Pandora Papers: Inside the secret assets of a Nigerian lawmaker, and how he serially broke the law by Nicholas IbekweByNicholas Ibekwe

Nicholas Mutu, Nigeria's longest-serving legislator, appears a lawless lawmaker. Evidence shows he serially violated the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. With more than 20 years in the House of Representatives, Nicholas Mutu, 61, is the longest-serving member of Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber, the House of Representatives. But apart from his record-making stay in parliament, Mr Mutu, who represents the Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken Delta State, has also been in the news over fraud-related allegations. On February 3, 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him at the Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged fraud and abuse of office. The case is ongoing. Mr Mutu’s problems with the law is about to get bigger. A PREMIUM TIMES investigation has now unveiled him as a serial violator of Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act that forbids public office holders from engaging in or directing private businesses, except farming, while in office. Our investigation also revealed how Mr Mutu set up an offshore company in Seychelles, a tax haven, to secretly purchase a London property valued at N566 million. Details of the lawmaker’s secret London property was obtained as part of the Pandora Papers investigation, a massive leak from firms that specialise in setting up offshore companies in tax-haven territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Panama. Pandora Papers The Pandora Papers project, the biggest cross-border collaboration of journalists in history, is an investigation into a vast amount of previously hidden offshore companies, exposing secret assets, covert deals and hidden fortunes of the super-rich – among them more than 130 billionaires – and the powerful, including more than 30 world leaders and hundreds of former and serving public officials across the world. The confidential documents also feature a global cast of fugitives, convicts, celebrities, football stars and others, including judges, tax officials, spy chiefs and mayors. The leaked records came from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore jurisdictions for clients who seek to conceal their financial activities, some of which are suspicious and criminal. Mr Mutu and his London property According to records held on file by Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal), an offshore law firm, Mr Mutu, in 2010, while a lawmaker, incorporated the Forest Group of Company in Seychelles. In 2012, this offshore company bought a property in north London for £620,000.00 and sold it in 2014 for £730,000.00, approximately N566 million using the parallel market rate of N775 to a pound, according to U.K. Land Registry records. There is no evidence that Mr Mutu declared this asset to Nigerian authorities as demanded by law. In a brief telephone call, the lawmaker claimed he was never a director of the offshore company, that it was owned and controlled by his wife and not by him, and that it had never owned any UK property. But his claims are false as they are at odds with documents from the UK Land Registry and the Pandora Papers, which combined to properly document him as director, shareholder and beneficial owner of Forest Group of Company. The documentation include a copy of his passport which he voluntarily provided to his secrecy provider as part of an extensive due diligence requirement. It is not illegal to secretly buy British properties using anonymous offshore companies. But under Nigerian law, public officials — including parliamentarians — must declare “all properties, assets and liabilities” to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). As asset declarations by Nigerian officials are not public, PREMIUM TIMES and Finance Uncovered could not determine if Mr Mutu included the north London property he owned between 2012 to 2014 in his asset declaration disclosures. The lawmaker declined to provide evidence he did so despite requests by reporters. But the Code also prohibits public officials from maintaining or operating any foreign bank accounts. When Mr Mutu was asked whether he used any non-Nigerian bank accounts to transact in the UK property and whether he declared them, he did not respond.

If found to be in breach of asset declaration law by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, public officers face a range of sanctions including “vacation of [their] seat in any legislative house” as well as disqualification from “holding any public office for a period not exceeding ten years”.

Mr Mutu declined to receive written questions unless they were delivered personally to his office. He later sent a confrontational SMS, claiming to have unmasked the journalist who contacted him as an agent of his political rival. “I have found you,” he wrote. “You work for my political opponent [name withheld for legal reasons]. You don’t have any dignity. Shame.” Mr Mutu and his directorship in multiple companies On October 27, 2003, just six months after he was sworn in for his second term as a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Mutu set up Forest Group of Company Limited with registration number: RC 497907. In flagrant disregard of Section Six of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Mr Mutu was listed as director of the company. Other directors are Blessing Mutu, his wife (also charged by the EFCC), Faith Agbede, Isaac Enifome Azeza, and Rapheal Ebomo. Also listed as directors and shareholders of the company are three other companies – Gracious Access Limited, Seem Trust Limited and Mutabless International Ltd. A further search of the registration details of the listed companies revealed that Mr Mutu is a director in all three companies. Our finding revealed that two of the companies were set up after Mr Mutu had become a public office holder. However, one of the companies, Mutabless International Ltd, was set up in 1998 just before Mr Mutu was elected member of the House of Representatives. Seem Trust Limited, with registration number 394580, was set up on 31 October 2000 just over a year after he was elected to the lower legislative chamber. Mr Mutu, with perhaps two of his relatives – John Mutu and Seigha Mutu listed as directors of the company. Gracious Access Limited was set up in May 2001 with registration number 410184, about six months after Seem Trust Limited with Mr Mutu listed as director. Other directors of the company are Blessing Mutu, Benjamin Ogbalor, and Afonibe Wendy Ogbalor. Other businessness being illegally run by the lawmaker while being a public officer are Forest Shippers Limited (RC 1081322), incorporated on November 29, 2012; Legacy Grips Limited (RC 1279869), established on August 11, 2015; and Pleutoral Legacy Limited (RC 1283877), incorporated on August 27, 2015. He is listed as director and shareholders of these companies in what is a clear breach of the code of conduct law. Mr Mutu did not respond to requests asking for comments about his directorship of these companies. His EFCC problem Between 2009 and 2019, Mr Mutu chaired the house committee responsible for oversight of a federal agency called the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), charged with “offering a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta”. In early 2020, the lawmaker was arrested and charged with fraud and abuse of office, according to a press release issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was accused of concealing N320m in payments from an NDDC contractor between 2014 and 2016, which he “ought to have known formed part of [the] proceeds of corruption”. Mr Mutu’s trial commenced in February 2020. He has pleaded not guilty. According to the EFCC, which began investigating a number of NDDC contracts in 2019, Mr Mutu wielded his influence as chair of the House Committee to ensure that a company which had been controversially awarded a lucrative contract to recover unpaid levies from oil and gas companies operating in the Delta was paid out by the NDDC. Earlier on October 31, 2019, the EFCC announced it obtained an interim court order compelling Mr Mutu to forfeit N150m which the agency said was part of “bribes and kickbacks” he received from Starline Consultancy Services. An EFCC spokesperson confirmed that Mr Mutu’s fraud and abuse of office trial has been adjourned until November 2021, and that the final asset forfeiture application is ongoing. ***Additional reporting for this story was provided by Finance Uncovered

Government workers’ future shaky as 20 states shun contributory pension scheme by Nike Popoola and Adepeju Adenuga

No fewer than 20 states have yet to commence the payment of pensions to retirees after opting to join the Contributory Pension Scheme, investigations by our correspondents have revealed. The CPS was established by the Pension Reform Act, 2004 to provide a sustainable system of pension payment and correct abnormalities in the pay-as-you-go Defined Pension Scheme under which retirees suffered awaiting their stipends, while many died without getting their entitlements. Industry stakeholders are worried that the non-payment of pensions, which characterised the old scheme, has begun to affect the CPS. A report by the National Pension Commission titled, ‘Level of implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme by states as of June 2021’, which was obtained by The PUNCH on Thursday, showed that 25 states had enacted laws to join the scheme. The states include Lagos, Osun, Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Benue, Kebbi, Niger, Rivers, Ogun, Bayelsa, Kogi, Anambra, Abia, Taraba and Imo. Others are Sokoto, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Enugu, Oyo and the Federal Capital Territory. The report, however, showed that only five states – Lagos, Osun, Kaduna, Delta and the FCT – were paying pensions to retirees under the CPS and funding the accrued rights (benefits under the old pension scheme that the retirees are also entitled to). Despite enacting their CPS laws, Anambra, Abia, Taraba, Imo, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Enugu and Oyo states have yet to establish pension bureaux to commence the scheme. According to PenCom, seven states are at the bill formation stage to enable them to migrate from the old scheme to the CPS. They are Kwara, Plateau, Cross River, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Katsina. Five states have, however, opted for other pension schemes. They are Jigawa, Kano, Yobe, Gombe and Zamfara. Reacting to the development, the Head, Corporate Communications, PenCom, Peter Aghahowa, noted that the states had different peculiarities. He said, “The process of enacting the law is the first thing; then, you will put the structures in place; for example, you have to put a pension bureau in place and you have to train people to understand how the CPS works. Then, you start getting the employees of the states to register with the PFAs before remittances will start. “But apart from that, the most important thing is that the government must have the will to implement, to deduct and to remit pensions. “We try to be detailed on a state by state basis. You can’t generalise. “If you don’t implement in time, you will have a lot of arrears to pay.” The Director, Centre for Pension Rights Advocacy, Ivor Takor, said prior to the PRA 2004, state and local government employees’ pensions were administered under the Pension Act, 1990. He said, “The reform of pension administration in Nigeria was necessitated by the many problems that confronted both the public and private sector pension schemes. “In the public sector, the federal, states and local governments operated the Defined Benefits Scheme under the Pension Act, 1990, which was of universal application in the whole public services in the country. “The scheme was unsustainable due to the lack of adequate and timely budgetary provisions and increase in salaries and pensions. There were demographic shifts due to rising life expectancy as pensioners were beginning to live longer. “Pension administration in the public sector had been largely weak, inefficient, less transparent, very corrupt and cumbersome.” Takor noted that the reform brought about the enactment of the PRA 2004, which introduced the CPS. While the PRA 2004 prescribed pensions for workers in the public service of the federation, the FCT and the private sector, it omitted state and local government employees. Takor stated, “The exclusion was not an oversight by the committee that carried out the reform. State and local government employees were not covered in the Executive Bill that was sent to the National Assembly, but they were covered in what was sent by the President to the National Assembly. “When the bill got to the National Assembly, governors mobilised their states’ representatives in both chambers to remove state and local government employees from the bill before it was passed into law. “Their reason was that the country was under civil rule and the National Assembly could not make laws for the states on an issue like pension, which is not on the exclusive legislative list.” He, however, said the problem was corrected in the Pension Reform Act, 2014. t PUNCH.

My 48-hour ordeal in France over Nigeria’s COVID-19 permit – Soyinka by Gbenga Adeniji

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, on Thursday said he was prevented from boarding at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, for failing to obtain what the airline staff described as a ‘permit to travel’ to Nigeria. Soyinka spoke in Lagos on the theme, ‘COVID, technology and citizen banishment,’ during an interaction with journalists. The essayist said although no attempt was made to banish him, he nevertheless felt like serving a decree of banishment for 48 hours that the event lasted. Every in-bound traveller is expected to upload their COVID result on a portal created by the Federal Government, with the traveller’s details including passport, ticket numbers. At the end of the exercise, a barcode is generated, indicating a permit to travel. The playwright who lamented his experience said, “Of course, there is something known as force majeure that means you cannot help it. If there are floods, or there is turbulence and your plane cannot land and it is turned somewhere else, yes we understand that.” He added that when an individual “is prevented from entering his own country through the lapses of others, then there is problem.” The elder statesman, who recounted two experiences, stated, “I had my vaccination, I have taken the 72 hours COVID test and I was negative. But apparently, there was one more, a new one called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), which the Nigerian government had begun to insist upon. I was away from the country at the time. I didn’t know this. I thought I was all geared up. I couldn’t get on that plane. I had to go back to Paris. I spent three extra days in Paris before I could get back to the airport, after taking the test and getting my result. “But it happened the second time, just about a week ago. This time, I had my PCR, and I still remained vaccinated. And of course, it did not happen to me alone; there were other Nigerians who passed the night at the airport. They couldn’t leave the airport because they had already passed through immigration. But at the gate, they were also turned back. This time, it was not PCR, or whatever it is called. It was that they had not gone to something called the Nigerian Travel Porter and obtained a permit to travel. Again, it was my turn. I said I have got everything, that I have the PCR. But they said no, that there was one more item which the Nigerian government now requires. So, I had to go back into Paris. Then I was directed where to go through a machine, and pay the necessary amount and then permission will be generated from Nigeria so that I could travel back to my own country. I rebooked, and the following morning, I was back at Air France. At the hotel, we tried to get on this porter, but we could not.” He added that by 10am, he realised that he might miss his flight again, so he told the Air France about his challenge. Soyinka said, “Together with Air France staff, between 10am and 2pm, we kept working. They brought their computers, some changed my password for me so that they could then try through their own but they could not. We succeeded maybe around 12 something in the receipt of the payment of my credit card being acknowledged. But it did not generate the permit to enter Nigeria, which has a square barcode. The process itself is really remarkable. I don’t believe that it was the Ministry of Health who created that questionnaire. I think it must be the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I invite you all to attempt to get on that portal and tell me what it has to do with COVID after the first couple of questions. What the majority of those questions have to do with COVID I understand. I asked them if there are other flights going to West African countries, which do not require this kind of secret service questionnaire, because that was what I consider it to be. And they said there was a flight leaving for Lome at 4.30pm. I told them to put me on it. Boarding began about 2.40pm; I carried my bags ready to go to Lome. In the meantime, one of the supervisors had come from the office. She was working with the phones like mad; sddenly, she broke into a sigh of relief and came running to where I was with my bags. She told me that she has good news for me, that I have been given special permission to enter my country. I don’t believe that I or any Nigerian should require special permission to enter his or her own country.” Soyinka added that he didn’t believe that other nationals were obstructed from entering their countries the way Nigeria did for its citizens. He added, “This is a plea to the Ministry of Health, Internal Affairs, which I am convinced must have participated in this form, to find out what is going on and why one should be subjected to this ordeal. Let us go out through the front door and come back through the front door as it is befitting to all normal citizens. “Stop treating Nigerians like criminals and illegal immigrants who end up sleeping on couches or on the floor of the airport.’’ Commenting on the November 6, 2021 Anambra governorship poll which the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra had declared a one-week sit-at-home ahead of its conduct, Soyinka said, “We are in a mess. This country is in a mess. It is disintegrating before our very eyes. The government is floundering.” PUNCH.

COVID-19: New US travel requirements take effect Nov 8 by Adelani Adepegba

Beginning on November 8, foreign air travellers to the United States will be required, with only limited exceptions, to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status before boarding a plane to the US. This new global travel system replaces the existing country-by-country restrictions, putting in place a consistent approach worldwide, the US has said. With the implementation of these new vaccine requirements, the US government explained that foreign national travellers who had been in one of the 33 countries with restrictions do not need to obtain national interest exceptions to travel to the US. According to a statement on Friday, titled, ‘New vaccine requirements for travel to the United States starting November 8, 2021,’ the US Centre for Disease Control has determined that for the purposes of entry, vaccines accepted will include those approved or authorised by the Food and Drugs Administration as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing from the World Health Organisation. It noted, “When it comes to testing, fully vaccinated air travellers will continue to be required to show documentation of a pre-departure negative viral test taken within three calendar days of travel to the United States before boarding. “That includes all travellers – US citizens, lawful permanent residents and foreign nationals. For example, if a vaccinated traveller is travelling to the United States on Saturday, they can test from Wednesday on.” “To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travellers – whether US citizens, LPRs or the small number of exempted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to show proof of a negative test within one calendar day of travel to the United States,” the government further said.

What exactly will eNaira achieve? byAbimbola Adelakun

Months after the Nigerian digital currency, the eNaira, was announced, they still have not told us what exactly it can achieve that is not already possible. From everything they have said so far, eNaira seems like a duplication of existing efforts in the electronic banking sector. After an initial false start and several technological hitches, the Central Bank of Nigeria finally launched the eNaira on Monday at the State House in the Federal Capital Territory. The occasion was a chance to address the question of the point of the eNaira but the President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), did not go beyond echoing the same old story. He said the digital naira would increase remittances, foster cross-border trade, improve financial inclusion, make monetary policy more effective, and enable the government to send direct payments to citizens eligible for specific welfare programs. Almost each of those achievements Buhari listed is at least two decades old, thanks to the advent of internet technology and the globalisation of the banking system. In the case of Nigeria – and perhaps most African countries – we also have the influx of relatively cheap China phones to thank for facilitating electronic banking and financial inclusion. Apart from Buhari’s address, I have also followed several “expert” opinions on the eNaira. While some praised the initiative as a game-changer, none of these enthusiasts pointed out what a digital currency does differently from the electronic transactions people conduct on the internet, banks, cash apps, and POS machines. The fact that we live in a country where a pastor conjured “miracle money” is an indication of liquified fiduciary instruments have become. Unlike some misinformed assertions in some quarters, the eNaira is not “cryptocurrency.” It is not going to rise in value like bitcoin or similar forms. The eNaira is the same money you currently have in your bank account and which you already transact through bank apps. There is probably nothing you want to do with the eNaira locally and internationally that you probably cannot do already with your ATM card. When it comes to international transactions, the eNaira will face the same hurdles people currently deal with when paying for certain goods and services from Nigeria. While interrogated during a live TV interview, a CBN director said the eNaira was the beginning of the “march to prosperity” for Nigeria. Unless the CBN has something else they are not telling us yet, the digital currency is not the revolution they are making it out to be. It is a reinvention of the wheel, albeit in a digital format. Making exaggerated claims that the eNaira will lead Nigeria to prosperity is unnecessary and likely to sow distrust in a populace already cynical about the efficiency of our institutions. Countries prosper based on productivity index, not because they created one more means of making payments to compete with existing organisations. It is even problematic that the CBN presents itself as a competitor against other agencies that already deliver the same services effectively. Before you know it, the CBN will make monopolist policies to squeeze the life out of those finance organisations so their eNaira can thrive. The fact that the CBN currently undersells the potentials of the digital currency by focusing on how it duplicates existing efforts does not make the initiative an entirely useless idea. Countries like China and Sweden also issuing digital currencies – the e-renminbi and the e-krona respectively – have spoken about how electronic money will improve transparency in global financial transactions. Some other countries currently piloting the digital currency project have also focused on how they plan to use the digital currency to curtail money counterfeiting, develop stronger oversight systems to monitor terrorism funding, fight corruption by discouraging shadow transactions, and confront money laundering. For Nigeria, one would expect the CBN to show how the digital currency can support anti-corruption efforts, and their plans to heighten surveillance of illicit cash transactions regularly conducted in high places. For instance, how will the traceability of eNaira transactions make it harder for the politicians who commandeer a bullion van to their private houses during general elections to do whatever they do with that much money? In the wake of the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers’ exposés of illicit global financial transactions, how do you intensify supervision of international money transfers? Instead, the CBN is selling the most basic functions of e-transactions. So far, nothing they claim the eNaira will achieve departs from the same things garrulous Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said when, as the CBN governor, he was promoting the “cashless society” policy. For a country that lacked basic infrastructure, some of the ideas that Sanusi introduced to facilitate cashless policy turned out to be merely punitive. When summoned to the national assembly to clarify issues, Sanusi overpromised on how they would achieve cashless transactions and artfully skirted the real issues – the level of infrastructure Nigeria required to transition to a cashless society was barely available. Today, the legacies of their aspiration toward becoming a “cashless” society are evident in the pains of transacting business in Nigerian banks. Nigeria is one of those few places in the world where you see up to a mile of people queue in front of an ATM. Those machines were designed for/by societies that are already “cashless,” not to replace regular banking services but to complement them. But the way we use it in Nigeria is abuse, and that is because our society likes to run before it can even walk. A decade after we embarked on the path to “cashlessness” the CBN is still trumpeting almost the same things as potential achievements of the eNaira. Digital currencies are not exactly a novelty, although a necessary response to our modern world where technology is radically changing the meaning of “national borders.” Some experts project that cash will eventually phase out with more electronic transactions now possible, consequence of the ubiquity of digital technology. The time is coming when countries’ central banks will be considerably weakened because people can effectively transact business globally without recourse to their national currency. Digital currencies are one of the means of anticipating that possibility. But it is not enough that Nigeria merely replicates what already exists and sells it as a novelty. They should at least go further to identify the gaps in what subsists and address them too. Countries like Senegal and Ecuador also launched their digital currencies, but they eventually cancelled them. Senegal’s e-CFA failed because it mostly followed the same top-down approach of the conventional banking system and the millions of people who could have participated were subsequently excluded. As for Ecuador, the digital currency was massively unpopular because people could not just trust their central bank to run an efficient digital monetary system. They also trusted the dollar more than their local currency. Meanwhile, Kenya has been running MPesa – its mobile financial transaction system – since 2007, and it is a roaring success. The MPesa has been extensively studied in institutions worldwide as an example of how modern technology can promote financial inclusion among the unbanked. Compared to Senegal and Ecuador, the lesson is that technological breakthroughs thrive better when a public relates well to them and also takes up organic initiatives that establish them. Nothing the CBN is selling through the eNaira project is new. They are not even responding sufficiently to the realities of an emerging world where government institutions are more easily bypassable by people who can opt for the more efficient services provided by transnational corporations. For instance, Facebook, a platform that connects about half of the world’s population is working on its digital currency, Libra. The scale of their reach makes Facebook the world’s largest country. When they launch Libra, it will not only be a strong global currency, it will also be autonomous. When that happens, what becomes of the eNaira? The relative ease with which millions of Nigerians sidestepped Buhari’s Twitter ban by downloading VPN has revealed the limits of government control in a world revolutionised by technology. Agencies like the CBN had better start thinking radically before they become entirely irrelevant. aadelakun@punchng.com PUNCH

“Ignore Lai Mohammed”, Tinubu Urges Governor AbdulRazaq By Sheedah Lawal

Expecting a response to the comments by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed from Kwara state Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq may not be so soon. Information gathered from close associates from the corridors of power in Kwara state has revealed that it took a lot of time for the governor to grant the last interview where he exposed the underhand tactics employed by Mohammed to devalue his personality and government. Recall that Governor had alluded to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s advice to ignore Lai Mohammed. “When he now made this noise and came and insulted me, on two occasions I tried to say something and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said I should forget this thing. I shouldn’t talk and I should forget it,” Abdulrazaq stated in the interview. The reliable source, however, stated that it is the opinions of the majority within government circle that it is silly for anyone to expect that Governor Abdulrazaq will respond to the attack by Lai Mohammed in his recent interview. A close source to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at his Bourdillon residence in Ikoyi area of Lagos said the APC National leader has beckoned on the Presidency to fix the former Kwara APC Chairman Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa with an appointment to leave the political scene in Kwara and allow the Governor take charge of the state ahead of 2023, the more reason bigwigs from the Lai Mohammed group distanced themselves from any parallel Congress in the state. “Asiwaju also warned that going to the radio or any media to attack your party’s government is the greatest anti-party which comes with severe penalties” the source added. As at the time of filing this report it was noticed that bigwigs of the Lai Mohammed camp have stayed away from featuring on their regular radio programs and reduced their altercation again Governor AbdulRazaq and the Kwara State Government.

Tinubu, Osinbajo 2023 Presidential ambition: Mischief makers at work By John Mayaki

In Nigeria today, as the politics of 2023 takes center stage, it has become glaringly obvious that the nightmare scenario for a number of political actors is for the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to stand before a camera and make the following declaration: “I accept the call to run for the office of the Presidency.” The reason is uncomplicated. For these persons who are already having wet dreams of ‘life in Aso Villa’, this outcome, in which the Vice President heeds what is now a deafening call from virtually every inch of the country to succeed his principal, represents a crushing blow. It is a prospect they fear would present them a hurdle too tall to scale. It threatens their cute, little project of running the country and emerging the Lords of the manor. To borrow a local saying, they are terrified that “e go pour sand sand for their garri.” It is Yemi Osinbajo, the professor of law, foremost intellectual and outstanding public administrator. The one who as State Attorney General achieved feats no one else has been able to repeat. The Vice President who increased the stock and size of the office with his loyal, competent, and unblemished service. How do you compete against that? The argument for his emergence as President is ironclad. Best fitting as a natural successor, widely admired and trusted by all. He carries no ‘baggage’ at all. When the topic is Yemi Osinbajo, Nigerians set aside their partisan leanings and acknowledge that “he is a good man”. His support is widespread and organic. To many, he is a source of inspiration. Others say he has returned the dignity of public service. His speech and conduct elicit the highest form of endorsement from Nigerian parents across the country – a recommendation to their wards that he, the Vice President, is worthy of emulation. Love and respect that transcends politics; natural in origination, compelling in intensity. How do you convince the people otherwise, even as the man continues to break new grounds? This is what troubles the political actors. It is the cause of their affliction. Therefore, to avert this nightmare, they have entered into a frantic race, a war with their own insecurity and apprehensions. With the complicity of a section of the media desperately craving political drama to increase clicks and sales, they have spent most of the year pitting the Vice President against interests and individuals he personally has no problem with. The latest of the attention-seeking headlines they sponsored with their tattletales to the press, is that the Vice President was snubbed in London by the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, because the timing of his visit to the recuperating political leader was, according to them, questionable. Whereas the Vice President held the fort at the presidency in the absence of the President, thus making the President’s trip and consequent visit to the National Leader possible, these persons twisted the events and gave it their own conspiratorial interpretation. Instead of deeming the Vice President’s visit a mark of his goodwill as any other normal party would, especially after taking on extra duties to facilitate the President’s preceding visit, they chose malice and discord, and sold the same to the press. To shoehorn benign events into their set narrative and project their political calculations on the Vice President, they have bent themselves into pretzels, holding up unrelated and innocent actions as the evidence of a grand plot. Per their reasoning, the fallout of the events in London has forced the Vice President to “throw his hat in the ring” and enter into a “fight of his life.” Anyone with the littlest knowledge of the Vice President knows he is not one for messy political drama let alone a desperate fight for a position when it is God and God alone who gives power. His approach to all things, including politics, is informed by the biblical instruction contained in the book of Romans chapter 12 verse 18: “if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” It’s the reason he has successfully built a popular support base that transcends ethnic, religious, regional, and partisan divides. Even his strongest critics attest to his discipline, open-mindedness, and commitment to collective progress. The real fight for Osinbajo is for these afflicted persons who need an open conflict to fill their pockets, titillate their crowd, and further their agenda to leave him alone and confront their insecurities. Because unlike them, he has elevated work to do, one that affects the fates of millions of Nigerians. He needs no further distractions.