“For everything there is a season…”

“You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest…” -Louis M Howe, 1871-1936, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 193.

Two years into the four years’ tenures of Nigerian Presidents and Governors are always the seasons for elected officials, their appointees and political stable mates to engage in unbridled dispensation of lies and half-truths – with occasional truth tossed in; if it would help.

For as long as some of us old enough can remember, regions, and later states, had been making giant strides under whoever is President or Governor at the time.

The current President or Governor is usually the greatest President Nigeria or the State ever had.

The President’s Minister of Information and his Senior Special Advisers for Media never miss this particular opportunity; all the 36 states’ Commissioners for Information invariably join the praise-singing at the top of their voices. The media is always there to record and publicise the expected outpouring of self-adulation.

Objective observers would wonder why Nigeria had remained the miserable nation it is with so many giants steps being taken.

Fortunately, in politics as in physics, for every action there is a reaction. Reactions await the sycophants to spoil the fun.

THE POLITICAL OPPOSITION

“Like all God’s creatures, enemies have a purpose in the world. They offer criticism of one’s conduct, albeit unsought, that is not always provided by friends” – Rosenblalt, VBQ p 48.

While the elected officials and those they have invited to “come and eat” are peddling their own bundles of falsehood, deliberately or mistakenly, their enemies, political opposition, or those excluded from eating, are always busy at work, selling their own stuff, you guessed it, lies, half-truths and some truths.

As far as they are concerned, the President and Governors have, at best, done nothing in the last two years; or, at worst, have ruined the nation and their states.

Nothing done by the governments in power was right – not even the payment of staff salaries.

Any member of the opposition who commends a ruling party is quickly marked down as someone about to defect – which might not be too far from the truth; given the track records of Nigerian politicians.

In 2013, no single member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, commended the Jonathan administration for anything – economy, education, security, employment, power and fuel supply, poverty alleviation etc.

No PDP member condemned it for the performance on the same matters.

In 2025, no single member of the PDP has commended the Tinubu government for anything done on the same matters; no APC member has condemned it.

As far as the politicians are concerned, it is all or nothing.

What makes the entire situation so tragic-comical is the fact that these people, regarded as pillars of society, actually believe the nonsense they utter when it suits them.

Foreigners can be forgiven for wondering if they live in the same country.

THE TRAGI-COMEDY OF POLITICAL STATEMENTS

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies” – Dr John Arbuthnot, 1667-1735.  

As the nation approached the 2003 elections, leaders of Alliance for Democracy, AD, still controlled by Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, committed two fatal blunders.

First they decided not to field a presidential candidate.

Second, they agreed to help Obasanjo to win in the South West – where he lost woefully in 1999.

OBJ had promised to allow all their Governors to have an easy ride into second term.

I was alarmed; went to see the late Chief Adebanjo in his law chamber at the Western House to ask why?

His reply was astonishing: “Yoruba leaders of AD had decided to save Obasanjo from the disgrace of not winning in the South-West. In exchange, he will allow their Governors an easy ride”. My reply was simple: “A party without s presidential candidate has very little chance of survival – if all the members can aspire to are Governors and Senators.”

“Dele, you are not a politician.” That was his reply.

In 2003, Obasanjo won the South-West convincingly with the help of AD/Afenifere.

But, something unexpected happened.

PDP swept all AD Governors out of office – except Bola Tinubu; who was opposed to the deal with Obasanjo.

I wrote an article titled REQUIEM FOR AD which earned me a summon from Chief Adebanjo; and a tongue-lashing for wishing the progressives and Afenifere ill.

The testy encounter ended with me saying, “Sir, I wait for when AD/Afenifere will ever again field a strong presidential candidate. 

But, I think it is sunset for AD.” 

Where is AD/Afenifere today?

The PDP is rapidly heading for the graveyard of Nigerian politics – but not without providing us some comical relief from the boring statements politicians release all the time.

This is another season for decamping by political comedians.

In January this year, I was in Ughelli for the 80 anniversary of Government College, Ughelli; and had the opportunity to chat with two politicians who coincidentally were members of APC and PDP.

The State Governor was invited but failed to come.

That absence provoked two side comments.

The APC member whispered to me about how the Governor had been destroying the state.

Just after lunch, the PDP chieftain informed me about the “wonderful work His Excellency had been doing; the best in the history of the state”.  May 29, I called the APC leader to ask for his assessment of the Governor’s two years in office: “Dele, the man had been wonderful.” A second call to the PDP leader, who had not defected brought this report: “The man had been deceiving the people all along; now that they have seen through him, he has decided to run to APC”.  

Expect more of such foolishness.

FIRST JAMB; NOW WASSCE – NIGERIAN EDUCATION IMPERILLED

“Every piece of new technology …will in the end be used quite differently from the way in which its proponents first imagined” – Sir Michael Perry, Chairman, Unilever 1995.

Sir Perry opened my eyes to the inherent dangers every new invention, even those presumed to be most beneficial, posed to human society in the address he delivered in 1995.

From the invention of the first guns to help hunters increase their success rates to super-computers intended to help storage of vast data, crunching of enormous numbers and faster retriever of stored information, computers quickly became tools for vicious dictators and fraudsters – among other unintended consequences.  

Today, smart phones, social media connections and Artificial Intelligence, AI, imperil education and learning in ways too numerous to imagine. Facebook, X, Instagram and Tik Tok were probably not invented to destroy the traditional learning process.

But, that is precisely what they are doing now.

Our nation’s experience lately with problems with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations, WASSCE, have a common cause – the use, misuse and abuse of a few technologies.

Since it is my intention to return to this issue later on, permit me to point out how only one piece of technology – the mobile phone is wrecking Nigerian education at all levels – almost beyond repair.

Democratisation of access to GSM has brought enormous advantages to Nigerian education; it has also unleashed demons which now threaten the sector seriously.

On account of it, Nigerian students no longer study as hard as previous generations.

Instead, they increasingly rely on short cuts – expos, cheating at exams etc – to get through.

Parents and tutors actively participate in the widespread abuse of the opportunities provided for teaching.

It is quite possible that, at the moment, the students who pass examinations on their own constitute a small minority…

To be continued

DONALD TRUMP’S FOLLY

“Converting the Quatari $400bn Boeing 747 into new Air Force One could cost $1,000,000,000” – News Report, June 1, 2025.

Pity the Americans. They elected Donald Trump and Donald Duck resumed at the White House.

Like a lot of global leaders who talk first and think later, Trump went on a state visit to Qatar, a small country with loads of oil money.

He was given a present, a Boeing 747, previously used by the leaders of Qatar – which Donald eagerly accepted.

Talk about taking coal to Newcastle; the plane was manufactured in America.

Furthermore, this is the first time an American President would stoop so low as to accept used vehicle from any country.

And, now, we are being told that it would cost $1 billion to refit the contraption that Duck brought back from Qatar.

Why not just pay Boeing the $1 billion for a brand new plane?