By Godknows Boladei Igali

If not for man’s ineluctable duel with mortality, the Old GRA, Port-Harcourt residence of Opu Alabo (High Chief) Olu Benson Lulu-Brigg simply known as “OB” by peers or “Opuda” (patriarch) by family and younger associates would have been the epicenter of diverse religious, cultural, political, social and familial happenings, during this period. Born on May 22,1930 in the coastal commercial town of Abonnema in Kalabari Kingdom (Ijaw) in Rivers State, his life paths were varied, crisscrossing and globally outreaching, so the plans for his 90th posthumous birthday celebration on this day, were equally elaborate; beyond national boundaries. Expectedly so, as he was one of the main political titans of Nigeria’s Second Republic, a leading businessman from the time of the country’s Third Republic and an unmatched philanthropist in the present Fourth Republic.

It was in 1864 that an English painter, Sir Edwin Landseer, (1802-1873) entitled one of his works “Man Proposes, God Disposes”. That cliché which is often used to describe hapless situations typified the earlier preparations for the celebrations of High Chief OB’s epical age of 90; a time to revel his Humanitarianism, Compassion and Philanthropy as well as his deep Spiritualism and total Idealistic outlook to life. But in the closing days of December 2018, High Chief OB, less than twenty-hours apart from his cherished friend and political ally, former Nigerian President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari passed on to meet his creator. Clearly God had disposed, yet still, May 22, 2020 on his 90th posthumous birthday, his large family, kinsmen, friends, beneficiaries from his philanthropic ventures and his intimate network around the world, under strict protocols of COVID-19, have contrived no less commemorative setting to celebrate his peculiar life and times.

AN ACE PHILANTHROPIST AND HUMANIST
Due to the passion which High Chief OB had for upliftment of humanity, a fitting tribute to his life would find good start in recalling what mattered most to him – philanthropy. Without doubt he was one of the most outstanding philanthropists and humanists in Nigeria. His life passion and drive were the upliftment of man and the factors that would enable the greatest number of people to smile the largest number of times. For OB, giving out to others, sharing and placing the needs of others above self were the raison-d’être for his earthly sojourn and the wealth that God entrusted to him. He derived pleasure and contentment in bringing succor to the unreached and apparent rejected of society.

His philanthropy became more visible from the early 2000s when he turned major attention to Healthcare including building the N50 million Healthcare Centre at the University of Port Harcourt, to fill a huge gap at the time. In addition to building other smaller health facilities, he had also sponsored health missions to cater for numerous kinds of common but pestering and distressing medical needs of many in the society. These included eyecare and optical surgeries, various cancers and ulcers, fibroids, hernia, etc. One count place those touched by his medical missions at about 200,000 persons.

His education outreach programmes retell his own tortuous story of determination and courage against great odds of life to acquire education. From hometown Abonnema, to Kaduna, to Jos, to Lagos, he had endeavored to acquire knowledge through personal efforts. It was during his working career that opportunities came to further his education in the United Kingdom, sponsored by his employers. He therefore understood, in graphic terms what impact his work could do in ensuring that no qualified human brain was wasted. So, under OB Lulu-Briggs Foundation, which his banker wife, Dr Mrs Seinye O.B. Lulu-Biggs founded in 2001 to structure and institutionalise his giving, he touched all segments of society, starting from building and rebuilding educational facilities at all levels. From the Primary Schools in his own Abonnema to Secondary Schools around Kalabari Kingdom and other communities in Rivers State. Most outstanding are his interventions at the tertiary level, especially at the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, where he became the individual single largest donor and the federally owned, University of Port Harcourt. His impact was also felt at the Niger Delta University in nearby Bayelsa State where he donated N150 million for the construction of students hostels in 2008.

Beyond physical infrastructure development, his greater legacy would be in the thousands of individuals who enjoyed his scholarships at various levels of studies. These are in addition to academic endowments he made. These include a Chair in Petroleum Geosciences at the University of Port Harcourt, and a Scholarship endowment fund at the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Petroleum Engineering which is open to indigent but gifted students worldwide. He also funded researchers at Rochester Research Institute in New York and the Virginia Keily Benefaction of the University College Hospital, London, to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, an ailment he suffered from.

Having lost his own father, Benson Lulu-Briggs, at the young age of 9 years and watched his grandmother Madam Agbani Lulu-Briggs and his mother, Madam Rachael Kioba Harrison Kio Lawson, though of royal blood, go through the pains of widowhood in a typical African setting, he along with his wife, Seinye, paid great attention to the plight of various vulnerable groups who required social inclusion. They became main benefactors to countless widows, senior citizens and persons considered to be extremely poor. They have had over 500 elderly persons under their direct care for daily subsistence, medical care and other necessities of life. To aide their work, they set up “Recreational Centres” for the elderly and engaged the services of professional caregivers whose only duty is to ensure the wellbeing of the elderly under their ‘Care for Life’ programme.

One of the greatest banes of underdevelopment in many parts Nigeria and in most of Sub-Saharan African is the lack of access to credit for people in the informal and micro entrepreneurial sectors. Having passed through this curve himself at some time in life, another novel area that caught the concern of the OB Lulu-Briggs Foundation was the establishment of a microfinance programme to provide grants and basic interest-free credit to viable business ideas. It is structured both to nurture, provide the financial support and eventually mentor beneficiaries to grow. This has seen several thousands of persons, exit from poverty and marginal levels and are now, themselves enhancers of growth.

Since it was impossible to fully accomplish their charity works through their own platforms, High Chief OB and his wife, Seinye, focused on building partnerships with faith-based, community-based and smaller nongovernmental organizations for outreach. Indeed, whoever needed help came to and often left satisfied. Of particular note were the joint efforts with such international NGOs as Rotary International and Lions Club, and others, to undertake to strengthen their intervention programmes.

His philanthropic works touched so many other areas. It will suffice to recall the words of Albert Pike, the American poet, jurist and mystic who wrote these words “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Definitely, in his mind were people like High Chief OB Lulu-Briggs who will come nearly a hundred years later to touch so many lives and leave such amazing imprints in countless hearts, whose hopes of existence have themselves rekindled multitudes.

A LONE IDEALIST AND REALIST IN POLITICS
Many Nigerians, and perhaps skeptics around the world are averse and loathsome toward active involvement in partisan politics. This is despite the common knowledge that our daily existence is largely influenced by the actions or inactions of politicians. While many politicians across various nations are often associated with capricious activities, it quite often the exceptional case that there are some who are known for their principled and doctrinaire position on issues and are respected by their peers for their doggedness and transparent approach to issues. One of such in the body politics of Nigeria was High Chief OB. The idealism which he was associated with was some form of romanticist naivety which was rare in the murky world of Nigerian politics.

The politics of Nigeria’s immediate post-independence days had come to a rather sober, bloody and abrupt end. It was not the sacrilegious spilling of blood which occurred that was the problem but the shock of full-blown military dictatorship which visited the country in a bizarre manner. First, the 1960 Independence and its amendment, 1963 Republican Constitutions which had been keenly negotiated and accepted as covenants for staying together as a federation were annulled with the swagger stick of the military as they rolled out decrees after decrees. The promise of return to democracy and civilian rule was therefore received with doubts by many. Few like High Chief OB, who were optimists threw their hats in the ring and coalesced with like minds to form new political parties.

It will be quite deficient and indeed historically deficient, to recount the story of a politician of the calibre of High Chief OB without giving a panoramic view of the ambience which prevailed in the euphoric entry of the country into the Second Republic (1979 to January 1, 1983). In 1977, General Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) as part of the programme which had been canvassed by his slain boss, General Murtala Mohammed, released a robust Transition Programme. Earlier, a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) of forty-nine (49) wise men was set up on October 18, 1975 headed by Chief Rotimi-Williams who was the first notable lawyer and first Nigerian to be conferred with the title of Queen’s Counsel. After its work, OBJ then constituted another a Constituent Assembly (CA) of mostly elected persons, as expected drawn from the old political class of the First Republic under the Chairmanship of Justice Egbert Udo Udoma. He was arguably the first black person ever to obtained PhD in Law from Oxford University in 1944, a former Chief Justice of Uganda and Judge of the Nigerian Supreme Court. So, the document midwifed by two persons of such pedigree, with little touching by the military, became the new Constitution for the country published on September 21, 1978. Then, the ban on political activities was also lifted after nearly 14 years of military rule.

Both the Constitution Drafting Committee and the Constituent Assembly had provided a perfect festering ground for politicians to refuse old alliances and cut new deals so it was easy for them to hit the ground running. At that period, High Chief OB was also winding up his civil service career at the Nigerian Ports Authority where he had served since 1955 rising to become a Principal Labour Officer as well as a key Maritime Labour unions leader in the country. As a matter of fact, between 1968 and 1971, he was Chairman of All Maritime Workers in Eastern Nigeria. His years in trade union activism and labour management had, to his credit led to total industrial peace because of the fair and equitable manner with which he insisted all dealings with workers were handled, regardless of their rank in the organization or whether they were Nigerian or expatriate. This guaranteed that all the existing Nigerian ports were operating without let, thus preparing him for active political engagement.
His life had been active and highly productive, so with the honorable exit from the civil service, he had to answer a more worthwhile call to service. Fortunately, he was mostly based in Lagos where all the shadowy political horse-trading was being held and easily.

Like a wildfire, six political parties emerged, and High Chief OB was key from the outset in one of them. Actually, under the leadership of an influential old-breed northern politician, Makama Bida and Ali Munguno, who later became one of High Chief OB’s closest friends, key players of northern extraction began to hold nocturnal meetings around Lagos. The rest of the dramatis personae included, Adamu Ciroma, Olusola Saraki, Kam Salem, Umaru Dikko, Inuwa Wada, Yusuf Maitama Sule, Shehu Shagari, Magaji Muazu, Suleiman Takuma, Tatari Ali, Lawal Kaita, Adamu Atta, Adamu Ribadu, Ado Ibrahim, Adamu Atta, Jolly Tanko Yusuf, Ibrahim Imam, Ibrahim el Yakubu, Shehu Kangiwa as well as Professors Ishaya Audu and Iya Abubakar. Although the list included some younger politicians from the “core north’, these were mostly old foxes particularly bent on reinventing the defunct Northern People Congress (NPC) which ruled Nigeria until the first military coup of January 15, 1966 in a new name.

They succeeded in pulling in the fire-brand leader of the United Middle Belt Congress, Dr Joseph Tarka, who came along with such followers as Aper Aku, who later became Governor of Benue and Michael Audu from Plateau. However, Tarka who was ever bent on not allowing the Middle Belt to be pushed to a second fiddle position, soon left the new political structure along with some of his followers, especially his Langtang strongman, Solomon Lar.

From the South East came such erstwhile pro NPC politicians as Dr Alex Ekwueme, Martin Elechi, Josiah Okezie, CC Onoh, Nwakanma Okoro, Nwafor Orizu, KO Mbadiwe and the young intellectual stars as Dr Chuba Okadigbo.
Similarly, from the South West, the pro Akintola forces such as Ibadan strongmen, Adisa Akinloye, Lamidu Adelabu, leading legal minds, Richard Akinjide, Remi Fani-Kayode, Femi Okunnu, Toye Coker and Ladeja Adeniji as well as business mogul, Akin Deko, top military brass Gen Adeyinka Adebayo. The South-South was in no way underrepresented. They had Harold Dappa-Biriye, who along with his protégée, Melford Okilo had in the 1950s formed the Niger Delta Congress which later went into alliance with the NPC during the First Republic. They were joined by Dr Anthony Enahoro an erstwhile follower of opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. It would be recalled that at the age of 33 in 1953, he moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence. They were also joined by the likes of a leading technocrat, Dr. Clement Isong, who just retired as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, and business moguls, Daniel Okumagba, Victor Masi, Edwin Clark, a lawyer, and of course, our veritable erstwhile trade unionist, OB Lulu-Briggs.

From all the series of consultations, mergers and acquisitions on September 20, 1978, the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN), was formally inaugurated. Since the more prescient northern politicians had their way in fashioning the 1979 Constitution after the American style Presidency as against the Westminster Parliamentary system of the First Republic, they easily yielded Chairmanship of the new party to the southern part of the country at its First National Convention which held in October 1978. Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye, the colorful, politician emerged as National Chairman. Akinloye, who soon became OB’s immediate boss had an interesting past which included joining late Samuel Akintola, during the height of crisis in the First Republic to oppose Awolowo in the west. At the time in 1963, they resurrected, the first political party in Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), originally formed by Dr Herbert Macaulay in 1921 to use as a platform to form a coalition in coalition with the NPC. That landed Akinloye a seat in cabinet as Minister of Agriculture under First Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

At the onset of the NPN, OB played a major role in establishing and consolidating it in his home Rivers State and served as Protem Secretary and engine room. However, most of his political peers walked about with chests full of schemes on how to secure elective positions into the emerging Governorship, Senatorial, Representative and State Houses of Assembly positions. Realizing that this was a new terrain for him, he was more focused on building bridges amongst them and securing from them commitments for consensus and stronger party unity. After the lots were shared amongst the core politicians, he secured for himself the less enviable, but in actual sense more powerful positions, first as Vice National Chairman in charge of Rivers State and later National Deputy Chairman of the NPN for all Southern Nigeria and de-facto boss calling the shots of the party’s day-to-day activities from Lagos.
In traditional party politics, elected officials are subject to the party and are expected to implement the manifestoes and laid down policies of the party.

During the first Republic, the party leaders and hierarchy were very powerful, influential. That was why the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, both during the First Republic when his party was Action Group (AG) and in the Second Republic when this metamorphosed into the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), he ensured that he combined both positions. This was same pattern that was adopted by Mallam Aminu Kano, whose Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU) of the first Republic, transformed into the People Redemption Party (PRP) in the second Republic. For the other center right party, Nigerian People Party (NPP), which was a reenactment of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), the position of party leader and candidate were separated. Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, an erstwhile “Zikist” became National Chairman of NPP. However, a debonair northern Kanuri ethnic frontline Politician, Waziri Ibrahim broke off from the NPP forming his Great Nigeria People Party (GNPP), where he was also Chairman and Presidential candidate. A new party of nonconformists, called Nigerian Advance Party (NAP), formed by Lagos theorist, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite and supported by Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and musical icon, Fela Anikulapo also had the founder as the dominant figure.

Those who were old enough to know the politics of the Second Republic and NPN, knew that Chief Akinloye carried out his duties with great colour and upended posture. Indeed, he was not ready to depreciate his exalted office of National Chairman Party of the leading political organization and ruling party in Nigeria with any elected officer. He was the veritable le Grande patron. His visits to the NPN controlled states which spanned 7 out of 19 states were charged with fanfare. So where did OB fall in all these? He was the ultimate chief of all operations. He remained mostly at the headquarters of the party to ensure that things worked well. Attending to intra-party and inter-party issues he helped to liaise with the Presidency and built great personal friendship and confidence with President Shagari. He maintained contact with Ministers and National Assembly members and supervised the party machinery in southern Nigeria. Not the least, he helped to keep contact with Governors almost on daily basis to ensure that programmes and policies of the party were being implemented.
With the exception of his appointment to serve as Board Chairman of National Animal Feeds Company, and Federal Polytechnic, Idah and Director, River State Transport Corporation, he was left with nothing despite his very influential and to some extent commanding position in the Second Republic.

In general, he was the idealist, a realist, loyal, dutiful, and dependable life-wire of the party. He was transparent, procedural, and self-effacing. With his many years of experience as a labour leader where he was able to forge consensus between contending interests of industry and welfare of workers, he was able, even though precariously to balance the innumerable contending interests within the NPN and relations with other political parties.

For this unique character trait, he earned the respect of all. Although he ended up, rather meteorically, becoming the second most powerful person in the NPN , his ethics, incorruptible, austere and reserved lifestyle also kept him out of trouble when the military coupists who came on December 31, 1983 to chase them out of power. Investigation upon investigation, enquiry upon enquiry, tribunal upon tribunal nothing and absolutely nothing was found against High Chief OB Lulu-Briggs. The only politician of that level of exposure to go completely unscathed.

RETURN TO CREATIVITY AND ENTERPRISE
Departure from public office, either political or bureaucratic in Nigeria is always viewed with misgivings and distrust. Due to the seeming unabating spate of corruption, all holders of public office are easily lumped into the category of “those who have made it.” No!

High Chief OB had to return to his businesses, including investments in the hospitality and oil services sectors, which he had built up from his retirement emoluments and benefits from the Nigerian Ports Authority, where he had worked for about 23 years. He began running one of the most appreciated middle level hotels in Port-Harcourt, which he thankfully named after his mother- Rachael Hotel.

In all these, one quality, which all of OB’s associates attest to was his unshaken faith in God and continued stoic approach to life. He never forgot his humble beginning as a person who started life with nothing and had to eke out a living in different cities, especially Lagos. As a flashback to his beginnings, it is pertinent to note that while hassling and doing basic clerical job in a department store in Lagos, with no real address, he made it a daily habit to find time to go to the public library in Yaba, Lagos to study. He knew the value of education for self-improvement. His conduct caught the eye and attention of the British Librarian who, it is narrated later got interested in this humble, indigent youngster who read and returned his books regularly. As the story has it, she got information that the Nigerian Ports Authority was recruiting junior hands and had no hesitation in recommending the studious young man. High Chief OB was quick to tell his biographers that at that time, knowing that he had no human figure to turn to for help, he simply depended on God and help came in his way, from the most unexpected source.

The General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) regime decided to deregulate and indigenize aspects of the Oil and Gas industry which had been the life wire of the country’s economy since 1958. Most people, especially from the oil rich Niger Delta, who have been excluded from an industry from their own soil, disbelieved the sincerity of the process and stayed away. Having started his life as a Kalabari boy from the creeks, High Chief OB knew well that human existence is like the tides of the river which rise and fall. For successful fishing expedition, it is important to understand the gravitational forces that influence the tides. Understanding the tides of life and faith in God, High Chief OB applied for a license and his company, Moni Pulo Limited which he formed in 1992, was awarded one of the first set of licenses. He took a huge risk, selling off key assets and borrowing heavily in global markets to gain value from the oil block. Along the way associates and friends jeered at him and abandoned him.

At the end of the day, his tenacity and patience paid off. Some say it was something like what contemporary Belgian painter Erik Pavernagie so aptly stated that “The wind blows gently love through the thistledown of expectations, hope may inveigle the future for timeless care and tenderness to be anchored in a bay of good luck.” That is good luck in actuality. A few others have also relied on the words of William Shakespeare that, “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures” in other words, OB was wise enough to know when to jump in to find explanation. For High Chief OB, his wife Seinye, and their children who are deeply immersed in the Christian faith, this is attributable only to God’s amazing grace and mercies.

Moni Pulo grew to become one of the best run indigenous oil companies, competing in terms of professionalism and standards with the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in every respect. He was particularly known for his amazing environmental standards and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in relation to host communities and catchment areas in Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers. This is understandable as High Chief OB’s own community, which lies around Cawthorn Channel area, one the most productive oil fields had suffered untold and immeasurable environmental degradation and neglect from companies operating in the area. However, those close to him adduce that his convivial relationship with communities where Moni Pulo operates was informed more by his sense of justice and equity; his guiding ethos of life and personal motto.

THE GOD WORK AND ULTIMATE SERVICE TO MAN
Having seen the varying extremities of life and at the summit of human material accomplishment, a listed billionaire and corporate leader in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, the only meaningful value to life that remained for High Chief OB was unqualified service to God. He daily regurgitated the firm belief in the amazing grace of God, who always gives man a second chance to serve him. Having become acquainted with God at an early age through his devout Christian paternal grandmother whose gifts of healing and prophecy drew thousands to her prayer house, Agbani Teke Wari (Agbani’s Prayer House) in Abonnema, and grown up in the Anglican Communion, his renewed missionary zeal and passion were greatly influenced by his evangelical wife, Seinye, who is an ordained Minister of the Gospel. They jointly became amongst the most noticeable participants in all Christian activities around different places in Nigeria, irrespective of denomination. High Chief OB in particular became one of the greatest inspirations within the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, Scripture Union, and other Christian endeavours.

Through his O.B. Lulu-Briggs Campaign for Christ he was actively involved in winning souls, church planting and spent billions of his fortune building and equipping churches for countless Christian groups. With an impressive chapel within the precincts of his Port Harcourt home, the sound of routine Christian activities became a part of daily living for all who were associated with him. In recognition of his contributions to the Church, the Communion of Pentecostal Bishops of Nigeria bestowed upon him the distinguished title of The Defender of the Christian Faith (D.C.F.) in 2008.

The other preoccupation which he committed his later years to, was his efforts to strengthen the fabric of his cultural and social environment and work more towards enthroning enduring peace and harmony in Kalabari Kingdom.

He had spent the greater part of his active life in Lagos, and it was a testimony to his commitment and abiding love for his people and their collective heritage that he volunteered to play very critical and important roles in his native Kalabari Affairs. In particular, he played an important role in bringing the internecine intercommunal disputes especially between Bakana and Tombia communities to an end. Also, he solved several longstanding chieftaincy disputes in his Kalabari Kingdom. His efforts strengthened the revered stool of the Kalabari Monarchy, presently occupied by His Majesty, Professor TJT Princewill. The opportunity also created itself for him to bring restoration to his own royal lineage in Abonnema. In 1881, his epical ancestor, Young Briggs Iniikeiroari (Briggs III), lead the expedition from Elem Kalabari to found what is today known as Abonnema, but their lineage had become estranged from the affairs of the town. With this reintegration and reconciliation, the Abonnema Council of Chiefs became fortified. This also paved the way for his formal presentation to the Abonnema Council of Chief as Chief Iniikeiroari V and ultimately, he became Paramount Head of the Oruwari Briggs War Canoe House of Abonnema, a position he held until his passing.

Finally, during this period, he also to lent himself as an encircling figure in the internal politics of Rivers State and galvanized a political rebirth amongst key players from the South South and the South East. He led many others from these two parts of Nigeria to play effective roles in the politics of the Third Republic that was to come after General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) regime. Ultimately, he led many to pitch tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), one of two tailor made political bodies created by the military government. He joined the contest for the Presidency of Nigeria under the SDP in 1993, but his ambition, along with those of others was truncated by the military. The ticket was won by the flamboyant Chief Moshood Abiola, his friend and former NPN colleague. In the wake of the annulment of Chief Abiola’s election victory, High Chief OB Lulu-Briggs became one of the promoters of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the pro-democracy group that fought for the return of democracy to Nigeria. In the fourth republic, High Chief OB Lulu-Briggs also played key roles in the formation of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) alongside progressive politicians such as Bola Ige, Abraham Adesanya and Emeka Eziefe.

AN AFTERWORD
It is commonly said that life is a journey of dualities. This will seem to provide an apt summation of the lifetime of High Chief OB as he rose from the very basics of human existence, by the hand of God, to the highest pinnacle of accomplishment. He got to the top level in his chosen career as trade unionist and then climbed the high horse of political power. At that time, his closest friends were the political echelon in the most populous black nation in the world. He dined with Kings and Princes, and later in life his own ancestral royalty to which his immediate forebears were alienated was fully restored to him within the Kalabari microcosmos. He was powerful, yet graciously compassionate in all his dealings.

The life and times of High Chief OB can best be described as the inexorable spinning of the wheel. God’s benevolence to him was astonishing and he proved himself to be a good husbandman of it. The people of the Niger Delta to which he was one of its leaders had been excluded from what they rightly owned – the oil industry from 1958 when it started. In the inexplicable hand of the redemptive justice of God, High Chief OB who started in penury, was part of a small group of pioneering indigenous businessmen to be awarded oil blocks to develop. Suddenly he found himself being toasted and celebrated as one of the richest black people in the world, including by Forbes Magazine.

This opened a new chapter in his life, a chapter of giving back to humanity, the wealth which the hand of God bequeathed to him. High Chief OB allowed himself to become amongst the most noticed and appreciated philanthropists in all fields, in a rich country where majority are considered as extremely poor. Of significant importance was the new championing role he assigned to his beloved wife, Seinye and himself in the promotion of the Christian gospel.
The interesting contrast lies in the fact that he started life from the lowest ebb of the tide and closed life’s journey at the crest with all manner of accolades from countless groups, organizations and nations. An obviously indebted nation awarded him the high honor of Officer of the Order of the Nigeria (OON) in 2003. His home State followed suit by awarding him the Key to Port Harcourt in 2012 and bestowing him the Distinguished Service Star of Rivers State during the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2017.

But with all these, especially in bringing great succor and comfort to all manner of persons and preaching the gospel, it is admirable that he did not allow Parkinson’s Disease, which he battled with courage and deep faith, keep him from living an active and full life until the hand of the clock stopped ticking on December 27, 2018, in Accra, Ghana, just two years before he turned 90 years.

As the world marks his posthumous 90th birthday today, clearly the echoes of celebration will certainly be heralded not just in the streets of Abonnema and Port-Harcourt but around the world and most importantly even by the hosts of heaven. Happy Birthday Opuda!

Amb Igali presented the paper on the occasion High Chief OB Lulu-Brigg’s 90th Posthumous birthday on Friday, 20th May, 2020.

By Uwa Suleiman

The tendency for misplaced aggression especially when there is a dearth of intellect and decorum can be tragic. One of my favourite quotes of all time, by Hilary Clinton effectively captures the topic of discourse: When they begin to attack you personally, then you know they have no single intellectual or political argument left.

The trending attack on the name, person and office of my very distinguished boss, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, MCPN by the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs Abike Dabiri Erewa, is a very poorly thought out and laughably executed strategy for a smear campaign. The moment I viewed the clip, I instantly knew it was personal, and within a very short spate of time, my convictions were confirmed. How else did we astronomically go from guns, thugs and armed men to qualifications and religious ridicule?

The gender card particularly, struck a chord. It hit home with all the magnitude falsehood can conjure. It is absolute falsehood to state that Dr Pantami hates women! Hatred is too sacrilegious a word to use, in describing someone who has used his position to truly empower more women than most! During his tenure as Director General of NITDA, Dr Pantami initiated and sustained a digital skills training programme, specifically targeted at hundreds of women nationwide. These trainings come with empowerment incentives that ensure these women have a sustained economic lifeline.

When Dr Pantami became DG of NITDA, I was experiencing the most trying time of my public service career, yet. The first time I saw him, I did not congratulate him as everyone was. I chose to be honest and true to my conscience and I respectfully told him that I did not come to congratulate him like everyone else, but to welcome him to a most challenging office. I told him time will tell, if congratulations are in order as it was a term used, when success has been achieved. That was my very first encounter with my boss. He exhibited his intense hatred for women by smiling, asking me to sit down and engaging me in a career defining conversation for the next hour, our very considerable ethnic and religious diversity, regardless!! I do not imagine that a lot of feminist, female CEOs will be that gracious to a female subordinate in the same scenario.

Three months later in January of 2017, having proven my competence in my work, he appointed me his spokesperson, and such was his hatred for women that he reappointed me in September of 2019 shortly after assuming his current office.

That attempt at playing the gender card is at best a joke, There is a certain level of decorum expected of anyone who must tow that line. Besides, anyone with a head on their necks will find it amusing, that a man who disrespects and hates women will employ and retain women in some of the most sensitive positions in his cabinet. The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT). Dr Abimbola Alale, one of the parastatals he currently oversees, his secretary and his spokesperson are all females, there are female representatives on every committee he chairs, he has an appreciable number of women on his staff list holding director cadre positions and best of all, he is a son, a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a teacher, a mentor, and much more to females. How much hatred and disrespect can one harbour in playing these roles?

Dr Isa Pantami’s educational arsenal is too prestigious, above question, far above and beyond ridicule. There is no human force capable of erasing his well earned, qualifications from Ivy league institutions globally. To engage anyone in a defensive debate on this subject, would be an insult to the intellectual prowess of my boss. He is not your average educated person.

Any objective mind watching that video would immediately deduce the enormous contempt, disdain and disrespect directed at Dr Pantami’s person. This obvious display of insubordination clearly indicates that the issue is personal. First of all, the rules and regulations guiding the civil service do not condone such acts. The established protocol of communication has been grossly breached here, but there are also lawful measures to remedy any breach.

It is imperative to make it absolutely clear, that the Honourable Minister did not order any thugs or armed men to chase anyone out of anywhere. He simply does not need to do that! It is a known fact that he is an advocate of justice and has intervened countless times in more ways than one, to give justice to the oppressed. Therefore, it is impossible for him to contradict himself as is been alleged in this case.
Dr Pantami does not, and will not shake any woman he is not married to. It is his personal principle. If anyone feels disrespected because they cannot shake Pantami’s hand, go to court. It is the absence of principles that leads to indiscipline, disregard for superior authority, falsehood and careless talk.

I am yet to see the video of unarmed civil servants being chased out of the building in question, by thugs and armed men. It is not unexpected that these types of distractions would come up, but Dr Pantami is busy. He is too busy ensuring that a Digital Economy is fully achieved, he is engrossed with how to increase Broadband penetration, he is occupied with how to reduce and sustain the price of data, he is busy mentoring young Nigerians on digital skills acquisition, he is busy fostering partnerships that drive innovation- the ticket to global relevance, Dr Pantami’s mind is a 24hour think tank. There is no room for trivialities.

The Nigerian public is not as gullible as some may like to believe. No amount of Smear campaign press conferences organized by some shady faceless groups, or pathetic pen-for-hire attempts will hold water. The great strides accomplished by Pantami since his emergence in the public service domain, can neither be denied nor erased. And he continues to break new grounds. Shall we begin to compare achievements?

Abike Dabiri crossed the line. Her vituperations had nothing to do with office space. The speed, sequence and nature of her allegations leaves the discerning mind wondering. How did we go from office space to qualifications and handshakes to hatred and disrespect for the female gender in a heartbeat?

I stand by the truth and I stand by my boss unapologetically.

Uwa Suleiman is spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

By Talatu Ibraheem

The security concern facing Nigeria, and by extension, Niger State has attracted varied reactions. While some have remained objective in their analysis of the situation, others have exhibited outright and malicious falsehood and misleading rhetoric.

Without any doubt, the responsibility of the government is to secure the lives and property of its citizens. It is the fundamental leeway to human existence in general, hence, it is the foundation upon which every society and government rests on.

What started like a mere Farmers/Herdsmen clashes in the country, has degenerated to what could be described as full blown war. From Zamfara to Niger, from Kaduna to Katsina, Sokoto to Kebbi, and from Adamawa to Benue states, it is an untold story of woes. The sounds of the gun from these unseen enemies are now like a cultural music to the people with no end in sight.

Niger State has its fair share of these mayhem and arson as no day or week passes without one form of attack or the other. There is no gain saying that the state is under siege from these criminal elements.

Security architecture is a national issue. It covers all the front line states of Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Niger. All these states are affected by security challenges to some certain degree. The point must be laid bared that most of these bandits are not domicile in Niger State. They come from these neighboring states, inflict pains and go back.

The economic cost of the insecurity in Niger State, is ernomous, to say the least, as bandits cart away and plunder the valuables of their victims. People are not entirely free to carry on their farming and other economic or occupational activities.

However, worried by this development, the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello decided to embark on a number of measures aimed at addressing these security challenges that is all most bringing the state and the people to their knees.

The severity of the challenge, has made the Niger State Government, under the leadership Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello throw everything to the works, to ensure that the relentless carnage on innocent people is curtailed.

The Governor, in a stakeholders interactive session on the general affairs of the state in Minna, recently, acknowledged that the issue of security has become a thing of concern to all and the government, therefore consider it necessary to reassess its commitments and reconsider its strategies through the stakeholders round table discussions.

The Governor while Acknowledging the fact that “Niger state shares boundary with some North-Western states that are bedevilled by Insecurity challenges, noted that this has made policing very cumbersome due to the influx of some criminal elements, taking advantage of the large expanse of forests in our state”.

He believed that crime and criminality in the 21st Century has taken sophisticated dimensions, and “therefore as stakeholders, we need to think ahead and deploy appropriate strategies towards combating it”.
It is as a result of this and in compliance with the recent resolutions by the nineteen northern states governors after a peace summit in Zamfara, that the governor decided to go into peace deal with the bandits with a view to engaging them in dialogue as a way of finding solution to banditry in the state.

Even though he made it abundantly clear that the peace deal is not in any way a sign of weakness by the government, the Peace approach became necessary, considering the negative impact of banditry activities on the people and pressure on state government to provide safe and secured environment for its citizens.

In terms of security investment, the government has continued to support the security agencies.

Governor Sani Bello has never hidden his believe that no sacrifice is too small for Peace to reign, especially, now that no region of the country is safe due to one form of violence or the other.

This line of thought is understandable, considering the fact that in the north east, we are faced with the Boko Haram menace which has continued to take human lives, in the North West, we are experiencing cattle rustling and banditry, and until recently Herdsmen and Farmers engage in bloody conflicts in the north central.

The Governor, in demonstration of his commitment to the peace deal, went further to release 13 bandits who have being in custody in Minna as part of activities that marked the World Peace Day, usually observed every 21 September worldwide.

The release of the bandits however paid off as with less than two weeks after deal took effect, no fewer than 35 of them voluntarily surrendered their arms in a quiet ceremony (as requested by the bandits) and ready for rehabilitation and integration back into the society.

The bandits had told the government that more of them are ready to surrender their arms but need the government assurance of rehabilitating them back to the society.

This development brought great relief to some of these communities as the people were now gradually returning back to their homes after months at the IDPs camps.

The government did not go to sleep because of this fragile peace deal, he took steps further with the purchase of over 200 security vehicles to security agencies to support their operation. The blue and white painted vehicles were attached to the security Taskforce .

The Governor maintained that military operation, though not completely ruled out, it cannot bring permanent solution to the current insecurity situation in the state.

It is therefore, regrettable for fifth columnists, detractors and demented opinionist to insinuate that government is insensitive to the plight of the people.

Other steps taken is the 24 hours one-stop security response call center with the state of the art equipment to coordinate and respond to all distress calls from any part of the state.

This security response call centers have security personnel drawn from all the security outfits in the state with the sole aim of managing all the distress calls. The state government also embarked on the legislation of the formation of vigilante groups with a view to harmonizing private security services in the state.

It is on record that the Niger State Government under the leadership of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has made several moves amongst which are, building effective inter agency collaboration with his visits to high profile stakeholders like the Chiefs of Army staff, Yusuf Buratai, Air Staff, Saddique Abubakar. Also visited were the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Muhammed Adamu, and the Commandant General of Civil Defence, NSDC, to solicit the commitment of their organisations towards eradicating the menace. This was reinforced by President Muhammadu Buhari’s marching order to the security agencies to flush out the bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers. So, to say the state government is insensitive is regrettable.

The state government went further to reinvigorate its support to the standing joint operations with logistics and welfare to enable them clear the crisis prone communities of Rafi, Shiroro and Munya local government areas of the state under siege by bandits.

Already, the collaboration between the state and federal governments is yielding some positive results as the impunity of the kidnapper and nefarious activities of bandits has been substantially pushed back. Currently the joint force code named Operation Gama Aiki by security agencies in Niger State are combing the forest and destroying the hideouts of the bandits. Just a few weeks ago the force neutralized several armed bandits at Maguga in Rafi LGA.

The Governor maintained that military operation, though not completely ruled out, it cannot bring permanent solution to the current insecurity situation in the state.

The state government has gone further to use multiple approaches in tackling the menace. For instance, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello had in a bid enhance the efficiency of the vigilantes in the affected Local Governments, presented more than 300 motorcycles, and over 20 Hilux vehicles due to poor accessibility of the roads.

The essence of empowering the vigilantes is to backup the security agencies and work in accordance with the law for maximum results. The governor also made it a point of duty to compensate the families of any officer who lost his or her life or sustain injury in the line of duty.

To ease and enhance their operational efficiency, the Governor has provided joint security operations control room, which is one of the best in the country and is been controlled and managed by all the security outfits in state.

Niger State is also challenged with the issue of mininng activities which is also under the control of the federal government, the mining though can not be aligned to be factors attracting the bandits, like we had in zamfara, one can not specifically understand the modus operandi of these bandits as they are more on kidnapping, rustling, Rape and killing. Unfortunately Niger state does not give mining licenses, as it is the exclusive right of the federal government..

Additionally, all members of security taskforce are been paid monthly allowances to boost their morale. Though, the efforts to tame the insecurity in the state has brought the state government purse under tremendous pressure, the Governor Abubakar Sani Bellos administration believe nothing is too much in pursuance of the primary purpose of government, which is the security of lives and property.

All that is needed is the redoubled cooperation of all stakeholders: citizens of the state and the federal government as Niger State wangles its way out of the menace.

The state government will continue to sustain the war against the insurgents, we will continue to aid and assist the internally displaced and we remain hopeful that, sooner rather than later, the bandits will be completely flushed out.

Talatu Ibraheem is an SSA
Media to Niger state Governor.

By Adamu Usman Garko

It is clear that in Nigeria today, if one wants to be silenced, he just needs to be honest and stick to bringing about practical changes even if at the detriment of one’s life. There are many subjective critics out there galvanizing their swords, waiting for anyone who has the interest of the masses at heart, using their dishonest swords as a mechanism to create appalling silence, silence that if you are targeted with, will make you feel discouraged and ready to succumb to failure.

These subjective critics do not mean well for the country. They want, forever, to continue seeing the masses suffering, dreading the emergence of a change maker like Dr. Pantami. But you know what? Dr. Pantami is a unique one, no subjective criticism or any form of malice targeted at silencing positivity and erecting the pillars of negativity can discourage him. Unlike others, Pantami doesn’t beg for opportunities. In fact, he was once denied of a superior opportunity to come down here to Nigeria to work for the betterment of the masses.

For obvious reasons, Pantami has been a subject of criticism since his emergence as a minister. Many didn’t bother to take a memory tour into the archives of his antecedents during his tenure at NITDA. They do not care to appreciate the much he had done to bring NITDA to limelight when the majority knew not even about the agency or what it stands for. More so, they do not appreciate him getting to pilot the whole of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the position he deservedly got due to his unbeatable achievements when he was a DG at NITDA. Additionally, in few months of his emergence as a minister, he did what could have taken forever to complete. Constructive criticism is important, no success comes without criticism. Criticism that is objective and coming with a pure unadulterated intention of making the targeted to gauge his activities and effect change. And not subjective criticism coming consequently of hypocrisy, hatred and jealousy.

Despite the subjective criticisms flooding his way, he remains committed to his duty. There is no reason to begin to enumerate many of the great works he has fostered since he became a minister. His impacts are ubiquitous everywhere in Nigeria today. This is besides the humanitarian activities he is silently carrying out, of which I, personally know many. He is never an attention seeker, that is why many who are ignorant of this might continue to fume on social media; since to their knowledge, social media is the beginning and end of showcasing achievements and apportioning rewards.

Obviously, Pantami’s emergence is clearly an answer to our prayers for a better expression of what leadership should be in Nigeria. But you know what? This is not what subjective critics want from him. They want him to fall a prey to failure, they want him to derail, so that many of us that are optimistic of a better nation and leadership would have our hopes dashed. So that they would have many a vintage position to send their poisonous arrows of manacing criticism his way, so that he would eventually resign under the deluge of their malicious criticism. They are busy sponsoring dubious people to paint him black, forgetting the positive changes he is ushering in. They are already appalled by his being an up and doing member of the executive arm who is doing so incredibly well, who is one of the few reliable intellectuals holding leadership positions today, who is also most morally and educationally sound.

You know what? Sheathe your swords of subjective criticism, he won’t resign, he won’t compromise the great work and arrays of innovations he is bringing into this country. Even before he left a country with so much mouthwatering opportunities at his disposal, he was and he is still aware of where he is going. He knew and he still knows that to effect changes means to hug a naked transformer. He is aware, as we all crtically are, that effecting changes in this country makes you liable to be insulted, stoned at or subjectively criticized. He knows that the bottom line here is, do no good, don’t stand for the truth, shun justice and eschew fairness. Whenever many of us who are optimistic come across someone blackmailing him because of the positivity he champions, we remind ourselves that when he was appointed as a minister, he said this:

“Leadership is a burden, a trial and sometimes a calamity.” There’s no amount of hatred, jealousy, sponsorship of e-thuggery by anyone or institution to blackmail or silence him that will succeed. He is beyond that. This is what happens when you have a seasoned personality as a leader.

May our eyes never go blind to the vista of truth.

Adamu Usman Garko writes from Gombe State.