Exceptional trying times for spirit, intellect and body

i imagine that first lady Oluremi Tinubu is standing more solidly in spirit by her husband at this time than at any other. I hope, also, that the president is kitting his health well with the right kinds of food and drinks and, of course, food supplements for the brain, nervous system and the heart. For there is no doubt that the last two weeks or so have been the most stressful of his political career, challenging his indomitable spirit, astute intellect and the dependability of his body to wade through the blast furnace of international politics with a super power unscathed. I recall we discussed stress management tangentially when he was Governor of Lagos State in the early nineties, when I took Shakirat Adeoti to his office on a thank you visit. Although I have to recall that event for the purpose of a good testimonial for a leading Nigerian politician who is friend to christians and moslems alike, the stress load from the pay load of a Governor’s Office is nothing near the worries and burden of the President of a weak country against which a giant, super power nation has declared intent of war.

Shakirat Adeoti was a microbiology graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) who, at 33, had bleeding cancers in both breasts. She lived with her father, 92, and mother, 50 at 13, Opeloyeru  Street, off Babs Animashaun area of Surulere, Lagos. When Governor Tinubu heard of her travails in The Comet newspaper, he sent her a cheque for N1 million to clear her medical bills. His wife, Oluremi, added N250,000 to the N1million and provided her family with raw food, cooking oil and sundry other things for their living convenience. I had been taking Shakirat to church on Sundays and mosques on Fridays and secondary school assemblies on Mondays, to raise money for her. Sometimes, we went to those schools in the company of Alhaji Razak Adedigba who was the Managing Editor of The Comet newspaper at that time. I would like to add that, about that time, Edith Ike Okongwu, a former Public Relations Manager of Guiness, who bore the first child of Gen. Yakubu Gowon out of wedlock when he was Head of State, lay languid with breast cancer in an oncology ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Before she passed, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and Victoria, his wife, who took the place of Edith because he could not marry an Ibo during the war against Ibos, went to see her in hospital before she passed. Again, Governor Tinubu moved in compassion to help a dying person. He is a liberal moslem, his wife a liberal Christian pastor. They helped a dying Moslem girl and her distraught family, irrespective of their religion, and a Christian woman again irrespective of her faith. A hardened Moslem as President intent on annihilating christians would not permit that his wife be a Christian pastor and would not appoint Christian service chiefs and a Christian Inspector-General of Police! The generousity of Governor Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi, was not of “peculiar concern” to me at that my first and only meeting so far with him. What was of “peculiar concern” to me then were the stress lines I saw over his face and noticed in his voice. I would learn later from the then commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, who is now the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Dele Alake, that Governor Tinubu hardly slept. He combined administration in daylight hours with political meetings at night. I did not know how to drive home the points I made about health better than by carrying coal to Newcastle, as they say. Newcastle is abundantly blessed with coal. So, why would I need to ship coal from Enugu colliery to Newcastle? That was what I did in a token obedience to one of The Laws of Nature, The Law of Balance, which demands healthy balance in “giving” when we “take”. So, I purchased some nutritional supplements for coping with stress and sent them to the Governor through The Comet’s State House Correspondent. At that time, I was the newspaper’s Editorial Director/Editor-in-Chief and had adopted Shakirat Adeoti and her parents to be looked after under an upcoming The Comet Cares Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

The stress of Office Governor Tinubu encountered in Lagos is incomparable with what he must have gone through in the past 30 months in the hands of all kinds of mafias in the Nigerian economy. But all the mafias combined cannot compare to the on-going bombardment of Nigeria as “a country of peculiar concern” over killings of Christians in the North. Only a carefree Nigerian would say this is not an exceptional time for him or her as it would be for President Tinubu and the First Lady. I have not slept well for 48 hours. I have friends and family members who live in the North and are considering relocation to Lagos. Some who have money are making enquiries about property they can quickly buy or let. I guess many persons are bombarded with similar enquiries. The Army had probably found it unstrategic to fight the Northern insurgents and bandits with soldiers of Northern descent and had probably relied more on Southern soldiers to minimise the havocs of moles to strategy and effectiveness. Southerners whose children are in the Nigerian armed forces are restless and sleepless. Would Donald Trump try to do in the North what President George H.W Bush did in Panama in 1989 when American troops kidnapped the defacto ruler, Manuel Noriega, and sent him for trial in the United States on drug trafficking offences? In 1992, Noriega was jailed for 40 years with cuts to 30 years and later 17 years on account of good behaviour in prison! The U.S. says it has information on Nigerian financiers of Gboko Haram which it brands a terrorist organisation! The Noriega news was far far away, and we never thought such things or semblances of them could happen here.

Possible Nigerian Scenarios

Many people are wondering about possible scenarios.

1) Will Nigeria give American soldiers right of way to the North?

2) If prominent persons in the North are kidnapped by American soldiers, will that not overturn peace in the region? Will the Americans be able to handle the spill overs and not create a real religious crisis in the country?

3) Will China stand by or concede a share of the spoils of the Nigerian market to another country? Do the Chinese owe Nigerians their lives?

4) What if the Americans are coming for a do-or-die fight? How will they come in? By sea, with troops and aircraft carriers and through Lagos? Will many people not flee to their homeland and abandon the aborigens to their fate?

5) Will a Southern soldier lift a finger against the invaders? Will Northern soldiers, therefore, march down to engage the Americans in the South?

6) An American war anywhere leaves a bad taste in the mouth after, whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. Will Nigeria be like them after?

We never know what may happen until events begin to unfold. Some of the countries on the Northern border who let in Sahelian invaders upon Nigeria, with the connivance of some Nigerians, have not only shut their borders but also barricaded them with military tanks and troops to prevent Nigerian refugee and escapee terrorist influxes into their countries!

President Tinubu

I pity President Tinubu because the buck stops in his hands. This problem began not with him. Yet, he has carefully navigated the Northern mines fields, mindful of the explosions a careless step may cause, without losing sight of the goal.

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National Assembly

The National Assembly had been too slow in segregating the various political zones into semi-independent regions to free the Federal Government of needless administrative pressure. In my widow’s mite contribution made in this column and elsewhere on political restructuring of Nigeria, I suggested that each of the six regions be permitted to elect a Governal General to govern it like a mini President, building upon existing structure in the regions, while the Federal Government is limited to Defence, Currency, Immigration, Customs, Foreign Affairs etc. Each region will keep 40 percent of the resources in its dormains and all local governments 20 per cent while the Federal Government, for now, takes 40 per cent. We may think President Trump is garrulous. But can we any longer when only two weeks ago Amotekun  announced a clear and present danger in Ondo State, one of the six South Western Yoruba states? Amotekun, the unarmed vigilante response to banditry and kidnapping, mentioned that 40 Yoruba men had been recruited by AK 47 bearing Fulani herdsmen and paid N150,000 per person every month to work for them. These 40 men had even been trained to bear AK 47. Wasn’t this a “clear and present danger” ?

How it all began

This problem is believed to have begun with the Obasanjo Administration, hidden at that time around the right to Islamic jurisprudence. Obasanjo passed it to Yar’Adua, and Yar’Adua to Jonathan. The world’s powers assembled in Nigeria then to destroy this nagging bed bug. But the North told Jonathan the bandits could not be called terrorists because they were their children , and almost every family could be bereaved if the international army struck. Why could they not speak to their children who were killing and setting up parallel governments in the forests to tax communities and farmers, causing food shortages, unaffordable food prices and probably famine in some circumstances? To worsen matters, some state governments have been reported to be negotiating peace with the terrorists. Americans have no quarter for terrorists. From their perspective, if Nigeria becomes a terrorist haven, terrorism could raise its head again, upsetting the laborious work done in various regions of the globe to subdue it.

Questions begging for answers

We should not deceive ourselves in this travail. Why was Borno State the focus of Boko Haram at the start of the proceedings? Why have communities in Benue and Plateau become targets? Because they are flowing more towards the South and abandoning the North? What is the dominant religion of the states? Was the Bornu Kanem empire ever conquered by the Jihadists? It is true Boko Haram, which translates as Western education is poison, targeted niches of Western education, that is christians and later defocused to attack and to murder without reason worshippers on open ground Jumat services and in mosques. The Islamic states of West Africa is unambiguously anti Christian. The burning of christians and moslems believed to denigrate Islam in no small measure added to the conception of a Northern Nigeria intolerant of the religion of other persons.

President Goodluck Jonathan literally speaking fled from the North when he said he was “Not a Soldier” implying he did not wish to fight the Bokoharam. That was why some of his critics thought he deliberately abandoned the North to self- destruction, a charge he has debunked.

Muhammadu Buhari

Many people believe he caused the trouble because he always said he would make “the country ungovernable” if he did not become president. There is no palpable evidence as yet in the public square that he brought in the Fulani herdsmen from the Sahel who are now tormenting Nigeria.

 Some persons have wondered why he did not disarm them if he did not approve of them. To this, I always assume that he was held captive by the radical North who wanted to balloon the Fulani Population for vote power that would always give the North permanent control over the country.

President Buhari gave credence to this supposition with his half hearted backing for Bola Tinubu even on campaign grounds. What, I always wondered, was the meaning of “Vote For Your Conscience”. Still, I do not think this is sufficient evidence to catch him by the wrist. For I do not think a Christian Southern president could have done with El Zaki what he did to him in the face of the law supporting this malevolent Islamic disciple of Iran. It was in respect of this case that the concept developed of THE STATE is BIGGER THAN THE LAW.

THE CAN

If an armed gang is in your home in the dead of the night and the police won’t come, would you not gladly accept help from another or a friendlier gang? It is a person whose life is not palpably endangered who refers to the CONSTITUTION. Even lawyers and judges flee at the sounds of bombarding guns. A man who has lost all members of his family doesn’t understand SOVEREIGNTY. He wants release, vengeance. Although the Bible speaks against vengeance seeking or taking and the Lord Jesus forgave His murderers on the Cross, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) are human, perhaps not even fully evolved into human beings. They made so much noise about MOSLEM-MOSLEM ticket as if LATEEF Jakande and RAFIU JAFOJO, once Governor and Deputy Governor in Lagos, were not moslems and ran the best state government. How could they have so easily forgotten that MOSHOOD KASHIMAWO ABIOLA and Babagana kingibe who won the later annuled Presidential election that was the fairest in Nigeria was not another joint Moslem ticket. We must thank Rev. Fr Kukah, one of the lone voices in Christianity, who dismissed the Christian genocide claims of CAN. Dr William Folorunso KUMUYI of the Deeper Life Church, was reported to have made a statement in favour of Nigeria which the church later refuted. General Overseers of the big churches are keeping silent as if a shaky firmament that will not not hurt members of their congregation if it crashes. Religious highway men on radio are busy promising prosperity and dictating bank account numbers as if The Almighty Creator arbitrarily dispenses His blessings on creatures who do not deserve them.

YOUNG NIGERIANS

Their displeasure with Nigeria is palpable. They willingly support President Trump. They believe their country had failed them. They probably do not know that President John F Kennedy in his inaugural address on 20 January 1961 told Americans: “ THINK NOT OF WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, BUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY” . President Trump may be coming for WHAT HE CAN DO FOR HIS COUNTRY. He is probably focused on Nigeria’s huge lithium deposits which America needs to grow its economy. Elon Musk has come here several times for an export licence. Nigeria said no, set up a company here and export the products to America. Young Nigerians see their country as a blast furnace and America as Eldorado . President Trump may wish to edge China out of Nigeria’s market. What would that mean for Nigeria’s merchants? America doesn’t deal with people like them.

THE NORTH.

It has always been the problem of Nigeria or its sick baby. It denied the Government the political will to clear the insecurity mess it causes. When the Army managed to defeat some insurgents, they were not joyfully prosecuted, if they were at all. In the end, we are told they have “repented” ,have undergone psychotherapy and recruited into the armed forces. Hence, they became moles and endanger the lives of our troops. Now, the chicken has come home to roost … So, we should expect that the North would expect President Tinubu, to protect them. They know America knows them…

PRESIDENT TINUBU

There he goes, but not as a sacrificial lamb or martyr. He is a strong willed and street wise man with the tinge of heroism in his temperament. On top of that, he is courageous, strong willed, street wise and gifted as well with native Nigerian wisdom. Psychological war does not break him. He carries deep within the grains of diplomacy from his culture. He knows what to give and when to, and what to not take.

OUR HEALTH

I submitted a different column last Sunday, but had to write this one all through Monday night to Tuesday dawn when the crisis thickened. Many of us give too much of ourselves to our country. We have had sleepless nights, skipped heartbeats, experienced fear and anxiety since this trouble thickened. We may be close to brain questions, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol, nervous system challenges, and other related health blues. For the President, first lady and cabinet, everyone who came to sleep over this “peculiar concern” is missing heart beats or rising blood cholesterol and hypertension, I suggest the following food supplements to be added to the diet immediately

BRAIN

Lecithin, Gingko biloba, Gotu kola, ginseng, Omega 3 fatty acid, magnesium threonate, co enzyme Q 10 or ubiquinol.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Lavender, valerian root, kava, Ashwaghandah, chamomile, passion flower, Gingko biloba

NERVES

Lemon balm, high dosage Vitamin B Complex,

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HEART, BLOOD QUESTIONS

Wheat grass, mixed tocopherols, selenium, chlorophyll-2, cayenne or black pepper, regenerating drink, CO Q 10 or ubiquinol. Although Nigeria has become a concern in the thinking of the American Presidency, many Nigerians are still confident to say ALO IRE O, ABO IRE O. (Goodness shall follow you to America and return with you).