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OPINION: Buhari’s Dance To The Grove

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By Suyi Ayodele

I travelled to Edo North over the weekend. On our way, the cab I boarded had a flat tyre shortly after Ikpeshi in the Akoko Edo area. I was shocked to see that the first two occupants who jumped out of the vehicle and started hurrying back towards Auchi were the two female passengers at the back seat. They just hurriedly alighted and without a word to anybody, headed back to Auchi. I found that behaviour strange; no empathy for the driver who lost a tyre due to the bad road. Suddenly, it dawned on me that that was the area where some felons killed about three policemen about a month ago. Of course, I quickly borrowed myself senses and joined in the trek back to Auchi, leaving the driver to his fate. We are all security conscious now, irrespective of age, sex, and state of health. That is the Nigeria of Buhari.

By this time next week, General Muhammadu Buhari would no longer be in the Aso Rock Villa as the president and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Six days away from today, the General would have retired to either his Daura country home or anywhere in his second country, Niger Republic. Whichever option he chooses, Nigeria and Nigerians would have heaved a sigh of relief to see the end of an inglorious era in the history of the nation. History is a beast. There is a saying that comes to mind each time I consider this season of the locusts. No matter how old a farmer is, the hut on his farm will always outlive him (ahere ni kehin oloko). It is gratifying to note that Nigeria has outlived the Buhari presidency! By May 29, which is next week’s Monday, Buhari would have completed his two terms of eight years as the president. Eight years is just like yesterday. Wonderful! What will now remain of the Daura-born retired General is what history says about him. I will restrain myself from being magisterial here. I know, if I were to write the history of Buhari’s era, what would be my introduction and what I would put in the concluding paragraph. I equally know that many people too, especially members of the Hallelujah orchestra, would also write different paragraphs about the man they consider their Mai Gaskiya (the honest one). That is life. However, one common denominator of our plight, fate, and life under the Buhari leadership is the fact that the poverty in the land, the hyperinflation; the insecurity; the killing and maiming; the disenchantment and frustration in the country do not make any distinction. Both the poor and the rich are at the mercy of the numerous ailments scourging the land.

After Aso Rock, what is next for Buhari and his aides – those ones, who in the last eight years have been acting as if they are the true children of Lord Lugard, while the rest of us are adopted children? Will they also, after May 29, queue for fuel the way we do? Will they go to the banks’ ATM machines, where, after the machines have dispensed the first N20,000 withdrawal, they will be told: “you have exceeded your daily withdrawal limit?” While on the roads, will they still use fierce-looking policemen to chase us out of the way, or will they have to learn how to meander their ways through the potholes and graters that have been part of our transportation system? “Everything passes”, is a common cliché of an older friend and mentor, Professor Tony Afejuku of the Department of English Language and Literature, University of Benin. No matter how terrible a situation is, the Itsekiri poet and columnist would end up with “Everything passes”! nothing illustrates this timeless saying than the fable of Omo Alagbaa.

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Alagbaa is the spiritual head of the Egungun cult. The cult venerates the ancestors and those who belong to the ages. It is another deity in the Yoruba legion of Orisa. Egungun, otherwise known as masquerade in the English Language, is regarded as the representative of the ancestors. They are heavenly beings. Please don’t pay attention to the masquerade that was captured, accredited by BVAS, and voted in the February 25 presidential election of Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his INEC. That is not the “ara orun kinkinkin” we are talking about here. I also read somewhere last week that a masquerade “escaped death in an accident” in Anambra State. That one too is not the “aji gbana oro” (he who sweeps the path of the deity early in the morning). During the Egungun festival, the children of Alagbaa, known as Omo Alagbaa, misbehave a lot. They suddenly become arrogant and run roughshod with the commoners. The privileged position of being the children of the Egungun chief priest goes into their heads. Why?

Egungun festival is celebrated for seven days. During that period, every participant, especially the Ojes -Egungun devotees – fry akara (bean cake). As custom demands, every devotee, while the festival lasts, must take akara to the house of Alagbaa. Akara, in case you don’t understand, is a delicacy in Yoruba gastronomy that is considered sacred and rare. No woman is allowed to go into commercial frying of akara without passing through some rituals to ascertain that she would not use human blood instead of palm oil. So, akara, which is not easy to come by, becomes almost a useless commodity in the house of Alagbaa during the festival, such that Omo Alagbaa shows little or no respect to the commodity. And for those commercial akara sellers, the business is usually very low during Egungun festival. They experience little or no patronage, but they have their consolation. They know that there is a terminal date for the festival. After seven days, Ifa would be consulted to ask if the ancestors had accepted the sacrifices of the living. If Ifa gives a negative answer, the festival is repeated for another seven days. That too is very uncommon. While the festival lasted, akara sellers console themselves with a proverb thus: “ohun to ntan ni odun Eegun, omo Alagbaa nbo wa ra akara je” (the masquerade festival has a terminal date, and the son of the chief priest will come out to buy akara to eat). This is because no matter the quantity of akara in Alagbaa’s compound, they become useless once the festival is over as akara cannot even on its own last for more than a day. It becomes rancid after 24 hours. By the eight-day of the Egungun festival, if Omo Alagbaa wants to eat eko, he must go and buy akara. And while on the queue, nobody knows who the child of the chief priest is or not. The eighth day ends their arrogance.

That is how transient power is. I first made a passing reference to this allegory on this page on October 19, 2021, in the piece titled: “Awolowo and the Bondsman in the Villa.” That was when Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, made a comparison of the Avatar, Chief Obafemi Awolowo with Buhari, by saying: “I am old enough to have seen our colorful and even swashbuckling politicians in action. I have seen the great Obafemi Awolowo; the charismatic Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa); Shehu Shagari, Amino Kano, M.K.O Abiola, Bashir Tofa and many others in action, but I have not seen anyone with the kind of attraction, magnetic pull that Muhammadu Buhari has. And that is round the country, north and south. People swarm around him as bees do to honey’”. I concluded in that piece that a day would come when Adesina would leave the Villa and would become a commoner that he used to be before his ‘elevation’ to Aso Rock. By May 30, Adesina would have joined the camp of the “wailing wailers”. That same day has come. And it has not come for Adesina alone. You have Chris Ngige. Will the Anambra politician be able to go back to his colleagues in the medical profession and beat his chest that he has represented them well? Will Adamu Adamu, after May 29, be able to sit down with ASUU members again? What about Festus Keyamo? Will the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) be justified in calling him a “Comrade” after May 29? Think about Raji Fashola. How many states in the entire Southern Nigeria will the former governor of Lagos State be able to drive to without losing his car tyres to potholes or being harassed by kidnappers, and killer herdsmen who use the graters on our roads as ‘poultry spots’ to kidnap commuters? After May 29, would Professor Yemi Osinbajo be able to visit Ketu vegetable market to access the performances of the beneficiaries of the “Trada Moni”. How about Sadiya Umar Farouq of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development? Hope she keeps records of the beneficiaries of her COVID-19 Palliative? Can someone also help to take Madam Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, to the schools where she spent about N1billion daily to feed school children, after May 29, for her to see how buxom those children are now. I am sure those children who were ‘fed’ in their schools even during the COVID-19 lockdown would be delighted to see their ‘Mama Christmas’. Phew! The list is endless.

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The masquerade festival is over for Buhari and his team. Every masquerade must dance back to the grove after each outing (poor or excellent). Buhari cannot be an exception. What is remaining is the memento of the ruinous era he led. Nigerians will now make a comparison of the strength of the Naira in 2015 and how weak the currency is now. The nation can now sit back and compare how fragmented we are as a people in relation to the pre-2015 unity. We can now look at the corruption scale to determine if we fared better than the era before the Mai Gaskiya. What about our security architecture? Are our Armed Forces in any way better than the old Boys Scout of yore with the level of insecurity in the land? We now can ask Fashola, and his elder brother, Buhari, what has happened to our power system. Buhari can now tell us if we should stone him or hail him as the late Tony Momoh projected in 2014.

It is time now for Nigerians to do a personality identikit of Buhari and situate him either as a heroic president (who made our lives better) or to consign him to the dustbin of history as a complete anti-heroic personality (who worsened the situation). For those who made it real ‘big’ during the era, I hope they know that stealing the king’s trumpet (kakaki) is not the problem but where to blow it. Now the import of the warning the inimitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave when he said: “The rich, and the highly placed in business, public life, and government, are running a dreadful risk in their callous neglect of the poor and the down-trodden”, will be clear to them. The near apocalyptic commendation of the sage, to wit: “The children of the poor you failed to train will never let your children have peace”, is coming home to roost. We would all witness it.

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While doing that, Nigerians should not lose focus of the man that would have taken over, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. A lot of readers of this column, and some other old friends, have asked me several times why I recourse to African tradition and customs to drive my points on many of the issues I have raised here. My simple answer to them is that each time I consider the present situation in Nigeria, I always become dewy-eyed. I grew up at a time Nigeria was about to take its slide to the present ditch. From the countryside setting of a child who sat beside other children to listen to folktales and to draw moral lessons from the experiences of those who have seen the world, the temptation is always there for me to make a comparison of what is obtainable now and what it used to be back then. I grew up to learn the cliché: “When a civil servant builds a house, congratulate him. When he builds the second one, suspect him. If he builds a third one, call him a thief.” But what do we have nowadays? And I must confess here; I do not belong to the generation of those who saw Nigeria when it was good. No. Nigeria was already packing its decent loads in preparation for the arrival of the current locusts when I was raised. The only privilege I had was that for the first two decades or more of my life, I was not exposed to modern-day civilisation. Our tradition has given us what we need to make a projection into the future. However, ‘civilisation’ has robbed us of that opportunity. Ifa is called “Eleri ipin” (One who witnesses destiny). The one who witnessed one’s destiny can never be wrong in his prediction of what the future holds. With Pentecostalism and spirit-filled Born Againism, nobody dares consult the Oracle! Yet, it is pertinent for us to know what the future holds for us.

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So, what does the future hold for the Tinubu presidency? Olu-Osayomi Olusegun of the Department of Languages and Literary Studies, Babcock University, Ilishan- Remo, Ogun State, in a paper titled: “Dramatic Aspect of Ese Ifa in Yorubaland”, says: “Before a betrothal, before a marriage, before a child is born, at the birth of a child, and at successive stages in man‟s life, before a king is appointed or a chief is made or in time of crisis, in terms of sickness and at any and all times, Ifa is assurance. Like the saying „onil‟ari a o r‟ola on nibaba‟lawo se nd‟ifal‟ororun‟ (it is today we see, we do not see tomorrow, hence the Babalawo consults the oracle every fifth day). One must therefore consult Ifa who knows how to explain issues about present and the future”, (International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), vol 5, no. 10, 2017, pp. 12-18). I am not sure anyone took that step to ask what is in it for us in this new government. But that notwithstanding, like the saying goes, “oju ni alakan fi nso ori” (the crab watches its head with its eyes). Vigilance is the watchword. Nigerians must not allow the Tinubu presidency to degenerate like that of Buhari before they cry out. Unlike Olu-Osayomi’s fifth day divination projection above, I have explained here in another piece titled “Ojudu, Sunday Igboho and the Sangba Allegory” (Nigerian Tribune, Tuesday, February 2, 2021), “Ever since diviners consulted Ifa every day, hence the saying: “Bi eni ti ri, ola ki ri be lo mu babalawo d’ifa ojojumo”- what is obtainable today may not suffice tomorrow, the reason diviners consult Ifa every day.” An average Nigerian politician, from all indications, has no sense of history, or pretends not to have any sense of history. It is therefore left for the citizenry to keep the government on its toes. To allow the sore of Tinubu presidency to fester like that of Buhari is to call in the pallbearers. Nigerians would only keep quiet at their own peril. As for us from this side of the divide, we would follow the Yoruba dictum of old to wit: “a o ni sepe, a o ni sure; sugbon enu wa o ni gbofo” (we would neither curse nor bless; but our mouth shall also not be empty – shut). May the new day break well for us all.

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OPINION: Nigeria: A History Of Scandals

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By Lasisi Olagunju

On October 29, 1974, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence, through the Ministry of External Affairs, wrote to Nigerian missions and embassies abroad that it wanted to buy tonnes of cement to build barracks for its post-civil war armed forces of 200,000 officers and men. The Nigerian Army had just about 8,000 personnel before the war. The ministry not only made that open call for supply of cement, it avoided competitive bidding; it fixed the price at $60/per ton. Analysts noted that that offer price was five dollars more than the prevailing world market price. But, no wahala. Price and pricing have never been a problem for Nigeria. In fact, at that point in our growth (or decadence), the problem we had wasn’t money, it was what to spend it on.

So, between December 1974 and June 1975, our Ministry of Defence, which needed just 6 (six) million metric tonnes of cement, awarded 69 contracts for 16.23 million metric tonnes valued at almost $1billion. Other agencies and departments of government soon got on board the cement armada. History says half of the world’s cement was diverted to Nigeria. One researcher (Fabian Ihekweme, 2000) found that “approximately half the merchant ships in the world which were suitable for carrying cement became involved in supplying Nigeria.” An American newspaper reported that “the massive orders led to an armada of ships anchored off the Lagos coastline…stretching as far as the eye could see. Many were decrepit hulks manned by skeleton crews dispatched by ship owners to collect demurrage costs…”

The end was the famous cement scandal of 1974/75 which The New York Times of June 28, 1976 described as “a web of kickbacks and bribes involving government officials, foreign ship owners, corrupt purchasing agents, unscrupulous middlemen, phony corporations, dubious letters of credit and Swiss bank accounts.”

The scandal was not just about us biting more than our mouths could contain. We not only allowed and accepted substandard cement from suppliers, concessions were granted by Nigeria approving extension of expiry dates for expired products. Hanaan Marwah, an African infrastructure historian formerly with the London School of Economics, did a major work on this in 2020 for Business History. She places the scandal “in the context of debates about corruption, organizational failure and a ‘resource curse’ in Nigeria.” We had a ports congestion of over 400 ships queuing to offload cement. To compensate for the delay at the ports, we offered generous demurrage. We increased payable demurrage from the standard $3,500 per day to $4,100/ per ship per day. Some ships came carrying nothing; some did not come near our ports at all; some never existed. Yet they all claimed demurrage. And we paid. An account says Nigeria ultimately paid an estimated $240 million in real and phony demurrage costs.

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In instances when deals were too criminally stark to click, Nigeria demurred in payment of costs for delays. And some audacious fake suppliers went to court to demand payment for their ashy goods. For this, Nigeria had a harvest of court cases, home and abroad. The very interesting UK Supreme Court appeal case number (1978) EWCA Civ J1219-3 appeals to me here. That case was between a company, Etablissement Esefka International Anstalt (Plaintiffs/Respondents) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (Defendants/Appellants).

Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, who presided over the appeal, tells the story of the case better in elegance of language and in ghastly details – and copiously I am quoting him:

“This is another case involving what has been called in the papers ‘the cement scandal’ in regard to Nigeria. It so happened a few years ago that the Ministry of Defence in Nigeria ordered vast quantities of cement from all over the world. The Central Bank of Nigeria issued letters of credit to pay for all the cement which was coming in, and a good deal of it was payable through London banks.

“Great quantities of cement were shipped to Lagos: and at one time there were 300 or 400 ships waiting outside the port of Lagos to discharge the cement. There were not enough wharves or quays to take it there, let alone all the other goods coming into Nigeria. So immense demurrage was built up on the ships which were lying outside the port of Lagos for months and months. The story of what happened will be found in the case of Trendtrex v. The Central Bank of Nigeria, in which that bank claimed sovereign immunity and said they could not be sued. It was held in this court that they could be sued in the ordinary courts. That was the position in law. This is a further aspect of that “cement scandal”.

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“In this case the Ministry of Defence ordered 240,000 metric tons of cement in December 1974 at a price of U.S.$59.90 per metric ton c.i.f. Lagos. The total purchase price was U.S.$14,376,000. That was ordered and agreed to be paid for by the Ministry of Defence in Lagos from a company (I will call it such) called Etablissement Esefka International Anstalt of Liechtenstein, but operating apparently from an address in the Strand, London. The Nigerian Ministry of Defence said that letters of credit would be opened accordingly – transferable, divisible letters of credit. The letters of credit were issued on the 18th March, 1975. The advice was given by the Midland Bank here on the account of the Central Bank of Nigeria for these monies to be paid for the goods against documents. The documents included commercial invoices (four copies), a full set of four bills of lading, an insurance policy and the like. The ordinary set of shipping documents was to come forward. The credit was irrevocable, transferable and divisible: and, furthermore, there was a special provision by annexure for demurrage to be payable in the total sum of U.S.$4,100 a day. That demurrage also came under the letters of credit which were issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria through the London correspondents the Midland Bank in favour of the Liechtenstein company Esefka International.

“I do not suppose that Esefka International had any cement at all themselves. They had to buy it; and apparently successfully in several cases. A good deal of the cement was shipped, a good many of the ships were held up, and a good deal of demurrage was payable. As to a great number of them, no question arises. But a question does arise in regard to eight vessels which were supposed to have shipped about 94,000 tons of this cement. With regard to those eight vessels, the shipping documents, the bills of lading, certificates and the like were presented to the Midland Bank as though everything was in good order. On being presented with those documents, the Midland Bank in London paid out huge sums in respect of these goods. Nearly $6,000,000 were paid out in respect of these ships.

“Lo and behold. I will come almost to the end of the story in a moment. Solicitors from London have been out to Lagos on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria. They have been to Greece, and they have obtained very strong evidence that there were no genuine documents at all – that these bills of lading were not genuine, but were forged. There is great doubt whether these eight vessels ever existed at all. What happened was that bills of lading were presented on behalf of three of these vessels by Esefka in Liechtenstein, and five others by a gentleman called Klemo. This is the way they got the money. Mr. Klemo, for example, on the 21st June, 1975 presented to the bank in London four commercial invoices apparently in order, full sets of 4/4 shipped bills of lading apparently in order, giving the name of the ship ex so and so. For instance, I have one before me for the m.t. Lion ex Avgi.In practically every one of these eight ships the bills of lading appeared as if there had been a ship which had changed its name. Nearly all the bills of lading were made out on that basis, and signed by the master, that they were shipped at a port in Greece called Volos.

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When the solicitor from London went out to Greece he found that it was all “moonshine” in effect.They had never had any of these ships in Volos at all. And Volos had not got the quantity of cement or anything like it to fulfil these supposed bills of lading. What is more, the harbourmaster did not know of any being put on board or sent forward, and so forth. So a very strong case was made out that these bills of lading were not genuine at all. They were forged in respect of goods which had never existed.

“In addition, added to these documents, there was a certificate of value given by Mr. Paul Harris, who seems to be a leading member of this Liechtenstein company Esefka International. He apparently lives in Zurich now. He gave certificates of value and certificates of origin of these goods, certifying himself that the invoices were all correct and the goods were produced in Greece and so on. When he was asked for an explanation of it, he said that he signed it in blank thinking that it would be all right in the ordinary way. That sounds a little suspicious to me: people ought not to sign certificates of this kind in blank and leave them for other people to fill in. At all events, there it was.

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“Esefka, the Liechtenstein company, got money on three vessels. There is a question of whether those vessels ever existed. Klemo got money on five other vessels, and the same question mark arises about those. And the long and the short of it is that on these supposedly genuine documents Mr. Klemo and the other people got U.S.$6,000,000.

“When the solicitor from London found this out, he advised the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Midland Bank in London that they were not to pay any more money. They were certainly not to pay any demurrage with regard to this claim under these letters of credit when this kind of fraud, as he said it was, had been perpetrated.

“Was there such a fraud or not? Of course it is a debatable question. We have not got anywhere near the trial itself. But for myself, in view of the strength of the evidence which has been collected by the London solicitor in Lagos and in Greece, it seems to be elementary that, if it was a genuine transaction, Mr. Paul Harris (who was obviously the genius behind it) and Mr. Klemo (who was the person who was supposed to have supplied the goods) would have made affidavits or come forward to show that these were genuine goods and these were genuine shipments.

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“But there are no such affidavits. All we know about Mr. Klemo is that he supposedly in May 1975 took up a divisible part of 60,000 tons of this supply and took up the transfer of the corresponding letters of credit. There it is…”

That was about us from the legendary Lord Denning.

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The Shagari regime of 1979 to 1983 had its “Rice Armada” scandal into which Nigeria reportedly sank over N4 billion. A dollar exchanged for 55 kobo in 1980 when we minted that scandal. The scandal is foregrounded by a story of food crisis in Nigeria. The price of rice tripled with consequent political and social implications. President Shehu Shagari responded with mass issuance of import licences for 200,000 metric tonnes of rice in January 1980. A big scandal soon afflicted the policy. Stories of how sweet sleaze was being extracted from people’s hunger painted the street red. As more and more rice reportedly came in, the price of the commodity was going up, aiming at the roof. Who and who got the licences? Jon Kraus answers that question in his ‘Nigeria under Shagari’ (1982) published in Current History, Volume 81. Kraus writes that when the scandal broke, and the National Assembly demanded a list of the licencees, what it found on the list of rice importers were “records and electronics companies.”

Further to the lawmakers’ horror, on the list were names of their leaders in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. The Washington Post of 26 December, 1980 reported that one of the rice merchants, the deputy leader of the House of Representatives, was very “unapologetic about his floor-tile company receiving one of the highly sought after licenses.” To reporters who questioned him, The Washington Post said the House leader posed a counter question: “Do you think because I am in the House of Representatives I should stop doing business? I have been in business a long time.”

The arrogance in the above statement shocked Nigeria of 1980. If you followed proceedings in our senate in the last seven days, you would know that such audacity of privilege won’t shock anyone in Nigeria of today. Bola Tinubu’s presidency calmly admitted last week that he presented a budget of N27.5 trillion to the National Assembly but the “National Assembly, in its wisdom, increased the amount proposed by the executive by N1.2 trillion.” The lawmakers returned to Tinubu a pregnant budget of N28.7 trillion, largely of borrowed money, for him to sign. And he signed it; no query raised or question asked; no explanation or answer given. Part of that infusion is the provision of scandals that will sink one borehole for N193 million.

All around us here we see what the French call déjà vu – the feeling that you’ve experienced something before. Unlike the French who thought it a mere feeling, here, the experience is real. President Shehu Shagari, in his autobiography ‘Beckoned to Serve’ wrote on what he called “the greed culture” which dominated the legislative life of his regime. He reminisced that “in the 1981 financial year alone, the three million naira that I proposed for improvements to legislators’ quarters was hiked to twenty million naira by the joint committee on finance and appropriation” (see page 269-270). Now, do the calculation. How much would that criminal hike in cost be today? A dollar exchanged for 60 kobo in 1981.

“Nigeria, long known for its flamboyant corruption”, was how the journal, ‘The Historian’, synopsized an article on Nigeria by Steven Pierce five years ago. Because character is smoke, scandals of same hues and similar odour have continued to climb the ladder of time with us. Indeed, the narratives in the cement scandal of fifty years ago would sound so familiar to Nigerians of this day. You remember the oil subsidy scandal and its sad, lurid details. Under the military in 1974/1975, people demanded and got paid demurrage for goods that never existed. In this democracy, people have collected (and may still be collecting) subsidy payments for vessels of petrol that never came here or that never existed.

Our elders say the fear of death does not prevent soldiers from going to war. Tinubu’s friends should tell him to learn to say no to his National Assembly. His success is in saying not yes to whatever is wrong. Great leaders step on toes. I read an article in the Financial Times last year on why saying no may be a virtue. On the very top of that article the author planted a quote: “You can only achieve great things if you know how to say no.” The president presumably saw everything in that budget of transparent sleaze and scandal yet he did not withhold his assent. Tinubu’s office said the big boss closed his eyes to whatever was added to what he presented “in the spirit of democracy which allows give and take.” Yet, last Friday, the president waxed patriotic. He told his visiting party patricians: “As we are fighting corruption, smugglers and old subsidy beneficiaries, they most certainly will fight back. All those who falsified records and became losers with the subsidy removal, they will fight back. But we will defend our people. The treasury belongs to the people, and that sacred trust must not be abused.”

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It was so nice hearing the president pronounce “the treasury belongs to the people.” But some carnivores plan to sink 427 boreholes with N82.5 billion public funds and the president endorsed it with his signature. What else is the meaning of complicity?

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OPINION: APC And Lesson From Last Child Of Tortoise

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By Suyi Ayodele

If I were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I would choose to answer the name of the sixth child of the Tortoise. According to the folklore, after the first five children had been dismissed as failures for the names they adopted, the sixth cradle, when asked which name, he would answer, says: “E maa pe mi ni Afi-oro-oloro-se-arikogbon – call me He-who-learns-from-another-person’s-experience. While he may not have forgotten anything Buhari did or did not do, it is also clear that Tinubu has not learnt anything from what Buhari did or did not do. Are we really sure that he is also not printing money like his soulmate, Buhari? Indeed, a Development Economist/Investment Banker, Nnaemeka Obiareri, was on Channels TV a few days ago alleging that in seven months, Tinubu printed N7.8 trillion and is still borrowing. Here is what he said: “Buhari came, under eight years he printed N23 trillion and wasted it. Under president Tinubu in seven months, we printed N7.8 trillion and we are not talking about that. What did they do with the naira and we keep borrowing and Nigeria keeps worsening?” We have not read or heard the government denying that claim. It should.

The thumb is called atampako in my roots where a premium is placed on family ties. They warn that no matter how one struggles to cut the thumb into two, it is perpetually difficult to say that the head has no relationship with the neck (Bo ti wu ki a la atampako si meji to, a o le so pe ori o ba orun tan). The neck is the pillar which supports the head. Any attempt to separate the two spells doom. That is exactly what the Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun attempted to do last week. Edun was before the Senate Committee on Finance to answer questions on why the nation’s economy has collapsed, irredeemably, under the government he serves. The senators, one is tempted to believe, were worried, like the poor masses, about the economic calamities that have been the portion of the masses in the last nine months’ administration of President Tinubu. Like someone under a spell, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy told his audience that the present administration should not be blamed. Rather than ask the ‘strategist’, Tinubu, why he has not been able to fix a single aspect of our ailing economy, Edun said that the inquisitive senators, and other Nigerians, should go back to the lethargic General Muhammadu Buhari’s era which brought Nigeria’s economy to its knees. Edun told his audience that for good eight years, the Buhari administration was just printing money! He added that most unfortunately, the money printed was not matched by any productivity. Then he submitted thus: “For eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything.”

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In essence, what the man appointed to midwife our economy said at the senate session is that Buhari and his gang merely printed money for eight years and nothing was put in place to put the money so printed into any productive venture. As I read over the submission of the minister, again, my mind went back to my secondary school days. I pictured Messrs Alebiosu and Fabamise as they taught us elementary Economics, especially the causes of inflation. Again, I remember that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, about two years ago, said that the government of General Buhari was printing money to be shared as allocations to the remaining two tiers of government. I wish I were a Cardinal in the Catholic Church. I would have just canonised Obaseki and my good secondary school teachers! Nigerians are in for the biggest economic mess. The ones we have asked to manage our affairs have no idea of what the problems are. This administration, like the immediate one it took over from, has nothing to offer than blame game. We have entered a typical one chance! The Babalawo we ask to consult the oracle for us cannot read a simple divination corpus. Where do we go from here?

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Back to our atampako allegory. I find Mr. Edun’s appearance before the Senate Committee on Finance as most unfortunate. It is not just unfortunate, but equally very insulting on our collective sensibility. By all standards, Edun is the most senior member of Tinubu’s cabinet. As the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Edun is expected to be the brain box of the administration; the very go-to-man, whose fountain of wisdom all other cabinet members are expected to tap from. But look at what the man dished out before the committee! For eight years, the Buhari administration blamed its predecessor, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments for our economic woes. The likes of Edun and his principal, President Tinubu, queued behind Buhari in the blame game. Because Nigerians were greatly dissatisfied with the performance of the PDP-led administration, they elected to follow the Mai Gaskiya to the battlefield. In that war of political, security and economic attrition against the Jonathan administration, Tinubu was the Aare Ona Kakanfo, with the likes of Edun and other Tinubu’s boys acting as General Officers Commanding. For those eight ruinous years of the locusts that the Buhari administration was, not a whimper of condemnation was heard from the Tinubu camp. Rather, while seeking for votes, Tinubu promised to continue from where Buhari stopped. Pray, if Buhari’s achievements were not fanciful, why would anyone use them as the parameters to be considered to be elected? So, is it the same Buhari that Edun is asking us to carry canes and whips and flog for ruining our economy? What does Edun think Nigerian people are? Fools?

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What happened in the eight years of Buhari that is not happening now? Was it not under General Buhari that Nigerians first heard of “budget padding”? Has that changed? Why are the northern senators (those ones again?) complaining that the 2024 budget was increased by N3.7 trillion ? What about insecurity, abduction, bloodletting, killings and other vices that were the hallmarks of the Buhari regime? Have they stopped? Should we also blame Buhari for the recent abductions in Kaduna and Sokoto States? Is it not the same All Progressives Congress (APC) that ruined our economy and printed money for eight years that is also in power today? How does Edun intend to cut the atampako into two and declare that the head is not a sibling of the neck? Where was Edun when Tinubu asked for the cows when Pa Reuben Fashoranti’s daughter, Mrs. Olakunri, was murdered by killer-herdsmen in 2019? Which party rode to power using the propaganda of students’ abduction in Chibok, Borno State in 2014? How many students were kidnapped under the Jonathan administration? How many have been abducted in the APC-led administrations between 2015 and today?

What lesson has the Tinubu administration learnt from the failings of his immediate predecessor? Truth be told. The APC sowed the seed of students’ abduction, when, instead of joining forces with the ‘clueless’ administration of Jonathan to find a lasting solution to the Chibok abduction of the 276 school girls in their dormitories, it chose to use the unfortunate incident as a weapon to get rid of the administration. By doing so, the APC, as an opposition party then, planted the evil seed. That which was planted must grow and bear fruits. We are in the harvest season; our baskets are filled to their brim. Check it out. Between 2012 and today, 1, 630 students have been either abducted or killed. Of the figure, the PDP government accounted for 375. The remaining 1,255 students were abducted under the APC administration. And, we are still counting. Last week, over 300 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), were abducted in Borno. The list is endless.

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Within two days last week, over 300 students and teachers were abducted in Kaduna and Sokoto States. That should ring a bell. If we add over 300 IDPs abducted to the figure, we will know that we are in real trouble. Nothing has changed. Maybe Tinubu should also blame Buhari for that! It is rather sad that nobody in this government appears to be bringing past experiences to the table. The Vice President, Dr. Kashim Shettima, was the governor of Borno State when the Chibok abduction happened. What did he learn from that unfortunate incident? How, will an experienced hand like Shettima be in government and thunder would strike us on the same spot not just twice, but, multiple times? Funny, again! How on earth do you transport 287 pupils out of their schools in the name of abduction? How many vehicles were used for the operation? How many hours did it last? The teachers that escaped; what did they do? They just went back home to drink their fura de nunu? How about the villagers; nobody saw anything? No one among the students was stubborn enough to resist being taken away? Or those who came for them gave them our old goody-goody candy to lick? Where on earth are 287 pupils being housed; who is feeding them, and attending to their medical needs? My father advised me that I should never join anyone to plan evil. May the good Lord bless his soul (Amen). Shettima, the other time, lamented that saboteurs were after this government. I shook my head. What do people say about karma being a beast? God have mercy! This administration should thank its stars that it has a docile party, the PDP, as the opposition. We all know what the APC did while in opposition.

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Enough of excuses and blame games! President Tinubu and his boys should know that as much as Nigerians regard the PDP government as a failure, life was more abundant under the party. Again, the PDP ruled for 16 years and left power nine years ago. If the current administration wants to continue where Buhari stopped the blame game, let it be known therefore, that Nigerians know how much they bought a bag of rice under the ‘clueless’ administration of Jonathan. They know how much a litre of petrol was then. The masses know that on the roads and highways, they could travel and sleep in the conveying vehicles without any fear of kidnappers or killer-herdsmen as we have today. Equally, Nigerians know the exchange rate under that administration and what is obtainable now. It is totally pea-brained for anyone to think that the present ineptitude could be blamed on the past administration. Tinubu was not elected to tell stories about how Buhari printed money for eight years. His job is to fix the ruined economy left for him by his protegee and friend, like the ‘master strategist’ they told us he is. This is the time for him to tap the brains of the ‘technocrats’ they promised he would assemble. If indeed the Buhari government was so foolish as to print money endlessly, there is a solution to that. Interrogate the man at the helm of affairs then, and get him punished wherever any infraction is established. Tinubu should borrow Professor Tony Afejuku’s appellation: ‘No Paddy for Jungle’, instead of the current futile Aunty Sally exercise. Majority of Nigerians know that Buhari was a monumental disaster in government. We need no further profiling. This excuse is becoming irritatingly dippy! Buhari blamed Jonathan for eight years without a single probe of the man. Tinubu cannot afford to do the same. If Buhari printed money, and we cannot point to a single thing he used the money for, as Edun stated, the man should not be allowed to continue picking his teeth in his Daura farm. Yes, he warned that nobody should call him for questioning while leaving on May 29, 2023. That is an empty threat. Except Tinubu benefited from the rots in the Buhari administration, I don’t see any reason why the ‘Mai Gaskiya’ cannot be made to account for his obvious misdeeds while in government. If Tinubu cannot probe the allegation of money printing, barmy as it is, then the government should keep quiet and get to work. Only an indolent workman blames his equipment!

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OPINION: Impeachment Notice On Edo Deputy Gov: A Case Of Abuse Of Office And Privilege

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Edo State House of Assembly on Wednesday ,6 March ,2024 moved a motion and issued a notice of impeachment on the deputy governor of Edo State, Hon.Philip Shuaibu.This course of action by the members of Edo State House of Assembly is quite simply an abuse of office and privilege.The members of the State House of Assembly were elected to defend the Constitution of Nigeria, protect the laws of the State and to also represent the interest of their Constituency.The motion for the impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Edo State does not fall into any of the categories stated above.

Abuse of office and the privileges that are associated with elected and appointed political office holders is a common feature that has frustrated the entrenchment of democratic norms in Nigeria.It is has become an acceptable dereliction for political office holders to abandon their Constitutional mandate and instead pursue an agenda of personal aggrandizement .In democratic and civilized nations, political office holders subordinate their personal interest to Constitutional demands.

The members of Edo State House of Assembly have brought disrepute on themselves for making the house available to support this odious agenda. Surely this set of events will not advance the cause of democracy in the jurisdiction. Indeed democracy in Edo state is under a vicious siege and Governor Obaseki is providing the guillotine for its mindless beheading. The only protocols now accepted, are those which serve the ever enlarging ego of a governor on the rampage.

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Majority of the members of the Edo State House of Assembly are people of conscience and are not part of this political menace. However, the good nature of these members has been subverted by the overwhelming imperative of bread and butter politics and the need to survive.

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Only the following factors can truly restore the confidence and good nature of the members of House of Assembly.
1.Internal democracy in the political parties that will guarantee a free and fair party primaries.The selection of party candidates by the governor or a godfather at the expense of the popular choice of political party members will continue to erode the confidence of the members to do what is right.
2.Free and fair election conducted by INEC to ensure that the electorate elect the representatives of their choice.
3.A Constitutional amendment that will guarantee the independence of the State House of Assembly.
4.A patriotic and democratically elected governor that will respect the integrity of the members and support the independence of the State House of Assembly.

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The Constitutional provisions and procedure for the impeachment of a Deputy Governor are clearly stated .The nature of offense that the Deputy Governor should commit to warrant impeachment is equally stated in the Constitution.Aspiration to contest for the position of governor of Edo State and challenge against the conduct of primaries by a political party do not constitute a ground for impeachment.It is known that the Deputy Governor of Edo State is an aspirant for the governorship of Edo State on the platform of PDP.The people of Edo State are equally aware of the parallel result declared by the Deputy Governor of Edo State claiming to be the winner of a parallel primaries conducted by a faction of PDP.It is equally a fact that the Deputy Governor is already in court seeking the interpretation of the court and decision on the factional primaries that was conducted by the PDP.In a true democratic country,the action of Edo State House of Assembly will be interpreted as obstruction of justice.Obstruction of justice is a criminal offense.

The impeachment Notice is an abuse of office, disrespect for democracy and premeptive action by the Edo State House of Assembly to deprive Philip Shuaibu his right to fair hearing and justice.This act should not be encouraged and should be condemned by all persons that are interested in the survival of democracy and prosperity in Edo State.

The House of Assembly should make laws and pass resolutions for the welfare of the citizens and in defense of the Constitution and laws of the State.The House of Assembly should not be willing tools in the hands of the governor to advance his personal interest.

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The abuse of office by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State is known to the people of Edo State.The arrogant pursuit of his personal interest at the expense of the collective interest of the people of Edo State requires the urgent mobilization of a Grand Alliance of the people of Edo State to stop him from destroying the future of our dear State.

Edo State House of Assembly should pass a motion to direct the governor for the swearing ceremony of the Judges of Edo State High Court that have been appointed by the NJC for almost one year.A governor that is scheming to undermine the independence of the Judiciary and the House of Assembly cannot be a friend of the people of Edo State.Instead of pursuing personal political agenda of the governor, the House of Assembly should pursue a constitutional agenda that is in the interest of the people of Edo State.

A people or an assembly that thrives in the worship of money and immoral act for the advancement of personal interest will end up in failure.

Edo 2024 will be a contest between those that are in politics to serve and those that are in politics for business.Those who are in politics to serve think of the welfare of the people and fear the laws of the State .Those who are in politics for business for profit making will continue to fight to undermine the laws of the State, undermine the independence of the House of Assembly and the Judiciary.I represent the philosophy of Politics for service and Godwin Obaseki and his surrogates are clearly in politics for business and profit making.

Dr. Isaiah Osifo,
University Teacher and APGA Governorship Candidate, Edo ,2024.
Email: isaiahosifo@gmail.com

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