Metro
Now that Buhari Has Cowed Nigerians, What Next by Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, let me take you back to the year 1998, the 7th day of the month of July to be precise. Chief Moshood Abiola had just been pronounced dead, just like that, and everything, and everywhere, was topsy-turvy. We were numb beyond words. A new leader had taken power the month before, after the sudden death of the maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha. How can two antagonists die in similar fashion, one month apart, we wondered, ponderously.
Anyway, as with everything Nigerian, life soon moved on, without much ado. A few irate students, led by Omoyele Sowore, ranted and raved but their fireballs soon disintegrated and dissolved into ashes. Those of us in exile were left stupefied. In all honesty, we had all individually and collectively given our best to the struggle, but our best was simply not enough. Man and God had contrived to deprive us of our greatest democratic moment as a nation. It does not appear that our democratic nous and ethos will ever reach the dizzying heights of those glorious days! We lost Abiola and we lost the mandate freely given to him by the good people of Nigeria. So, we were back to square one.
Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I offered ourselves as Guinea pigs and meandered our way back home the same way we had navigated our ways through the forest of a thousand daemons to escape from the Gulag and what appeared at the time a the most brutishly ruthless dictatorship in Nigeria. What we found out on our return was unbelievable and shocking. Our politicians had barely waited for Abiola to be interred before they started their stock in trade, jostling for power and lucre.
We returned to London, very frustrated about our experience at home. What we suffered through the labyrinth of madness called Seme border is another matter entirely and a story for another day. Back in England, some of our compatriots were still blowing grammar. Saying we must fight the military. We no go gree, like students’ union leaders love to chant every now and then, during Aluta struggles in our diverse universities. The difference was we were not students, and this was real life, off campuses.
We decided to tell our elders in the Diaspora the gospel truth. Those at home were not in sync with those fighting from abroad. The exposure and experience we had all gained during our sojourn and desperate struggle for truth and justice seemed totally lost on our compatriots at home. Our vision and mission were quite clearly totally divergent. One thing led to another and many of the NADECO Chieftains agreed to return home. It was over, as simple as that. That was the reality.
The regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar decided it would hand over government to a civilian government under one year and it stuck rigidly to its transition timetable despite serious temptations to extend its set tenure. If we thought the military reign was reaching its terminal end, we were dead wrong. The military was merely beginning to prepare for tenure elongation albeit in civilian toga. The first election was therefore won by a retired military General, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. And it became obvious that the military establishment was not yet ready to relax and reduce its iron grip on Nigeria’s jugular. Most of those who paraded the corridors of power were military men in civilian garb. Four years later, President Obasanjo sought another term and got it. Meanwhile, throughout all this, there was no provision for the inclusion of the NADECO fighters as reparation for the dastardly acts against Abiola and his supporters.
Let’s fast forward a little. After a controversial third term attempt for President Obasanjo by some political jobbers fell flat, a brother of a former military General, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was brought on board to take over the reins of power. It was like a change of baton in an exclusive relay race by the military. By sheer act of providence, President Yar’Adua took critically I’ll and died in office. This was how fate threw up a complete stranger to the military establishment and virtual lone ranger on the balcony of power, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as President.
It was obvious some members of a most powerful cabal were not happy about the emergence of Jonathan, a man from one of the politically disadvantaged and handicapped regions of Nigeria, the South South. The Ijaw heritage of Jonathan was meant to be his Achilles heel but the man trudged on till he completed the tenure of his departed boss. Of course, against all odds, he contested for his own term and won. That was in 2011. I was privileged to have been a Presidential candidate at that time.
President Jonathan’s tenure was marred by many turbulent upheavals, the worst being the Boko Haram menace. There were also instances of reckless looting of the national treasury and well documented profligacy by his PDP apparatchiks. President Jonathan shot himself in the foot and incurred the wrath of the people when in the midst of horrendous poverty, he sharply increased prices of petroleum products, astronomically. That was the moment many felt he had goofed beyond repair. I was one of those who participated in global protests against his government. I wrote copiously, granted interviews and generally became a thorn in the flesh of the Jonathan administration along with several others. Jonathan was so derided and became butts of jokes everywhere. It was only a matter of time before Jonathan and his motley crew of pillaging merry men would be sacked from power.
I must confess that at the height of our stupidity and naivety, in retrospect, we threw caution to the winds. We wrote off Jonathan despite occasional flashes of genius and inspiration by some members of his team. In the meantime, former Nigerian Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (RTD.) was repackaged to smell like roses and we all fell for the promise of Eldorado he seemed to hold at the time. I was one of those who jumped on the bandwagon to describe him as a born-again Democrat, despite some strident and persistent warnings by then Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose and others. Perhaps we were fooled by the fact in quick succession he had picked Pentecostal pastors in his running mate in Pastor Tunde Bakare in 2011 and Professor Yemi Osinbajo in 2015. Those who told us that our Hallelujah Choruses were premature and that a leopard can never change its spots were castigated and hounded by those of us who had been converted to what we believed was the new Buhari. We sang in unison that anyone but Jonathan. The rest is history.
Step forward, President Buhari, and take a bow. You rode back triumphantly to power, 30 years after you were sacked by General Ibrahim Babangida. What a feat! The world rejoiced at the final collapse of the PDP behemoth. Our Messiah had come. Most of our prominent challenges would soon evaporate and vamoose. Praise the Lord.
Let me not bore you with how those four years were spent, again, just like that. I leave the judgment of what happened to fellow Nigerians. Excuses became the art and science of governance. The past governments and its ruling party, PDP, was blamed for virtually everything under the sun. No worries. We didn’t expect Buhari to fix the accumulated problems of 16 or more years in a short while. Initially, we thought he would eventually settle down and make inroads into the problems that he had inherited. In any event, we also didn’t expect him to add more to those problems. The little we expected was for Buhari to bring stability to the polity. Again we were wrong.
Everything fell apart and the issue of security which was supposed to be easy meat for our President being a respected, respectable and retired General has become an albatross for the government. So, again, foul. We goofed. I don’t know how to put it any better. With excellent performance, no one would have taken note of a few human rights infringements here and there. We would have tolerated it as the price we probably needed to pay for the stellar performance that we are getting. However, the converse became the case. There are more and more human rights abuses and less and less convincing performances.
Slowly but steadily, a supposed Democratic government began its relentless assault on what our Constitution had enshrined as a government of separation of powers. President Buhari took up the role of an avuncular leader and school headmaster. He simply encroached into territories that were clearly not his to tamper with. If Jonathan had tried a small fraction of this, hell would have known no bigger fury. Yet most of our leaders and elders have disappeared from the radar without as much as a whimper.
You brood of hypocrites! Jonathan was our whipping boy and we trounced, thrashed and trashed him mercilessly. But now, we have lost our voices, it is not just that our criticism has become muted, they have become practically non-existent because the Presidential trolls have been relentless in the way and manner that they have traduced the few honourable critics. Our pen tigers have stopped writing. Our loquacious activists have since absconded and abdicated their once noble responsibilities. Such is life. The oppressed, according to Paulo Freire, only fears and respects his oppressors. We have all seemingly been cowed (no pun intended) into submission. Heaven forbid! That is neither the Nigerian spirit nor psyche!
Was this the Democracy we fought for with sweat and blood. When our human rights crusaders were preaching and pontificating and condoning extrajudicial treatment against the so-called sinners and looters and a few of us pleaded for caution, we were attacked as supporting and promoting corruption. When the government goons went after the judges in the dead of the night and we raised alarm, we were called by names our parents did not give us at birth. When the hooded ones invaded the National Assembly in order to obliterate their sworn enemy, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, they said we have been bought and should shut up. But today the chickens have come home to roost.
Our dear friend, Omoyele Sowore, has been captured, detained and is about to be guillotined for using a word that was just one in the arsenal and vocabulary of this government when it was in opposition. The impugned language is one APC leaders have all used in the past, indeed they have said worse. They have rallied, railed and planned a road demonstration that they had joined openly in the past without any repercussion. The lesson in this for me is that we must all stand firm for the rights of every man at all times, be it saint or sinner. The resort to jungle justice and rabid impunity is what has made it possible for any government to pounce on Omoyele Sowore, a man whose tongue is sharper than razor blade and a pen mightier than atomic bomb but who in reality can never carry a physical weapon and has not encouraged anyone to do so in this ‘revolution’ that he has called for. Indeed, it is only those who are blood-thirsty that would see what is said as anything other than a clamour for a peaceful and democratic change in government within constitutional means. As a matter of fact, the revolution Sowore called for, whatever your interpretation, was not as popular on the streets until a panic stricken government elevated and catapulted it to a dizzying height, a free and cheap publicity that was unsolicited by the conveners.
Now we have succeeded in diverting attention from the killer herdsman who have been on rampage. Is it not an irony that Sowore was arrested for doing virtually nothing bigger than what he and many of us did to support Buhari when he was still one of us. Let us hope in the spirit of this Sallah, that the Federal Government will change its mind, and possibly its style, of killing flies with a sledgehammer…
Barka de Sallah to all our dear Muslims…
Culled from TheBoss Newspapers
By Tolulope A. Adegoke PhD
…The Systemic Blueprint for Collective and Enduring Impact
“True impact scales through a virtuous cycle: the purposeful individual inspires the principled corporation, which advocates for the farsighted nation—each elevating the other to build a legacy that endures” – Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD
The journey of legacy-building, as initiated in our previous discourse, begins in the quiet, deliberate space of self-examination. “Zero to Global Impact: Auditing Yourself for a Sustainable Legacy,” established the non-negotiable prerequisite of the personal audit—a rigorous introspection across the four pillars of Vision/Values, Skills/Knowledge, Influence/Networks, and Actions/Outputs. This process answers the fundamental questions of why we act and who we aspire to become as agents of change.
However, the transformation from introspection to transformation, from individual intent to systemic impact, represents the next critical phase. This evolution requires a shift in mindset: from being a solitary sculptor, carefully carving a personal monument, to becoming a master architect, designing resilient structures that others can inhabit, build upon, and thrive within for generations. The challenge, and the profound opportunity of our time, is to scale the principles of sustainable legacy-building beyond the individual to the monumental scales of corporate enterprise and national governance.
This comprehensive sequel, therefore, moves from the microscope of the self to the drafting table of the collective. We will meticulously unpack a detailed, actionable framework for constructing scalable legacies across three interdependent tiers of influence: the Individual (the Architect), the Corporation (the Institution), and theNation (the Ecosystem). By exploring the unique responsibilities, strategies, and possibilities at each tier, we provide a master blueprint for turning audited potential into orchestrated, global impact.
The Scalable Legacy Framework: An Interdependent Model of Change
Sustainable impact is not a linear path but a dynamic, iterative process. It originates from a Purpose-Driven Core, is amplified and operationalized through Strategic Pillars, and achieves genuine, enduring scale via Multiplier Effects that reshape the entire environment. The following blueprint visualizes this powerful, reinforcing progression:
As illustrated, the individual’s clarity of purpose is the essential seed from which all else grows. This purpose is then championed within and through corporate structures, which provide the resources and reach to amplify impact. Nations, in turn, can create the fertile ground—the policies, education, and infrastructure—that enables corporations and individuals to flourish in their legacy-building endeavors. Crucially, the flow is reciprocal: progressive national policies influence corporate behavior, and purpose-driven corporations attract and develop conscious individuals, creating a virtuous cycle of escalating positive impact.
Tier 1: The Individual Architect – Engineering a Life of Intentional Impact
The individual remains the fundamental catalyst for all change. With the personal audit complete, the task shifts to architectural execution—designing a life where daily actions are consciously aligned with long-term significance.
Elaborated Blueprint for Action:
· From Vision to a Strategic Portfolio of Impact Projects: The modern professional must transcend the confines of a single job description. The legacy-conscious individual strategically manages their career as a “diversified portfolio of impact projects.” Your primary employment is one key asset in this portfolio. Other holdings might include a pro-bono mentorship role guiding young professionals, a leadership position in a community non-profit, a personal research initiative into a sustainable technology, or a creative pursuit that advocates for social change. This portfolio approach not only diversifies your impact channels but also builds resilience, ensuring that your legacy is not dependent on a single institution or role.
· From Skills to Curating Knowledge Ecosystems: The goal evolves from being a mere repository of skills to becoming a curator and distributor of knowledge. This involves the systematic codification of expertise—creating detailed whitepapers, recording instructional modules, developing standardized templates, or maintaining a thought-leadership blog. By creating this “open-source” repository for your network, you transition from a knowledge hoarder to a knowledge hub. This strategy ensures that your expertise compounds, creating a living, growing ecosystem that educates and empowers others long after your direct involvement has ceased.
· From Networks to Strategic Impact Coalitions: Move beyond passive networking to the active formation of focused, mission-driven “impact coalitions.” Identify a specific, tangible challenge aligned with your core vision—for instance, “reducing plastic waste in the local supply chain” or “improving digital literacy in underserved communities.” Then, intentionally gather a small, dedicated group of diverse stakeholders from your network to address it. This transforms your network from a static Rolodex into a dynamic engine for collaborative problem-solving, creating a powerful force multiplier for your individual efforts.
The Expanded Possibility: The individual architect becomes a living prototype of integrated success. By demonstrating that professional achievement and profound positive impact are not mutually exclusive but synergistic, they serve as a powerful beacon. This influence ripples outward, inspiring peers, shifting team dynamics, and gradually elevating the cultural expectations within their organizations and communities, thereby creating a grassroots foundation for widespread change.
Tier 2: The Corporate Institution – Weaving Legacy into Organizational DNA
Corporations represent the most powerful institutional force in the global landscape. Their capacity for impact—through technological innovation, global supply chains, capital allocation, and cultural influence—is unprecedented. A legacy audit for a corporation must therefore transcend peripheral Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and even the more integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. The ultimate goal is to evolve into a fully Purpose-Driven Enterprise, where legacy is the core operating system, not a sidelined application.
Elaborated Blueprint for Action:
· Audit and Realign the Corporate Soul: This begins with a courageous, enterprise-wide audit mirroring the personal one. Leadership must ask:
o Vision/Values: Is our stated purpose the definitive litmus test for all major strategic decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, market entry, and capital expenditure? Does it guide us in times of ethical crisis?
o Skills/Knowledge: Are we investing sufficiently in Research & Development dedicated to sustainable and circular solutions? Are we proactively up-skilling our workforce for the green economy, future-proofing both our employees and our business model?
o Influence/Networks: Are we leveraging our industry influence to advocate for higher ethical standards and progressive public policies? Are we engaging in pre-competitive collaborations with rivals to solve systemic issues like supply chain transparency or carbon neutrality?
o Actions/Outputs: Have we moved beyond short-term shareholder primacy to adopt a integrated triple-bottom-line framework that rigorously measures our performance against social equity, environmental stewardship, and financial prosperity?
· Incentivize Legacy-Driven Leadership and Innovation: To operationalize purpose, incentive structures must be fundamentally redesigned. A significant portion of executive compensation and bonus pools should be tied to the achievement of ambitious, measurable legacy metrics—such as net-zero carbon milestones, employee well-being and diversity indices, and supply chain ethical compliance scores. Furthermore, corporations must foster intra-preneurship by creating internal incubators and innovation grants specifically earmarked for employee-led projects that tackle social and environmental challenges aligned with the company’s core mission.
· Embed Transparency and Stakeholder Capitalism: A true legacy is built on trust. This requires radical transparency through detailed, audited annual impact reports that openly discuss both successes and failures. It also means formally embracing a stakeholder capitalism model, where the interests of employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and the environment are given serious weight in corporate governance, alongside those of shareholders.
The Expanded Possibility: The corporation transforms from a perceived extractive entity into a regenerative and integral part of society. It builds unshakeable brand loyalty, attracts and retains the most talented and purpose-seeking employees, mitigates long-term regulatory and reputational risks, and unlocks new markets through sustainable innovation. In doing so, it generates superior, durable shareholder value by actively contributing to the health and stability of the world upon which its business depends.
Tier 3: The National Ecosystem – Governing for Intergenerational Equity
Nations are the ultimate stewards of the rules, infrastructure, and cultural context that shape all other activities. The legacy of a nation is not measured by the GDP of a single quarter but by the long-term health, security, and opportunity it provides for generations of its citizens. The national audit demands a shift in perspective from governing for the next election cycle to governing for the next generation.
Elaborated Blueprint for Action:
· Audit Beyond GDP: Implementing a Legacy Dashboard: Nations must pioneer a new scorecard for progress. This involves supplementing or replacing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a comprehensive “legacy dashboard” based on frameworks like the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) or Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH). This dashboard would provide a holistic view of national well-being, tracking metrics such as environmental asset depletion, income inequality, educational attainment, public health outcomes, work-life balance, and the resilience of critical infrastructure.
· Create Legislative and Policy Frameworks for Long-Termism: To combat short-term political pressures, nations can establish independent, non-partisan institutions like “Future Generations Commissions” or “Office for Intergenerational Responsibility.” These bodies would be empowered to review proposed legislation and policy for its long-term consequences, providing impact assessments that extend 25, 50, or even 100 years into the future. Furthermore, governments can issue “Legacy Bonds” or establish sovereign wealth funds specifically dedicated to funding century-scale projects, such as national climate adaptation networks, transformative public transportation systems, or foundational scientific research.
· Foster Synergistic Public-Private-Academic Impact Alliances: The government’s role as a strategic convener is paramount. It can launch national “Moonshot” missions—ambitious, focused goals like achieving energy independence through renewables or eradicating a specific disease. These missions are then powered by synergistic alliances, combining public funding and policy support with corporate innovation, manufacturing scale, and academic research excellence.
· Reform Education for Legacy Citizenship: The education system is the cornerstone of a nation’s long-term legacy. Curricula must be reformed to move beyond rote memorization and vocational training to cultivate the values, critical thinking, and systemic understanding required for “legacy citizenship.” This includes emphasis on ecological literacy, ethical reasoning, media literacy, civic engagement, and the skills for collaborative problem-solving.
The Expanded Possibility: The nation establishes itself as a global leader in sustainable and equitable development. It attracts responsible long-term investment, fosters a vibrant culture of innovation and civic trust, and ensures the well-being and resilience of its citizens against future shocks. This creates a legacy of stability, prosperity, and global respect that secures the nation’s position and influence for the 21st century and beyond.
The Convergence: The Virtuous Cycle of Escalating Impact
The true power of this architectural approach lies in the powerful, synergistic convergence between the tiers. This is not a top-down hierarchy but an interactive, reinforcing network:
· Informed and empowered individuals act as change agents within corporations, demanding higher ethical standards and more purposeful work, while also acting as conscious consumers, rewarding responsible brands.
· Purpose-driven corporations, in turn, become powerful advocates for smarter, more stable, and forward-thinking national policies, creating a level playing field that rewards high standards and long-term thinking.
· Forward-thinking nations create the enabling environment—through education, infrastructure, and policy—that empowers individuals to thrive and enables corporations to innovate responsibly.
This creates a virtuous cycle where progress at any level catalyzes and accelerates progress at all others, leading to a compound effect on the scale and sustainability of global impact.
The Call to Action: Laying Your Stone in the Cathedral of the Future
The construction of a sustainable legacy is the most critical project of our personal and collective lives. It is not a solitary act of grandeur but a collective, intergenerational endeavor—akin to the building of a great cathedral. You may not see the spire completed in your lifetime, nor will you lay every stone. But your solemn responsibility is to ensure that the stones you do lay are true, that the foundation you build upon is solid, and that the blueprint you follow is one of integrity, compassion, and foresight.
Facts to Uphold:
1. Your legacy is not a monument to be admired, but a foundation to be built upon. Stop sculpting a statue for yourself; start architecting a future where others can thrive
2. A sustainable legacy begins not with a grand gesture, but with a ruthless audit of the self. The blueprint for global impact is drawn from the honest alignment of your actions with your values.
3. Stop building a career. Start architecting a legacy. Audit your values, align your actions, and build systems that outlive you.
Therefore, we must all—as individuals, as leaders of institutions, as citizens of nations—continually ask ourselves the defining question:
“Does the system I am building today have the integrity and resilience to endure, thrive, and provide sanctuary for those who come long after I am gone?”
Begin with your audit. Clarify your purpose. Then, pick up your tools—your skills, your influence, your actions—and begin your work as a master architect of a future we can all be proud to inherit. The blueprint is here. The time to build is now.
Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke, AMBP-UN is a Recipient of the Nigerian Role Models Award (2024), and a Distinguished Ambassador For World Peace (AMBP-UN).
Globacom has entered into a strategic partnership with the Osun State Government to roll out 20,000 closed user group (CUG) lines for civil servants, teachers, local government staff and political appointees across the state.
The initiative, branded Imole Connect, is designed to foster seamless communication and collaboration among government workers, thereby improving efficiency and productivity.
Speaking at the official launch in Osogbo on Wednesday, Governor Ademola Adeleke commended Globacom for supporting the state’s digital drive. He described the project as a crucial step towards bridging communication gaps in the public sector.
“With the launch of 20,000 Glo Imole Connect lines today, we are taking a bold step towards improving our public servants’ linkage across the State. These lines, operating under a closed user group (CUG) arrangement, come with significantly reduced call and data rates,” Governor Adeleke noted.
He further explained that, “one of the challenges in public governance has always been the difficulty of seamless communication. Information does not always move quickly or efficiently and this has often led to avoidable delays and disconnections between agencies and officers across different levels. With this new arrangement, I am confident that we will begin to close those gaps and work in closer alignment.”
On his part, Globacom’s National Head, Enterprise Business Group, Mr. Adeniyi Odejobi, assured that the company was committed to enhancing service delivery in Osun State through efficient communication.
“Globacom has transformed from being just a telecommunications company to being a digital solutions provider where we offer enterprise solutions to large organisations, government and public sector organisations to enhance digital economy and enhance the operations of smart cities in some sub nationals,” he explained.
Desirous of promoting the love for sciences and pursuit of careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the Glo Foundation, Globacom’s corporate social responsibility arm, is staking millions of naira to promote STEM among girls across the country.
This is part of its programme for the celebration of this year’s edition of the International Day of the Girl Child.
The Foundation has put in place the ‘Glo Innov8’ National STEM Competition for girls in Senior Secondary Schools across the country. The competition, a STEM-focused challenge, will see the winning schools carting home N5 million in prizes.
A statement from Glo Foundation explained that the ‘Glo Innov8’ National STEM Competition is aimed at enabling girls in secondary schools to “Compete, Innovate and Win” in the competition and also enhance the confidence and knowledge of the girl child.
It also added that the competition “is our modest way at Glo Foundation of celebrating and encouraging the girl child to focus more on the studies of STEM subjects and pursue careers in these areas in future so as to become problem solvers for the country”.
The overall winning school with the best idea walks away with N2,000,000 prize, while the 2 Students who will represent the school will get a laptop each, and the Teacher/Mentor/STEM Coordinator gets a token of N200,000. The students of the schools that come 2nd and 3rd, as well as the Teachers/Mentors/STEM Coordinators will also get consolation prizes.
The registration for the Glo Foundation National Stem Competition tagged “Glo Innov8”, which kicked off on the Monday September 15th, will end on October 5, 2025.
To register for a chance to win, all that schools across Nigeria have to do is visit https://glo-foundation.com/glo-innov8/ and fill the form, to STEM their way to N5,000,000.
