Opinions

12 Judases Of June 12 Who Betrayed MKO Abiola (HOPE ’93)

Published

6 years ago

June 12, 2019

Dare Babarinsa, veteran journalist and author of ‘House Of War’ that tour de force of a book on the second republic politics in Nigeria reported MKO Abiola to have said in one of his post-June 12 statements before he was arrested and incarcerated. But what prompted the statement? Why that defiant stance?
June 12 remains a watershed in the history of Nigeria. June 12, 1993, was the day Nigerians placed national interest above primordial sentiments. Nigerians conducted themselves in an orderly manner and filed out to choose the person they would like to be at the helm of affairs of the country in a bid to send the soldiers back to their barracks.
The election was a two-horse race in which Moshood Kashimawo Olawale of the Social Democratic Party(SDP) squared up to Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). Abiola’s horse coasted home to victory ahead of Tofa’s eagle. However, after the horse had breasted the tape the race was cancelled. Ibrahim Babangida the Head of States then ordered a fresh election and that was what prompted the opening statement credited to the late M.K.O Abiola. The late business mogul remained as stubborn as a mule and demanded the validation of his mandate. The rest, as they say, is history.
The enemies of June 12 were legion. But in celebration of the June 12 epoch, we take a look at those who belonged to the Abiola’s camp initially but became turncoats as the battle to reclaim his mandate thickened. These are the people, dead or alive, who shouted themselves hoarse while chorusing Hossana in support of Abiola on the eve of June 12 only to abandon him and start shouting crucify him as he wobbled under the cross of June 12 and traipsed through Golgotha to pay the supreme price for democracy.

IBRAHIM BABANGIDA

The “evil genius” was the head of the military government from 1985 to1993. History will remember him as the prime architect of the June 12 debacle. He came up with the two parties, Social Democratic Party(SDP) and the National Republic Convection(NRC). One, a little to the left and the other a little to the right—on these platforms MKO Abiola and Basiru Tofa respectively contested. The gap-toothed dictator annulled the June 12 election on June 21, 1993, when it was clear that the winner was the late MKO Abiola and ordered a fresh election.
Abiola refused to go to the pools again. Often called Maradona– after the rotund diminutive football genius from Argentina– for his political deftness, Babangida would later feint and dribble the nation into a political cul de sac. On August 26, 1993, Babangida announced his exit by saying he would ” step aside” thus adding a new word to our ever increasing repertoire of political lexicons. By that singular action, he ushered in the Interim National Government(ING) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
However, things used to be rosy between the self-avowed evil genius and Abiola before June 12 drove a wedge into their relationship. In fact, MKO said, in his lifetime, that it was Babangida who first mooted the idea of running for the presidency to him. He raised the idea with him during the burial of his first wife, Simbiat, in Lagos in 1992. IBB, as he is fondly called, told MKO that he must contest election as the country could not wait to welcome him as their next president.
Abiola would later regret trusting Babangida while in Abacha’s gulag by saying: ” I believed in a friend. I trusted a friend and he betrayed me. IBB betrayed me.” IBB would later describe June 12 debacle as “unfortunate”.

ERNEST SHONEKAN

A British-trained Nigerian Lawyer and an Egba Man like Abiola. In a move ostensibly make to placate the aggrieved south-western bloc IBB imposed Shonekan as head of an illegitimate contraption called Interim National Government. However,the real reason for installing Shonekan was to upstage his fellow Egba man in a way reminiscent of how Dr Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi(the Federal Minister of Health), in the wake of the political crisis known as operation Weti e that rocked the Western region, was used as a stop-gap by Tafawa Balewa during his declaration of state of emergency( the first in the history of Nigeria) in the region ensured Awolowo had been cooling his feet in prison before installing S.L Akintola his estranged deputy and the Hausa-Fulani minion.
Recounting the events that preceded the imposition of Shonekan as head of ING, Professor Omo Omoruyi, the late political adviser to IBB in his expose of a book titled: “The tale of June 12″ (an insider’s account of the intrigues that characterised Gen. Babangida’s transition), said,: First he ( Shonekan) gave the assurance and undertaking to the outgoing president(Babangida) that under no circumstance would he reopen the June 12 matter. Second, was that he would do everything to divide the Yoruba on the matter of June 12.”
Coincidentally, Abiola and Ladoke Akintola were holders of traditional title of Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland while alive. Shonekan would later be booted out of power on November 17, 1993, through a bloodless coup by General Sanni Abacha. Abacha was the man that brought June 12 drama to its climax.

BABAGANA KINGIBE
A suave retired diplomat who contested against Abiola in the presidential primary election of the SDP and lost. Abiola was persuaded by his friends and political supporters to pick Kingibe as his vice-presidential candidate because of his political clout in the North and closeness to Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua who was the deputy Head of State in the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo. Together they sold HOPE 93 to Nigerians.
Unfortunately, as the plot for the actualization of the June 12 mandate thickened, Kingibe changed camp and ensured that Hope 93 was not just deferred but completely dashed. Kingibe served as foreign minister under Sanni Abacha, the same man that arrested and jailed Abiola with whom he ran on the platform of SDP.
Abiola would later regret choosing Kingibe over Dan Suleiman, a retired air commodore and former military governor from the then middle belt. Abiola referred to Suleiman as a ‘complete gentleman’. MKO said he did know that his running mate had ” extensive connections and relationship” with the security agencies and the military high command. Kingibe contributed to the abortion of the third republic. He would later be honoured by President Muhammadu Buhari with GCON solely because of being Abiola’s running mate. An honour many believe he does not deserve.

TONY ANENIH
In the build-up to the 1993 election when Babagana Kingibe decided to throw his hat into the ring for the presidential primaries in SDP, he stepped down as the Chairman of the party and Anenih took over. He worked for the emergence of Abiola as the winner of the 1993 presidential election. However, the story changed after the annulment.
Annenih was later quoted to have declared that the day the Interim National Government was signed was the happiest day of his life. He even subtly mocked Abiola in his autobiography titled ‘ My Life And Nigerian Politics’. In the book, Anenih said “Chief MKO Abiola as indicated earlier has said that if you want to go to Kano, going by air or going by road does not make any difference as long as you get there.
“His interpretation of this was that going by air meant Abacha taking over from Shonekan and he, Abiola, being sworn in the next day. Going by road was waiting till March 1994, when Shonekan would use the National Assembly to hand over to him because he actually won the election.
“Unfortunately, for Chief Abiola, there was, in fact, no landing, and Kano as the desired destination proved to be a fantasy”.
MKO Abiola regretted doing the bidding of Yar’Adua to ensure the victory of Annenih over Chief Sergeant Awuse. He said Annenih did not consult him before ” he negotiated away our victory”. The late Professor Omo Omoruyi corroborated Abiola’s claim in his book. He, however, included Alhaji Sule Lamido who was the National Secretary of the SDP as being privy to the signing away of the June 12 mandate.

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO

Former Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, like Abiola, is also from Ogun state. In fact, they both(Abiola and Obasanjo) attended Baptist Boys High School. Obasanjo was said to have served as the deputy editor of the school magazine known as the Trumpeter, while Abiola served as editor.
Abiola initially supported Abiola in the struggle to reclaim his mandate. Obasanjo had urged Babangida to relinquish power and stop dawdling on the transition programme. He said, “Annulment or no annulment, Babangida must leave by August 27. He made the promise, he has to keep it.” However, Obasanjo would later become a renegade of the June 12 struggle by saying “Abiola is not the messiah”.
Obasanjo would later become the chief beneficiary of the democracy Abiola paid the supreme price for when he was sworn in on May 29, 1999, as the president of Nigeria. He kept mum on the issue of June 12 throughout his tenure.

OLADIPO DIYA
Like Obasanjo and Abiola, Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya is from Ogun State. He served as second in command to the late dictator, Sani Abacha. Diya had promised that Abacha reign would be brief. Having put his mouth to the nectar of power, Diya started singing a different song. In fact, in the heat of the struggle for the actualization of June 12 Diya became an instant punster; he derided agbako (woe) the coalition of democrats, known as the National Democratic Coalition(NADECO).
He later regretted his action as Abacha, his boss, would later try him for planning to topple his regime.

EBENEZER BABATOPE, OLU ONAGORUWA, LATEEF JAKANDE

The duo of Ebenezer Babatope and Lateef Jakande have always been staunch Awoists. They decided to serve in the Abacha cabinet at the behest of Abiola who thought Abacha would redeem his pledge of having civilians as deputy governors. However, they refused to back out of the deal when it became obvious that the game had changed.
Olu Onagoruwa was a firebrand and legal luminary. He used to be Gani Fawehinmi’s ally and confidant until he decided to serve under Abacha. He was said to have decided to serve in the Abacha cabinet on the prompting of his fellow Odogbolu townsman, Oladipupo Diya. It is a sad thing that Onagoruwa would be reminded as a ‘villain’ of June 12 having sacrificed a lot for activism and human rights. His decision to serve in Abacha’s Cabinet cost him a lot. And he was eventually sacked by the dictator.

LAMIDI ADEDIBU, ARISEKOLA ALAO
Arisekola AlaoBoth were Muslims. In fact, Arisekola held the title of Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland till he died. And like Abiola, he was a businessman. However, both decided to pitch their tent with Sanni Abacha in the battle for the realization of the June 12 mandate. Arisekola and Adedibu hobnob with military men and other enemies of June 12. Arisekola even defended Babangida on the annulment of June 12 election.
At a press conference, he had said: “Wallahi Tallahi, Billahillazi la’ila ha illahuwa, and we are in the month of Ramadan, that is what happened at that time. It was after the election that members of the Armed Forces Ruling Council threatened to kill both MKO Abiola and IBB if he insisted on releasing the result of the election. They threatened to kill both IBB and Abiola,”
Arisekola would later escape death by a whisker when he followed Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar to the premises of the University of Ibadan for an event. Irate students who felt he contributed immensely to thwart the realization of the June 12 mandate attacked him and set his car ablaze.

LATEEF SHOFOLAHAN
Lateef SofolahanA former personal assistant to the late Kudirat Abiola, wife of Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola who was assassinated during the struggle of June 12. Call him an enemy within or a fifth columnist and you will not be far from the truth. Shofolahan was prosecuted along with Al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sanni Abacha over the death of Kudirat Abiola. Shofolahan was travelling in the same car with the late Kudirat Abiola when she was shot in the forehead. Her driver too was killed but Shofolahan miraculously escaped unscathed.
In the court, Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako), who gave evidence as a prosecution witness, narrated how late Kudira Abiola’s personal assistant, Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, gave his boss away to the assailants. Though they would later be discharged and acquitted, Shofolahan will go down in history as a villain and one of the Judases of June 12.
UCHE CHUKWUMERIJE, TOM IKIMI, WALTER OFONAGORO
The lethal troika, and you may throw Jerry Gana into the mix, worked tirelessly against democracy. Blessed with the gift of the gab, they deployed their awesome talent into the services of the anti-democratic forces holding this country in the jugular.
Chukwumerije who served as information minister in the Babangida regime and Shonekan’s ING was a virulent propagandist in the mold of Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of propaganda who kept rationalizing holocaust.
He once called Abiola a generalissimo( referring to his traditional title) that ran away from war. And in a moment of madness even asked General Abacha to sign a Decree outlawing the mention of ‘June 12’ in public places. Chukumerije would also serve as a senator before his death. He benefited from Abiola’s sacrifice as well.
These are just 12 of the many Judases that betrayed MKO Abiola, the Hope ’93 messiah.

Opinions

Between Japan’s Kaizen philosophy and Nigeria’s National Values Charter

Published

4 days ago

January 31, 2025

Seyi Babalola

By Temitope Ajayi

Two days after DeepSeek took the world by surprise, a Financial Times report warned that the West should be worried by how China appears to be leading the Artificial Intelligence race.

Financial Times says the emergence of DeepSeek from the shadows, catching the West unawares, is a strong indication that China has mastered the art of ‘Kaizen’.

I recall that my first encounter with Kaizen, the philosophy that underpins the rise of Japan as the Asian economic powerhouse, is about 10 years now.

Societies like China, Japan, and South Korea that anchor their development models on their culture and value systems continue to break new grounds and are far ahead in innovation and human advancement.

At the heart of Japan’s success, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors, is the work ethics that are firmly rooted in the Kaizen philosophy. ‘Kaizen’ is a Japanese word that means continuous improvement or change for the better. The quest for excellence and attention to detail have been weaved into the social and moral fabrics of Japanese society as a matter of obligation.

It is this philosophy and social imperative that the Japanese take into product designs and execution. It is, therefore, not surprising that the world sees continuous improvement in every new edition of Japanese products like Toyota automobiles.

The concept of Kaizen became popular in the United States by the 1980s when it was discovered that the performance of Japanese companies was much better than their American counterparts. It became apparent that the difference between Japanese and American companies in terms of effectiveness and operational efficiency was the application of the Kaizen principle.

Kaizen philosophy is similar to the Yoruba Omoluabi ethos. Every major ethnic group and subculture in Nigeria and Africa has its own equivalent of such value systems.

We can only imagine our pace of development and progress as a country if we develop a national value system around the virtues of excellence, honour, and integrity. This means our workmen and women will pursue excellence as second nature in everything. Politicians will embrace public service as a matter of honour, and citizens will accept integrity as an article of faith in undertakings.

Our society is hemorrhaging as a result of value degradation. It is heartbreaking how badly we have drifted because we neglected our cultural values and practices that served as the guiding principles of society.

It is the responsibility of leaders at all levels to direct society to embrace enduring values that edify and promote human development. I believe we can still recover lost grounds. This is why the efforts being made by the Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu-led National Orientation Agency to re-ignite a new wave of consciousness through the National Values Charter should be appreciated and promoted. The values charter has already been approved by the Federal Executive Council. President Bola Tinubu is leading this renewed effort to push value re-orientation to the forefront of public policy and national development agenda.

-Ajayi is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity

Opinions

Tinubu’s quest to overcome the power sector gridlock

Published

2 weeks ago

January 20, 2025

Seyi Babalola

By Temitope Ajayi

Angered by the appalling situation of Nigeria’s electricity supply sector over several decades of doing the wrong things by successive governments with no remedy in sight, even after hundreds of billions of public funds had been expended, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 chose a different path that had worked in other jurisdictions.

He reached out to the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel to help solve the protracted power gridlock in Nigeria. The discussion between the two leaders gave birth to the FG-Siemens Energy AG Presidential Power Initiative in 2019. Under the terms of the agreement of the Nigerian Electrification Roadmap, Siemens Energy would ramp up electricity generation in Nigeria to 25,000 megawatt in six years, in three phases, from an average of 4000 megawatts the country had been stuck with for decades.

President Buhari was quite bullish about the project such that he put it under the direct supervision of his office with his Chief of Staff, late Abba Kyari, as the directing officer. The former president who didn’t want the project to be derailed by bureaucratic bottlenecks and red-tape made sure all man-made obstacles and deliberate obstructions were bulldozed with Abba Kyari in charge.

The unfortunate demise of Kyari in 2020 arising from Covid-19 while in Germany to get the power project underway rolled back the speedy implementation of what would have been a game-changer in Nigeria’s elusive quest for a stable and reliable power supply. Nigeria’s economy had been blighted by years of poor electricity supply. From available records, Federal Government has spent over $30 billion dollars to revamp the sector in the last three decades without any substantial progress. The economy is run on generators with Nigerians spending a staggering $10billion dollars (N7.6 trillion) annually on petrol and diesel to run their generators including the cost of maintenance, according to a 2024 report, “Beyond Gensets: Advancing the energy transition in Lagos State” published by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

True to his campaign promise to build on the achievements of his predecessor across all sectors and improve on governance performance in areas where it is required, President Tinubu, in demonstration of his unshaken believe in continuity of governance, took on the FG-Siemens Power Project as part of his priority projects in the energy sector.

It is necessary to state that this all-important power project had suffered undue delays since July, 29, 2020 when the Federal Executive Council approved the payment of €15.21m and N1.708bn as part of Nigeria’s counterpart funding for the offshore and onshore components of the project.

Managing Director, Siemens Energy Nigeria, Seun Suleiman, was quoted as saying then that, “Siemens Energy is committed to working with the Federal Government of Nigeria through the FGNPowerCo to see a successful implementation of the presidential power initiative. We have successfully carried out a similar project in Egypt.

“This project will transform the energy landscape of the country, and we are grateful the government has entrusted us with this notable initiative. We are capable, and we will deliver excellent results.”

In 2021, FGN Power Company, the Special Purpose Vehicle established by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the implementation of the PPI, announced the commencement of the grid network studies and power simulation training for technical experts in the Discos, TCN, NAPTIN and NERC, including provision of specialized power simulation softwares for TCN, NERC and all Discos. By December 2024, more than 100 experts across the sector have been trained on power systems simulation and network planning with skills to better manage the grid operations at various levels.
In the same year 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved the contract for the supply of 10 mobile substations and 10 power transformers by Siemens Energy for quick reinforcement of the grid as part of the pilot Phase of the project. Reports by FGN Power Company indicate that all the equipment have since been supplied and installed across the country.

However, the overall pace of the project delivery in terms of meeting timelines has not been impressive.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu saw the need to continue with the project and how timely delivery can transform the power sector for a country that desperately needs a reliable power supply for industrialisation and grow its economy. The status of the project came up at a bilateral meeting between President Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the latter’s working visit to Nigeria in August 2024 in Abuja. At a follow-up engagement in Dubai in December 2024 during COP28, the Nigerian Government and Siemens Energy AG signed an accelerated performance agreement aimed at expediting the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) to improve electricity supply in Nigeria. The agreement that was signed by Kenny Anuwe, Managing Director/CEO of FGN Power Company and Ms. Nadja Haakansson, Siemens Energy’s Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, was witnessed by President Tinubu and Chancellor Scholz.

Under the accelerated performance agreement, Siemens Energy will see to the end-to-end modernization and expansion of Nigeria’s electric power transmission grid with the full supply, delivery, and installation of Siemens-manufactured equipment.

Furthermore, the agreement will ensure project sustainability and maintenance with full technology transfer and training for Nigerian engineers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

In a major demonstration of President Tinubu’s commitment to the power project and a positive shift towards execution, the President led the Federal Executive Council on December 16, 2024 to approve €161.3 million Euros for the execution of the contracts in the first batch of the Phase one of the projects across the country following earlier approval of the transaction by the Bureau of Public Procurement.

Addressing journalists after the FEC approval, an enthusiastic Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, with the renewed vigour to deliver on the project said, “at the Federal Executive Council meeting, there were basically two approvals for the Federal Ministry of Power, as I presented. The first was actually an approval for the award of contract for engineering, procurement, construction and financing for the implementation of the 331 32 KV And 132 33 KV substations upgrade under Phase One of the Presidential Initiative, popularly known as the Siemens project consequent upon completion of the pilot phase of this project.

“So, the Federal Executive Council considered it necessary for us to move forward as promised by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at a meeting he held with the President of the Republic of Germany.”

The latest FEC approved scope of work includes upgrade of TCN substations in five locations of Abeokuta (330/132/33kV), Ayede (330/132/33kV), Offa (132/33kV), Onitsha (330/132/33kV) and Sokoto (132/33kV). These substations were carefully selected as Batch 1 of the brownfield scope of the Phase 1 projects to increase the wheeling capacity of the transmission network grid.

In the same vein, FGN Power Company will implement assets upgrade and enhancement in the distribution networks, in collaboration with the Distribution Companies (Discos) to ensure last-mile delivery of the evacuated power to industrial customers and residential consumers. These locations are load centres that are currently underserved and require swift enhancements. The execution of the project will be fast tracked and completed under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

It’s important to state that the FGN Power Company has started working on other priority brownfield and Greenfield projects in target load centres across the country. Special attention is also being paid to the execution of systems and products to enhance grid resilience and stability to reduce the frequent occurrences of grid disturbances.

In December 2024, Minister of Power Adelabu commissioned the mobile substation in Saapade, a suburb of Shagamu in Ogun State. This has enhanced power evacuation and delivery to industrial customers within the Shagamu hub. Similarly, another mobile substation was commissioned at the Ajibode area of the University of Ibadan to enhance power delivery to the university community and adjoining areas. Before then, mobile substations and power transformers have been commissioned and energized in Ajah Lagos, Mando Kano, Jebba Kwara State, Okene Kogi, Amukpe Delta, Potiskum Yobe, Apo Abuja and Ihovbor Edo.

While the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative is going on, President Tinubu has equally inaugurated the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to increase the rate of smart metering of all customers in a commercially sustainable manner. The roll out of the metering solutions has started. It is expected that the combined impact of assets upgrade through Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) and metering through the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), coupled with efforts of subnational electricity markets will bring lasting solutions to the challenges of electricity supply in Nigeria.

With President Tinubu’s committed leadership, the parlous state of the power sector will be reversed, and Nigerians and the economy will experience a new lease of life with reliable electricity supply that will geometrically increase productive activities. Indeed, the president’s strategic approach to resolving the multifaceted challenges in the power sector is yielding visible results. The restructuring of the tariff regime, intervention in the commercial imbroglio on gas supply, additional investments in infrastructure through PPI, enactment of the new Electricity Act which provides legal framework for further decentralisation of the sector and devolution of more responsibilities to the subnational governments, are all part of the renewed hope agenda for the power sector to bring sustainable solutions.

-Ajayi is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity

Opinions

Kemi Badenoch: It’s time for a Rethink

Published

1 month ago

December 29, 2024

Seyi Babalola

By Tunde Rahman

Kemi Badenoch’s ill-advised denigration of Nigeria has refused to go away. Her belittlement of the country of her ancestry is still generating passionate public discourse within and outside the media space, and it appears the matter will not go away anytime soon.

Exasperated by Kemi Badenoch’s misguided attacks on Nigeria, Vice President Kashim Shettima recently counseled her to drop the Kemi in her name and bleach her ebony skin to white to further appease her Tory party and British establishment. And perturbed and seemingly lost by all that, my daughter, Kemi Mushinat, who recently graduated in Communication Studies, asked what was wrong with the name Kemi. There is nothing wrong with the name, I explained. But a lot is wrong with Kemi Badenoch (Nee Adegoke), the Leader of the British opposition Conservative Party, who opted to behave, as the Yoruba would describe it, “bi omo ale to fi owo osi ju we ile baba e”, meaning like a bastard who would go out to denigrate her ancestry by pointing the offensive finger at her roots.

Honour and dignity are inherent in the name Oluwakemi, indeed in any name. But what confers dignity, what glorifies a name, is the character the bearer brings into it. Kemi Badenoch left much to be desired, disparaging Nigeria, our motherland. She painted a gory picture of her growing up years in Nigeria from the middle of the 80s to around 1996, highlighting stories of poverty, infrastructure decay, decadence, corruption, police excesses, and leadership failure. Perhaps some of her narratives could be true, particularly in the time that immediately followed the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) misrule and the indiscretion of the emergent military regime. However, her stories reek of generalisations and prejudices often associated with most analyses by a section of Western media and commentators. They view Nigeria with their jaundiced lenses, describing the country as made of a Muslim North and Christian South, oblivious of the various Christian minorities in the North and, the plethora of Muslims in the South and the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the two divides that make a mockery of any analysis of a monolithic North or South. They view us Africans with many unproven, unorthodox assumptions.

My problem is with Mrs. Badenoch, an African, whichever way you slice it, and the character she has chosen. When Vice President Shettima lambasted her for demeaning Nigeria, Kemi Badenoch thought she had a clincher:

“I find it interesting that everybody defines me as Nigerian,” she said. “I identify less with the country than with the specific ethnicity (Yoruba). That’s what I am. I have nothing in common with the people from the North of the country, the Boko Haram where the Islamism is; those were our ethnic enemies and yet you end up being lumped in with those people.”

In that statement, the Tory leader disavowed Nigeria and excoriated the North but exalted the Yoruba. She repudiated the whole, attacking one part of the nation but embracing another. Kemi Badenoch grossly misfired, hiding under the finger of ethnic nationalism.

Perhaps it would have been pardonable if, for instance, she opposed Nigeria’s federal system and canvassed regionalism or confederacy. To condemn one race and elevate another is like playing one part against another. That utterance is dangerous in a diverse and volatile society like ours. The North (read the Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri, Tiv, Birom, Mangu, Ibira, Nupe, and many others who cohabit the entire Northern region) is no enemy of the Yoruba as Mrs Badenoch insinuated. The North voted massively for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba man, to emerge president in 2023, as they did for the late Bashorun MKO Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12 election in 1993. To label them the enemies of the Yoruba is condemnable.

Badenoch’s Yoruba roots emphasise good character and promote good neighbourliness, religious harmony, peaceful co-existence, respect for elders, and respect for other people’s rights. That is why Yoruba intermarry with members of different ethnic groups. It’s also commonplace in Yorubaland to find members of the same family having adherents of Islam and Christianity cohabiting together without any hassles. Boko Haram or its last vestiges poses a security challenge, perhaps a religious and sociopolitical challenge, for Nigeria, not just for the North or the North-east which is why the government and our armed forces have battled to a standstill and are still battling the insurgents.

Therefore, the values the UK Conservative leader espoused did not represent the Yoruba. They are not the values the Yoruba would showcase, uphold, and promote. Yoruba has a rich history of culture, tradition, leadership, and loyalty to constituted authority.

Mrs Badenoch’s formative years, which she derided with negative stories of decadence, perfidy, and corruption, were part of Nigeria’s dark periods when the military held the country and the people by the jugular.

Is Kemi Badenoch now giving the impression that nothing has changed in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, where she grew up after birth in London? Is she giving the impression there have not been significant improvements in the standard of living and infrastructure, with the rehabilitation of existing roads and opening up of new ones; in transportation with the multi-modal system complemented by water transportation and now the rail system, among other things? Despite its challenges, there is no doubt there has been a remarkable development in Lagos from the foundation laid by then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu (now President Tinubu) from 1999 to 2007 till the present Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to the point that Lagos has emerged as one of largest economies in Africa. Lagos State has made significant progress across all indices of development such that if it were a country, it would have ranked the sixth largest economy on the continent.

What has emerged in the entire Kemi Badenoch’s saga is her seeming double-face or multiple-face. When she was campaigning to represent her diverse Dulwich and West Norwood Constituency in the UK Parliament in 2010, she had appealed to the Nigerian community, comprising Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo, under the aegis of “Nigerians for Kemi Badenoch,” pleading for help in the election. A campaign document that surfaced on social media showed she had reached out to all Nigerians in that constituency while highlighting her roots. In that document, Badenoch had said to her Nigerian supporters:

“I need your help. I’m running for parliament in the 2010 UK general elections. The race is very tight. Last year, the News of the World surveyed this constituency, and the forecast was that I would win. Things are much tougher this year as the party has dropped nationally in the polls. I need your help.

“I am asking for your help now to support a Nigerian trying to improve our national image and do something great here.”

After winning the election, however, she deployed her situation in Nigeria as a talking point to rally support for her policies, for which she was accused of exploiting her roots for political gains.

Her rhetoric has drastically changed with her emergence as the Leader of the Conservative Party. In the carriage, conduct and statements, she is now out to please the White establishment, particularly the White wing of her Conservative Party, subjugating her people to make Britain look good. She doesn’t mind running down anyone, including the Nigerian people and the British blacks generally.

Will this advance her politics or status? I do not think so. The British respect culture and tradition. Running down a country’s history and culture may not attract much attention. Britain also respects her relations with other countries, particularly Nigeria, given our age-long relationship. Nigeria is a significant trade and investment partner of the UK in Africa. According to the UK Department for Business and Trade, as of December 20 2024, the total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Nigeria amounted to £7.2 billion in the four quarters up to the end of Q2 2024, an increase of 1.2% or £86 million in current prices from the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023.

Britain would not want to harm that substantial trade partnership and excellent relationship between the two countries in any way.

Also, several Badenoch’s Conservative Party members do not share her attitude towards Nigeria. In Zanzibar, I recently ran into Jake Berry, a top Tory Party member and former Cabinet member in the UK. While discussing the Badenoch matter, he said most Conservative Party members disagreed with her.

Kemi Badenoch has recorded an outstanding achievement in two decades of entering British politics. She joined the Conservative Party at the age of 25. Today, she stands not just as the Leader of the biggest party in Britain’s history but also as the highest black person in the United Kingdom. Her extraordinary accomplishment should have been used to inspire young people to achieve similar feats and as a foundation to inspire positive change in her country of origin, not to denigrate Nigeria or cause division and disaffection among her people. It is not too late for Mrs Badenoch to rethink and toe the line of rectitude.

-Rahman is Senior Special Assistant on Media Matters to President Tinubu.