Leaders in third world countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, enjoy being disgraced out of office. Their shenanigans are legendary and rank very high on the dark flanks of Africa. Just think about this inglorious list of shamed African leaders: Yahaya Jammeh, Robert Mugabe, Jacob Zuma, Siad Barre, Dawuda Jawara, Mobutu Seseseko, Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, Charles Taylor, Laurent Gbagbo and Mengistu Haile Mariam. These people insisted on holding on to power against the tide, while their people wallowed in hunger, poverty, disease, unemployment, insecurity and deep-rooted division. Many of them were massively corrupt and incompetent. They were eventually disgraced out…

The aim here is to summarise my current position on the question of geopolitical restructuring of Nigeria. I say “current” because as far as I can remember, I started thinking seriously – and then debating and writing – about restructuring from 1986 as a member of the Political Bureau. Today, 32 years later, I am still thinking and writing on the subject. The present piece is implicitly a draft memo on this important political subject to the Nigerian Left. And, for the avoidance of doubt, the category “Nigerian Left” means the aggregate of socialism and popular democracy in Nigeria today.…