Right from the time of independent from Britain, the issue of power sharing between the constituent political blocs that make up Nigeria has always posed a serious challenge, leading to distrust, bitterness and acrimony. At every point in our political history power sharing has always been debated and people have always advocated power rotation between the North and the South but unfortunately much as this has been hotly debated and advocated, it is not expressly enshrined in the nation’s constitution making its implementation somehow cumbersome. And thus, people especially politicians speak of power rotation or zoning when it suits their interest and speak against it when it does not serve their purpose.

Nigeria is a multicultural polity that has not properly internalized the benefits of its sheer size and diversity. The result has always been mutual suspicions, racial prejudice and primordial sentiments at the expense of patriotism and national cohesion. And so, proper definition of the issue of power devolution will be a desirable thing to do to avoid these recurring and needless debates about zoning as we witness whenever a general election is around the corner. The debate about zoning has always followed inconsistent and often hypocritical strain. Nigerians remember zoning when it favors them. And when it doesn’t it is dismissed as undemocratic and unnecessary. I am not against zoning but I believe in specifying and following the rules of engagement ab initio. It is not a good practice to change the rule mid way.

In the build up to 2011 Presidential election, the North had canvassed for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone the Presidency to the North. The argument then was that it is the turn of the North; Obasanjo having taken the slot of the South and Yar’adua having not completed his tenure before his death in 2011. But the Southern opinion leaders had dismissed the argument saying that it is undemocratic and unconstitutional and eventually the contest for the PDP Presidential ticket was thrown open and Goodluck Jonathan emerged as the party’s Presidential candidate. Thus, Jonathan completed Yar’adua’s tenure and served one term of his before he was defeated by the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Now as the match to 2023 general elections draw close, the debate about zoning is reared up again between the North and the Southern politicians. And the Southern politicians apparently have forgotten their previous stand on zoning when the issue came up in 2011. If PDP is going to be fair about the issue of zoning I think the party should zone it to the North for out of the sixteen years the party was at helm of affairs in the country, the South through Obasanjo and Jonathan had almost fourteen years while the North through Yar’adua had barely two years. So, to be equitable and fair, the presidency should be zoned to the North or thrown open for the right candidate to emerge as was the case in 2011.

But if we most talk about power rotation, we must not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is not strictly about North and South. At Independent we have three major political zones – East, West and North. And at present, we have six – North-West, North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-South and South-East political blocs. Again, a cursory look at our political history has shown that all but one zone of this six geo-political zones has not produced the president of this country either by election or by the barrel of the gun. And that region is the North-East region. The North-West has produced Tafawa Belewa, Shehu Shagari, Shehu Umar Yar’adua, Murtala Mohammed and Sani Abacha. The North-Central has produced Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida, and Abdulsalami Abubakar. The South-West has produced Olusegun Obasanjo and Ernest Shonekan, South-South has Goodluck Jonathan while South-East has Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi. Obviously, it is only the North-East comprising, Adamawa, Bornu, Yobe…that has not produced the president of this country. So, if we must talk about equity and fairness, we must begin with the North-East by zoning the presidency to that region. And if we cannot do that then we must jettison the idea of zoning and throw the contest open and let the most suitable get the ticket.

It is on the strength of the foregoing that I wish to congratulate the Ortom-led zoning committee for the courage to throw open the contest for the party presidential ticket. In doing this, they realized that what is important to the party is winning the 2023 election and rescuing the nation from the brink. And this can only be done if the party fields the right candidate. The main task before PDP leadership should be about winning the 2023 Presidential Election and not zoning which is a clear distraction. Thus, I must commend the zoning committee for their recommendation. The party needs to mend fences and brace up for the task ahead. There is no gainsaying the fact that these internal bickering were instigated from outside the party to make it lose track of the onerous task before it.

Yes, without mincing word, I think the current clamor for zoning within the PDP folks are being sponsored by elements outside the party and the moles and disgruntled elements inside the party who are bent on making PDP present a weak candidate to make APC continue to strangulate the nation with inept leadership. These are reactionary forces apprehensive of the emergence of Atiku who evidently is the only one within the PDP fold that can muzzle his way and wrestle power from APC and rescue the nation from the brinks.

The name Atiku sends jitters down the spine of his opponents. The ruling APC is feisty about Atiku. The gang of generals that have had a strangle hold on the nation is wary of Atiku’s political influence in the polity. Everywhere you turn the name Atiku echoes. It all goes to buttress the fact that Atiku is relevant and the nation needs him at this trying period of our political history. His Excellency Atiku Abubakar (GCON), the Wazirin of Adamawa is qualified in every respect to lead the nation. He is a bridge builder, peoples’ manager and a wealth creator. He has achieved tremendous success in public service, business and politics. In spite of the campaign of calumny targeted at him, the odds favor Atiku to emerge as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023. His wealth of experience, his uncommon patriotic zeal and his charisma stand him out as the most outstanding candidate among those aspiring to lead the nation.

Haj. Mohammed, an actress, social activist, politician, can be reached via hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com

Given the avalanche of posts and comments on various social media platforms attesting to what led to the death of the popular gospel singer, Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu, who died on Friday in Abuja, it is no longer news that she was a victim of domestic abuse perpetrated by her husband, Peter.
For instance, Frank Ugochukwu Edwards, a gospel singer like Osinachi lamented her death, saying in a now viral post: “We tried to stop this from happening but that unreasonable human put off a shining light.”

In a similar vein, the ‘Ijoba Orun’ crooner, Lara George, in her reaction to the controversies trailing the death of Osinachi, a fellow gospel musician said “While I still believes in God, “no more mindless religion for me”.

Peter Nwachukwu who was invariably the husband of Osinachi is alleged to have initially sold a dummy to the public by claiming that the now late singer died of throat cancer. However, facts are by each passing day emerging that she actually died due to domestic violence.

In a post through her Instagram page on Saturday, George lamented the prevalence of abuse in marriages and other aspects of life. The musician said people should quit hostile marriage or work place when they notice abuse regardless of societal perception.

She said, “Abuse does not only happen sometimes in marriages. It could also happen at work, in church or in any setting really. I’ll say it again…. It happens in church too. When you smell abuse, err on the side of caution and walk away!” she wrote.

At this juncture, it is expedient to say that Peter could not have had his way in killing Osinachi as virally alleged on social media space and on conventional media space if she had walked away from the marriage before her demise on Friday.

Ostensibly speaking, Peter could not have been different from other wife beaters in our society when the only counsel left for women in troubled marriages is “Don’t quit the marriage for the sake of the children”. Also, the kind of advice that comes from elderly ones, particularly mothers and aunties, “Stay in this marriage. Bear it. Don’t let our enemies laugh at us. In a similar vein, if there are counsels and narratives which Church leaders need to reassess, they are the ones that say women must be submissive to men. The scriptural basis of the advices cannot be argued against as there are so many of such salient scriptures in the bible.

Unfortunately, it is not false to say that the counsels and narratives which sounds logical and sensible on the surface give cover to spousal abuse and the objectification of women as property, particularly when misunderstood from ecclesiastical point of view.

In fact, not few fathers and mothers that are experiencing blissful marriages are unanimous in their views that men of God are wont to counsel that married women should endure violence and abuse, believe that the submission philosophy is a leading factor contributing to gender-based violence and the spate of murder tearing many families apart.
Unfortunately, some of the narratives coming out of the Church have contributed big time to how men view women.

Against the foregoing background, it is expedient to say that Peter couldn’t have been different from his environment; the environment that nurtured him. After all, was it not Philip Zimbardo that posited “That human behavior is more influenced by things outside of us than inside? The ‘situation’ is the external environment. The inner environment is genes, moral history, religious training?”

Be that as it may, it would have been better if it is widely understood that Submission does not mean ‘’Beat her, and turn her to a punching bag”. I have heard men hide behind it, and in other words, it comes off that women are property, which they are not.”

As her death remains shocking to not a few Nigerians, particularly her fans, not few questions are been asked. Some are asking “Why couldn’t Osinachi walk out from the marriage”? The answer to the foregoing is not farfetched as answers to most questions been asked about her death are been provided on the Social and conventional media spaces which have been agog with the death of the notable gospel singer.

For instance, Social media influencer and relationship therapist, Okoro Blessing Nkiruka popularly known as BlessingCEO has called out the church leaders as well as Pastors for not doing much as far as marriages and relationships are concerned. In her comment on her Instagram page, she stated that if the late ‘Ekwueme’ crooner, Osinachi had left her husband, she bet that no church would invite her to sing.

She said that the church and pastors have failed many men and women in marriages, stressing that some of their ideologies and approach to marriage is hypocritical. She said: “If the late Sister Osinachi had left her husband, I bet you no church would invite her to come and sing.

The foregoing comment, has however being pooh-poohed as one of the pastors and counselor to the late singer have spoken out. Pastor Chioma Ibieze claimed that Osinachi didn’t want anyone to interfere in her marital woes as she held unto God to solve it.

The female pastor recounted how God opened her eyes to the challenges the singer was facing and when she spoke to the deceased, she opened up to her in tears.

Pastor Chioma noted how her death could have been averted but she chose to die in silence, to endure the abuse, the pain and the sorrow.

According to the pastor, she begged, pleaded and counseled her but she turned a deaf ear and kept enduring it because she was trusting God to help her.

At this juncture, permit me to say that domestic violence is a society-wide issue that affects people of every race, class, and gender. With this in mind, we all have a responsibility to help stop domestic violence, especially considering the struggles that domestic violence victims face when trying to leave their dangerous situations.

While there is a common misconception that survivors of domestic violence can simply leave their situation, there are a number of reasons why this isn’t the case. There is no denying the fact that domestic violence is an evil that need to be stopped. However, before it can be stopped the victim need to shout and let the world know what he or she is facing. It is better to be single than remain in a marriage that threatens one’s life.

It is a trap that the giant rat disdains that wrenches its testicles backwards.

At the beginning of the year, I had promised that for 12 months, In Shaa Allah, I will once a month X-ray the issues around the forthcoming General Elections in the world’s largest black population and sufacracy. Kindly note my use of the phrase In Shaa Allah. This is number four, and eight more to go.

And I start like this—the war in Ukraine, along with sanctions imposed by the United States and Western countries against Russia, have caused global food, fertilizer, and fuel prices to ‘skyrocket’ and endanger the world food supply. This conflict is exacerbating the existing crisis of global hunger and imperils the living standards and well-being of billions of people – particularly in the Global South.

Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly 30 percent of the world’s wheat and roughly 12 percent of its total calories.

Over the past five years, they have accounted for 17% of the world’s corn, 32% of barley (a critical source of animal feed), and 75% of sunflower oil (an important cooking oil in many countries). On top of this, Russia is the world’s largest supplier of fertilisers and natural gas (a key component in fertiliser production), accounting for 15% of the global trade of nitrogenous fertilisers, 17% of potash fertilisers, 20% of natural gas.

The current crisis threatens to cause a global food shortage. The United Nations has estimated that up to 30% of Ukrainian farmland could become a warzone; in addition, due to sanctions, Russia has been severely restricted in exporting food, fertilizer, and fuel. This has caused global prices to surge. Since the war began, wheat prices have increased by 21%, barley by 33%, and some fertilisers by 40%.

The painful impact of this shock is being felt by people around the world, but most sharply in the Global South. ‘In a word, developing countries are getting pummelled,’ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently remarked.

According to the UN, 45 African and ‘least developed’ countries import at least a third of their wheat from these two Russia or Ukraine – 18 of those countries import at least 50%. Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, obtains over 70% of its imports from Russia and Ukraine, while Turkey obtains over 80%.

Countries of the Global South are already facing severe price shocks and shortages, impacting both consumption and production. In Nigeria, bread prices have risen by 40% in some areas. Meanwhile, Brazil, the world’s largest producer of soybeans, is facing a major reduction in crop yields. The country purchases close to half of its potash fertiliser from Russia and neighbouring Belarus (which is also being sanctioned) – it has only a three-month supply remaining with farmers being instructed to ration.

Dangers that one belittles are liable to cause great havoc…Nigeria is literally producing nothing than selling crude oil and dependent on every other thing else!

Nigeria, be it himself, herself or itself, is a nation that thrives on breaking the rules, one of the major reasons for why we are at this point. We refuse to follow the set rules, we kill what seemed ordinarily our once moderately easy to follow rules, ethos and norms. With each new administration, the signs were there but we refused to see them. Again, the signs are there, that the world may not remain the same…but our would-be leaders come 2023 don’t seem to understand the dynamics I outlined above beyond buying nomination forms.

From top to bottom, it was all messed up, and those vying for elective positions in the General Elections do not know the amount of work to be done if we are to even aspire to the top from the bottom.

Do they have a template in today’s world of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa (BRICS), where Nigeria does not feature beyond collecting all manners of loans, and being indebted to all?

From a top when the Naira outweighed the Dollar, the Nigerian postage stamp carried muscle against the British pounds, the Naira donated to the Rand, and the Brazilian cruzero then was a debt currency, everything Chinese was inferior and India was known for its many gods, Bollywood and cricket. Now we are miles apart, being deported and left to rot in jails in these places. From the point where just, a Naira gave you plenty dollars to now a hundred dollars gives you plenty thousands, infact nearing a hundred thousand Naira. Real bottom!

From a history when most nations were VISA free, to a gradual decline where (1) we beg, pray, fast and then if successful we add a thanksgiving for a VISA to Botswana. (2) To a situation where one of government’s key phrases is foreign direct investment. A nation that cannot invest in itself yet believes that by treating its calabash recklessly, we would get a better treatment from others. We watch the gradual disconnect between governance and good governance, a people and her leaders; that rather than provide leadership, ‘rule’ and ruin them to rock bottom.

Once upon a time, a giant of Africa and big brother, now begging to partner everyone for any project from electricity from Ghana to fuel from Niger, or Beans from Burkina Faso or what is it we wanted from Rwanda again. Really our testicles have been wrenched backwards.

We killed everything that had an N–Nigerian Airways, Nigerian Railway, NITEL, Niger Dock, Nigerian Hospitals, Schools, Nigerian Police, a step at a time we sowed hate, theft, political violence and corruption, watered it and we are acting amused like we never saw it coming. So mobile telephone is South African, best hospitals is Indian, Egyptian, or German but not Nigerian. We invite Mosaad, FBI, Scotland and anyland Yard to solve our never-ending criminal puzzles. Just for those that don’t know, or are feigning ignorance. They are schools in Nigeria where the tuition fees are dollar denominated, shops that only sell in dollars.

Just listen to the old block, Maitama Sule, Emeka Anyaokwu, and though they share the blame, when they talk; you hear of a glorious past and advice on how to get to a desirable future. Sadly, now the dollar talks, Naira shivers, public officials loot in the dollar, and we citizens spend Naira to cowardly defend them because of faith, creed, religion and ethnic cleavages. He/she is not a thief, if he/she comes from my own side of the wood or prays to my own ‘god’.

Private miseducation has long replaced patriotic public education. Nursery rhymes have long replaced the national anthem. Public officials are applauded; people dance and come down with rheumatism for the building of a culvert or borehole. Nigerian has not become Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudanstan but going to Kaduna from Abuja has become Golgotha. It has all changed and how fast it all changed, from Jos, a once peaceful haven to a conflagration of all sorts of bloody and violent clashes. It’s worse in Kaduna, terrible in Katsina and Borno, Zamfara and Sokoto, Kebbi and in the South West criminality and robbery prevails, while gunmen and unknown gunmen hold the East hostage.

That we are now being forced to tell our kids the good old story is painful, not painful because it is the good old story but because they may never see a good Nigeria if we don’t get 2023 right.

All these masquerade dancing egedege do they know we are rock bottom; do they know what’s happening in the global community and how it affects us, are they ready to move from bottom to a middle ground if not top, do they know beyond which zone or region gets presidency, the crown does not cure the headache—only time will

Prince Charles Dickson PhD