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OPINION

For the Three Musketeers of Kano

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By Lasisi Olagunju

An epic poet describes the Fulani hunter as “shepherd of wild animals.” The hunter is also the one “who knows the calm and wild forest, with its many dangerous paths…..” When a man so described describes you as a target, you had better go sew a dress of steel.

If you are from the South-West and you can read, read this: “Our next target now is this geo-political zone.
The south-west geo-political zone.
You know we are good at getting the target. We will do all that is possible to bring them into the fold.” That is from Abdullahi Ganduje, immediate past governor of Kano State and incumbent national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He made the solemn pledge in Akure, the Ondo State capital, after his party’s governorship election victory in that state two weeks ago.
Now, which fold was Ganduje talking about? And who are the “we” that are “good at getting the target”? Ganduje is smart. He chose his words deliberately and carefully. The strongman from Kano has significantly stepped back from his earlier obsession with capturing Oyo and Osun states. He now targets the entire zone. For whom? It can’t be for the APC – the party already has two-thirds of the zone. In Adebayo Faleti’s ‘Ogun Awitele’ (Foretold War), a band of thieves sent a handwritten letter to a village head: “We are coming to rob your people in seven days’ time.” The tone of the letter rattled the Baale and his chiefs. If you are sure of the efficacy of your amulets, you swear by them. The leader of the band of thieves signed his name as Ajiboogunsoro (he-who-wakes-up-to-converse-with-charms). A significant takeaway from that moment of fear and anxiety is the village head’s charge to his security chiefs to always know that no matter how powerful the boastful invaders are, “you should always remember that you are hunters, they are thieves (ode ni yín, olè ni wón)”. What Ganduje, the big man, said is evocative of a deja vu. There is something in Nigeria’s political history that suggests today’s mission as an echo of a daring, fateful yesterday.But, whatever the man might be saying, I suggest he and his “we” take time to watch closely the Eyo masquerade of Lagos and listen attentively to their songs. The Eyo seductively mock their challengers with a folk song composed for colonialism on the futility of its land-grabbing propensity. They sing: “The white man took Oluwole; Lagos did not utter a word. With ease, the white man took Marina; again Lagos was silent. Now, they want to take Isale Eko. They think we are dumb.” The Eyo actually use the Hausa word, Kurumo (deaf and dumb). The Kano man, Ganduje, understands perfectly the imagery of the speechless who is at the same time dead in hearing. I am very sure that no one ever takes the South-West as a zone of the invalid, deaf and dumb.Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is a former governor of Kano State. He has been the boss (and friend) of Ganduje from the beginning of time. In a speech he delivered at the convocation ceremony of Skyline University, Kano, two weeks ago, Kwankwaso claimed that “Lagos” was working hard to enslave the whole North. He said: “Today, we can see very clearly that there is a lot of efforts from the Lagos axis to colonize this part of the country.” Kwankwaso is an old war horse and a rambunctious power-player. You ignore him at your peril, and to your sorrowYou remember a gentleman called Festus Odimegwu, a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Breweries Plc who was made the chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) by President Goodluck Jonathan? In October, 2013, because Odimegwu said “No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816″ (1866?), Kwankwaso stormed the Villa and asked President Jonathan to sack the man as NPC chairman. Kwankwaso told State House correspondents after meeting Jonathan: “I also raised the issue of the chairman of the National Population Commission, NPC, headed by one Festus Odimegwu. We are not happy about that appointment, and (we) think that it was a mistake. He (Odimegwu) had only worked in the alcoholic industry all his life. And my guess is that he’s taking a lot of his products and that is why we feel that his appointment is a mistake because he cannot be the chairman of NPC and at the same time attack what his predecessors have done.” With “automatic alacrity”, Jonathan obeyed Kwankwaso and asked Odimegwu to go on October 17, 2013. That is how you feel the power of power.Ganduje was direct in naming his target: the South-West. Kwankwaso went poetic; Lagos was (is) his metaphor for the West. The man who wants to be president of Nigeria also spoke on tax collection. He said: “Today, we are aware that the Lagos young men are working so hard to impose taxes and take away our taxes from Kano and this part of the country to Lagos.” Who are Kwankwaso’s “Lagos young men”? And what VAT is Kwankwaso fighting over? VAT from confiscated products of “the alcoholic industry”? Or from the leveled groundnut pyramids of Kano?Kwankwaso spoke about colonialism; Ganduje spoke about “getting the target.” Those two deserve more than anyone’s passing attention. Between them, Kano has been a captive cripple since 1999. Ibrahim Shekarau who acted during an interlude was Kwankwaso’s permanent secretary. The incumbent governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is Kwankwaso’s son-in-law. Check the figures: How many poor people did they meet in Kano in 1999, how many do they have now? In his ‘The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance,’ Abraham Maslow wrote in 1966: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Some describe what Maslow propounded as the ‘law of the instrument’. Others say it is the ‘law of the hammer’. Yet, some other analysts prefer to christen it ‘Maslow’s hammer’ or ‘the golden hammer.’ For persons whose idea of leadership is all about slave raiding, zone targeting and capturing, their choice of mission will always employ the rhetoric of slavery.While Ganduje and Kwankwaso are doing their own their ways, the third Kano man, Shekarau, has been busy setting up a group he calls League of Northern Democrats (LND). At a meeting with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna some days ago, a more nuanced Shekarau spoke on why he is doing what he is doing: “This marks the beginning of what we hope will be a transformative coalition for Northern Nigeria to confront its challenges…The challenges facing our region – poverty, insecurity, illiteracy, religious intolerance, disunity, and diminishing political influence – are indeed serious. The North is today in an ugly situation…” There is a fitting quote here attributed to Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Those who disfigured the face of beautiful northern Nigeria cannot now beautify it. You know what happened when the monkey insisted she wanted to beautify her child’s ugly face? She pushed the eyeballs deeper into the sockets. Monkey’s fingers are not structured to beautify anything. Take a look at them.So, when I heard Ganduje say that his target was the South-West, I wondered why it is not his “target” that Kano’s groundnut pyramids are restored. And, when Kwankwaso said ‘Lagos’ was determined to colonise his “part of the country”, you should wonder why his rhetoric was all about power and not how to make his part of the country as safe and prosperous as the part where Lagos belongs. And Shekarau spoke about the North’s “diminishing political influence.” If I would counsel him, I would suggest that what the North of 2024 needs to regain its mojo is for its leaders to make the region safe by educating their young, and empowering and feeding their poor without enslaving them.I call Kwankwaso, Ganduje and Shekarau the three musketeers of Kano. A soldier armed with a musket is a musketeer. In French history, we read of the Musketeers of the Guard (Mousquetaires de la garde) or the King’s Musketeers (Mousquetaires du roi). They existed to fight the king’s battles. Their exploits of guile, of swordsmanship and chivalry later spilt over to the plains of popular culture. Because of them, we have books and films with ‘The Three Musketeers’ (Les Trois Mousquetaires) as titles. The story of Kano since 1999 has been an intricate story of war and romance among those three musketeers who shared the years equally among them. They are not done with that city state, and with their North. They are not even done with the whole country. That is what you get when an elite band targets, captures and enslaves an enclave. Get your popcorn. They appear gearing up for war – with “Lagos”. And a good fight is coming.

OPINION

Mohammed: A Visionary Leader Revolutionizing The Paradigm Of JEDC

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By Friday Adakole Elijah

On October 18, 2022, Engr. Abdu Bello Mohammed assumed the mantle of leadership as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc thereby inheriting a plethora of formidable challenges that threatened to stifle the organization’s growth.

Undeterred by the complexities of the task, Mohammed embarked on a transformative odyssey, driven by an unwavering determination to catapult the organization to unprecedented heights of success.
As he navigated the labyrinthine landscape of obstacles, including antiquated equipment, inadequate network systems, energy theft, vandalism, and a dearth of skilled manpower, Mohammed’s leadership acumen and strategic prowess proved instrumental in surmounting these challenges.
The introduction of innovative solutions, such as the load-sharing program, ensured that customers received a minimum of 16 hours of daily energy distribution, despite the company receiving only a paltry of the total energy generated to the national grid. Mohammed’s visionary leadership has yielded tangible results, as evidenced by the procurement and installation of cutting-edge equipment, including transformers, network improvement gear, and smart prepaid meters. These initiatives have significantly enhanced the organization’s operational efficiency, underscoring Mohammed’s commitment to excellence. The introduction of the “Debt Discount Promo” has incentivized customers to settle their outstanding debts, thereby reducing the company’s receivables and bolstering its financial stability. Mohammed’s diplomatic finesse has also been on full display, as he has fostered a spirit of cooperation and collaboration through courtesy visits to esteemed stakeholders, including the Governors of Benue, Bauchi, Plateau, and Gombe states, traditional rulers, and security chiefs. His business visit to NASCO Group of Companies, Ashaka Cement and Dangote Cement has underscored the company’s commitment to providing qualitative energy solutions to its esteemed clients, while his confirmation of the appointment of 121 staff and promotion of over 1,600 employees has boosted morale and motivation within the organization. The institution of monthly awards for the best-performing region has injected a healthy dose of competition, driving staff to strive for excellence and embodying Mohammed’s leadership philosophy, which emphasizes empathy, firmness, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. In conclusion, Engr. Abdu Bello Mohammed’s transformative leadership has reinvigorated Jos Electricity Distribution PLC, propelling it toward unprecedented heights of success. His vision, strategic acumen, and diplomatic flair have created a new paradigm for the organization, one that prioritizes efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee welfare. As the organization continues to soar under his guidance, one thing is clear: Jos Electricity Distribution PLC is working, and Engr. Abdu Bello Mohammed is the mastermind behind its resurgence. Elijah is the Head, Corporate Communications, Jos Electricity Distribution PLC.

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OPINION

Looking beyond CBN’s Cocktail of Policies to 2025

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By Toni Kan

Six months ago a friend I go on daily runs with took ill on a Monday evening. It was sudden and by the time I saw him hours later at the hospital, he was lying there very sick, very frail and hooked up to machines.

The diagnosis was sepsis and we were all surprised.

The morning before he took ill, we had gone on a 6km run.
That was 2km more than our usual but there was a reason.
We had gone to a party on Saturday and some “damage” had been done. So that Monday morning we had agreed to run the “foolishness” out of our system.

Sepsis is a major killer in the UK and is described as “a life-threatening condition by  The UK Sepsis Trust which says it “can lead to shock, multiple organ failure and even death if not recognised and treated promptly.

Statistics from the NHS are more sobering. Sepsis “kills five people every hour and accounts for about 50,000 deaths per year in the UK alone.”

So, my friend was lucky to have “listened” to his body and gone to the A&E where he was prescribed a cocktail of drugs that included powerful antibiotics as well as hydrocortisone, vitamin C, thiamine and lots of intravenous fluids.

That incident came to mind as I read the Keynote Address delivered by Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria at the 59th Annual Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) on November 29, 2024.

Nineteen pages long, it was expansive, insightful, comprehensive, wide-ranging, bold and visionary in acknowledging the myriad of issues they met on ground, the challenges encountered so far in fixing them and strategy for the future. It was like a Job Description and a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) rolled into one.

Reading through, the image that loomed before me was of my friend on that hospital bed. When we met in the morning, he was bubbly and rearing to go with none of us the wiser about the bacteria ravaging his system. By evening the bacteria had won and it would have been a different story if doctors had not given him that cocktail of medicines.

The financial system Yemi Cardoso and team met on ground was being ravaged by an unseen bacteria and leading to a system collapse. The prognosis was bad – high inflation, multiple exchange rates, unchecked subsidy and rampant arbitrage, lack of access to international capital markets, poor investor confidence, waning foreign portfolio inflows, declining exchange reserves and decreasing diaspora remittances, a huge FX backlog, excessive money supply growth at 13% annually, fiscal crisis from unprecedented Ways and Means advances to the FG of N22.7 trillion and many more.

Yemi Cardoso was like a doctor who came to the quick realization that urgent action was required to stem the tide and steer the financial ship to a safe port.

What he did, he told the CIBN, was attack with a cocktail of “targeted policies, transparent market operations, effective coordination between monetary and fiscal authorities, and a commitment to rebuild trust.”

What did he think success would look like after this cocktail of policies has been implemented? Cardoso told his audience that what the CBN expects in 2025 and beyond is a regime that will see the CBN “stabilize the exchange rate, curb inflation, strengthen banks’ capital buffers, and foster an environment conducive to the success of both businesses and individuals.”

These are already happening and Olayemi Cardoso was not shy in pointing out areas where progress has been made.

External reserves which fell to $33.22bn in December 2023 have grown back to $40bn the highest level in 3 years and “the equivalent of eight months’ import cover.”

That is a reflection of rising investor confidence evident in the 72% growth in foreign portfolio inflows and increase in diaspora remittances from a monthly average of $300m to $600m with a monthly target of $1bn set by the CBN.

This is being buoyed by the integration of the Nigerian diaspora into our financial system by initiatives like the introduction of the non-resident BVN registration. At the time of writingthis piece, news of an oversubscribed Eurobond issue of $2.2bn filtered out from the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The fiscal crisis from excessive Ways and Means which was the equivalent of almost 11% of our GDP in 2023 before Cardoso and team took over at the CBN has been ended with the backlog of over $7 billion in unfulfilled commitments cleared.

The FX market has been stabilized with a tightening contraction in the gap between the official and parallel markets and more sanity is expected with the take-off on December 2, 2024 of the electronic FX matching system. Analysts are already forecasting that the naira will end the year low.

A regime of transparency has led to regular and improved financial stability reports, balance of payments data, and FX market updates, datasharing, the launch of a new website and technology driven innovations intended to “strengthen the CBN’s credibility and public trust in our policies.”

Speaking at that dinner, Cardoso summarized his ultimate destination as “price and exchange rate stability, catalyze sustainable economic growth, and protect the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians.”

While all these are cause for cheer, challenges remain. The naira is still taking a beating something Cardoso has attributed to buyer’s desperation and a distorted view of the value of the naira relative to the greenback. This will hopefully be solved in 2025 and beyond by “the introduction of the electronic matching system” which “will correct these distortions by enhancing the price discovery process.”

Inflation remains a thorny issue at 33.88% despite efforts to “contain inflation and restore stability” by “raising the Monetary Policy Rate by 875 basis points to 27.5%”. The inflation target of 21.4% is yet to be achieved.

But Cardoso is upbeat: “Our tight monetary policy stance has altered the previous dire trajectory, and we expect a downward trend in 2025. Inflation remains unacceptably high, but the signs are encouraging, particularly given that the full effects of monetary policy typically take 6-9 months to impact the consumer sector.”

To conclude one must ask whether Cardoso and his team have factored in the coming of Donald Trump into their plans for 2025. As Cardoso noted in his keynote, the pandemic, global geopolitical tensions and inflation have had a deleterious effect on emerging markets in the form of “withdrawal of capital flows” thus “creating new challenges for economies like ours.”

Speaking further he noted that “Major central banks are gradually easing their monetary conditions and this shift is slowly reopening access to international capital markets for emerging economies.”

But for how long? Recent comments from Donald Trump in reaction to plans for de–dollarisation by the BRICS nations deserve attention from the CBN as the apex bank looks to the future.

This is important because in October this year, Nigeria formalized its romance with the BRICS bloc by becoming a partner as reported by The Punch. “BRICS has officially expanded its alliance, adding 13 new nations as partner countries, though not as full members…The countries are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.”

High on the agenda of the BRICS nations and their partners is to establish “a unified currency or bolster bilateral trade agreements that bypass the dollar. These efforts aim to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollars…” reports Global Financial Digest

Trump has reacted to this by threatening 100% tariffs on imports from the BRICS nations. As President, Donald Trump’s plans to entrench his America First doctrine and the dollar’s hegemony will hobble plans for de-dollarisation of economies in the BRIC bloc as well as the emerging markets of the global south which remain vulnerable to tectonic shifts in the larger global economy.

This is something that could have repercussions for the Nigerian economy described by Cardoso as a “resource-intensive” country.

Kan is a PR/crisis management expert and financial analyst.

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OPINION

Wanteregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, OFR – A Leader for All Seasons Takes a Final Bow

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A Reminiscence by Iyorwuese Hagher OON.

Wanteregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, Nigeria’s Stormy Petrel, is no more. For more than sixty years, Unongo dominated the Nigerian political stage. He was a groundbreaking catalyst for social progress, a public intellectual, a revolutionary idealogue, a ferocious fighter for social justice, a cultural icon, a peace-builder, and a perpetual source of political enchantment.

Above all, he was the Lion of Tiv and a foremost Nigerian nationalist.

As a young man growing up in Tivland in the Benue Valley, Paul Unongo was nothing special or significant except his good looks. Like other young Tiv children, he was born on fresh green leaves inside his parents’ thatched hut.

He suffered deprivation and the horrendous collective despair of Tiv society.

The Tiv lacked everything that made life meaningful. There was no electricity until the 70s; there was a chronic lack of potable water, and there still is. The Tiv were Nigeria’s designated hewers of wood and drawers of water. They sacrificed sweat and much blood-fighting world wars, building the colonial railways across the country and the two major national bridges on the Benue and Niger rivers uniting the country. And they mined the Tin (Kuza) on the Jos Plateau. They died in droves to make the British empire rich.

The colonists appropriated Tiv agriculture and subverted from food production to cash-crop production of export commodities, mainly soybeans and sesame (renamed Benue seed—Benniseed). Tiv farmed and cheaply sold these crops to the British monopolist John Holt, who determined commodity prices. Meanwhile, the colonial government assessed horrendous taxes payable to the colonial government. They labored extensively and got little to nothing for themselves.

Paul Unongo’s academic brilliance saw him through the Nigerian school system. He tasted the feel of fresh, crisp bank notes working in the Barclays Bank and even rose to be a sub-manager. But Unongo had his sights on being much more than a prisoner of bank vaults. He wanted to pursue education to the farthest, and that he did. He came to Canada to study Psychology at the University of Alberta and Edmonton. But he learned much more than mere psychology.

He became radicalized. The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States profoundly impacted the young Paul Unongo. He enlisted in campus and mainstream Canadian politics that elected Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, in 1968.                                                              

While in Canada, Unongo compared his situation to the appalling conditions of Tiv land, where he came from, and his emerging country, Nigeria, pathetically embroiled in a needlessly shameful civil war. He wanted to return home and make a difference. In his mind, he was both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Soon enough, opportunity dramatically presented itself.

Biafra was gaining world sympathy from the perception that the Nigerian Civil War was a genocide being waged by Northern Muslims against the Christian Easterners. Unongo’s relative and mentor, the Federal Minister of Transport, Hon. J.S. Tarka, enlisted Unongo’s charisma and loquaciousness alongside Rev. Father Akor in the Nigerian diplomatic response to Biafran propaganda. The duo traveled through Canada and the United States, dispelling the propaganda of Northern Muslims warring with Eastern Christians; they were credible voices. They succeeded in their mission.

Both Paul Unongo and the Rev. Father Akor were Northern Christians. Unongo’s effectiveness as a diplomat endeared him to the Yakubu Gowon administration, and he created yet another opportunity to serve by returning home to start and head the Department of Psychology at the University of Lagos. This became the return, the homecoming, and the rebirth of Paul Unongo to Nigeria’s historical and political significance.

Unongo’s decision to return home to Nigeria and join the politics of agitation did not go well with the Tiv political leadership. Hon. J.S. Tarka was particularly miffed that his hitherto brilliant assistant, Paul Unongo, now back from abroad, had grown wings and had a different vision for Tivland. He had enlisted the new military administration in Jos to erode Tarka’s legitimacy, influence, and grip on Tiv politics.

Unongo’s iconic booklet “Where Do We Go from Here”  laid out a coherent manifesto for the nation and Tiv land. He then cheekily announced his arrival on the Nigerian political stage.

“I confess most proudly that I am a Tiv Tribesman but a most dedicated Nigerian nationalist.”

Throughout the sixty years of Unongo’s political reign in Tivland and his activism on the Nigerian political stage, Unongo maintained dual loyalty and allegiance to the country, Nigeria, and his beloved Tiv nation. Paul Unongo’s political mobilization of Tiv cultural dances and performances, finance, the youth, and the elite left little room for Hon. Tarka. Even when J.S. Tarka tried to make a come-back during the Constitutional Conference of 1978, Unongo’s smart moves had Tarka disqualified for not filing taxes on time.  Barrister J.T. Vembe, a young lawyer from Mbakor, his immediate constituency, took his place. Unongo led his team of intellectuals to the 1978 Constitutional Conference to craft the 1979 Constitution, while Tarka retreated ruefully into exile to his Home in Highgate, London. He watched the grave of the great Karl Marx from his bedroom window daily. He resolved to return to Nigeria and avenge his humiliation at the merciless hands of his former political mentee, Paul Iyorpuu Unongo.

As the ban on party politics was lifted, Tarka resuscitated his structures of the UMBC and plotted his revenge even as his body was now wracked with cancer. He rallied his traditional base and even recruited young elements from among Unongo’s elite. He formed the National Club that became the NPN, and Paul Unongo likewise formed an alliance with DR. Nnamdi Azikiwe and became Secretary of the Nigerian People’s Party.

Unongo aggressively entered Tiv and Benue politics, carving a vast political niche and creating a mass of passionate followers. He refused to compromise, dialogue, or seek accommodation with the older generation, which equally fawned over their leader, J.S. Tarka, whom the Tiv loved with a blind passion. Unongo referred to Tarka and his political base as “Those Tiv who belonged to that unique group of false apostle politicians of the First Republic.”

The elite versus masses dichotomy was born and has continued to dictate the political pulse of Benue politics. The 1979 elections were the test case of whether Paul Unongo’s NPP would win the election in Benue State or the NPN headed by J.S. Tarka. The NPP lost, and the NPN won with a landslide. But Paul Unongo took advantage of it. He authored the NPN/NPP alliance that ushered in the Second Republic, to the chagrin of J.S. Tarka, who led the NPN to victory. Indeed, but for Shagari’s strong sense of justice and political sagacity, Unongo’s ministerial position would have been a mere pipe dream. Unongo’s adversarial strategy now gave Benue State more than its share of Ministers.

Tiv Land had both Minister of Steel Development in Unongo, while Hon. Isaac Shaahu became Minister of Commerce. Paul Unongo was a profoundly polarizing personality, and the NPP Party never accepted defeat at the polls. Even after the death of J.S. Tarka in 1980, Unongo’s political fortunes dived. Allegations of corruption from irrefutable whistle-blowers confronted him. He resigned from his ministerial post, as J.S. Tarka had done earlier.

Tarka became a Senator, and his son, Simeon Tarka, became a Member of the House of Representatives. He decisively descended on Paul Unongo, whom he described as “Braggadocio.” Throughout the rest of his life, Paul Unongo suffered electoral defeat after defeat. He was hexed and jinxed to run and never win. He serially lost the race to the Governorship of Benue State and the Senate. He lost the nomination for Presidential flag bearer in the SDP under option A4.

His candidates also lost to the traditional base of Tarka. Unongo continued to lose until he withdrew from all political contests to be a celebrated elder and statesman. In this new role, Unongo profoundly influenced Nigeria’s Military and Civilian presidents, who found his charisma and intellectual appeal on public policy irresistible.

Paul Unongo’s Legacy to Benue

1. Paul Unongo’s generosity was legendary. He gave scholarships to Tiv youth to study in America and Russia and made critical appointments to Tiv sons like Tachia Jooji and Moses Saror at Ajaokuta Steel Company. Before his Ministerial appointment, Unongo had accumulated a sizeable financial chest, and he built Secondary Schools and a Specialist Hospital in Katsina-Ala, the headquarters of one of the newly created Local Governments.

2. Unongo’s alliance and friendship with the Benue-Plateau Governor, J.D. Gomwalk, split the large Tiv Division into three Local government administrations.

3. Unongo pioneered and cultivated the interest of the Tiv youth in academic careers and pursuits.  Unongo claimed, “Concern for Tiv deplorable and unacceptable social condition has forced me to descend from my comfortable ivory tower in Lagos and speak frankly with and to the Tiv people demanding that they face the harsh reality of their miserable backwardness and do something about it.” (Source): “Where Do We Go From Here?”

4. Unongo introduced the Tiv and Benue youth to modernization. He introduced the youth to nightclub life and pop music. Several youths crossed the threshold of morality and became victims of crime and anti-social life. The effect of Unongo on the youth was electrifying and riveting. Although Unongo never drank alcoholic beverages nor smoked, Jos, Gboko, and Makurdi youth danced, drank, and smoked.

They also kept late hours at Juladaco nightclubs. They cultivated long hair, wore the peace pendant, and sang the anthem of the Black Power Movement, “Say it loud, I am black and proud.” He spread the music of peace, love, and harmony. Many of my contemporaries abandoned the quest for higher education to follow the cult-like social movement of Paul Unongo.

5. Paul Unongo has significantly impacted Tivland culture. He has changed mores and morals, even dress codes, and awakened interest in Tivland’s traditional religion and rituals. He has imported costly festivals into Tivland and the un-Tiv practice of keeping corpses for a long time without burying them. To cap it all off, Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo declared himself the spiritual and political leader of Tivland. These claims have not been contested!

6. Unongo gave his wealth and possessions to the people. No Tiv politician has displayed more incredible generosity than Wantaregh. Apart from scholarships, he gave out loans to farmers without seeking repayment. He made the modern life of education, capital accumulation, and social inclusion appealing. Unongo’s entire existence was a labor of love for the Tiv people and Nigeria. He strove to be a change agent to improve the Tiv people’s deplorable plight and sought social inclusion and justice for all.

Unongo’s Legacy to Nigeria

1. Unongo’s contribution to Nigeria’s civil war effort was genuine and patriotic. He said that he undertook it “on the official behalf of the Federal Military Government. I challenged the wisdom of foreign friends, foreign meddlers, foreign apostles of doom and racial hate, and foreign corrupt organized Churches.”

Unongo’s dual loyalty to the Tiv tribe and Nigeria made many Nigerians proud of their culture, as Unongo was fiercely a Tiv cultural icon. Unongo believed in the power of Nigeria’s diversity and the resolute dignity and rights of the ordinary people who had been robbed of their citizenship by a retrogressive traditional cabal that still treated Nigerian citizens as their conquered subjects despite Nigeria being a republic.

He promoted Tiv republicanism and scoffed at offers to be conferred with a traditional chieftaincy. Brazenly, he gave himself a somewhat whimsical and mystical title, “Wanteregh,” son of the land (Son of man?), which he clung to with magisterial fierceness. He was the iconic Tiv leader and sought to teach Tiv values of integrity, courage, boldness, and justice. Unongo was the bright knight with shiny armor who warred against all injustices. He was a total enigma who took life by its horns, making his rules and creating his political, social, and cultural spaces. He lived and died by his terms.

2. Unongo’s greatest gift to Nigeria was his blunt refusal to cooperate with the enemies of Nigeria who tried to enshrine the Sharia law into the 1979 constitution. Unongo led a team of young intellectuals like Mvendaga Jibo, Solomon Daushep Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Omo Omoruyi, Femi Okunnu, and others determined to have a circular constitution.

The supporters of the inclusion of the Sharia law into the Nigerian Constitution made this the most crucial aspect of the Constitution of particular significance. Ultimately, Mr. Unongo’s team prevailed, and the Sharia was left out of the 1999 Constitution. Unongo had won his first major political battle, determined to have a secular nation where religion is private and the Constitution is secular.

3. Unongo was Chair of State Creation at the Constitutional Conference in 1994-95. I was an elected member, and he was a government nominee. I nominated him as Chairman, and we worked hard to create the Apah and Katsina-ala States. But we failed even as Unongo, like Odili, was removed from the all-powerful Chairmanship position that created new states. We successfully recommended the creation of six zones for the country and the establishment of the Federal Character Commission.

Unongo as my Leader

I was in my final year of secondary school in 1968 when Unongo colonized Gboko town. He drove into Gboko with a long convoy of costly cars. He had a security outfit of hundreds of veterans. These security men mounted a guard of honor for Unongo every morning and marched through the town. Unongo’s veteran guards were rumored to have firearms. Unongo was handsome, articulate, elegant, and debonair. He was rarely seen, yet he had a ubiquitous presence, and many youths deserted dormitories to hang around and glimpse the legend. I adored him. I coveted such opulence and his clever ways and overflowing intelligence and confidence.

But I equally feared and hated his moral ecology of excessive permissiveness in breaking barriers and taboos. I was too timid to try these. I also resented him because J.S. Tarka was my first idol. I was born into the Tiv resistance movement against the NPC and its doctrines.  To my youthful sensibilities, Unongo stood for all that was despicable, evil, and reprehensible.

My father, a school headmaster and UMBC activist, a Tarka fanatic, laughed at Unongo’s antics. He believed Unongo’s source of wealth was purely satanic. Tarka had nicknamed Unongo “Braggadocio,” and his followers laughed at Unongo’s antics as merely comical. The Tiv had never seen such concentration of wealth, education, and good looks. I was a young pioneer- (Yan Panya) of the UMBC. My best friends, Peter Dzoho, Yima Sen, and Mfa Ikpa, left their jobs, and Peter abandoned the University to work for the Unongo organization. I held back with great restraint.

Later in life, I drew nearer to Wantaregh, or more correctly, we drew nearer to ourselves. We were in the same Senatorial zone, and when I ran for Senate in 1983, Unongo’s NPP candidate, Chief Atongo, stood down and supported me in the NPN to victory. Despite this, we drew nearer, and his wife, the ever-adoring Vickie Avarave Unongo, my maternal Aunt, made being friends with Unongo so much easier.

When I was nominated Minister in 1995, my leader, Unongo, summoned me to his house in Jos. He convinced his core supporters of why he withdrew his interest in the ministerial position and demanded that they cooperate with me. In 2001, when the Tiv race was on fire, and Tiv people were being killed in neighboring states, Unongo, alongside me, Iyorchia Ayu, Joseph Waku, and General Atom Kpera, worked for peace under the umbrella of the Mzough U Tiv.

Unongo assiduously worked for Northern Unity in his senior age and tried to bring peace to the North. We were both members of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). When, during the Buhari administration, the herders and bandits started assaults and killing of Tiv in Benue State, we continued to dialogue with other Northern leaders. Unongo used his position as the acting Convener of the Northern Elders Forum to condemn wanton ethnic racism, banditry, and genocide against the Tiv.

Unongo’s Last Public Outing

 A week before his final hospitalization and death, Unongo attended a meeting of the Northern Elders in Minna with IBB and in Abuja. On Tuesday, 20 April 2022, Unongo made his last public outing. He asked me to meet him at the Peniel Apartment and escort him to meet the Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, his political protégé.

When we arrived at Ortom’s home at Games Village at 11:am, I held his left arm, and his beloved son Tyolumun Unongo held him on the right side. Slowly and gingerly, we climbed to the top steps and were ushered into Governor Ortom’s living room. The Governor joined us quickly when he was informed. In total embarrassment, Ortom tried to blame me for troubling his leader, Unongo, from coming when he was the one who traditionally went to visit.

But Paul Unongo absorbed the blame and most tearfully recounted how, in the past, Wantaregh had invested heavily in his goodwill to allow the young Ortom to enter politics as Chairman of Guma Local government. He begged Ortom to “bury” him by giving Tyolulum Unongo the ticket to contest the election for the House of Representatives. There was no way the Governor could refuse this request. He accepted all of Unongo’s appeals for his son. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I witnessed this ordeal. It was a political deja vu moment. History was repeating itself.

I remembered how in 1979 Hon. J.S. Tarka had similarly requested that we, the NPN Caucus in Benue State, give his son, Simeon Tarka, nomination to the House of Representatives. Simon Shango, a motley band of young party men, and I vehemently opposed this as undemocratic and demagogic. We were foolish and shallow. Tarka sniffled, and tears rolled down his face. With Tarka crying, the meeting had to end abruptly.

The following day, the party elders approved Tarka’s request when Tarka confided in his health situation that the doctors had given him only a few more months to live. Hon. Simeon Tarka was elected to the House of Representatives the day his father was elected Senator. Tarka returned to the hospital in London soon after he won the 1979 elections, and a few months later, he died a happy man.

The meeting between Ortom and Unongo, both of the Ichongo lineage, and me, from the Ipusu lineage, was chilling and ominous. That same day, 20 April 2022, Unongo left for Jos and was hospitalized. It was his last public outing.

Tyolumun Unongo was not nominated on 5 June 2022 as agreed. Political difficulties and overwhelming forces tied His Excellency Governor Ortom’s hands. If Unongo had succeeded in his appeal to elect Tyolumun, he would have finally earned a political victory. After a series of political setbacks, Unongo had an uncanny belief that his name, Iyorpuu, was a bad omen. Since Tiv’s names were prophetic, Iyorpuu means people disapprove, but Tyolumun means the people approve. Tyolumun was not meant to lose an election. Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo never left his hospital bed till he gave up his ghost five months later.

Wantaregh has left us when there is still so much to be done. Our country, Nigeria, still oozes from the social tumor of virulent poverty and deprivation. The Nigerian political class still generates economic spoils for itself by manipulating ethnic cleavages. Nigeria is still the World’s third-largest Christian and fourth-largest Muslim country. Now that Wantaregh is no longer there, who will have the fearless grace to tell Nigerians to show the World the power of tolerance and love?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Who, like Unongo, will stand with the oppressed whose lives are perilously fragile and raise a voice for their defense?

End of an Era

With the passing of Wantaregh, all of us who have inherited the Leadership Mantle of Tarka or that of  Wantaregh are now political orphans. It is time to declare the end of an era. It is time to break down the walls that have held us prisoners and prevented us from creating history together. It is time to hold hands and remember our common political ancestry. It is time to say no to guile, greed, and disrespect.

May the soul of our hero, our leader of all seasons, Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, rest in peace! 

Prof. Hagher OON, is once represented Nigeria in Canada.

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