WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine reports fierce fighting in northeast

A senior Ukrainian official reported heavy fighting in the northeast of the country on Sunday, with Kyiv's forces holding their lines and making gains in some areas.

Russia's military said it had halted Ukrainian forces in the northeast. The military also said it brought down down three Ukrainian drones which had tried to strike Moscow and damaged a high-rise building reported to house government offices.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Sunday as "a good day, a powerful day" at the front, particularly near Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces say they are retaking ground lost when Russian forces took the city in May.

Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the drone attacks but Zelenskiy said the war was "gradually returning to Russia's territory - to its symbolic centres".

Russian forces launched the latest in a series of night-time air attacks, striking what officials said was a "non-residential building" in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The hit started a fire but there were no reports of casualties.

Zelenskiy reported that the death toll in a Russian strike on a school in the northern town of Sumy on Saturday had risen to two after rescue teams cleared rubble from the site.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces were "trying to drive us out" of elevated positions in the northeast occupied by Moscow after its February 2022 invasion, but retaken later by Ukrainian troops.

The Russians' key task, she told national television, was to "divert our forces from the Bakhmut area, where we have a successful offensive".

"They have attacked endlessly this week. But our troops resist the attacks and sometimes push them back with heavy losses," she said.

Maliar said the Russians had suffered "no fewer losses than during the heated battles in Bakhmut", which fell to Russian forces after more than 10 months of fighting.

Ukraine last month launched a counter offensive focusing on a southward campaign to drive a wedge between Russian forces holding territory in the east and the annexed Crimean peninsula, and on winning back ground around Bakhmut.

But fierce fighting has also flared around the Ukrainian -held northeastern towns of Kupiansk and Lyman.

Maliar said Russian forces were also "tenaciously trying to seize back" areas on the southern front taken by Ukraine.

Ukraine, she said, had recaptured 200 sq. km. (77 sq. miles) in the south, but advances were limited by entrenched Russian positions and mines.

Russia's Defence Ministry, in its daily account of military activity, said its forces had spotted and deployed rockets to destroy an аrmoured brigade of Ukrainian troops near Svatove, a key Russian-held town in the northeast.

Russian forces, it said, had also repelled four Ukrainian attacks near the town of Lyman, further south.

The battlefield accounts could not be independently verified.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia’s Battlegroup South helicopters destroy tank, two armored personnel carriers

Army aviation helicopter crews destroyed a tank and two armored personnel vehicles, including a US-made M113, in the Donetsk People's Republic settlements of Kleshcheevka and Andreevka near Artemovsk, head of the group’s press center Vadim Astafyev told TASS.

"The aviation forces of the Battlegroup South attacked four points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the Soledar-Artemovsk direction. In addition, the crews of army aviation helicopters destroyed a tank and two armored personnel carriers, one of them a US M113, near the settlements of Kleshcheevka and Andreevka," he stated.

He also added that the artillery of Russia’s Battlegroup South hit an ammunition depot and a launch site for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Krasnoye and Belaya Gora in the Donetsk People's Republic.

"Special forces units of Russia’s Battlegroup South identified and then destroyed by artillery fire three infantry groups with a total strength of up to 14 Ukrainian servicemen, a machine-gun crew, a self-propelled artillery mount, and a mortar in their positions near the settlements of Dyleyevka, Ozaryanovka, Spornoye, Pobeda and Maryinka," he added.

** Russian Navy to receive 30 combat ships this year — Putin

Russia persistently builds up the might of its Navy that will receive 30 combat ships of various classes this year alone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Main Naval Parade on the occasion of Russia’s Navy Day on Sunday.

"Today Russia confidently implements its large-scale objectives of the national maritime policy and persistently builds up the might of its Navy. This year alone, 30 warships of various classes will join it," the Russian leader said.

The combat ships that have entered service with the Russian Navy include the missile corvette Merkury named in honor of the Black Sea Fleet’s sailing ship that gained its glory in the 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish War, the head of state pointed out.

"It is good that the tradition of giving its name to Russian Navy ships has been revived. The St. George’s naval flag was raised aboard the new Merkury as a sign of our preserved naval traditions, a symbol of courage, valor and steadfastness of naval sailors," Putin said, stressing that "these qualities are displayed in full today as well."

This year, Russia’s Main Naval Parade on the Neva River and in the Kronshtadt roadstead involved 45 combat ships, gunboats and submarines of the Northern, Pacific, Baltic and Black Sea Fleets and about 3,000 troops.

Reuters/Tass

Given all the uncertainty in the world economy today, we have been reminded that for all the authority economics commands, it is still a social science. Many major developments over the past year have departed from the consensus forecast, exposing the limitations of our understanding.

Most notably, many experts and forecasters predicted a recession in the United States this year. But not only have we avoided that (so far); the latest inflation figures have led many sell-side forecasters to write down the probability of a recession happening at all. Suddenly, financial markets are entertaining the idea that policymakers can indeed achieve a soft landing: inflation returns toward its target level (around 2%) without the need for a recession and a sharp increase in unemployment. Equity markets thus are rising, despite remarkably (and perhaps understandably) cautious investor sentiment.

The situation across the Atlantic is also overturning forecasts. Although the United Kingdom’s economy seems to be constantly beleaguered – with GDP growth remaining meager – it nonetheless has avoided a technical recession (defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth). Will the next positive surprise be a sharp reduction in inflation? One issue that pessimists (including the Bank of England) focus on is wage inflation, which summons comparisons to the 1970s wage-price spiral. That episode inaugurated the long era of monetarist orthodoxy, which required that stringent anti-inflation measures take priority over most other economic-policy objectives.

Given the complexity of the UK’s macroeconomic situation, I am still waiting to see if the new optimism sticks. It is worth remembering that, before the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the UK government was a vocal advocate of higher real (inflation-adjusted) wages. Now, its wish is being granted: labor representatives are determined to seek higher nominal wages in response to the sharp, unexpected increases in consumer prices. Policymakers thus should be praying for headline inflation to fall significantly, as that would allow them to claim credit for boosting real wages without the need for an increase in nominal pay.

Another irony, in the UK and some other countries, is the role of monetary growth as a leading indicator of inflationary pressure. Following the large monetary and fiscal stimulus packages rolled out during the pandemic, commentators who focus on the money supply predicted, accurately, that inflation would increase. But many of these commentators had been saying the same thing for the past decade, in response to central banks’ unconventional monetary policies. Their forecasts were wrong until Covid-19 arrived. If they are monetarist true believers, they should be advocating less monetary tightening now that growth in the money supply has slowed.

Between the slight weakening of commodity prices, slower monetary growth, the significant increases in interest rates, and the general stability of long-term inflation expectations, I see good reasons to side, cautiously, with the optimistic camp. But I would hasten to add that central bankers must remain vigilant in guarding against any return to the 1970s.

As always, much will depend on China. After the government abruptly ended its “zero-Covid” policy late last year, growth briefly shot up, and analysts rushed to revise their forecasts. But over the past three months, Chinese economic growth has been disappointing, forcing many to revise their forecasts once again.

Moreover, there is no sign of increased inflation in China, challenging the long-held assumption that China would eventually go from exporting deflation to exporting inflation. True, some might say that the redirection of business and investment away from China will be inflationary; but I have my doubts, considering that some of these moves will be to countries with even lower costs than China. In any case, Chinese policymakers clearly will need to address the weakening of growth and consumption, not to mention other major problems such as rising youth unemployment.

Looking ahead, a major variable to watch will be global commodity prices, which have undergone a surprising reversal since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But it is not clear why that happened or whether it is sustainable. My own hunch is that there have been larger-than-expected shifts toward efficient energy consumption and a wider adoption of alternatives than what was forecasted. But we will need more time and data to determine whether this is really the case.

For the past two decades, it has been fashionable among academic economists to assume that excess global savings have resulted in a lower natural rate of interest. While I respect many of those who held this view, I was never convinced by it, because I saw low interest rates as a consequence of persistently lower-than-expected inflation, which in turn justified accommodative monetary policies. Perhaps now reality is starting to catch up. If so, the long-term “new normal” would be much more normal indeed. Interest rates, finally, would remain above the actual or desired level of inflation.

Project Syndicate

Bosses are being pulled in all directions by tough new rules of the game. How should they respond?

Chief executives have long had to be contortionists, balancing the needs of employees, suppliers and above all shareholders while staying within the limits set by governments. But the twisting and stretching is now more fiendish than ever. The world is becoming dangerous and disorderly as governments try to manipulate corporate behaviour. Global companies and their bosses find themselves being pulled in all directions.

Few multinationals are unscathed. As tensions between China and America ratchet up, chipmakers from Micron to Nvidia have been the target of sanctions. TikTok, a Chinese-owned short-video app, is in the sights of American lawmakers. The Biden administration’s plans to curb outbound investment will encompass private-equity giants and venture capitalists. Once-staid carmakers now find their investments in the spotlight, as countries vie to host the next electric-vehicle factory. China’s tech behemoths have been tamed by Xi Jinping. Everyone from bankers to brewers has been ensnared in America’s toxic culture wars.

All this rips up the unspoken agreement between government and business that held sway in America and much of the West after the 1970s. Businesses aimed for shareholder value, by maximising wealth for their owners, promising efficiency, prosperity and jobs. Governments set taxes and wrote rules but broadly left business alone. Although the gains of the system were not evenly spread across society, trade flourished and consumers benefited from greater choice and cheaper goods.

The rules have changed. Governments are becoming more dirigiste, spurred by fragile supply chains in the pandemic, a more menacing China and the dangers of climate change. Company ceos need a new approach for a new age.

Businesses’ re-entry into politics began in the run-up to the Trump era. By taking a stand on social issues bosses saw a way to signal their distaste for populism—and surely also a way to signal their virtue to their employees and customers. It was around this time that Larry Fink, the boss of BlackRock, America’s largest asset manager, became a proponent of investing using environmental, social and governance principles, or esg.

Yet instead of solving social problems, that seemed only to deepen divisions. As we set out in an extended profile, Mr Fink has been demonised by the right for going too far and the left for not going far enough. He is not alone. Disney’s former boss, Bob Chapek, waged a battle over gay rights with Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, one reason he lost his job. In Britain Dame Alison Rose, head of NatWest, has resigned over the bank’s cancellation of the Brexiteer Nigel Farage, partly over his political views. Such encounters bruise egos but do little for the long-term bottom line.

The real front is broader and the stakes are higher. Governments seem to be everywhere all at once. They want to correct the problems of globalisation by winning back manufacturing jobs. They want to enhance national security by protecting vital technologies. And they want to fight climate change by speeding up decarbonisation.

Each aim is worthy in its own terms. But the means to bring it about are flawed, or involve trade-offs. Manufacturing jobs are not the high-earning prize they are cracked up to be. Roughly $1trn of green subsidies in America will reduce efficiency and raise costs for firms and consumers. America says national security requires “a small yard and high fence”, but unless policymakers are clear about the risks from subsidies, export controls and investment curbs, the yard is likely to get bigger and the fence grow taller. These convulsions affect big firms far more than arguments over who should use which bathroom. Yet, out of joint after the wokelash, few bosses are prepared to say so.

Some companies are wrapping themselves in the flag, so as to become national champions. That has long been the norm in places like China and India, but it is heading West. After Intel broke ground on two chipmaking fabs in America last year, Pat Gelsinger, its head, said that he “could feel the national pride welling up”. Similar jingoism is on display over generative AI. Grandees of venture capital such as Marc Andreessen express horror at the risks of Chinese ai conquering the world.

Others hope that by keeping under the radar, they will avoid political flak. Taking their cue from Jack Ma, the once-outspoken boss of Alibaba who was mercilessly brought to heel by the Chinese government, ceos have ducked out of public view. Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent, surfaced recently only to pay lip service to new guidelines set by the Chinese Communist Party. In America Shein, a fast-fashion giant that is a favourite with Gen Z shoppers, does its best to hide its Chinese roots. So does TikTok, which says it is a “myth” that Bytedance, its owner, is Chinese. Among Western CEOs even a loudmouth like Elon Musk is learning the value of silence in China. His recent visit to Tesla’s factory in Shanghai provided no media access. He did not even tweet.

Yet both of these strategies could easily go wrong. Patriotic cheerleading is a problem when you do business elsewhere in the world. Intel is building fabs not just in America but in Germany, too. The average American multinational has eight foreign subsidiaries; a giant like General Motors has a hundred. And what the boss may see as a stealthy below-the-radar strategy can look to others like sticking your head in the sand. Just ask an American lawmaker where they think TikTok is from.

Corner-office diplomacy

What to do? In a fractious world, businesses cannot hide from politics and geopolitics. But the lesson of the wokelash is that outspokenness can backfire. When deciding whether to speak up, bosses of global firms should use long-term shareholder value as their lodestar. The more directly what they say affects their business, the more credibility they have and the less risk of appearing a fraud or a hypocrite.

This approach may include reminding politicians of the benefits that efficiency and openness once brought to economies around the world. When governments seem to contain a dearth of champions for either, that would be no bad thing.

Governor of Adamawa State has declared a 24-hour curfew across the state as some residents broke into government and private food stores on Sunday.

Witnesses told our correspondent that the looters complained of hardship following the removal of fuel subsidy and the high cost of foodstuff.

“Aside from food items, people were also seen with items such as generator sets, mattresses, and other non-food items were said to have been looted from stores owned by private individuals,” a resident, Manu Haruna, said.

Chief press secretary to the governor, Humwashi Wonosikou, announced the curfew Sunday afternoon.

He said the government was compelled to announce the sit-at-home order to check the activities of the hoodlums in the state capital looting shops and stores.

“The Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has declared a 24-hour curfew on the state, effective immediately Sunday 30th July 2023.

“Governor Fintiri said the curfew followed the dangerous dimension activities of hoodlums had assumed across the state capital as they attacked people with matches and broke into business premises carting away property.

“With the curfew imposed, there will be no movement throughout the state.

“Fintiri said only those on essential duties with valid identification would be permitted to move around during the period of the curfew.

“The Governor is appealing to citizens and residents of the state to comply with the directive, adding that any person found contravening the order would be arrested and made to face the wrath of the law, Wonosikou wrote in the Sunday press release.

The police command in the state similarly released a statement warning residents to be law-abiding and stay away from chaotic activities.

The state’s commissioner of police, Afolabi Babatola, said he had deployed a team drawn from different units to enforce the 24-hour curfew declared by the state government.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on Sunday, announced a one-week ultimatum for coup plotters in Niger to return the democratically elected government or risk the use of force.

“… in the event the authorities demands are not met within one week, take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger such measures may include the use of force,” the ECOWAS communique states. It was read by ECOWAS Commission chairperson, Omar Touray, at the Extraordinary Summit convened in response to the development in Niger.

To this effect, all ECOWAS Chiefs of Defense Staff are to meet immediately. The defence chiefs were charged with holding accountable all those responsible for violence and terror against the lives and property of innocent citizens and residents of Niger.

Reading out the communique in Abuja, Touray noted that the bloc had collectively reached several resolutions including that President Mohammed Bazoum remains the legitimate elected president and head of state of the Republic of Niger as recognised by ECOWAS, AU and the international community.

Again, ECOWAS condemned in the strongest terms what it described as the attempted overthrow of constitutional order in Niger and the illegal detention of Mr Bazoum, members of his family and government officials while calling for the president’s immediate release and reinstatement.

It also condemned the illegal detention of the president since Wednesday, calling it a hostage situation. The bloc added that it would not accept any purported resignation from Mr Bazoum.

In the usual style of coups, heads of state are often coerced into resignation.

ECOWAS said that “authors of the attempted coup are solely and fully responsible for the safety and security of President Mohammed Bazoum as well as members of his family and government.”

PT

• Decry Delay Of Interventions, Repair Of Refineries
• Pregnant Mothers Skip Antenatal Care Over High Transport Fare
• CLO: Current Hardship Orchestrated To Punish Nigerians

Exactly two months after President Bola Tinubu removed subsidy on petrol and said the decision would free up money for education, regular power supply, transport infrastructure and healthcare, Nigerians have started lamenting that they are yet to feel any positive impact of the policy.

Among their complaints is that life has rather become more miserable for them. They criticised the president for ‘foisting an anti-people economic policy’ on the country.

Tinubu had during his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square on Monday, May 29, after he was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th president, stated that the 2023 budget made no provision for fuel subsidy, adding that subsidy payment was no longer justifiable. He promised that his government would instead channel funds into infrastructure and other areas to strengthen the economy.

However, two months after, Nigerians have assessed their lives and concluded that they were far better off two months ago, as it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to attend to their needs and those of their loved ones.

They urged the president to either reverse the policy immediately or fix the nation’s refineries for local refining of petroleum products to bring the pump prices within the reach of the average citizen.

Coordinator of the Arewa Defence League (ADL), Murtala Abubakar, who spoke with The Guardian in Kaduna, said the policy had thrown thousands of families in the northern part of the country into severe hardship.

“A lot of our members who are professionals, artisans, traders, civil servants and businessmen can no longer afford three square meals because of the decision of Tinubu to remove subsidy on fuel at a go.

“It is unfortunate that the government that is supposed to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians is imposing more hardship on us. Imagine the situation we now find ourselves. Instead of the government to go after those who stole subsidy funds, bring them to book and make them to return the money they stole, the government is leaving them to go away freely and imposing hardship on the citizens.

“In a sane society, the subsidy thieves are supposed to be behind bars by now. But this government is shielding them away from prosecution and from returning the money in their possession, which they stole.

“Go to the streets of Kaduna, there are more beggars. People are also selling their properties for survival. People can no longer afford essential foodstuff because prices have skyrocketed and their income is stagnant,” Abubakar said.

A trader and businessman, Alhamdu China, who operates a barber’s shop in Barnawa area of Kaduna, said the removal of fuel subsidy had affected businesses in the state.

“Even the barber’s shop that we are operating is no longer breaking even because our customers are no longer patronising us. This is because we had to increase our prices as a result of high cost of petrol, which we use to power our generators.

“The government should help us, because we don’t have other means of survival apart from this work we are doing. And we have to feed our children, pay school fees and also cater for our domestic needs. This removal of fuel subsidy has killed businesses, and is even sending many people to their untimely graves.

“Go to the hospital, you will see that the number of sick people have increased. And where is the money to buy drugs and food? The price of everything has increased. The government should help Nigerians and solve these problems of poverty and hunger in the land. They should repair our refineries and make them work to make the price of fuel to come down.”

Amina Mustapha took her 15 months malnourished daughter to the Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in Duguri, Alkaleri Council of Bauchi State to get the Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a life-saving essential supply item that treats severe wasting in children under five years, but was told that the food was out of stock. The thought of a fruitless journey overwhelmed her as she was contemplating the next visit. Her community, Yalo, is about 25 kilometres from Duguri and she boarded a truck conveying goods to the area to be able to visit the health facility.

“I will need N1,000 for okada (commercial motorcycle) back home or wait till evening when people will be returning from the market,” she told The Guardian. Her daughter was ostensibly hungry and crying but Amina was helpless. “I will trek because my baby is hungry and I don’t have any money on me to feed her,” she said when asked to attend to the crying baby.

A staff of the clinic, Yahaya Duguri, said most of the patients, particularly pregnant women and nursing mothers, were skipping their antenatal care and immunisation schedules due to high transport fare.

“Their number has reduced compared to what we normally record. Most of them are complaining about the hike in transportation fare. You know most of them are from neighbouring communities. They have to hire a bike,” he said.

The situation is not different at Yelwa Domiciliary PHCC in Bauchi metropolis. One of the auxiliary health care providers, Umar Mohammed, said: “Before, as early as 5:00am you would see so many of them here to pick numbers because of the crowd. Sometimes we attended to more than 300 women. This is about 9:30am and we have less than 150 of them.”

According to him, many of the women lament the high cost of transporting themselves to the clinic. Hanatul Luka was seen at Bayara General Hospital with her antenatal care card arguing with a commercial motorcyclist over the sudden hike in fare.

“Things are really hard. I came here for antenatal with my last N500. I only drank pap this morning. Now, this N500 won’t take me home. This is a distance that I used to spend only N250. How do I come next time for the next antenatal?”, she lamented.

Ruing the situation, Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ibuchukwu Ezike, said it was wrong for anyone to believe that the current hardship in the country is a result of the removal of fuel subsidy.

To him, the increase in the pump price of petrol is not a result of removal of fuel subsidy, because there has never been a subsidy on fuel in the country. He said the current hardship was orchestrated to punish Nigerians.

“CLO does not belong to the school of thought that believes that petroleum products are subsidised for Nigerians since after 1989 when the Ibrahim Babangida junta removed the subsidy on the commodity. The Nigerian students under the umbrella of the radical National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the radical press, Nigeria Medical 

Association (NMA), human rights associations and left organizations then came together to oppose the withdrawal of the subsidy and criminal increase in the pump prices of these products.

“The prices were not increased irrationally, the government introduced some programmes that cushioned the grave effects of subsidy removal from petrol. The protest was tagged anti-Structural Adjustment Programme (Anti- SAP) protest of 1989. Anti-SAP buses were provided for workers, students, professional associations like the NBA, NMA, farmers’ unions and the general public, while there was no increment in school fees, prices of foodstuffs, rents and household goods, but there was increase in salaries of workers. Since that period, there has not been any incident of re-introduction of oil subsidy in Nigeria, rather what we started witnessing was the collapse of oil refineries in the country and the shipping of crude oil out of the shores of Nigeria to be refined in countries where our corrupt and ruthless rulers were said to have built refineries. It was also this time that an independent marketers union was erected to do oil business on behalf of the members of the thieving civilian and military political classes. During this period, the government started paying them for shipping crude oil overseas, and the cost of refining and shipping the products back to Nigeria. This money, known as subsidy, is paid to the marketers and not to the Nigerian people who, thereafter, make returns to our wicked and unconscionable rulers.”

Ezike lamented that the increment in the pump prices of petroleum products had resulted in astronomical hike in the cost of living.

“In fact, everything is adversely affected and the standard of living has gravely fallen. There are increasing cases of social vices like prostitution, armed robbery and joblessness as private employers that can’t cope with payment of staff salaries and allowances and maintenance of offices have downsized their staff strength. The list is inexhaustible,” the CLO official said.

A communications expert, Maxwell Ngene, while commenting on the situation in the country, stated that Nigerians had witnessed unprecedented hardship, noting that, “it has also led to food inflation, devaluation of the naira and low purchasing power.”

According to Ngene, who is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), the last two months has brought Nigeria and her people to their knees.

“Nigerians are very angry and frustrated about the policy. It has led to the worst economic mess ever witnessed in the country since independence. Unfortunately, it portrays the president as an unprepared, unpatriotic, unresponsive and incompetent leader who does not care about public opinion. Since the removal of fuel subsidy, the country has witnessed unprecedented hardship occasioned by food inflation, devaluation of the naira, poor purchasing power, youth restiveness, intolerable living conditions, unemployment, widespread violence and criminality.

“The more troubling thing about fuel subsidy politics is that critics say that it is a scam orchestrated by the power elite. Those who are indifferent also see it as a policy unlikely to benefit Nigerians in the long run. This group of people thinks that the government will mismanage or steal whatever financial gains would stem from it. There’s not just a trust deficit but also a complete collapse of trust. The people do not trust the leaders. What is even more worrisome is that the extremely poor households are the worst hit in a nation that prides itself as the giant of Africa. The salary of civil servants no longer has meaning. The unemployed school leavers seem to have lost hope in the government and the nation. Most of them are now resorting to doing anything, including engaging in criminal activities just to survive.

“The solution, for me, is to revert to where we were before the removal. Efforts must be made to refurbish our ailing refineries and new ones built. If Aliko Dangote can build a refinery, there is no reason a country like Nigeria cannot do so,” Ngene said.
In an open letter to Tinubu titled, ‘Your Withdrawal of Fuel Subsidy by Fiat was Heartless, Reckless and Ill Informed’, which was made available to The Guardian, yesterday, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Adetokunbo Pearse, said those who believed that the President would run a gregarious administration based on his experience as a former governor of Lagos State for eight years and his much celebrated political sagacity had been proven wrong with the policy.

Pearse berated Tinubu for removing the fuel subsidy “without discussion, without negotiation and without consultation”, adding that “the devastating effects of the subsidy removal is that every aspect of daily life will be impacted adversely due to astronomical increase in cost of living.”

According to him, the President has not only unleashed economic hardship on the people “but you have set the nation into panic mode.” Also, the Lagos State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP), yesterday, lamented the effect of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians, saying the Tinubu administration was clueless on economy management. 

The state chairman of the party, Dayo Ekong, who noted that more people are slipping into abject poverty, bemoaned the level of inflation and devaluation of the currency in just two months Tinubu has stayed in office.

Ekong, in a statement, disclosed that the party was working to help youths and other vulnerable groups acquire requisite skills that would stand them in good stead in the society.

“Lagos State Labour Party, in alliance with our national body, expresses shock over the hike in price of petrol by this insensitive administration of Tinubu/APC. The government takes delight punishing instead of making life easy for the people.
“We sympathise with the masses who bear the heaviest brunt of the obnoxious price hike and assure that the LP Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will bring succour to Nigerians when his mandate is recovered. It is just for a while.”

The Guardian

The Federal Government will on Monday meet with the representatives of the organised labour in an effort to prevent the nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

However, the NLC has advised citizens to stock their homes with food items, medicines and other essential things ahead of the commencement of its seven-day strike to protest the removal of fuel subsidies and the escalating cost of living in the country.

The warning, it noted, had become necessary because the strike would cripple the country as movement would be severely curtailed as commercial transport operators would withdraw their services, while markets, schools and healthcare facilities would be forced to shut down.

Assistant General Secretary, NLC, Chris Onyeka, said in an interview with one of our correspondents that the citizens should also minimise their movements so as to avoid being stranded.

NLC has given the government a seven-day ultimatum with threats of a nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. The labour movement in a statement signed by its National President, Joe Ajaero, accused the Tinubu-led Federal Government of failing to meet up with the demands it presented to it following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, which caused an astronomical rise in the pump price of the commodity.

Following the announcement of the strike by the NLC, the government team immediately called for an emergency meeting with the organised labour comprising the NLC and Trade Union Congress with a follow-up meeting on Friday at the State House.

However, officials of the organised labour angrily stormed out of the meeting following the alleged failure of the government team to show up.

Onyeka noted that the labour team would meet with the government on Monday, adding that the outcome of the meeting would determine the next step.

He said, “Nigerians should be prepared. That’s what we are saying. Being prepared means you have to stock food in your house and be economical with your movement at this particular point in time so as to avoid being stranded. It is going to be a nationwide mass protest and we are sure that it will affect every corner of the country. We are seriously mobilising across the nation. We are currently at work at the secretariat alongside the CSOs.

“We may not shut down the power supply system, but as the protest goes on, we may shut down other places depending on the response of the government. The (Friday) meeting didn’t hold at all. The government side was not prepared. The representatives were not available. They didn’t show any seriousness towards what they were doing. One of the things we do is hold dialogues. We don’t run away from the table anytime they call us. We are having another meeting with them on Monday.”

Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers, and the National Union of Electricity Employees, on Saturday, confirmed that they were mobilising their members to ground the supply of fuel and the national electricity grid from Wednesday in response to the planned mass protest called by the NLC.

General Secretary, NUPENG, Afolabi Olawale, told our correspondent, “The congress has taken a unanimous decision and it is mandatory that every affiliate should obey the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress.”

When probed further to confirm if NUPENG was mobilising its members to halt the lifting of petroleum products, Olawale replied, “That’s it. I’ve given you an answer.”

On their part, electricity workers stated that they would shut the national power grid as it was binding on all employees in the sector to join the mass protest.

The acting General Secretary, NUEE, Dominic Igwebuike, stated, “The NUEE is an affiliate of the NLC and I’ve told you that we will join the strike action.

“The issue is that if there’s a deadlock between labour and the government; that means that the mass protest is still going on, and definitely electricity workers, as an affiliate of the NLC, will partake in the mass protest.

“So, all workers in the power sector will join the mass protest on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. It is binding on every staff member to join the strike action. So, if it results in a blackout, the only option is for the government to listen to us if it wants power to return.

“The government should listen to the Nigerian masses who are going through serious suffering right now. That is the only thing we are asking for. So, for now, the protest is going to hold, unless there is a further directive from the NLC.”

National Deputy President, TUC, Tommy Etim, blasted the government over the lack of seriousness shown so far with regard to the negotiations.

“When we got to the Villa on Friday, we waited for almost two hours at the gate for clearance with no intervention. It was after two hours that we were allowed in. By the time we got to the point of the meeting, we realised that the team representing the government failed to show up. So, it is wrong to actually say labour stormed out of the meeting. How can labour storm out of a meeting that did not hold? We felt very disappointed because we did not expect this from the government,” he said.

National Executive Council of the NLC had on Friday endorsed the August 2 nationwide strike and mass protests proposed by the body over the recent hike in the pump price of petrol.

However, the Federal Government had told the NLC that it was legally restrained from embarking on the planned nationwide strike due to the ruling of the National Industrial Court, which restrained organised labour from embarking on the strike.

The steering committee members met the government delegation on Wednesday, where the two parties agreed to reconvene on Friday to get a brief from the government’s subcommittees on mass transit, compressed natural gas and cash transfer.

The steering committee was set up by the Federal Government to draw up intervention plans to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Punch

Some Nigerian lenders are voluntarily increasing staff compensation to enable workers cope with higher costs of living, following government reforms that exacerbated inflation.

Guaranty Trust Holding Co. and Wema Bank Plc have already boosted pay, while Access Holdings Plc — the country’s largest lender — is working on a similar measure, according to spokespeople for the companies.

At Guaranty Trust, raises were “given according to the different cadres of staff, with the highest consideration given to junior staff,” said Oyinade Adegite, the lender’s spokesperson, without mentioning the percentage. Wema Bank said it hiked pay by 45% for all staff.

Nigeria has faced soaring costs since President Bola Tinubu eased currency restrictions and eliminated gasoline subsidies after taking office in May.

In the meantime, the naira has plunged by about 40% against the US dollar and the cost of gasoline has more than tripled. Inflation in the country hit a seven-year high in June, and the government declared an emergency due to surging food prices earlier this month.

Unionized workers in Nigeria are in discussions with the government over how to ease the cost burden, though no action has been taken yet. Meanwhile, some banks are raising salaries to retain staff following a previous exodus of talent.

“When employees are happy with their work conditions, they are more intentional in carrying out their duties, producing better results,” said Mabel Adeteye, head of brands and marketing communications at Wema Bank.

Bloomberg

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia is ready for confrontation with NATO – Putin

Russia is “always ready for any scenario,” President Vladimir Putin told journalists on Saturday, commenting on a potential direct confrontation between the Russian and NATO militaries. The president was answering a question about recent near-collisions involving Russian and American aircraft in Syria. 

“No one wants that,” the president added, pointing to the existing conflict-prevention lines that allow Russian and US officers to talk directly about “any crisis situation.” The fact that these lines still work shows that no side is interested in a conflict, he added. “If someone wants it – and that’s not us – then we’re ready,” Putin added.

The Russian military has reported a total of 23 dangerous incidents involving Russian aircraft and those of the US-led coalition since early 2023, said Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. Most incidents took place in July, he added. 

In 11 cases the Russian pilots recorded being targeted with Western aircraft-targeting systems. Such actions on the part of the US-led coalition led to the automatic engagement of onboard defense systems, which saw Russian aircraft releasing decoy flares, the admiral told journalists.

Moscow has also repeatedly warned Washington and its allies about the risks of a potential direct conflict between Russia and NATO, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Continued Western arms supplies to Kiev only extend the hostilities and make its Western backers engage in the conflict even deeper, Russia said.

** Russian tank destroys Ukrainian armored column

A single Russian tank supported by artillery has stopped a Ukrainian attack that involved around a dozen armored equipment pieces, Russian media reported on Saturday. A video of the battle first appeared on some Telegram channels and was then posted by RIA Novosti.

The fighting took place in Zaporozhye Region, where the Ukrainian troops sought to assault Russian defensive positions, the news agency reported. Russia’s aerial reconnaissance detected a Ukrainian column moving towards the frontline. “We had an armor piece in this area,” a Russian unit commander told RIA Novosti, adding that the tank’s crew was ordered to intercept the enemy and “engaged in a battle.”

Footage purportedly showing the battle showed the Russian tank attacking the Ukrainian column moving along a road while using a tree belt area for cover. The tank’s crew can be seen actively maneuvering while constantly firing on the enemy. Retaliatory fire returned by the Ukrainian forces does not appear to have caused any significant damage to the Russian armor.

The tank managed to destroy a total of seven Ukrainian equipment pieces on its own, the unit commander said, adding that some other Ukrainian armor pieces were also hit by Russian anti-tank missile crews and artillery. The tank did not suffer any serious damage during the encounter, he added.

According to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Ukrainian column included at least two tanks and five US-made MRAP M1224 MaxxPro vehicles. The Russian tank crew forced the Ukrainian group to enter a minefield, where some of their equipment pieces were blown up, the media outlet reported.

The battle came amid Kiev’s attempts to breach Russian defenses during its much-touted counteroffensive. The operation, which started on June 4, has failed to bring about significant changes on the battlefield, almost two months after it was launched.

Ukrainian troops have suffered heavy losses, including Western-supplied heavy armor, during their largely unsuccessful attacks on Russian defenses. According to Western media, Kiev’s backers have also been frustrated by the slow pace of the operation.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the Ukrainian troops had already lost “almost a fifth of NATO kit” provided for their counteroffensive. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the difference between the losses of the two sides as “colossal.” Ukraine lost ten times more soldiers than Russia during the battle, he claimed.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Putin says Russia does not reject talks with Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that an African initiative could be a basis for peace in Ukraine but that Ukrainian attacks made it hard to realise.

He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg on Friday and hearing their calls for Moscow to move ahead with their plan.

"There are provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented," he said. "But there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement."

Reuters reported in June that African mediation in the conflict could begin with confidence-building measures followed by a cessation of hostilities agreement accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West.

Putin said that one of the points in the initiative was a ceasefire. "But the Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation... We cannot cease fire when we are under attack."

On the question of starting peace talks, he said, "We did not reject them... In order for this process to begin, there needs to be agreement on both sides."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire now that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war.

** Russian missile kills 2 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian official says

A Russian missile attack killed two people and blew out apartment windows in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the city council, said.

"An enemy missile hit an open area," Kurtiev said on Telegram. "Unfortunately a man and a woman died. Another woman was injured."

Rescue crews were seen carrying the victims away in body bags in a wooded area beside a railway line a few hundred meters from a station in the city center. Men in uniforms examined pieces of shrapnel and stood beside a crater in the earth several meters wide.

"The blast wave knocked out windows in high-rise buildings and damaged the building of an educational institution and a supermarket," Kurtiev said, adding that psychologists and other services were providing support on the ground.

At one apartment building, a 65-year-old woman who gave her name as Olena, sat behind the shattered window of a parking office booth and crossed herself as she described how she survived the impact uninjured.

"I was sitting here like this," she said, gesticulating as she recalled the moment of the impact. "It was just so unexpected," she said. "All the glass went flying."

Kurtiev said the blast wave broke windows in 13 high-rise buildings and an educational institution.

** More Wagner fighters move closer to Polish border, Poland PM says

A group of a hundred soldiers from the Russian Wagner group have moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.

Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member which has been a full member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance since 1999, has been concerned about the possible spillover of war on to its territory ever since Russian invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Earlier this month, Poland began moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concerns that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

"The situation is getting increasingly dangerous ... Most likely they (the Wagner personnel) will be disguised as the Belarusian border guard and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory (and) destabilise Poland," Morawiecki said at a press conference in Gliwice, western Poland.

"They will most likely try to enter Poland pretending to be illegal migrants and this poses additional threats," Morawiecki said.

However he did not give the source of his information on the Wagner movements, and Anton Motolko, founder of the Belarusian opposition Hajun project which monitors military activity in the country, told Reuters his group had not seen any evidence of the Wagner group moving closer to Grodno.

The city has a potentially significant position given it is near the Suwalki Gap, a strategic strip of land along the Polish-Lithuanian border, which divides Belarus, Russia's ally, from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Earlier in July, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa - where they are involved in a number of conflicts - while they train the Belarusian army.

The following day, some Wagner fighters arrived at the training ground of the 38th airborne assault brigade outside the city of Brest, just a few miles from the Polish border.

Wagner's move to Belarus was part of a deal that ended the group's mutiny attempt in June, when they took control of a Russian military headquarters, marched on Moscow and threatened to tip Russia into civil war, President Vladimir Putin has said.

RT/Reuters

When Pakistani medical student, Salman Ahmad, stood up to twiddle his guitar, to the delight of all, at a student talent show event in a Lahore hotel in 1980, he was oblivious of the raging silent war between religion, music and sports. As he sang, a Pakistani fanatic dashed to the stage, snatched Ahmad's Gibson Les Paul guitar from around his neck and smashed it into smithereens. Nothing happened. The fanatic could not understand Ahmad’s temerity of playing rock music or music in general which Arabs potentates of the Islamic religion once referred to as “a prompting of the Devil” and an affront on Islam. As if leaving frying pan for fire, Ahmad recoiled off music to his other passion of playing cricket. He got it to the highest octave, even playing alongside Imran Khan, Pakistani cricket World Cup player.

Not satisfied with himself, Ahmad made a momentary return to the “prompting of the Devil” on a cricket tour of Bangladesh. He then began to combine classic rock and blues, mixing them with the mystical music and poetry of Islamic Sufism, to form a blend of what he called "Sufi rock". Under threats from the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Ahmad went underground. To Islamists, Zia-ul-Haq got praises for his “de-secularization efforts and stern opposition to Western culture.” To the world out there however, Zia-ul-Haq was authoritarian, especially in his press censorship, religious intolerance and weakening of Pakistani democracy. Upon his death, Ahmad became a celebrated rock star and his songs, a representation of a progressive Pakistan. As he wrote in his biography, Rock and Roll Jihad, it became a life struggle for him to get music positioned as an integral and crucial part of Islam.

Popular American-Nigerian singer, David Adeleke, last week had a brush with his own Pakistani fanatics as he courted the intolerance of Muslim youths. For his temerity at sharing his musical video, Jaye lo on his social media handles, the penalty was a quaint colouring of the social media with hate against his person and music. A Muslim group even set his posters ablaze as a representation of their anger. Davido had misrepresented Islam as the preoccupation of sybarites, they alleged. The Jaye Lo video had backup singers dressed as Muslim faithful, in white flowing apparel and cap. All of a sudden, the group transmuted into hip-hop music dancers. Davido himself sat on a building that looked like the roof of a mosque, complete with a loudspeaker, like a muezzin. The video immediately sparked outrage and divided opinions. How dare Davido drag the holy religion into such typecast of a mundane, pleasure-seeking, dancing groove? By such representation, Davido had painted pagan image of Islam and mis-situated the religion in an imagery of carnal engagement.

The same week, at the Brisbane Stadium in Australia, while Nigerians momentarily forgot the harrowing pain inflicted on them by their new rulers and were wrapped up in celebration of the country’s win in the women World Cup football event, the “prompting of the Devil” debate returned at full throttle. Apparently overtly animated by her 72nd minute maverick shot that netted a third goal for Nigeria against Australia, Super Falcons’ Asisat Oshoala pulled off her shirt, leaving almost her lingerie.

The Oshoala celebratory pull of shirt has since provoked a huge hoopla. Social media went abuzz with back-and-forth conversations wrapped round the act. Photos of Oshoala, a Muslim, praying and wrapped up in the Islamic Hijab, sprung up. She was not only exposed to sexualizing diatribes, Muslims weaponized religion to cast her in the mould of an infidel.

From the time of the earliest theology, theologians of all religions have had dissenting opinions about music. Questions asked are, what is music’s place in religious rituals? Is music beneficial to the soul? Does it encroach on the boundary of morals? Is the problem strictly with some musical instruments? The bata, for instance, an ancient drum associated with the liturgy of traditional religious worship, is frowned at in some churches till date. What occasions and times should particular music be played? Are some genres morally and spiritually unsuitable for some music? And in sports, which require terse dressing to ensure easy movement of concerned sport persons, should female gender sport adherents be part of it and if they are, should they too be tersely clad like their male counterparts?

When traditional African Yoruba music genres of Sakara, 

Apala, Fuji and Waka began to emerge in the early 18th century, they faced strict censure from their listening audience. Most of them had mutated from the Islamic liturgical practice of Ajisari music used to wake Islamic faithful during the fasting period. Though mostly in the form of praise songs and engendered by traditional Yoruba instruments like the solemn-sounding goje violin and a tambourine-like small, round sakara drum hit with a stick, as well as agidigbo, the music’s Arabic ancestry manifested in its traditional percussion instruments which were very implicit. Abibu Oluwa, who pioneered Sakara in the 1930s; Jibowu Barrister of Fuji, Haruna Ishola of Apala and all who came immediately after them faced critics who claimed that they were polluting the Islamic faith with their songs. This necessitated a defence made into a track in an early musical career song of Ayinla Omowura. Alcohol and not music pollutes Islam because even Arabs who lived in Mecca, Ayinla sang, are involved in music. He sang: Ara Mon…Ara Monka ns’esin/Ilu o b’esin je o, oti ma lo b’esin je…

While in 2003/2004, a minor city in Sweden was faced with the row of a woman who got converted to Islam but decided to engage in a legal battle to get her 7-year-old son exempted from music instruction in school, Islam wasn’t the sole attacker of music. American pop musician, Marvin Gaye’s death revealed this. He had had bitter childhood rancour with his father. However, on April 1, 1984, his Christian Minister and strict disciplinarian father committed filicide by shooting him twice in the heart at their Western Heights neighbourhood house in Los Angeles, California. Gay Snr. highly disapproved of his son’s “sexual ambiguity”, with widespread rumour that the hip-hop musician was a homosexual. Gaye was also a user of hard drugs and had gone paranoid and suicidal before he met his untimely death at the age of 45. Indeed, traces of cocaine were found in a later autopsy conducted on his corpse. The older Gay highly excoriated Gaye's career in music and was more resentful that Gaye was closer to his mother Alberta, especially when the musician became the breadwinner for the family. Marvin’s highly successful but sexually explicit Sexual Healing track, from the album, Midnight Love further put a wedge between father and son. How could the son of a Minister sing such song?

Over centuries, Islamic scholars have debated the propriety of music to the religion. Islamic scholars, in the Hadith collections of the late 8th and early 9th centuries, said that even Muhammed was ambivalent about music, shunning and embracing it as inherently haram or as halal. Islamic scholars who preach tolerant views on music say that even in the Qur’an, the prophet never gave a clear statement on music whenever he described social life or gave advice on morals. In a particular Hadith, Muhammed was said to have encouraged songs at weddings, though also prophesying that, at the end of time, music would become one of the signs of moral chaos. Ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi (d. 940) while discussing music in Kitab al-‘iqd al-farid (The Book of the Unique Necklace), which is regarded as one of the oldest surviving texts in Islam, had been quoted to have said: “And sometimes one apprehends the blessings of this world and the next through beautiful melodies. And a proof of that is that they induce generosities of character in performing kindness, and observing family ties, and defending one’s honour, and overlooking faults. And sometimes man will weep over his sins through them, and the heart will be softened from its hardness, and man will remember the joys of the Kingdom [of Heaven], and image it in his mind.” Umayyad Caliph ibn Walid (d. 744) renowned for his asceticism, was quoted to have said, on the reverse: “O, Umaiyads, avoid singing for it decreases shame, increases desire, and destroys manliness, and verily it takes the place of wine and does what drunkenness does. But if you must engage in it, keep the women and children away from it, for singing is the instigator of fornication.”

It was apparently this attitude that Nigerian Netizens took to attacking the duo of Davido and Oshoala last week. Some said that since African values frown at nudity, Oshoala shouldn’t have pulled off her shirt. Did African progenitors, in setting the boundary of culture, reckon with playing football, especially a woman footballer who, seized by a spontaneous celebratory spirit, pulled off her shirt? This intolerance is rank intolerance. It is also failure to apprehend the fact that, unlike what operated in early centuries when religion was lord of the universe, religion has scant influence now. It is this same attitude that is taken to violent reactions to burning of the Quran and, in a lesser degree of bile, reactions to burning the Bible. When far-right politician, Islamphobic Rasmus Paludan, burnt the Quran in Sweden on January 21, 2023, a floodgate of reactions was opened into the debate. About two weeks before this in Stockholm, police claimed they authorized a protest by a man who wanted to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy. He said it was a riposte to Quran-burning outside a Stockholm mosque earlier by an Iraqi immigrant. Were these two Quran and Bible-burning exercises of freedom of expression? Did the culprits, in the process, infringe on the harm principle? The harm principle holds that actions of individuals should be limited only to preventing harm to other individuals. So, what harm is inflicted on a Christian or Muslim if the Quran or the Bible is burnt? Why are they bothered by outward appearances that do not endure, at the expense of the more enduring subject of the soul and humanity?

The defence by religionists is that burning those religious texts is deeply offensive and incites violence or hatred against some individuals or groups. Why can’t Bible and Quran burning incidents be seen as freedom of expression? Why must religionists go violent because a non-living object has been burnt but, in the same vein, see it as the wish of God when a human being is murdered? Does burning of a religious text, in any way, de-masculinize the religion? It has often been said that Muslims see the Quran as not just a book, but a sacred text which holds great spiritual and religious significance and a symbol of the Islamic faith. Its burning is then seen as a visceral attack and insult on Allah, as well as a desecration of Islam. If that is the case, why don’t we leave the all-powerful God to avenge infidels who desecrate the text? Is the God/god of a religion worthy of being worshipped if we have to fight for him?

In Nigeria, so many people have been killed by fanatics on the pretext of fighting for God. Gideon Akaluka was beheaded in Kano in 1995 by a group of nine Wahabists. A man who eventually rose to the zenith of Nigerian banking was even alleged to be part of the conspiracy. In May last year, Deborah Yakubu, a Home Economics sophomore at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was gruesomely murdered for having “blasphemed” Islam and Prophet Muhammed through a voice note on a WhatsApp group she left in response to another student’s post on Islam. She was forcibly pulled out of a room and her student colleagues repeatedly bayoneted her with stones and clubs. They then set her lifeless body on fire as they shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). Till today, Nigerian government’s connivance in this horror is manifest in that, no one has since been brought to book.

There is no difference between the intolerance of those who killed Deborah, those who beheaded Akaluka, the ones calling for Davido’s head over his song and those heaping invectives on Oshoala. They are all united by pristine ignorance and Stone Age sheepish abidance to religious exegeses. One of such was a fellow called Bashir Ahmed, an ex-President Muhammad Buhari’s aide who labeled the video “hurtful" and “disrespectful.” To who? Must he listen to the song? Why not concentrate on listening to the usual Quranic recitation rhymes and leave those who wanted to enjoy Davido’s songs to bother about it? Why should it bother me that someone is tearing the Bible? Those religious texts are not in any way different from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Says Zarathustra. They only assume greater importance in the way we deploy them for the betterment of our lives. The problem is tyranny of the mind, a war that the two religions – Christianity and Islam – inflict on the other person. Why not be content with what you believe in and go to heaven and give others the freedom to go to  hell if they so wish?  Why play God?

The Niger coup, Emefiele and the president’s friend, Asari

Africa slumped again last week into the hands of its traditional enemies. The continent has not been the same since midnight of January 13, 1963. On this day, a band of military putschists, led by Etienne Gnasingbe Eyadema and Emmanuel Bodjolle, shot and killed the civilian president of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio and his wife. Togo then became the first of such violent takeover of men in Khaki in the French and British colonies of Africa, thus breaking the symbolic hymen of the innocence of Africa. The wave of democratization in those erstwhile colonies in the 1990s and 2000s had however made many believe that coups d’etat had become unfashionable and otiose. However, Africa’s turbulent Sahel region, since 2020, has been confronted with a rampaging jihadist insurgency that birthed and nurtured coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. Its latest rupture is Niger. Right now, President Mohamed Bazoum is being confined to his residence by his presidential guard, commanded by 10 coup leaders led by Colonel Amadou Abdramane.

A lot has been written about why the Nigerien coupists struck. International organizations and allies, France, Germany and the United States have also condemned the coup. Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) convoked an emergency meeting in Abuja on Friday. Earlier on Thursday, ECOWAS had “demanded the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum who remains the legitimate and legal President of Niger.” Tinubu also sent the president of neighbouring Benin, Patrice Talon, to Niamey to seek restoration to status quo. Apparently heeding the menacing threat from Colonel Abdramane to any nation not to interfere, Talon has tarried.

From the pattern of coups in Africa, Tinubu and his African leadership can only huff and puff as there is little in form of remedy that can be offered Bazoum. Already, general acceptance of the coup is at a frightening and dizzying point. Youths in Niamey were shown on global television ransacking the headquarters of Bazoum’s PNDS party and setting fire to vehicles kept in it. Youngsters numbering about 1,000 had matched towards the country’s National Assembly, as well as several hundred others who matched out to Dosso town to show solidarity for the coup plotters. The super-power angle to the coup is reflected in Russian flags that were being flung by pro-Abdramane Nigeriens and anti-French, pro-Russian slogans being sung by the protesters.

Aside the probable super-powers angling for the soul of Niger, Bazoum was reported to have run a very fragile government. Several attempts were also made to de-legitimize his government due to contestations over his election outcome. Since taking over power two years ago in what was said to be Niger’s first-ever peaceful transition since independence, Bazoum had been encumbered by legitimacy crises, with some top echelon of the military displeased with him. Niger is also torn apart by dual jihadist onslaughts.

Why African leaders must be bothered about the coup in Niger is the widespread public support it is getting from Nigeriens. While many parts of Africa have realized that coup plotting is evil and the putschists not necessarily as Messianic as they profess, it will be difficult to canvass this in an Africa suffering from the high-handedness of its leadership and the absence of apt mental component in the administration of Africa that can stem descent into hunger by the populace. Rather than flexing muscles in post-coup scenarios, African leaders must run inclusive, people-oriented and developmental governments that will make life livable for their people.

In today’s Nigeria, phenomenal hunger is wracking the bellies of the populace while government keeps on urging the people to salivate an ayangbe aja – grilled dog meat – that they claim awaits the populace at the end of its harrowing economic policies. Meanwhile, principal elements of the government are growing rotund cheeks and wriggling in alleged corruption bazaar in the last two months or so.

In Nigeria last week, for example, the country presented a perfect effigy of Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colours. Colour red however dominated the rainbow picturesque. The treatment given to Godwin Emefiele and Abdulbashir Bawa, erstwhile heads of CBN and EFCC, appears principally vendetta driven. Some say it is indicative of the fact that Nigeria may be going gradually down River Road – apologies to Kenyan writer, Meja Nwangi. At the Federal High Court in Abuja last week, raw brunt of crude power was hoisted for all to see and probably a feel of the governmental engagements to come. Not only was the pronouncement of the court granting Emefiele bail not heeded by a so-called democratic government, but government has also since kept mute as the DSS and the prisons engaged in a show of shame to the chagrin of the whole world. No matter how execrable Emefiele may have behaved as the CBN governor, we owe ourselves the duty of calling for the protection of his human rights. The same man that the DSS, a few months ago, charged for terrorism and terrorism-financing is being charged for possessing a sparrow-hunting dane gun!

The quotation ascribed to the famous Lutherian pastor, Martin Niemollar, should be our national guiding principle. We must not abet high-handed vindictiveness in any guise. After being in Nazi prisons and concentration camp for eight years, Niemolla had made the poetic statement, “first, they came for the socialists and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist… then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew; then they came for me and there was not one left to speak for me.”

Down there in the creeks is an infamous terror-baiting, octopus-statured militant by the name of Asari Dokubo. He has openly wielded AK-47 Assault rifles and has flaunted a rag-tag militia he is training. Right there in Nigeria’s hallowed seat of power, where president of the republic seats, this barrel-chested individual, smarting from an openly advertised visit to the president, insulted Nigeria’s military, claiming that they were not only responsible for stealing the nation’s crude oil, but that he is the one providing security for Nigerians. Our President is still enjoying this raw, dry joke.

Rather than their huff and puff over military hijacks of democracy, African leaders need to be told that the only antidote against coups is good governance. We have had Baby and Papa tyrants in Africa and regimes of massive corruption that have denied the continent of its flourish. We cannot afford to continue on that route. Military adventurers have blighted the vine of Africa. They are responsible for why Nigeria and Africa are this anemic.