May 29, 2026
I am deliberately moving away from discussing insecurity matters which are dear to me as they touch on our survival as a nation of free peoples this week to discuss another matter issue that is just as life-threatening. That issue is about politics, politicking and politicians. The issues are not new; just as malaria is not new to us here; however, what many often overlook is the fact that new strains of the malaria parasite continue to emerge and the global pharmaceutical industry is permanently in overdrive to come up with drugs that can achieve lasting cures.
Those of the Independence generation, like me, will remember anti-malaria drugs like Nivaquine and Resochin, which were quite popular in 70s. Today, nobody sees them anymore. The malaria parasites have mutated and in the process, now inflicts greater damage on the physiology of the human body than before, and as a result, today’s anti-malaria therapies are far more differentiated. More important, makers of the drugs are no longer from Western Europe, but from South-East Asia. Quite instructive, if you ask me.
But this is not about malaria, but about politics, politicians and politicking.
Last week, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon invaded our consciousness when he launched a book titled My Life of Duty & Allegiance, in Abuja. Again, this is not about his book, but about one of the remarks he made while in office as Head of State. Gowon had promised that the country will return to democratic civil rule in 1976. However, in his nationwide broadcast on October 1, 1974, he stated that the political class had not learned from past mistakes and indefinitely postponed the return to civilian rule. There was a quote attributed to him: “The politicians have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.” It is generally believed that this statement by Gowon was a contributing factor to his eventual overthrow in 1976 in a putsch that produced late Murtala Muhammed as Head of State.
