By Sunny Igboanugo

The more things change, the more they remain the same, is the English translation of plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, the 1849, epic lines of French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

It is exactly 176 years today. Yet, those lines have remained eternal – a demonstrable example of the fixated nature of human mind and the culture of returning to the convenience of old practices rather than learning new things – the bane of most societies.

In 1998, Sani Abacha, the late military General who till date still hugs the history of being Nigeria’s most despotic leader, was on his way to transmuting into a civilian President. Remember the deafening din then from the political class and how everything was wrapped up towards achieving that end.

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Faced with international pressure and domestic discontent, Abacha who obviously wanted to be Nigeria’s example of what Yoweri Museveni represents today in Uganda, appeared determined to show the world the democratic side of his iron-cast mien.

So, he went to work. The “democrat” he was, he went about returning Nigeria to his version of democratic rule his own way. Having effectively destroyed the platform on which Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO), Abiola was demanding his mandate, it was naturally apposite for him to move to the next stage of conquering Nigeria permanently.

His consigliere must have advised him on how to go about the project. So, in, came the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Grassroot Democracy Movement (GDM), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), and National Center Party of Nigeria (NCPN), the five political parties that Abraham Adesanya, then leader of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), aptly described as the five fingers of a leprous hand.

Remember many people believed that each of them came from the cooking pot in the inner kitchen of Aso Rock where Abacha and his inner cabal were churning out all manner of wacky dishes and forcing them down the throats of Nigerians.

I’m sure you still recall how each of the party leaders paid homage to the same Abacha and on bended knees begged him to remove his Khaki and transmute to civilian President. They not only did that, but one after the other each of them held their conventions, with one outcome – his adoption as presidential candidate.

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So, if death had not struck at the time it did and Abacha did not give way on that fateful day of Monday, June 8, 1998, what it means is that there would have been no contest. He would simply have strolled out from the Villa gate as military Head of State and strolled back in as civilian President. It would be that simple.

Now, don’t get it twisted. This was a time Nigerians considered in history as their darkest period. Never had they known such psychological, if not physical torture – a time people – the ordinary folks, only managed to speak in whispers not knowing who would be listening – when the fear of the ubiquitous Abacha Boys – euphemism for the killing machines looming at every corner – became the beginning of wisdom.

In other words, behind the leadership of those political parties and the general political class trooping to the Villa to make their pitch before the notorious military despot, were millions of Nigerians practically reeling under the gruesome environment of fear that signposted the iron-fist era.

Yet, at the feet of the military General and before television cameras thereafter, these political leaders told the world that their message came direct from their people, who were so happy that God had given the country such a leader with the key to the storehouse of all the goodies beyond the imagination of the human mind.

Today, Nigeria is back to the same darkroom. It is like a reel delivering the images on the huge screen, with spectators who witnessed the past, screaming in unison – Abacha! The only difference is that there are no dark goggles and the man behind them has no tribal marks or does not cut some dummy mien to cover up his steely heart.

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Today, the man we have on the bloc is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Asiwaju of Lagos, the Jagaban Borgu. His imprimatur is not the Abacha goggles. It is a special cap with a peculiar print, some say mimics a broken chain, that is supposed to announce freedom.

What a contradiction in terms regarding the freedom in Nigeria presently. But beyond the marked difference in their physical appearance and their historical background, beyond their individual approach and mannerism, expectedly so, is a notorious binding factor – love for power.

Of course, Nigeria is replete with reluctant leaders, who had power entrusted on them rather than seek it. Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, who at one time or the other had the opportunity of being at the helm of affairs, either as military or civilians, are some of the most common examples.

But not Abacha and not Tinubu. Both not only loved power, they also demonstrated that they knew their way to it. They seemed to have equally been gifted a natural, unique and potent knack for manipulation. For instance, those who knew Abacha, say, right from the time he was a junior officer, he had his eyes on the seat of the Commander-in-Chief.

To achieve his goal, he was said to have his hand in all the successful coups that brought in each military leader so that by the time he finally went for the big prize himself, it was like cruising on a smooth, wide boulevard.

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With Tinubu, the story is no different. Every political coup that was ever hatched in Nigeria, since he happened on the scene, especially since becoming the Governor of Lagos State in 1999, issued from his manipulative machine, such that in 2023, as others were struggling, crisscrossing Nigeria with steamy, energy-sapping campaigns, he was actually picking his teeth quietly and contentedly, in a manner that defied logic.

The only time he ventured on the scene were his cameo appearances at political grounds, where he merely entertained his audience with some uncanny acts – acts that more or less confused, rather than convinced them.

From his Emilokan delivery in Abeokuta to the Balablu Bulaba in Owerri – from his raising his walking stick like a comedia in Port Harcourt during the singing of the National Anthem to his dancing Lololo-Buga of Kiss Daniel, at the lunch in London after the Chatham House appearance, it was clear that though Nigerians, intrigued at the entire show, made jokes about it, the man knew where he was headed and how to get there.

So, today, when you see Umo Eno, Governor of Akwa Ibom State, swearing on behalf of his people that it is Tinubu till 2031, just cast your mind back to that notorious era of pilgrimage to Abacha. But don’t forget to pity and say a prayer for him. He needs it.

When Chukwuma Soludo, who is supposed to be the most intelligent and gifted governor in Nigeria today, by his attainment, is caught tongue-tied – when you see him demure or make a case for Tinubu’s outlandish policies, in spite of himself, don’t be surprised. The lion is on a leash.

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When last did you hear from Bala Muhammed, who had tried to break off from the park to assume the role of an opposition governor? He has since retreated. So quickly so soon after! Was he not the one who read the resolution announcing that governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would not sign in to any form of coalition or merger – a move clearly interpreted as a fait accompli, and a metaphor for blanket endorsement of Tinubu and APC for 2027.

Of course, Eno was not lying when he told his audience the forum where he endorsed Tinubu that some of his colleagues were visiting the Presidential Villa at night to pledge their loyalty. But that also is only a matter of time. What is hidden would soon be laid bare. Already the names of Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta and Peter Mba of Enugu are appearing on the horizon.

Yes! Unlike Abacha, Tinubu has no guns or better-put, not adept at their use even as a C-in-C. But no gun is needed either. The subsequent elections since he assumed power in May 2023, is enough to make them wiser. If they are not convinced about the governorship polls in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa, the latest in Edo, is enough to make them wiser and more prudent, should they hitherto harbour any independent ideas.

Yes! Like in the time of Abacha, who superintended a Nigeria that was under a siege, with citizens praying to higher beings for redemption, Nigerians have again descended on their knees begging God to save them from Tinubu.

Like that evil era, those leaders, political, religious and temporal, who pay daily pilgrimages to Aso Rock today, bear their own stories. The accolades they donate to Tinubu, like the ones showered on Abacha are not from the people.

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Yesterday, they called Abacha a fearless leader for confronting world leaders who dared him to mend his evil ways, today, they praise Tinubu as bold and courageous, for his evil policies that have seen Nigerians practically scaling over the Third Mainland Bridge and donating their bodies as meals for the fishes and other ocean serpents inhabiting the underbellies of the Lagos Lagoons, almost daily.

I could imagine how Tinubu would be nodding each time the governors individually or in groups are flat on their bellies in the dead of the night while paying obeisance. The feeling must be of inebriation – of spiritual and physical satiation. Not that he would believe them – Abacha obviously wouldn’t have believed his courtiers – but he would know where they are coming – Fear!

Those who read Want to Stay Alive by James Hadley Chase, would recall Pok Toholo schooling his recruit that fear is the key that opens the wallet of the wealthy. On the flipside, it is the same fear that today opens the hearts, minds and hands of Nigerian politicians.

So on that D-day, when Nigerians will return to the polls, one thing is sure. The governors will mark their duty posts. Their remit would be to ensure that you, me and millions of Nigerians, our times under the sun or rain to cast our votes would be wasted.

They will work with men and women of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – the most corrupt institution of the world – to count – not the votes of the people, but in complete opposite manipulate them. The various government houses would be busy changing the figures to deliver at the collation centres.

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At the collation centres the manipulated results would be delivered to university professors – the same people complaining of poor academic environments and multiple other inadequacies – they will take it from there, smoothen the rough edges before the final nail is used to seal the job by the oga patapata of INEC.

For those unfortunate enough to approach the courts, they know what to expect. I won’t be the one to say so. That judges at those courts would ask them to produce the scrotums of ants to prove their cases would not be mine to forewarn them.

So, when Tunde Bakare, cried out on Sunday at what he called the capture of the legislature by Tinubu, through his Motor Park Politics, I could only permit myself some laughter. He did not only fall short by a wide margin, he came to the party too late. Why only the legislature? Why not Nigeria? Who owns the opposition? Where is the judiciary captured?

The cleric was correct in his assertion that were the Third Term idea which failed in 2006 been floated under Tinubu’s National Assembly, it would have been a fair accompli. But who says Nigeria has escaped from it? Under Abacha, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria designed Prayer to Nigeria In Distress.

May be today they should be designing another one aimed at skewing the mind of Tinubu away from conceiving the idea. For if he does, Nigeria would be on its way to Cameroun’s Paul Biya or Museveni’s Uganda. Who stopped Abacha? Who would stop Tinubu outside God

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My name is Sunny Igboanugo and I’m The Tiny Voice!

By Sunny Igboanugo

On Thursday, March 27, 2025, Rufai Oseni, the effervescent anchor of The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Network, put a question to members of the Senate – are you playing politics with the issue of honouring Humphrey Nwosu and declaring him Hero of Democracy because he is from the South East?

My direct and undiluted answer to this question is YES! For as long as the All Progressives Congress (APC), is in control of Nigeria, the Igbo man would remain like the proverbial cockroach that is seeking justice in the court of hens – it will never come. The Igbo man will never get anything good in Nigeria under APC as presently constituted.

Everybody knows this fact. Those who do not know, are people far removed from the scene – foreigners not connected or concerned with issues of Nigeria, Nigerians living in caves without any sort of association or communication with their kit and kin outside, pure imbeciles and morons bereft of any form of knowledge of their immediate environment, or, of course, those Goodluck Jonathan described as pretending to be sleeping.

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Not justice, not equity, not fair-play. The best Ndigbo can get in today’s APC-Nigeria, are crumbs from the master’s table. Even at that, these crumps would be donated only to the few who must be prepared to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water for the structure in government and at other levels. They must not only prove this in words, but in action.

Those are the people who would, without question, show their capacity in shedding their Igbo identity. They must be ready, for instance, to prove that they could deal deadly blows to their kins like destroying the Landmark Event Centre in Lagos. They must be the people that could come in the open before klieg-lights to call the likes of Oby Ezekwesili fool at 70,  and ask, when told to jump, how high?

Why? The answer is that APC is spiritually against Ndigbo. In fact, from inception, it was formed not to accommodate, but to yank them off as the third leg of the Nigerian tripod, counter what they perceived as their ascendency, remove them from the dinner table and return them behind the glass ceiling where they would once again be watching other Nigerians sharing the national cake without being partakers.

Proof? Plenty of them. What position did APC donate to the South East at formation? The highest was Organising Secretary. That was for a zone which is supposed to produce the Nigerian tripodal third leg. It did not even matter what they brought to the table at that time – the point Ogbonnaya Onu tried to make at the party’s national convention in Abuja, in June 2022, when he reminded them of history.

Onu, who must have died broken-hearted as a result of the raw deal he was served, had led the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), while Rochas Okorocha, then Governor of Imo State on its platform, had brought in his own faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) into the APC. Regardless the numbers, the expectation was that the South East, holding the record of being the only zone with two political parties in its kitty, was symbolically qualified to have a larger chunk of the party’s recognition, outside its status as a major bloc of the Nigerian polity.

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But this never happened. Save for the special coup which was carried at the National Assembly in 2015, which saw Ike Ekweremadu retaining his position as Deputy Senate President, the South East, has since remained out of the picture in official government structure – deliberately made so, with the highest they could lay their hands on being the disgraceful position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Today, the story is rife of how the zone was systematically removed from the Mass National Railway plan and the National Gas Master Plan, despite their economic importance as the major movers and shakers of trade and economic activities in Nigeria. Today, the zone bears the brunt of public jokes as an area totally devoid of federal projects and identity.

Why then should the case of Humphrey Nwosu be different? In fact, June 12, would never have been declared as Democracy Day for Nigeria neither would Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MK0), been given his pride of place, if the package had included Nwosu getting a share of it.

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President under whom those proclamations were made in 2018 ahead of the 2019 presidential election, would have made sure that the project died a natural death on his table for that singular reason. He would hardly approve anything that would make positive impact on Ndigbo without tears. The case of Nwosu is no different.

Else, what is June 12 without Nwosu? How could anyone rationalise it? Even in his book and in interviews, the man narrated how he practically put his own limbs on the line when he confronted merchants of fear and death in the military determined to put the election to the grave by his determination to announce the results.

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But those evidences presented in that account, seem not enough. To his traducers, including those who ran away to foreign countries instead of standing confronting direct military armoured tanks, only Nwosu’s dead body riddled with bullets would have proven him a democrat. Even at that, if the Professor of Politics had donated his life, they would still have found a way of spinning a negative yarn around it to deny him of his dues.

Of course, Buhari actually gave in to the June 12 pressure because of politics and not because he loved democracy or acknowledged the story behind that epoch. But even at that, he would willingly have traded his reelection bid for anything Igbo like recognising Nwosu. It is that bad.

Did he ever hide the fact that it was more fulfilling to preserve the bitterness with which took up arms against Ndigbo as a young officer of the Nigerian Army, which many people had since dropped than to embrace the rewarding allure of forgiveness and reconciliation with this mortal enemy, whom he derisively called “a dot in the circle?”

In fact, outside other germane allegations, one of the greatest sins the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), committed, was its attempt at equal distribution of power in Nigeria. How could an Igbo man be made Chief of Army Staff in a country where the likes of Buhari were alive? The day that happened must have been the goriest in his life and must have contributed to why he doubled his effort to ensure that the government that committed such high sacrilege never lived a day longer.

So, for Rufai to find his answers, he must start from the beginning. The principal idea of the APC outside grabbing power is to stop the Igbo. Now, they have done so successfully, there is no stopping them. Indeed, an Igbo man stealing a goat in Nigeria today is far more in consequences than raiding the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and carting all the money away.

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The factor under which Nnamdi Kanu has remained in detention till date is the same reason Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President was spirited away into the dingy cell of Kirikiri Prison, while Shehu Shagari, the President under whom he served, remained in a mansion, thanks or no thanks to Buhari’s sense of justice for the Igbo and the rest of Nigerians.

For the same strange reason, it is much more possible and easier to free 100 Boko Haram members, known to have bombed the United Nation headquarters, wiped out the lives of Nigerians in different markets, churches and mosques, in farms and bus stations, stormed military formations and slit the throats of their victims and display same in open videos, than Kanu, who has never been caught with dagger, or bow and arrow, let alone a riffle, except his usual cannon-mouth, what the Igbo refer as egbe onu, has remained in the dingy solitary cell of the Department of State Services (DSS) for the past four years now.

Did anyone hear you say Buhari is no more in power and Bola Tinubu is. Of course, that is where Tinubu’s much-touted political suavity comes in. Would it be more apposite to upturn the Buhari template against Ndigbo and risk the anger of Buhari and the tendency he and his camp of Igbo haters in the North and elsewhere ran with for eight years or sustain in it in favour of political dividend from that camp?

The day Tinubu decides positively on that question is the day Ndigbo would breathe once again in Nigeria under the APC tendency. That day may not come. Indeed, it may not come until the battle for the 2027 presidential election is fought and won. But for now, Ndigbo must hold the short end of the stick. That includes no honour for Nwosu.

My name is Sunny Igboanugo and I’m The Tiny Voice

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By Sunny Igboanugo

“That is why you can never be here. People like you can never be here. How can you be? You’re a fool at 70!…

I’m not a hooligan. So, I won’t be here. You are a hooligan, so you will be here.

These were the exact words of Onyebuchi Nwaebonyi Senator representing Ebonyi North at the National Assembly and those of Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education, and former Vice President of the World Bank. Date was March 25, 2027, venue, hearing room of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

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I’ll tell you a story. A certain governor, once directed his Secretary to State Government (SSG) to get ready to go to the Senate. The favoured official was over the moon with happiness. Of course, he didn’t have to ask how he would get there, like Moses, a stammerer, not knowing what to tell his people or showcase as his pitch for the job. He only knew that, that angle would be taken care of and the governor’s words meant he was already on his way to the Red Chambers.

In fact, he knew also that he wouldn’t spend even a kobo for anything towards this direction, because from the purchase of the form to what he would wear to his inauguration into the Senate would be provided. All he needed do, was to make one or two cameo appearances at political gatherings, which actually meant nothing beyond mere decorations – some make-shift open political displays to give the process some semblances of democratic nuances.

Beyond that such open shows virtually counted for nothing. Having himself participated in cooking results, he knew also that the ballot boxes and the people who queued up on election days, were mere paintworks to add colour and some flair to the entire process, like a porter polishing a piece of clay-work.

Yes! His Senate status was sealed from that moment because numere uno said so, then it was so. But then, he made the most fatal error. He forgot that the boss, like emperor was not only supposed to be infallible, but highly whimsical, if not eccentric. He never contemplated his next step would ever lead to the mortal endgame to his dream. With his position, he had secured an appointment for his people to have a meeting with the governor.

Not knowing the ugly hand fate awaiting him, he not only led the delegation, but at the parley, was among the throng of leaders from his area to speak. Of course, like others, he showered praises on the governor for the wonders he had done in the state – all laced with pure lies – but needed to massage the ego of their host – as wont in local politics. But then between the massive donation of flattering and ego-tripping words, the delegation, also chipped in some demands, the actual reason it was there.

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That was it! “You! You dare come to me with this demand. Upon all what I’ve done for you,” thundered the governor, to the SSG, who was at sea at what he had done wrong. Now wait for it! Right there before everyone, the governor did the unthinkable. “You” – pointing to another delegate, incidentally, also a Special Adviser and far lower in ranking to the SSG – “go and prepare for the Senate.”

Now, you would think that the newly-appointed, would explain to the governor that the SSG didn’t speak out of brainwave and that whatever he said was a collective decision taken by the leaders of the area, including himself and thereafter, plead on behalf of their leader. Nada! Instead, what did he do? He broke from the crowd, flattened himself at the feet of the governor and began to thank him for his benevolence.

Naturally, you would also expect that the people knowing the truth would punish the turncoat for his antics of betraying the collective cause by rejecting him at the polls where they would have powers. But then, the votes were cooked as usual and because the people were powerless that same man not only prevailed, but went ahead to serve two terms.

I had to tell this story so that you – yes you – who still wonder how candidates for political offices in Nigeria are selected. That indeed is how people go to the Senate, become local government chairmen or even governors. Somewhere, there must be someone whose word is law, who makes and unmakes. My mind actually went to this particular story after watching the drama at the Senate on Tuesday. The din has been quite deafening, reverberating within the Nigerian polity in the last 24 hours or so.

So, when you hear Nwaebonyi, taunting  Ezekwesili, that her likes would never get to the Senate, as he practically went for the jugular of the outspoken activist and co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBoG) fame, don’t be surprised, understand where he is coming.

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You would naturally wonder at the audacity and the finality of his statement. That is what quite germane. Don’t think the Senator was merely jiving. He actually knew what he was saying. That statement emblemised the biblical camel passing through the eyes of the needle. Yes! In the peculiar Nigerian political system, it is almost completely impossible for people like Ezekwesili to gain access to the Senate as a lawmaker. Not with her iron-cast will, hot-headedness and daring attitude. How would that fit the selection process where the greatest criteria is who could bow the lowest to the patrons and godfathers?

No! The closest she would get to the NASS building or any chamber of the two houses – Senate and the House of Representatives, she must have come leading a protest or in the manner she was there on Tuesday. Nothing more!

Don’t even bring the fact of her age and starling achievements both locally and internationally, including her World Bank records to the table. Indeed, elsewhere, the scene on Tuesday, is likely to look different. The role would have been switched for that Senator to be preparing some paper-works for her to engage with other high-achievers for whom the arena of the Senate is meant. But you have now seen the result.

All Ezekwesili did to bring down fire and brimstone was to utter a simple sentence – Please, shut up. Yes, she actually said other things, but this was the immediate trigger. Now hear what a whole Senator said with his mouth. It might be dirty, unprintable and ear-splitting, but hear everything – the full transcript for posterity.

The bombshell: “Look at this old woman insulting herself. Can’t you respect yourself? Smelling mouth, smelling mouth. You look like a thug. Look at you! Big fool! Fool at 70! You’re a fool at 70. How can you talk to me like that after being a Senator? You’re a fool, I said, you’re a fool! What do you mean? Why are you talking to me like that? You’re an insult to womanhood!

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“And you’re here to tell the world that you have not changed. You’re here to tell the world that you have not changed. At 70, you have not changed! And you expect me to take it. I will not take it. That is why you can never be here. People like you can never be here. How can you be? You’re a hooligan!”

Of course, you may have heard the response of the former Minister also interjecting and telling the Senator that he was a disgrace to the Senate. You heard her call him a scoundrel also. But she ended up telling him that she was not a hooligan and therefore could be in the Senate and that only hooligans like him could be.

That is actually my takeaway in the entire saga. Elsewhere the Senator, stressed the reason he probably found the Minister’s comments a pure sacrilege, claiming that as a Senator, he was higher in societal rating both locally and international, adding that he also once held an international job like her.

While appearing at Newsnight, a programme on ARISE NEWS Network: “I’m a Senator of the Federal Republic. By social stratification, I’m higher than her in this country. She was a Minister. A Senator is higher than a Minister. I’m a global figure too. I’ve been a Chairman of a World Bank programme in Nigeria.” Now, from this statement, is there anything anyone needs figure?

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