquired a total of 3,649 licences to be able to practise in the United States of America in five years, investigations by Sunday PUNCH have revealed It was also gathered that physicians in the US could acquire multiple licences which would allow them to practice in the country and other territories. Our correspondent learnt that one of the reasons why physicians were leaving Nigeria was that they were not allowed to acquire multiple licences which could enable them to practise in various fields. The Vice President, Communications, Federation of State Medical Board in the United States, Joe Knickrehm, confirmed that more Nigerians were actually trooping to the US to practice. He further disclosed in an email exchange with our correspondent, that physicians in the US could acquire multiple licences which would allow them to practice in the US and other territories. The mail partly read, “Physicians can have multiple licences to practise medicine in the United States if they wish to practise in multiple states or US territories. “Between 2015 and 2020, a total of 1,851 Nigeria-educated physicians have been issued with a total of 3,649 licences. 75 per cent of these physicians, who were issued licences between these periods that is 1,388, are actively practising in the US. “As of 2020, 3,895 Nigeria-educated physicians with a total of 6,536 full active licences are practicing in the US.” President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, however, said one of the reasons why physicians were eager to leave Nigeria was that they were not allowed to acquire multiple licences which could enable them to practise in various fields. He said, “In Nigeria, there is no such thing; you cannot have multiple licences. You are only entitled to one licence. “This is one of the reasons why you see doctors leaving the country. When you visit these other countries, you can acquire medical licences to practise in other fields.” PUNCH.

COCOYAM AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS By Kayode Ojewale

WHEN one of the federal agencies, few days ago, announced that a tuber crop, cocoyam is effective in fighting the coronavirus, many were shocked because no one expected that old, long-abandoned and uncommon root crop could have immune-boosting nutrients that make it protect the body. Nobody pays attention to those extra nutritional values that cocoyam provides when compared with other tuber and root crops until it was made known by the agency. Cocoyam has minerals and materials that are very good for the body and can reduce instances of disease. According to research, cocoyam is good for controlling high blood pressure and it also protects the heart due to its richness in Vitamin B6. The Federal Government agency, under the supervision of the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, revealed that cocoyam is rich in nutrients that can combat infections of COVID-19.The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC, Prof. Hussaini Ibrahim, hinted that cocoyam has high nutritional values. According to Professor Hussaini, cocoyam is rich in nutrients like digestible starch, quality protein, varieties of essential vitamins and amino acids. The RMRDC boss stated clearly that cocoyam has long been neglected as a tuber crop, yet it has more nutritional benefits than cassava and yam. In his explanation on how cocoyam can be used to fight COVID-19 infections, Prof. Hussaini said: “Some of the issues of those who fall to COVID-19 are those with diabetes, high blood pressure and some other opportunistic diseases that attack the immune system and when such people are exposed to COVID-19, they easily fall victims. So, what we are saying is that if you can take care of diabetes, then your immune system will be much higher. If you consume cocoyam, your body tends to have higher immune level that can combat the incidents of COVID-19, so cocoyam is very important because you will not fall easily to COVID-19, which is why we say it is a crop of choice to those who have the illness that can make one vulnerable to COVID-19.” The RMRDC director general further added that “cocoyam is a veritable raw material with a lot of nutrients…has what we call low glycemic index. Sugar is converted to glycogen, which can be stored in the body so that when you have emergencies, glycogen will be pumped into the system and the body will process it. Consuming cocoyam will help because it has two carbohydrates, one fibre and the other we call resistant carbohydrate or starch.” The RMRDC chief also advised that those whose bodies are not functioning to full capacity in terms of production of insulin should consume cocoyam. The science and technology industry in any country ought to be the driver of development and discovery in every other industry given the fact that it evolves with time and global changes. The industry affects every other industry because it is expected to come with something new and contrary to established customs or manners in which things are done. Nigeria’s Ministry of Science and Technology was recently changed to Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, STI, making it clearer to the citizens what they should expect in terms of delivery. Minister of the newly changed ministry, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said the change is to facilitate economic growth and global competitiveness as well as to make Nigeria a nation of innovators. This will, no doubt put the ministry on its toes to ensure economic growth and development in all other ministries. Most challenges facing the country can be solved using the various innovation-based methods. Dr. Onu further said that the development will help the ministry to bring a shift in research and development which is industry and service demand-driven, resulting in rapid commercialization and improved global competitiveness. In the words of Dr. Onu: “Immediately we are able to commercialise research and development breakthroughs, the nation’s global competitiveness ranking will improve tremendously with varying degrees of development that are sustainable. These include a robust STI ecosystem that will accommodate continuous system improvement, product quality enhancement and guaranteed standardisation of Made-in-Nigeria goods and services. Nigeria would experience irreversible indigenous industrialisation with adequate platform for higher productivity.” The Minister further assured of continuous improvement in value added components of the economy, with quality employment generation in the economy, among others.

BREAKING STORY: Saudi Arabia Recruits Nigerian Doctors amidst Strike

The government of Saudi Arabia is taking advantage of the ongoing industrial action by doctors in Nigeria, to recruit specialists. The Saudi government has contracted an Abuja firm – Meed Consultants, for the exercise that Wil hold today, Tuesday August 24, 2021. Doctors in different specialties are needed under a programme tagged – ‘Saudi Ministry of Health Doctors Recruitment August 2021.’ Those to be interviewed have already registered on the agency’s website for recruitment interview. The Saudis may have targeted the unbridled relationship between Nigerian doctors and government to stage their head-hunt, coming at a time resident doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have down their tools. There are reports of denial by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, where he claimed ignorance to the exercise. He was quoted to have directed reporters to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire for clarification. “I am not aware of that. You can please contact the Minister of Health. His ministry is in charge of doctors.” minister stressed. Ngige reportedly said. Those shortlisted for the interview are doctors in the field of anaesthesia, ICU, paediatrics surgery, family medicine (consultants only), obstetrics and gynaecology, ENT, Emergency medicine, all sub-specialties (surgery), all sub-specialties (internal medicine), orthopaedic surgery, Ophthalmology, Radiology as well as Haematology and Histopathology. Calls to Dr. Ehanire’s phone were not answered as at the time of going to press. NARD President , Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, told reporters that doctors were free to take advantage of the exercise since the Nigerian government had failed to fulfill its promises. He added that there was no benefit for any doctor still practising in Nigeria, saying those who were staying back were only being patriotic. “Everybody is free to do whatever he/she wants. The government has not fulfilled its promises to the health sector. Those who stay behind are only doing so because of patriotism, not as if there is any benefit or something.”

COVID-19: No vaccination, no church, bank attendance - Obaseki By Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Residents of Edo State without evidence of COVID-19 vaccination, will no longer be allowed access to public and private places, including banks, event and worship centres, from the second week of September. The State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, announced this on Monday in Benin, while flagging off the second phase of Coronavirus vaccination exercise, adding that this became necessary to protect residents of the State. He said adequate arrangements had been made with security agencies to prevent anybody who did not have vaccination cards to access any of these places. According to Obaseki, “Beginning from the second week of September 2021, large gatherings, as well as high traffic public and private places will only be accessed by persons who have proof of taking at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. People who have not yet been vaccinated at all will depend on remote access to these gatherings. “From the second week of September people may not be allowed to worship in churches and mosques without showing proof of their vaccination cards at the gates. “Similarly, people will not be allowed at event centers, receptions or parties, without showing proof of their vaccination cards.” “People will not be allowed to access banking services from the middle of September 2021, if they are not vaccinated. “We have made adequate arrangements with security agencies to prevent anybody who doesn’t have vaccination cards to access any of these places. We are doing this to protect our citizens and all these measures will remain until the pandemic passes away,” Obaseki stated. Obaseki said his administration would continue to strictly enforce all non-pharmaceutical measures to contain the pandemic in the state, adding that activities to mark Edo’s 30th year anniversary had been scaled down significantly in compliance with COVID-19 protocols. He said the new regulation was not to create hardship on the people but to protect their lives and livelihood while the pandemic lasts, assuring citizens that the “vaccine is available and free for all. We will not abandon you at this time of the pandemic.” Noting that the pandemic is in its third wave in Nigeria, with its Delta variant having devastating effects around the world, the governor reassured the government’s commitment to ensure the health and safety of Edo people. “In Edo State, the data is very clear, as we have collected 6,306 samples, with 203 confirmed cases and four deaths in the third wave. 96 percent of all confirmed cases are those not vaccinated and 100 percent of deaths are those not vaccinated; it shows the importance of vaccination. “The pandemic has come to stay as it is clear that, intermittently, other waves will occur. As such, it is wise for us all to embrace vaccination as a way of surviving this pandemic. “For us in the state, we have decided to push for vaccination, and within the next one year, we are focusing on vaccinating 60 percent of our citizens to enable us build herd immunity against this pandemic.” The Governor noted that the current phase of the vaccination campaign would be driven by various stakeholders and strategic groups to increase access to the vaccines, because. According to him, the pandemic does not respect persons or status. “We have 84 vaccination centers across the State; some are mobile while others are fixed as the list will be made available soon. “We call on Edo citizens to support the launch and vaccination exercise kicking off today, as I encourage everyone to get vaccinated, as this is the only way we can save lives and livelihood, as well as return to our normal lives. “In this launch today, we have two sets of vaccines being dispensed; the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. We are taking the vaccine seriously but we will not shut down Edo State,” he noted. The State Epidemiologist, Dr. Greg Oko-Oboh, who deliver a lecture titled, “COVID-19 vaccination, a fighting chance,” said the State is 8th out of the 36 States of the federation with the new infection.

Nigerian Politics by Ostheimer, M. John (1973)

The First Republic: Crises and Collapse - Western Region Crisis "While Awolowo was busy leading the federal opposition against the government of Federal Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), the Western Region's Premier, Chief Akintola, Awolowo's deputy in the Action Group (AG), was strengthening his own political base among the Yoruba. Akintola, a clever politician in his own right, had come to believe by early 1962 that AG ought to try to cooperate with the NPC leaders and join with them in a "National Government." Akintola saw several advantages in such a policy, and was backed by many Yoruba Chiefs and by the most important AG financial supporters. Electoral competition in each region since 1959 had sapped the AG treasury, and Akintola saw wisdom in a bargain with NPC in which obvious federal hegemony by the latter would be counter balanced by promises to recognize AG dominance of Western Region politics and continued control over the Midwest. AG could then save money by not continuing the fruitless quest for legislative seats outside the Western Region. To Awolowo on the other hand, cooperating with NPC for any purpose was now anathema. Supported by AG intelligentsia and those Yoruba masses not closely controlled by traditional Chiefs, Awolowo confronted Akintola in the executive meeting of AG early in 1962. This squabble within the top AG leadership was exacerbated by other matters. Though both Yoruba, Akintola and Awolowo were from Ijebu and Oyo respectively [?] and their wives were enemies. Finally, Awolowo objected generally to Akintola's conservative political and economic ideas while Akintola saw the AG President as being excessively influenced by extremely left-wingers. This quarrel split the AG and opened the door to the destruction of opposition within the Federal Parliament. Having been removed from the office of the Vice-Chairman of AG, Akintola was stripped of the premiership by vote of the backbenchers when the Western Region government tried to convene. Akintola then filed suit against the deposition. Meanwhile when Chief Adegbenro, the successor for Akintola designated by Awolowo attempted to convene his new government, the minority of members who were against Awolow's scheme disrupted the Western Legislature. The majority, 65-52, clearly supported Adegbenro's forming a new government to replace Akintola, and asked the Federal Prime Minister Balewa, to ensure peace in the regional legislature so that the new Western Region Government could meet to carry out its business. Balewa refused to promise such protection, and Nigerians were treated during the second year of their independence to the following spectacle in the legislature of the Western Region. In Ibadan, Alhaji Adegbenro and the Speaker agreed to try once again to hold a meeting some two and half hours after the first had been disbanded. Policemen were stationed beside and behind the Speaker's Chair. At once, the Akintola faction and the NCNC opposition began to shout and bang their chairs. Chief S A. Tinuba [Tinubu?] sat on the floor beside the Speaker’s Chair and continually rang a bell. Mr. J. O. Adigun threatened to throw the Record Book at the Speaker. Mr. Akinyemi smashed one despatch box, and Mr. Adedigba threw the other at Alhaji Adegbenro (it was caught by the Sergeant-at-Arms). Mr. Adeniya then hit the Speaker with a chair, while the NCNC members smashed theirs or threw them at opponents. All this time the police had been begging the Speaker to let them act, and when he finally did so they again released gas and cleared the House. On May 29, the Federal Parliament declared a state of emergency, causing the virtual dismemberment of the Western Regional government, and the detention by the new “Administrator of Western Region” [Dr. M.A. Majekodunmi?] of all the politicians involved. The apparent partiality of the federal government was a crucial aspect of these events. Regardless of what may have been the hidden causes of Balewa’s actions, the events gave many Nigerians the impression that AG’s internal troubles were being used to ensure the end of the troublesome Awolowo. By preventing the intervention of federal police units to ensure order in the Western Region Parliament, Balewa had shown little interest in allowing the western politicians to iron out their difficulties through the accepted procedure of a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Other subsequent actions by the federal government, and by the Administrator appointed to restore order, confirmed the view of millions of Awolowo’s supporters that their influence was being systematically destroyed. Six months after the emergency began, Chief Akintola, the exponent of cooperation with Balewa’s federal government, had been invited to form a government for Western Region. Awolowo found himself facing the charges of a commission examining the malpractice of Action Group, and then a trial ending in a 10-year sentence for treason. One clear lesson of the Western Region Crisis was the willingness of the NPC-coalition Federal Government to exercise influence within a region’s political affairs in order to ensure a government friendly to NPC aims. The discussion of political attitudes in Chapter Five will elucidated some quite understandable reasons for Balewa’s willingness to act in this manner in the interests of national unity as he conceived it. Here we must concentrate on the structural changes wrought by actions surrounding the Western Region Crisis. None of those is more important than the impact on the judiciary. Akintola had filed an an action in the Western Region High Court against his dismissal by the Regional Governor, contending that the Governor had no right to decide merely because a majority of the legislative members had signed a petition supporting Adegbenro. The High Court Chief Justice passed Akintola's challenge on to the Federal Supreme Court without ruling, and that Court supported Akintola's claim. At the urging of Awolowo's supporters, however, the Privy Council Judiciary Committee considered the dispute and reversed the Nigeria Federal Supreme Court's decision in May 1963. Though Awolowo's followers were heartened by this outcome, it was ignored by the Federal Government, and resulted in one of the significant constitutional changes that was to follow. * " February 1963 – Awolowo Is Charged With Treason – Chief Obafemi Awolowo first Premier of the Western Region between 1954–59, Leader of the Action Group and leader of the opposition in the federal parliament, general secretary of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa since 1948. Formerly Secretary of various unions and co-founder of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria. Publications include Path to Nigerian Freedom, an autobiography entitled Awo, and numerous political booklets. The trial of Chief Awolowo and 24 others began with high drama.

Academy Of Medicine Specialties Inducts Ministers Of Health, Education, 134 Others As Fellows By Tunbosun Ogundare - Lagos

From left, President, Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria(AMSN), Prof Oladapo Ashiru; Chairman of Board of Trustees, Dr Sonny Kuku and Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Prof Osato Giwa- Osagie All is set by the Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria(AMSN) to induct a total of 136 professionals as fellows of the academy. Four of the inductees are serving government ministers and they are the ministers of Health, Dr Osagie Ohanire; Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu; Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and the Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora. They will be conferred with honorary fellow of the academy alongside the business mogul, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu at the induction ceremony scheduled for Thursday, July 29, in Lagos. The Chairman Board of Trustees of the academy and co-founder, EkoCorps Plc, Dr Sonny Kuku, made this known at a news conference in Lagos, on Tuesday. He said 14 from the remaining number would be conferred with emeritus fellows while the rest with foundation fellows of the academy. Kuku, a renowned endocrinologist said the academy would also be officially inaugurated at the event. He explained that it took him and three other founding members, namely Prof Oladapo Ashiru, Prof Osato Giwa-Osagie and Prof Augustine about 12 years to birth the academy which he said was registered officially with the federal government in 2019. He said the idea behind the academy was borne out of their passionate desire to contribute more meaningfully to the growth and development of the health and medical sector in the country. He said all the inductees were found to be credible individuals whose contributions to their different professions, the economy and to mankind as a whole are unquantifiable. Giving insights into the academy, the president of the academy and consultant reproductive endocrinologist, Prof Oladapo Ashiru explained that the sole objectives of the academy is to promote excellence in medical research and education, and also the application of research in the practice of medicine and the enhancement of human health and welfare. He said the academy would be able to achieve the objective by performing, among others mentorship, collaboration and advisory roles on health-related issues of national importance to the government for well-informed policies directions. He said that was why the academy shall be merit-based membership. He said there would not be political consideration for membership but for only those who have distinguished themselves not only in medical and health-related fields but also in arts and humanities- health-related activities and have contributed significantly to society and mankind.

IBB Disappoints Again. DIALOGUE WITH BY AKIN OSUNTOKUN

“He came and he said, ‘I just annulled June 12.’ We both looked at each other and we looked at him, and said: why would you do that? And he said ‘you are too young to understand the intrigues of governance.’ And we said, but it is about you and your administration. And he said, ‘well, perhaps, this is something that will haunt me for the rest of my life….So, you could see that his hands were tied. He was limited. He couldn’t do what he would have wished to do. And this is probably a story most Nigerians don’t know” –Mohammed Babangida “It is a decision we took. I had to take that decision, I did that to the best of my knowledge, in the interest of the country… ‘I did the right thing. I can sit back and say some of the things I said manifested after I had left. We had the coup and that coup lasted for five years.’ According to the ex-Nigerian leader, the citizens complained that they were tired of elections, thus paving the way for Sani Abacha who ruled the nation for five years”…“If it materialised, there would have been a coup d’état – which could have been violent. That’s all I can confirm. It didn’t happen thanks to the engineering and the “Maradonic’ way we handled you guys in the society. But that could have given room for more instability in the country” –Ibrahim Babangida The two excerpts above constitute a critical resource for any obligatory and sympathetic assessment of former President Ibrahim Babangida. It is always difficult to write dispassionately about a father figure let alone one who looms so large and controversial in the Nigerian public space. I generally cringe from hagiolatory and believe that the true test of goodwill and friendship is the extent to which one can offer critical acclaim without pandering and sycophantic ingratiation. As we are all human, this is easier said than done and kindred sympathy would readily supplant objective detachment. Great ambitions are often inspired by a commensurate sense of inadequacy and insecurity. Think of the short man syndrome and what has come to be known as the Napoleon complex-’where a man feels inadequate because of his short height and may try to overcompensate it with overly aggressive behaviour’. It is what the Yoruba call okùnrin kúkúrú bìlísì roughly translating to the slang ‘short man, plenty wahala’. The most dominant deity in the Yoruba pantheon, Orunmila, is called akéréfinúshogbón (the all wise tiny man) and okùnrin kúkúrú òkè gètí (the diminutive man who resides in òkè gètí, ilé Ifè). With reference to the famous world historic military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte the more human variant is called the Napoleon complex. Like the latter, Babangida is of short stature and has earned a Nigeria-wide fame as an accomplished military officer. Before he acquired the defining reputation of foremost military politician he had acquitted himself as a brave soldier in the battlefied. ‘Earlier in his career, he had on the battle field risked his life to save his colleague Duba who was mortally wounded unless evacuated. Babangida, risking his own life volunteered to go and carry Duba’. And while he was hospitalised on account of the deep injuries he sustained, he demanded a quick discharge and return to the battlefied even before his injuries healed. And if you are a zodiac sign believer, he is meaningfully a Leo. I have taken recourse to this (psychoanalytical) personality profiling because it is otherwise difficult to be fair and charitable towards the former president without a subjective knowledge of his personality. Above any other character trait the one that stands out the most is wanting to be liked by people and the closer you get to him the more difficult it equally becomes not to like him. It is the reason why he is such a perfect family man and a passionate godfather. If the Maradona appellation suits him like second skin, it is because it derives from a trademark inability to say no to any personal request. Finding himself, quite naturally, unable to fulfil the father Christmas dimensions of this trait, he had to perfect the art of wriggling out of difficult situations.This trait can be a great flaw within the context of governance and statecraft where decisions should be taken solely on the merit of public interest with little regard for personal considerations. For me, the abiding paradox of his life is how to reconcile his charming, pleasant and inoffensive nature with being in the thick of the sanguinary environment of military campaigns; how he was so strong and brave in the line of real life fire but not so brave in the seat of military president and when it mattered the most in his public life. There cannot be an adequate accounting of his military career (and that of his generation from the North) without allusion to the role of the Northern regional political leadership. Joining the Army was a decision made for them by the regional patriarchs who envisioned, like Chairman Mao and Secretary Josef Stalin, that power flows from the barrel of the gun. And the vision has proven to be quite predictive and ample in the rewards of the strategic anticipation of the role of balance of terror in Nigeria’s power politics. In contrast to its rivals, this was at a time the ‘the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) had a limited vision for the security services and the Action Group (AG) wanted to disband the military altogether and set up a more modest paramilitary force’. To this day it still befuddles me how an astute and visionary political leader like Chief Obafemi Awolowo could have missed out on the fundamental instrumentality of this potent instrument of power politics in his political calculations. The folly of this omission would sooner play out in the run up to the civil war when the dominant Northern faction of the Nigerian Army refused to cede the occupation of the Western region in compliance with the agreement reached at the conference of Nigeria’s leaders of thought. In the opinion of the Shehu Yar’Adua Foundation ‘Joining the army in 1962 was a statement of political faith. A politically better informed Northern elite had come to recognise the neglected significance of the military in independent Nigeria. According to President Muhammadu Buhari, “The Emir of Kano told one of us that if soldiers could overthrow a line of kings descended directly from the prophet, it could happen anywhere. So we should go and join the army”. In corroboration, General Garba Duba recounted that.. “I had never deamt to be a soldier. But when I finished my secondary school, my uncle, the Emir of Gwandu, had received a letter from Sardauna requesting him to give one of his sons to join the army as an officer. And that is how I was taken”. In their flair for military intervention in Nigerian politics it is useful to recall that the major players of the Nigerian Army were politicised rather than socialised into the Army. Babangida is a personification of this pedigree. Still how do you reconcile the revelation of Babangida’s true and intimate feelings that the annulment of the June 1993 presidential election was a mistake (to his children for instance) with his public posturing of persistent justification and tortuous rationalisation of a conspicuous wrongdoing? In what way could the annulment possibly be in the best interest of the country? How did his voluntary submission to being held captive and held to ransom by a cabal of pampered power hungry military officers be rationalised as doing the right thing? If this selfish and bad company would not let him honour the result of the election today, what is the guarantee they would allow him to do so in five months or five years time? The pity here is he keeps repeating the same self-destructive error of snatching defeat from the potential biggest victory of his life. This corrosive self-abnegation is what he keeps doing to himself by declining to admit to the conspicuous error and choosing, instead, to insult the intelligence of Nigerians with obtuse and escapist non arguments. Could it be that he is sworn to an oath never to admit that white is white and black is black where it concerns the annulment? At 80 years and given the contextual extenuation provided by the comprehensive failure of his rival, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, there is hardly a better politically opportuned moment to secure a less hostile reckoning of posterity. To the contrary, he appears oblivious of ceding the initiative to his adversaries on the narrative of the annulment debacle. Which was what all the insincere razzmatazz of the symbolic reinstatement of June 12 as Nigeria’s icon of democracy by the incumbent administration was all about. His loss on this occasion is the gain of his fellow contender. Indeed, “how does IBB feel today, now that Buhari has recognised June 12 and MKO Abiola?” Ironically, let us not forget that while the personification of the June 12, 1993 watershed election, Chief Moshood Abiola, was languishing in Abacha’s gulag, General Buhari was serving as his right hand man as the executive chairman, Petroleum Tax Fund (PTF). And so enamoured was he of Abacha, that up till now, not even the Swiss and Cayman Island banks can convince him that “Abacha stole any money”. Perhaps more than any area of comparison and contrast, it is in his liberal cosmopolitan adherence to the reflection of federal character and geopolitical balancing (nation building prescription) that Babangida towers above an antithetical Buhari. He once sat me down to explain how he couldn’t be adjudged as running a regionally discriminating administration. It may have been an exaggeration but there was the element of validity to his claim that his kitchen cabinet, headed by the chairman of his Presidential Advisory Council, Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, was predominantly Southern in composition. In the end, explanations for his ‘I did right and did no wrong’ posture in the annulment of the 1993 presidential election can be found in such ruinous sychophancy as one encapsulated in this rendition by Chief Duro Onabule “the most uncharitable critic of IBB, after experiencing four other administrations (Shonekan, Abacha, Abubakar and now Obasanjo) readily concedes that but for the annulment of June 12, 1993, IBB would have been an untainted hero.”