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Tag: Dave Baro-Thomas

  • Palliative: Another painful national joke – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Palliative: Another painful national joke – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    As the leadership and members of the House of Representatives frantically attempt to extricate  themselves from the allegation of receiving prayer messages worth N100m each as subsidy  palliative sent to their inboxes, the drama around the subject matter heightens across the  country with intriguing perspectives thrown at the public court.

    Joining the fray, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, are  calibrating their arsenals in preparation for yet another Mother of All strikes since the  government has refused to come to the dialogue table with any meaningful strategy to ease the  sufferings of the masses other than gifting State Governments N5billion each to buy foodstuff  and distribute to the vulnerable as a first-aid measure in place of yet to be executed subsidy  palliative schemes or scams, some Nigerians wonder.

    Since the Siamese twin words Palliative and Empowerment crept into our political lexicon, they  assumed different meanings. From the prism of the political merchants/class, it is a benevolent  act to mitigate suffering by putting together a few foodstuffs and cash allegedly running into  billions of naira and hauling them at the masses. The quantity and its impact over a significant  period to mitigate their suffering is irrelevant, but these intermittent gestures get media hype  and gratitude demanded from the beneficiaries.

    In this light, the recent announcement by the present federal government to release N180billion  subsidy intervention palliative funds to the sub-nationals is not only contentious but lacks rigour  as Nigerians question the sincerity of purpose and the predictable outcomes of colossal waste  looming menacingly at us. The word palliative in the Nigerian context triggers a Post Traumatic  Disorder Stress syndrome, PTDS, borne out of the recent history associated with government  palliative schemes, where Nigerians vandalized the stores warehousing these palliatives during  the Covid-19 pandemic restiveness.

    The federal and state governments appropriated billions to procure relief materials and essential  supplies, including foodstuff for onward distribution to the suffering masses during the scourge  of the pandemic; it did not get to the dying masses as the items rotted away in government  warehouses across the nation without almost no exception. This discovery was outrageous and  scandalous as some of these items got repackaged as birthday souvenirs for some governors,  campaign materials for others, and, in some instances, distributed to party members as loyalty  packs to soften the grounds for the next election.

    At the twilight of the administration of President Buhari, the Minister of Finance, Budget and  National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, told Nigerians that the administration had secured a World

    Bank facility to the tune of $800millon as initial tranche of palliative fund as cash transfer to  about 50million poor Nigerians. Let us get the picture clear, $800 million converted to Naira with  some officials hitting the street corners, towns, villages, and hamlets and getting poor people to  line up to collect cash. Meanwhile, it was a loan that would attract all manner of interest and  would liquidate by July 15, 2051, about 28 years after the reign of the Monarch called Buhari.  With Nigeria, nothing incredulous is impossible, or if we can rephrase that, what cannot happen  in Nigeria does not exist!

    So, when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu touted the most prepared president for the job with an  executive fiat removed the fuel subsidy as anticipated by the majority of Nigerians given the  colossal fraud and scam embedded, he said courage fell on him during his inaugural speech at  the Eagle Square, and was applauded by Nigerians across party lines, even when some argued  that a more tempered caution was a safer option.

    Among the policy experimentation of this present administration, one that seems not to sit well  with the people is this palliative scheme in the form of cash transfer. The government tested the  waters with the N8,000 offer for six months, but, in unison, Nigerians resisted what was qualified  as another national joke taken too far.

    The nation has not recovered from the shenanigans of the Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster  Management under Buhari, where cash business was rife in an economy in pursuit of a cashless  policy, and on top of that, a Ministry spent billions of naira feeding children in public schools at  the height of the Covid 19 imbroglio, when the children were supposed to be at home with their  parents. The EFCC must investigate that loot, and the new government should not be hell-bent  on distributing cash or foodstuff; must continuity of governance or policies be a display of  arrogance, ignorance and sheer absurdity? If the people say no to a policy, imagine Nigerians for  the first time saying they don’t want cash transfers or foodstuff, just be creative about your  palliative schemes, but the government is adamant. Your guess is as good as mine.

    How many policy interventions are robustly researched, scrutinized and designed to capture the  realities of the problems on ground, is one gift the leadership of this country seems to lack or  deliberately ignores for clandestine reasons or sheer incompetence. This government of the  people, by the people and for the people, indeed seems to stand on its head in this clime, else  we should not die here on cash and foodstuff palliatives.

    Sometimes, one wonders if public servants are Father Christmas or put up this elaborate circus  to keep the populace impoverished and disillusioned, or how will anyone throw billions of Naira  into a scheme with no clear-cut direction, no accountability track, transparently deficient,  smacks of intellectual rigour and, poorly rated by the vast majority of the targeted beneficiaries.  So, either the government has cotton wool in its ears, or the entire nation will be Yahoo Yahooed  again!

    Policy insensitivity, from conception to execution, is undeniably a common denominator  amongst successive political hegemonies in this country over time. While the trend along those

    intervention tracks stretches from the ridiculous to the absurd, the repetition across governance is disturbing and calls for further scrutiny and perhaps some psychoanalytical evaluations  because this cash palliative will kill us.

    The government has released N2 billion to each state from the budgeted N5 billion, and the  theatre room is flung open. Have you seen a recent viral video of the rice palliative in a State up  North? You will weep for this shameless giant of Africa. Nigerians were subjected to the most  dehumanizing conditions as people scrambled for rice mixed with sand on the floor, trying to get  palliative.

    A government that refuses to listen to its people cannot be said to be democratic, no matter the  garb it wears. If there is no going back on this palliative scheme, apply the funds to activities and  programs that will enhance productivity and guarantee sustainable impact. Why not strengthen

    the primary health centres, increase access and cut down costs for the people, and overwhelm  the transportation sector with more commuter buses at affordable rates that will force the  shylock bus owners to fix their prices within a reasonable range. How can we create easier  access for farm produce to the markets cheaper, reduce tax collectables at the marketplaces,  increase the minimum wage, stimulate the SME’s space through direct microcredit schemes,  create sound policies and a conducive operational environment, etc.? The list is endless, and  trust me, the government knows better.

    The way this N180billion is about to be expended is another route to a painful national joke and  embarrassment that will sponsor nothing but thievery and plundering of our national patrimony, QED.

  • Keyamo and the Writing on the Wall – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Keyamo and the Writing on the Wall – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    The recent suspension of the Nigeria Air project and subsequent applause by the Airlines Operators of Nigeria, AON, may be an endorsement of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barr Festus Egwarewa Keyamo, but on the other hand, it crystalizes the aspirations of critical stakeholders for the resuscitation of an industry that is almost deoxygenated and left in the Intensive Care Units, ICU, gasping for breath.

    The inaugural meeting of Barr Keyamo and the management of the Ministry initially sent conflicting signals of what to expect, and firstly, speculation was rife that the statue quo may remain because it is off the curve in this clime to probe the tenure of a fellow party member even when a large hole is drilled through the tills of the  Ministry.  Secondly, a promise to substantially adhere to the masterplan of his successor did not sit pretty well with some people, except, of course, if it holds tangible and realistic values for the industry. But interestingly, the immediate action of the Minister, is akin to a blind man miraculously recovering his sight.

    Given the controversy over his designation as Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development that polarized stakeholders, a highly technical and sophisticated transportation subsector demands some level of competence given the leadership misfortunes plaguing the industry since inception.

    To worsen the injury, the only Aviator ever entrusted with the management of the Ministry left Nigerians wondering how slim is the line between a scam and marketing gimmicks when an Ethiopian airline aircraft was whitewashed and water-coloured as Nigeria Air, as accusations and counter-accusations rend the air with Nigerians witnessing a dance of shame between the penultimate Minister and the then House Committee Chairman on Aviation.

    This emerging scenario prompted industry players to shout themselves hoarse that an attorney-at-law cannot do the job a supposed technocrat bungled, so let us establish that some previous Ministers did not fail because they lacked competence or were not fit for the job given their attainments in their chosen professions, but they lacked sincerity of purpose. And to cap it all, greed, massive corruption and many more, were their undoing.

    So, to say Keyamo, an attorney is not qualified to head the Ministry, would be fallacious and ridiculous because, even the father of democracy and one of the most advanced economies of the world – the US; had Karan Krishna Bhatia, under George Bush and Carol Annette Petsonk, under Joe Biden, both attorneys (lawyers) as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs, – an equivalent to the Minister of Aviation in Nigeria. Keyamo does not lack the required managerial, administrative or leadership capabilities to galvanize technocrats and civil servants to drive the industry.

    So, the point is to have a Minister with the political Will, sincerity of purpose, robust engagement with industry stakeholders, and near zero tolerance for corruption as the dividing line between the survival and death of the subsector, but the corruption element in the mix is another kettle of fish.

    Can Festus Keyamo deliver the goods? Has he the guts and capacity to engage fiercely and fearlessly? Is he a man who can face the consequences and stand with the stakeholders and masses? Can he look above the heads and beyond the sycophants in the Ministry and stomp on toes?

    Keyamo, as a Senior Advocate of the Masses, will not give a hoot and could deliver this job with dispatch, but today, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has eaten of the fruits amid the political garden of Nigeria, leaving us with uncertain contemplations.

    The sagacious, eloquent and fiery legal luminary seems to have started well. But issues on the front burner are beyond kids’ gloves, and either he changes the narrative, gets the industry out of ICU, immortalizes his name and redeems his noble profession or goes down history as another national shame and embarrassment, the latter option seems unlikely.

    So, it is time for Mr Minister to roll up his sleeves and have a very urgent, dispassionate and frank conversation with the industry leadership and across its ecosystem, because the issues on the plate are very expedient. This aviation industry seems to ooze very foul smell across its governance structure, ranging from the shoddy concessionaire framework to decaying and obsolete infrastructures across board, especially critical navigational infrastructure, to forex scarcity and inability for investors to repatriate funds creating problems, high cost of aviation fuel and the inexplicable barrage of taxes, safety, security and surveillance challenges, unease of doing business, large number of unemployed qualified aviators, poor maintenance culture and unkempt environment, rowdy and uncoordinated taxi parks and touts in the passengers’ lobby, incessant flight cancellations and delays sometimes with impunity, and a litany of others, and the industry cannot suffer all these and remain viable and efficient?

    If this industry is a human, it would have long died of cardiac arrest occasioned by multiple organ failure, so the Honourable Minister must find both a formal and informal route to gain the confidence and buy-in of all critical stakeholders to interrogate the masterplan and as he submitted, take what is relevant and discard what is not, get the stakeholders to join hands with him and fashion an entirely new roadmap if that is necessary.

    The Honourable Minister may not probe the past administration, but EFCC can handle that, and any semblance of the rot inherited must not thrive. Against this backdrop, there is no room for superficial incision into this near-dead industry but a painstaking, deep, ruthless surgical cut before applying all the medication required for resuscitation.

    The Aviation subsector can significantly contribute to the GDP, expand its more than 240,000 workforce, drive trade, commerce, and tourism, and deepen social integration and national cohesion. Mr Minister’s days as government spokesman are over as roles and responsibilities have changed since he took that shaky bow at the Senate, so the Minister should walk the talk. His performance will accentuate his principal’s image, but no hiding under another superior Minister like his stint at the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

    Mr Keyamo should take this glory or fall, a simple choice for a man who can do this job. The industry would never remain the same under one of the finest prosecution lawyers who hibernated under the burning shadows of the great Chief Gani Fahewemi of blessed memories – where he (Keyamo) became the masses’ hero. Will he remain one? Let us wait for the writing on the wall.

  • Wike and the many troubles of FCT’s slums – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Wike and the many troubles of FCT’s slums – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    A recent statistic affirms that 1.05 billion people live in slums, with Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa countries accounting for 80%. While 62.1 % is in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is said to have 80 million people living in slums, although that figure is considered a conservative estimate. It is one global phenomenon that demands urgency and deliberate action if the world must achieve SDG goal 11.

    In this light, the recent ministerial appointment of the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as FCT Minister with the many challenges plaguing the capital city, chief of which is the slum menace, underpins the imperatives for a concerted and well-organized approach.

    Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State political warlord and maestro, fittingly approximates the proverbial cat with nine lives and such inference, remarkably, is by no means a stroke of fate or a fluke, but a reflection of consistent character driven by a commitment to the ideals of equity, truth, justice, loyalty, and trust – imbued with uncompromising deportment alien to his political contemporaries.

    With outstanding performance posted as a second-tenure governor, Mr. Wike set new governance benchmarks, and he redefined the whole concept of project delivery in Nigeria by commissioning projects far into the twilight of his administration -prompting the conferment of a national award on him as Mr Project by President Buhari, an opposition government – quite historic!

    From the political intrigues and underbellies leading to the emergence of the present administration, the nomination of Wike and his emergence as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, is one development hailed by Nigerians – irrespective of religion, age, ethnic or party affinities.

    However, the question on the lips of many is, why FCT Minister and not Works or Power, given the unanimity among Nigerians that he has the guts to bulldoze his way through Mount Gibraltar to deliver the goods? And more so, those sectors are sore points with dire national consequences.

    While breaking the jinx of appointing a Southern as Minister of FCT in 32 years, we must not lose sight of the enormous challenges before the mint Minister and strongman from Ikwerre kingdom.

    No doubt, Mr. Wike’s competence synchronizes with the quest of Mr. President to institute a government of national competence, but tackling the hydra-headed problems in Abuja and its environs, the nation’s first mirror to the world, is no tea party.

    From the five suburban districts – Gwagwalada, Kubwa, Nyanya, Jokowi and Karu to the satellite towns: Kuchigworo, Chika, Pyakassa, and Lugbe bordering the Abuja metropolis – there is the unmistakable difference and sharp contrast of beauty and opulence just a few kilometres drive away from the city centre.

    Abuja today is usually locked down by obnoxious traffic gridlock, keeping commuters stranded for hours due to poor planning for a fast-growing city without corresponding infrastructural expansions and lack of foresight in traffic management. The sheer chaos during the early morning hours and closing hour rush questions the continuous lethargies and competence of the city managers. Abuja has become a city that even Sherlock, in The Merchant of Venice, will wrench over the height of profiteering in real estate within the capital city. No honest civil servant can comfortably afford accommodation in the metropolis without a visit by the EFCC.

    Abuja has become one big dark alley with streetlights either not working or abandoned, fanning security breaches and many other challenges shamefacedly dragging the country into disrepute.

    These and a plethora of challenges are the onerous tasks coupled with the demands of SDG goal 11- that the new Minister has on his plate.

    The suburbs confront you with the stench of filth, the near total absence of infrastructural amenities, poor health and sanitary facilities, unplanned and uncoordinated street outlays and housing projects, no good roads in most communities, no potable water, irregular power supply, and lots more. – leaving people impoverished with no access to opportunities that will improve their fortunes, thus making a government for themselves.

    Before the Honourable Minister embarks on his threat to demolish and bulldoze illegal properties and probably shanty settlements along the airport road corridor and others, there must be some serious house cleaning across the agencies and instrumentalities of the FCT administration because the stench of rots oozes out from those quarters. Otherwise, how come we have slums housing hundreds of thousands of people without active connivance and complicity between landowners and officials of the FCT?

    Are residents of these slums war refugees that happened on the land/environs suddenly? We ask the right questions, and the culprits should get the necessary sanctions less, justice will not reign, and this problem will linger for a long time.

    Again, there are speculations or probably beer parlour gist that the Honourable Minister will demolish the PDP uncompleted Secretariat and go for properties belonging to some PDP stalwarts and perceived enemies erected on plots distorting the Abuja masterplan. These are laughable contemplations we hope

    So, Mr Project has his job cut for him. While fixing the ills of the metropolis, the ovation will be loudest far into the annals of history as one of the most successful FCT ministers if he brings his magic wand to bear over the slums around the FCT. This higher calling requires no haste or rash interventions but tactical and strategic engagements and developmental models.

    Mr. Minister should move into the slums not with the aggression of absurd generalization that characterized some past ministers but with the capacity and competence he stamped Rivers State on the national map. These slums are not cases for half-hazard contemplation but require in-depth reformation, regeneration, and the engagement of compelling urban renewal templates for sustainable growth.

    With the transformative zest and passion displayed in Rivers State, Mr. Minister should create access to these towns through a solid road infrastructure that he is reputed, arrest the drainage problems, build low-cost housing estates, and ease the heavy burden of accommodation while redesigning the transportation system through incentivized private sector model-driven framework, and even daring to expand the city rail system enshrined in the masterplan, e.t.c. Thus, restoration of the Abuja masterplan should be total but approached with a human face.

    We cannot continue with the socio-economic burdens, pressure and the cost these slums put on the resources and development of the country, and with the limited executive powers at his disposal, we hope the Honourable Minister will not be swimming against the tide.

  • The Rise and Fall of Nasir El-Rufai – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    The Rise and Fall of Nasir El-Rufai – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Lord John Dalberg-Acton, a 19th-century British historian, politician and writer, propounded the maxim: power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This postulation requires no rigour, and sadly, it plays-out across the African continent, and has become an albatross to political leadership in Nigeria over time.

    Interestingly, this aphoristic assertion succinctly captures the glorious rise and contemptible fall of Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai. And since Mr President sent the ministerial list to the hallowed chambers, El-Rufai, like no other nominee, was engulfed in bile and controversies.

    Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, a delicate mix of intellectual sagacity and boldness, cuts a picture of a diminutive lion that rules his jungle fearlessly, and he seems to evoke combustive sentiments leaving bewildered observers no room for middle grounds- you either love or hate him.

    From the desert heat and dusty courtyards of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, young Nasir had a first-class honours in Quantity Surveying- a feat by no means a fluke because, against all odds with the loss of his father at the tender age of 8years, he had earlier won the coveted prize at Barewa College in 1976, as the best-graduating student in his class. He went further to attend some of the prestigious schools in the world, like the John F. Kennedy School of Governance of Harvard University, after obtaining a Law degree from the University of London.

    After ABU Zaria, he plunged into a very successful practice before being invited into the murky waters of politics by General Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998 as an economic advisor, working with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund( IMF).

    Touted smart, intelligent and highly effective from the above assignment, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, the then mint Vice President, having incredible latitude under the new Obasanjo administration, singlehandedly head-hunted Mallam El Rufai and saddled him with the responsibility as Director of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and Secretary of the National Council on Privatization – a twin responsibility he discharged with clinical precision.

    It became the springboard with which El-Rufai burst into the national limelight and was subsequently rewarded with a new and higher portfolio, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT – although a position many believed was a shoe bigger than his legs, again what Nasir, as he was fondly called by Obasanjo, lost in heights, he gained in cerebral prowess and uncommon boldness and left indelible marks.

    After serving his term as the most ruthless, daring and controversial FCT Minister and testing blood in the corridor of power, cracks in the character and moral walls of Mallam Nasir began to unfold. He fell out with his erstwhile benefactor, Abubakar Atiku, as he grew in prominence and influence under the shadows of Obasanjo, but he would also later turn his teeth at Obasanjo and dealt a deadly blow on his (Obasanjo) hard-earned reputation.

    The tenures of Mallam El-Rufai, both at BPE and as FCT boss, were characterized by a rule with the tail of a scorpion and dogged with accusations and allegations of highhandedness, intimidation, executive recklessness, and mind-boggling corruption, gratifications of cronies and reckless application of our common patrimony. For others, their hard-earned land was confiscated and allotted to friends and well-wishers of Mr. Minister, such that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission eventually dragged him to court over an N32billion fraud in BPE and other sundry charges before governorship immunity brought some respite.

    In all of this, one of the most damming assertions of the former president on the man El-Rufai, who was his beloved son at a point and touted as the de facto Vice President after Atiku and Obasanjo had that swine fight in the mud, Baba described Nasir as a “pathological purveyor of untruths and half-truths with little or no regard for integrity”, he went on, “the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai”.

    These assertions and many more by President Obasanjo about Nasir, a man he gave all the latitude and leverage to launch himself politically, demand a closer examination of the character and person of the man in view. Also, former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua hounding Mallam El-Rufai to account for his stewardship, led the strong man from Kaduna into self-exile, and he only returned after the death of Yar’Adua – who was coincidentally the house captain to Mr El Rufai back then at Barewa Collage.

    Fast Track to 2015, El-Rufai submitted himself to the political leadership of Mohammad Buhari, a man he is always kneeling before to have a close conversation, usually with an awe-struck demeanour. Buhari went on to boot out Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, while El Rufai rode on that wind to emerge, Governor of Kaduna State, beating the incumbent, and from that point, the lord, conqueror, and emperor was born.

    As governor, a certified lawyer became a shame to the very practice as a litany of allegations of disobedience to court orders and trampling of fundamental human rights of some Kaduna indigenes followed in droves. From the persecution and intimidation of journalists who dare question his action or call for accountability, the Lord of the Manor, literarily transmuted, and a human rights organization, reported that Mallam El Rufai grossly violated human rights when in December 2016, barely a year in office, he punished protesters by locking down an entire community at least six times and a community ( in Jema’a Local Government in Southern Kaduna), was lockdown for 72days beginning in June 2020, where about 120 villagers were killed during this unfortunate saga not investigated under his watch.

    In 2015 with a Christian deputy governor, Mallam El-Rufai won the election but reversed himself in 2019 when he told the world that the country should grow above religious bigotry, but won with a narrow margin, in an election alleged to fall below standards. Before now, El-Rufai cuts the image of a pan-Nigerian who abhors religious and ethnic affinities, and for anyone who cared to listen, he mentioned the likes of Pastor Bakare as his friend and what have you. But when he returned for his second tenure, he brought back the religious preaching edict of 1984, which established the Interfaith Preaching Regulatory Council, a ploy to stifle religious freedom of some faiths even when he pretended to be checkmating religious violence, but the people knew better.

    He went further to accuse the Christians of being the sponsors of Boko Haram, forgetting he had said on camera that the government knows the true identity of these terrorists. Is it news that Boko Haram is a sponsored Islamist terror group with strong ties to the Islamic States, so why criminalize the innocent? This same El-Rufai threatened international observers to send them back in body bags if they meddled in our politics during the 2019 presidential election, forgetting how in 2015, they went begging the same international observers and shuttling the globe for the same interventions.

    Immediately after President Tinubu was declared the winner and sworn in, Mr. El-Rufai, in a viral video which he has not denied, unveiled the motivations behind the Muslim-Muslim tickets. For a man that transverse the length and breadth of the nation with the presidential campaign team selling the Muslim-Muslim tickets and convincing Nigerians to accept it as a reflection of an urbane society, only to declare secretly behind that other clandestine motive bordering on religious superiority was the driver. Simply impossible from a man we trusted so much and some even dare to admire.

    Sadly, nobody asked Mallam El-Rufai to clear the air on this matter and other sundry issues except for the security report by the DSS stepping down his nomination for further investigation. For a proper perspective, even Muslim sects with different views got a taste of the claws of the Nasir El-Rufai.

    Most Nigerians careless about Muslim-Muslim tickets. If that will turn the fortunes of this nation for good, who gives a hoot when everyman can fight for his fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the secular provision of the constitution, but the manner the APC went about as if no competent non-Muslim existed in the North smacks of tact and all reasonability.

    Fair enough, El-Rufai speared us grief by voluntarily stepping down the ministerial offer and nominating somebody in his stead, but another drama was thrown at us when the new governor he recently instituted rejected his choice because they cannot just trust Mr. El Rufai, who may keep the Minister under his belt. So, who trusts Mallam El-Rufai?

    The iconic Mallam Shehu Sani, has been on the mountain top crying to whoever cared to listen that Nasir El Rufai will be a bad omen to Mr. Tinubu’s government. From Atiku to Obasanjo and then Buhari, the Kaduna enfant terrible, has greatly brushed their egos, not necessarily for genuine causes but simply for self-preservation in pretentious guises. Buhari may still be in shocks as to what hit him after Mr. El Rufai’s onslaught about the ill-fated naira redesign policy.

    In conclusion, a look into the crystal ball, El-Rufai is not done with Nigeria yet. We have not heard the last of him. After four years of a doctorate from the Netherlands, he will stage a come-back and mesmerize Nigerians with a new certificate empowering him with a messianic key to rework a great future for Nigeria but the truth remains, the nation can move faster without the likes and hues of the Kaduna flitting strongman.

  • The evil spirits in Aso Rock again? – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    The evil spirits in Aso Rock again? – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Three decades and two years ago, General Babangida, a flamboyant and self-styled military president, hurriedly relocated the federal capital to Abuja after the failed violent coup staged by Major Gideon Gwaza Orkar in April 1990. And Aso Rock, a more befitting edifice, became the seat of power, but Nigeria was never the same ever since.

    Yes, the country had suffered inexplicable leadership misfortunes before General Babangida, but moving to Aso Rock opened yet new chapters of woes unfolding in torrents and confirming the claims of Mr Rueben Abati (one-time special adviser to President Jonathan) that evil spirits rule the Villa.

    Incontrovertibly, the quality of leadership from the Aso Rock Villa leaves one speechless. It appears the extraterrestrial always imposes its evil agenda on mortals who trudge that corridor of power such that one of the progenitors of leadership in the Villa was famed as the EVIL GENIUS.

    Starting from the evil genius himself, General Babangida paints a picture of a smart, intelligent, renowned coup maestro and accomplished military strategist with tentacles and boys spreading across the nation, even amongst the civilian population. From a well-crafted transitional programme to return the country to civil rule, he ended up being  the undertaker of the widely adjudged  freest and fairest election ever, which ultimately culminated in the incarceration and death of the presumed winner, Chief MKO Abiola, in the draconian rule of the dark goggled-eyed, Gen Sani Abacha.

    Indeed, the mysteries and godless interplay of the spirits seem feverishly peaked, or why would Gen Babangida annul the June 12 election and slide into national disrepute at the verge of what would have enshrined him as a national hero with a cult following? The spirits in Aso Rock made men mad!

    While trying to recover from that whirlwind democracy misadventure, Gen Sani Abacha elevated the madness to a crescendo. He did not only commune with the spirits but assumed their roles and unleashed terror on the political class, and for the first-time, merciless snippers, the infamous Strike Force and Presidential Guard overran the country, yet Reuben Abati stands disparaged when he declared that Aso Rock Villa needs spiritual cleansing.

    Abacha went down in history as one of the most notorious and ruthless military despots with insatiable kleptomaniac prowess second to none. The country is still gathering Abacha’s loot from around the world to date.

    Sadly, the self-professed born again, former Military General and Head of State, Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, who should know better having miraculously escaped the death row of General Abacha, had deep conversations with the spirits in the Villa who announced his messianic roles and only a third term in office will confer on him the father of the nation status. Otherwise, what business had Olusegun Obasanjo with a third term agenda, even when he had denied it, but the footprints were unmistakable. If you doubt me, ask Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, his former Vice or the former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani.

    Probably the spirits hindered President Musa Yar’dua from serving out his tenure as the cold hands of infirmities seized him barely two years after he assumed office. Again, as Rueben Abati stated, Mr Death lurks around the Villa menacingly and is ready to devour like it did the wife of Obasanjo.

    For me, the story of Goodluck Jonathan was a sad tale. The spirits were so trickery that they made almost the whole nation, call Mr President clueless, despite having a doctorate in his kitty. The gods went mad in this instance, as massive treachery within, opposition venom, and international community complicities booted out an incumbent president for the first time through the ballot in Nigeria. These spirits are not small boys in the realm.

    If you think you have heard tales about the wonders of the spirits that rule Aso Rock, then the eight years of President Buhari will send chills down your spine. The anti-corruption czar, Mr Integrity and the custodian of national pride in terms of discipline in his first coming seem to have a brutal encounter with the spirits in the Aso Rock. In the words of respected and revered Bishop Kukah, the Buhari administration turned out the most corrupt since the turn of this democratic dispensation, and on top of that, the regime was branded the most divisive along ethnic and religious lines in our history as a people.

    So, here we are at last, wondering what is the ongoing conversation between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his men and the spirits in Aso Rock Villa. So far, it appears it is a mixed grilled. It seems the fangs of the Spirits are beginning to set in but with steady and visible resistance from the power that be.

    Otherwise, why would a NADECO Tinubu supervise the gymnastic of the DSS over Mr Emefiele after all he, Tinubu suffered in those dark days? Why is so much energy dissipated on this Emefiele man such that the fundamental tenants of democracy – the rule of law, are transgressed under our supposed champion of democracy and hero against the dare-deviled Abacha junta?

    Yes, Nigerians demand accountability from the poorly executed Naira redesign policy foisted on us by Mr Emefiele under the direct supervision of Mr Buhari, but should this be outside the precinct of decency, decorum and the rule of law? Flaunting court orders and the bravado of a re-arrest against the pronouncement of a competent court of law is not what one will want to associate with Mr Tinubu. Haba, not him, except the gods are beginning to lay their cold hands over his mind.

    True, Emefiele would have resigned under Buhari but show me one Nigerian that would have done the same under that cabal-driven government and not regret the day he was born. How come Mr Emefiele has become the fall guy or scapegoat for the sins of the Buhari administration? With accusations and counter-accusations of painted aircraft, billions of naira freighted away, oil subsidy scams, crude oil theft running into billions, and refineries enmeshed in corruption, yet the best we get is people tearing their shirts on national television about who will keep the bible clinging Emefiele? By the way, at what point do we separate the man and the orders he carried out from the commander-in-chief? Indeed, this Emefiele must die, but how convenient it is to hit the weakest.

    If Mr Emefiele has committed any verifiable crime, he should face the music, but to disobey court orders under the watch of this President, a Democrat and one touted as the most prepared politician ever to vie for the highest office, smacks of tact and maybe another case of the evil spirits in Aso Rock doing what they know how to do best. Else how come the Presidency recently appointed investigators on the matter after the show of shame? These spirits are African brands!

    It is time for deeper reflection and elevating the economy from the ruins inherited from Mr Buhari. While we commend the President on his recent broadcast, translating these ideals and blueprint into concrete socio-economic fortunes requires eagle-eyed concentration and avoiding such frivolities and charades the Emefiele witch hunt brings.

    May the evil spirits lurking around Aso Rock Villa allow Mr President some respite, since it is too early in the day for executive rascality because the land mourns and groans in pain, poverty and penury, gradually replicating same consequences that puts Emefiele in this mess at the first place.

  • Mr President, don’t squander this goodwill – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Mr President, don’t squander this goodwill – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    No government anywhere in the world succeeds outside a groundswell of sympathy, support, loyalty, benevolence and sacrifices encapsulated as goodwill from the governed. It brings to mind Adolf Hitler, at the height of his satanic misadventure (holocaust) to the entrenchment of Nazi German, enjoyed the support of a majority of his indoctrinated and hypnotized people.

    Observational evidence gleaned from the political space since the dawn of this democratic dispensation affirms leadership mismanagement and colossal squandering of the goodwill of the people offered on a platter of gold.

    With the benefit of hindsight, Nigerians were ready to pluck out an eye each and offer them to Obasanjo if he so desired, to get the energy/power sector working and keep the refineries running, but what did we get, a father to a failed nation as the nation missed a golden era that could have launched her on a path to economic recovery, national resuscitation and digging a firm foundation became a mirage after eight years of his rule.

    If we thought Obasanjo was a joke, Buhari was a sheer disaster. Never in the history of this country will Nigerians trust a man in the person of Mr Integrity, ever! For a country up to the neck with the atrocities of the PDP pillage and national waste, Nigerians rallied around, broke the jinx, sent the incumbent scampering for shelter, and for the first time in our history, handed over the mantle of leadership to the opposition – the man from Daura, but as a parting shot he declared, it was easier to tend his cows than lead Nigerians and left behind a country sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines. The worse ever since 1914.

    The present administration has covenanted Nigerians with the Renewed Hope mantra! One so inspiring and reassuring deserving nothing, but a chance. So, Nigerians seem ready to take that chance for a man touted as the most prepared presidential aspirant since 1999. Tinubu is a man you can take anything away from, yet his most vicious critics acknowledge his capacity to harvest the right skills. He has promised a government of national competence, and the nation could not have asked for more but a little addition of character to the competence. Nigeria has never had a short supply of competent men but suffered a deficit of men of searching character.

    With the ministerial and MDAs lists in view, it is imperative to apprise Mr President that the massive goodwill he currently enjoys comes with a grave price. No seriously-minded person or entity trivializes its consequences.

    The audacious fuel subsidy removal and naira float by Mr President are both tactical and strategic, but no doubt, buoyed by the unprecedented goodwill Nigerians are offering. It is worth the while to draw his attention to the fact that the honeymoon is short-lived, so the job requires urgency and near-mathematical precision.

    Mr Buhari could not remove the oil subsidy, take or leave it, because he had squandered the goodwill of the people on the altar of ethnicity and incompetence, stating the facts. Garba Shehu’s posturing that such gross failure was to enable the APC to win the election is not only shameless but nonsensical. Shehu should exact his energies on more productive ventures or enjoy his fortunes quietly.

    Nigerians are ever willing to sacrifice for the nation, but time and again, leadership disasters sponsor suspicion and trust deficits such that government calls in that direction are regrettable because ours has been repeated leadership misfortunes.

    So, what will justify this goodwill in the next six months or one year without prejudice to the substantive court cases, is not just audacious declarations, but clear and deep-rooted policy direction and purposeful governance with no room for political vengeance or vailed ethnic nepotism that characterized the immediate past administration and of course, the current president has demonstrated fidelity.

    When Jonathan fired Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the nation was outraged, not necessarily because he was a saint but because the government had lost its goodwill with the people, and the opposition masterfully harvested that deficit. However, the suspension of Emefiele, one of the most confused CBN governors and the sacking of Mr Bawa received the endorsement of Nigerians not necessarily because these were the worse from the stable of Mr Buhari but the fact that Nigerians are extending their goodwill to this current president.

    In light of this goodwill, Mr President must enshrine justice, equity and fair play. He must respect the rule of law. So, if there are no substantial grounds to keep Emefiele or Bawa in confinement, these men should be subjected to the legal processes and granted bail pronto. That is how to honour the goodwill of the people.

    This government must consciously deviate from the highhandedness and vindictive posture of the immediate past government. The Dasuki debacle readily comes to mind, and if the Supreme Court declares Nnamdi Kanu not guilty, so be it; even when his approach appears barbaric, uncultured and uncivilized, his continuous incarceration makes nonsense the democratic trajectory.

    Mr President and his foot soldiers should know that Nigerians are not suffering selective amnesia over his position on the subsidy removal a few years ago when his party was still in the cold. The dynamics in the fuel subsidy scam have not changed since then, and neither is this an attempt to celebrate Goodluck Jonathan, but Nigerians are willing to suffer this untold hardship on top of multidimensional poverty to give renewed hope a chance. Again, this is a dose of goodwill and must be reciprocated appropriately within the shortest possible timeframe.

    If Mr President is fully conscious of the weight and measure of goodwill Nigerians are extending to him, then the refineries should be up and running in no time despite the possibilities the Dangote Refinery puts on the table. The other day, some of Buhari handlers were cataloguing Dangote Refinery as an achievement of his administration while the national assets (refineries) rot away.

    Respecting the goodwill of the people amounts to uncovering why these refineries just refused to work because Dangote refinery is not the messiah that will deliver Nigeria from the fuel imbroglio suffered for decades. While we celebrate and commend Dangote, we must not forget in a hurry that the man is not running a charity that will distribute fuel to Nigerians. If nothing fast is done about our refineries, the nation just handed Dangote a monopolistic ticket, and no capitalist smiles sheepishly with such enormous power.

    With that in mind, It is imperative to pierce the veil on this NNPC and ask frank questions. One never seems to stop wondering why President Yar’dua recovered the public refineries sold to Mr Dangote, yet the Federal Government of Mr Integrity and his team invested heavily in a private refinery why abandoning our national assets.

    In addendum, it will amount to total disregard for goodwill if there is no promising shift in the Nigerian power/energy sector because it will mean Mr President dropping the ball too early in the life of his administration. Nigerians desire to see rigorous engagements to push the frontiers of development as promised during the electioneering campaigns and not the kind of shenanigans displayed by Mr Buhari after his elections.

    Nigerians await clear direction about community policing, taming the bandits and terrorists once and for all because there are allegations that some of these criminals arrested were left off the hook by orders from above, and that should be gone forever.

    Some argue that the Federal Government should negotiate with these criminals and bandits, but the question that readily comes to mind is on what basis?

    The argument that the same treatment meted to the agitators of the Niger Delta militants should extend to these terrorists should turn the searchlight on these shameless proponents.

    This country is near ruination, so evaluating and criticizing the government should be viciously constructive, dispassionate, yet patriotic because this country must work.

    It is time the president takes Nigeria to the bend because he currently has a truckload of goodwill, and believe it or not, more people are praying for him to succeed.

    He should be smart enough to know that his success transcends party affinity or ethnic colouration, so he should run away from every antic that destroyed the socio-cultural and ethnoreligious harmony we have enjoyed as a people.

    In conclusion, so far, the early steps of Mr President affirm his political mastery, audacious savviness and readiness to write his name in gold, but the secret remains a consistent pursuit of the heartbeat of the people, and we are not asking for much.

    May our hope be renewed and the president not bungle, but maximize the goodwill! of the people.

  • The Emilokan in all of us – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    The Emilokan in all of us – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    One of the finest moments of the 2023 presidential election campaigns was the performance posted by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the historic Mapo Hall, Ibadan, Oyo State. It was in that same hall in 1983 that the Sage and best president Nigeria never had, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, held a campaign rally leading to the presidential polls where he made that famous speech in Yoruba dialect translated into English meaning: the lion would rather hunt alone than be the bag bearer for the Tiger. So, the 94years old Mapo Hall traps in it a deep spiritual reservoir and ancient spirits with unprecedented national consequences, and Tinubu refused to share the fate of Pa Awolowo of seeing the presidency at arms-length and not grabbing it.

    In what appears to be an intercourse between the celestial and terrestrial, the man at the centre of the Mapo Hall dialogue, the Jagaban, delivered one of his most profound speeches devoid of hitherto goofs that characterized his campaign adventures. Incontrovertibly a master of wits and oratory by any measure as he worked the Yoruba language like an experienced craftsman as Pa Awo did 40years ago, but Asiwaju cut the demeanour of a man who had had a frank conversation with the gods hence engaging low-level spirit beings was no hassle for him.

    Like a priest soaked by the spirits of the Mapo Hall, he swayed left and right, threw his agbada like an enraged son of Oduduwa, signalling a battle-ready warrior, and he spoke audaciously to the powers at Aso rock and any Nigerian that cared to listen about his presidential ambition.

    Bola Tinubu’s speech was beyond just a mere revelatory of the powerplay and underbelly intrigues amongst politicians in their struggle for power but a reflection of their insatiable passions to seize power as a birthright.

    He reminded Buhari how he (Buhari) hit the canvass thrice and cried publicly on national tv that he would never contest for the presidency again on account of his repeated failure at the polls. Tinubu, whose lips were on fire and guided by the extraterrestrial, told Nigerians how he stepped into that predicament, and the rest is history because, at this juncture, Buhari is at the twilight of an ill-fated 8-year administration.
    .
    Like a bolt on an already mesmerized audience, an inspired Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu released the awe-inspiring lexicon into our democratic dictionary, EMILOKAN, meaning it is my turn to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because I have paid my dues in creating platforms for others to become.

    Emilokan was an instant hit. It was pristine, refreshing, audacious and a territory only spirits tread. It birthed countless hit songs, splashed on t-shirts and face caps, and it appears to confront every weakling to dare and demand what is theirs.

    The lexicon Emilokan may have happened to us suddenly, but the spirit, content and essence have always been in our DNA and everything about the average Nigerian. It has nothing to do with politics, sadly, even when it appears the politicians have hijacked or appropriated it for themselves. Emilokan means it is my turn, but when subjected to further interrogation, it could mean I do not care what you think or feel, hand it over to me, then wait for your turn. It means do not cross my part after all I have done for you, and it is in your best interest to hand it over without contemplation because I am a moving train. Emilokan can be a doctorate thesis because it defines the essence of being a Nigerian.

    A quick case in point Is the ongoing drama currently unfolding at the National Assembly over leadership positions. Ironically, the Emilokan exponent, Asiwaju, who is today the President-elect, the number 1 chief executive of the Nigerian project come May 29, is meddling in the legislative arm to disrupt others from exercising their Emilokan rights.

    The other day, Senator Kalu Uzor Kalu stated plainly with an Igbo accent that Emilokan for the Senate presidency, Hon. Wase, the current deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is lobbying his colleagues on the mantra of Emilokan, given his pedigree and same goes with other contestants. Yes, it is their constitutional right, but is it a birthright, be the judge.

    Again, the spirit of Emilokan dictates that I come first, exemplifying how it plays out in our daily interactions. From the religious centres to the citadels of higher learning, Emilokan holds sway, and little wonder there is the proliferation of churches because nobody wants to remain an assistant pastor for long. Look at the tussle for VC-ship and heads of departments at the tertiary institutions, and alleged to go fetish sometimes because the demon of Emilokan inside us detests allowing others to become first.

    The same applies from the civil service to corporate Nigeria, Emilokan is incontrovertible and from the palace to the marketplace, the demand for Emilokan is inconceivable. From the military to other forms of security architecture, Emilokan is brutal and has led to coups and counter-coups. From the street corner and public places to the private spousal confines, Emilokan is legendary. From the Airport to the bus and train stations, Emilokan is true in our everyday lives.

    Otherwise, why do we jump queues everywhere, and why would a motorist drive disorderly and wants to emerge from nowhere and be in front? How did driving against traffic (one way) become a culture? Why is it difficult for a motorist to alloww the next car to come in front when necessary, but Emilokan can’t allow us?

    This Emilokan mantra also is pushed by groups even within the Nigerian polity. The geopolitical arrangement is a bedrock for Emilokan and sometimes a bedlam for chaos when the national cake is little and cannot go around.

    If not for Group Emilokan effectively translated to Awalokan (it is our turn), why are certain leadership positions in some government MDAs dominated by certain ethnic groups in this country, e.g. NPA, Customs, Immigration, NNPC, NLNG, NIMASA, e.t.c. Now if you can single out the dominance of a single ethnic group in the above-mentioned-government institutions and more, then you understand the power and spirit of Awalokan and the magnitude of disaster it has brought to the nation.

    So, to a large extent, Emilokan comes with some baggage of corruption, self-centeredness and self-seeking interest for one, his family, ethnic groups and a few friends sometimes. No nation worth its salt has transcended and broken the shackles of underdevelopment and poverty where Emilokan or Awalokan is entrenched.

    Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-elect, the medium for this national consciousness, is set to go to Aso Rock, so may this Emilokan spirit bring good tidings to Nigerians and may his promise for a government of national competence, a higher version of a government of national unity, not be hijacked by the hawks/cabals milling around him to perpetuate ethnic and religious bigotry like Mr Buhari institutionalized. May anything that will make Asiwaju continue in the good works of Gen. Buhari not happen to us again.

    Emilokan lives in all of us, but a few sacrificed theirs to positively push the frontiers of humanity for our common destiny and prosperity.

    May we make a difference when it is our turn (Emilokan)

    Emilokan lives in all of us and can kill us if we don’t kill it!

  • Aso Rock cabals and the rest of us – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Aso Rock cabals and the rest of us – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s recent outburst on the menace of the Cabals in Aso Rock Villa, signposting spousal infidelity, threatens the fabric of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. The follow-up invectives from party chieftains like Oshiomhole, Fashola, Shettima, Ganduje, Yahaya Bello, and a host of others culminated in the decision by presumed party loyalists to sue the federal government.

    The mystical toga draping the Cabals and the mood in the country make everyone a suspect because if these unknown cabals ruffle El-Rufai and some of his co-travellers, then no one is secure. Out of sheer anger, vituperation and subdued frustration, Gov el-Rufai, declared on national TV that the Cabals at the Villa were misleading Mr President, and he laboured hard to deconstruct the activities and pervasive influence of this group. But if vocal and fire spitting Kaduna state governor is not a Cabal in the APC government, then who qualifies as one?

    There are two strata of Cabals in Aso Rock: the first are those who advise, misdirect and manipulate the President, as alleged by el-Rufai and his buddies, while the other consist of those who mill around Mr President in self-delusion that they are top gunner but emerging scenarios point in a different direction. It is instructive for power brokers/mongers to take a cue from the happenings in the Villa.

    However, a critical grilling of the operations of the Cabals and their impact on governance and development in the country presents a picture of a debased and skewed-minded few wielding so much influence on all sectors of the economy for the very wrong reasons. The Cabals in our political milieu connote retrogression, deviousness, corruption, ethnoreligious bigotry, subversion of the Will of the people and promotion of national treachery that passes for felony by any measure.

    Seriously speaking, the crippling effects of the Cabals have brought the Nigerian economy to its knees and having sunk in billions of dollars from the past Obasanjo to the Buhari regime, the power sector is not working because if it does, the cabals importing generators and profiteering from it, will be driven from the market and that sector would remain incapacitated.

    All the refineries across the country are comatose because if they are up and running, importation of refined products will stop, and it will naturally eliminate subsidy, oil theft and illegal refineries. But these broken-down refineries are deliberately left that way since the Cabals amongst us are untouchable.

    The same Cabals are making the efforts of Mr. Emefiele, the CBN governor, appear ineffectual and keeping the man mesmerized, confused, and overwhelmed because a fantastic (naira redesign) policy, capable of triggering national economic revolution and repositioning, is today hijacked and frustrated.

    The Cabals derailed and padded the national budgets exposed by Hon. Abdulmumni Jubrin and corroborated by Okonjo Iweala, former Minister of Finance, as captured in her book. (Fighting Corruption is Dangerous). The Cabals kidnapped Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s mother in the heat of the subsidy removal saga and, given their network inside the Villa, denied her access to the Villa when she stood her grounds that the rot in the form of unimaginable profligacy (especially the Cargo Tracking Note regime) at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) must stop. Oh yes, the Cabals came after her.

    So, cabalism is a cancerous and endemic self-inflicted disease that has dangerously originated from the political class with proselyte foot soldiers across the entire fabric of our society.

    The continual festerng, growth, and towering influence of this menace in our presidential system reflects Mr President’s body language, acceptance or tacit endorsement, but a weak President breeds a powerful and reckless Cabal, and a strong one keeps them at bay even if he cannot quash them, or eliminates their activities; that is the difference between Obasanjo and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

    This Buhari government seems to have every tom, dick and harry as Cabals because all that is needed is access to the Villa, So the Cabals cannot run a ring around a sitting Nigerian president if he is not actively and unconsciously entangled either by kinship, deep-rooted primitive ethnoreligious proclivity firmly supported in the ruling class for selfish and self-driven economic gains. Hence, the indestructible monster-like-nomenclature the Cabals have assumed and the entire bulk of its misadventure rocking the APC and by extension the nation, stop at the desk of Mr President.

    So, the verdict is that we hope the various groups of cabals will keep out-smarting each other, dance naked shamelessly at Wuse market and, with some stroke of luck, liberate us from this needless national embarrassment in no distant time.

  • Will Emefiele go down history colourless? – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Will Emefiele go down history colourless? – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Many have hailed the currency redesign policy as novel, and that singular act could position the nation on the pedestal of unprecedented progress. From the blues, suck-away pits began to vomit billions of naira, over-head water tanks ooze out billions of naira, dug-up graveyards had billions of naira in place of presumed skeletons, and the billions of naira forcefully confiscated by unscrupulous Nigerians for clandestine purposes came out like Lazarus from the grave. Some terrorists became philanthropists overnight by giving back to helpless Nigerians what they had collected at gunpoint from them. Those were inarguably the wonders of Emefiele’s policy at play.

    So, the intentions behind the currency redesign were top-notch, patriotic and a precursor to the Nigerian golden era, and Mr Emefiele was on the verge of being voted Nigeria’s best CBN governor ever!

    However, there is a tragic turn of events as feelers from the streets rated the policy execution as a sheer disaster. Introspectively, the outcomes so far interrogate the competence of the managers of the CBN and further question its strategic function as the banks under it watch, had gone berserk and violated every instruction without immediate consequences.

    With the new notes sprayed at parties, gone back to the hands of gun-wielding terrorists, hawked on street corners, sold at bus-stop but is never available across banks’ counters or dispensed through the ATMs. Yet CBN is the bankers’ bank, and Mr Emefiele and his team could look Nigerians in the face whimpering and say, it is sabotage from the banks.

    With all the best brains at the CBN, the Emefiele team cannot manage the currency redesign and distribution project. Chai! Simply project management skills the young handlers of the EndSARS movement would have dispensed with near angelic precision.

    Presently, see what is going on at the bank and the impacts on society. For the first time, there is a massive uprising against a financial policy with the threat of mob action, women and men are stripping naked in banking halls in demand of their money, banks properties are vandalized; trade and small businesses are crumbling like pack of cards, stalls in the markets are shutting down causing panic across the country.

    So, the critical question is, did the managers of CBN interrogate all variables from the very point of conceptualization? Did the bank see through the tread and anticipate the possible consequences of not delivering this project seamlessly from take-off to finish? Were the new notes printed/minted enough to replace the intended mopped-up cash with a buffer for eventualities? Was the non-banking segment of the Nigerians in the rural areas factored into the plans? Were the number of bank branches and their capacities in the local communities considered?

    In light of the above, the verdict is incontrovertible because the CBN under Emefiele brings disrepute to the nation given the colossal waste of national resources spent for capacity-building programs and training budgets that run into billions of naira yearly yet managing a simple task as currency redesign and circulation is now rocket science. The CBN should cover its head in shame at this trying moment.

    Whether targeted at politicians or whoever, that is immaterial presently and does not seem to matter to suffering Nigerians any longer because no one will vote on an empty stomach or while nursing the wounds of a failed business. Sadly, what is on ground encourages politicians to buy votes cheaply because, with the scarcity of the naira in circulation, any hungry man can easily part with his voter’s card and survive with the N10,000 politicians are alleged to be throwing around.

    So, Mr Godwin Emefiele, it is imperative to let the public know the quantum of the new notes printed, the allocations to the banks across the board, and why the discrepancies or shortfalls in circulation. Or has it returned to the hands of politicians who have bank managers as their boys?

    It was surprising when a friend looked at me sternly and said, Emefiele looks like the Nigerian version of the Anti-Christ, but his assertion remains puzzling. Nothing Nigerians cannot spiritualize. And equally intriguing is another submission that, “who carries a dustbin on his head, gives open invitations to others to dump their dirt”.

    Emefiele and his team are rudderless and cannot appropriate the enormous powers of the CBN and its strategic roles to drive the right changes.

    A word is enough, and we hope, Godwin Emefiele will not go down in history as one of the most colourless CBN governors in the annals of central banking in Nigeria.

  • Manifestoes or “Magic-festoes” – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    Manifestoes or “Magic-festoes” – By Dave Baro-Thomas

    By Dave Baro-Thomas

    One of the most exciting times in the democratic process is the beauty of electioneering campaigns; the moments come with pack-filled stadiums, events arenas, town halls, etc.

    Those moments are intriguing and colourful carnival-like gatherings with electrifying atmospheres and a show of numeric strengths. A display of the power of the oratory whether convincing or not, and it provides a platform to caricature opponents and wash dirty linens left in the laundry since the last democratic circle.

    For the singular purpose of selling their manifestoes, political parties and their flag bearers for various elective offices mobilize their supporters, cronies, and perhaps rented crowds across the length and breadth of communities, cities, towns, and the nation at large.

    In other democratic climes, this ritual is celebrated with so much gravity because it determines who emerges victorious at the polls. Party Manifestoes are the dividing line between contenders and pretenders and critical national issues with solutions canvassed.

    Hence, every policy, program, promise, blueprint and party/candidate ideology is pristinely brewed like fine wine yet distinctly rich in constituents.

    From Obasanjo to Buhari, the political space is rife with new political lexicons. The biggest issue in the 2023 elections is ISSUE-BASED CAMPAIGNS.

    The 2015 campaigns, rated the most acrimonious in our recent democratic experiments, incited vile vitriol splattered across party lines. Name callings, character assassination, disrespect for privacies and indeed, every strategy was fair in the political space regardless. It was practically a drumbeat of war!

    Fast-forward to 2022, the call for circumspection and saner electioneering campaign space tweaked issue-based is in the center stage. But piecing the veil intently, it seems this is a mere stratagem to mask the inadequacies of some candidates and shift prying eyes from issues beyond fine rhetoric warehoused in the party manifestoes.

    Jumping the gun, some politicians abandoned their half-hazard call for interrogating the manifestoes as party spokespersons re-enliven that song: Who let the dogs out. You can shout at this point if you know the song.

    The content originality of the parties’ Manifestoes are questioned in the public court today. While parties are dagger-drawn, others try hard to navigate the rigour of putting together believable documents for the market.

    This unfortunate scenario aptly triggered a reminiscent of the days when Awolowos, Ziks of Africa, and erudite Ahmed Bellos, enchanted Nigerians with deep, insightful and sincere Manifestoes that reflected societal realcities with a pragmatic roadmap and measurable timelines.

    Those are times when words were bonds, and party manifestoes inspired strategic directions and rapid regional prosperity.

    What we have today is simply a charade! Accusations and counter-accusations of forgery, plagiarism, copycat-ism, lack of originality, and intellectual laziness. Indeed, a total disconnect between the sufferings and realities of the times. Any political parties which cannot string together decent manifestoes, cannot birth into existence what it cannot contrive.

    One of the albatrosses of the ruling party today was its campaign promises or manifestoes in 2015. Their electioneering campaigns anchored on the change mantra and deftly presented to Nigerians almost became contemptuous as denials were also rife after power was captured.

    However, critical examinations of successive governments leave much to be desired. Manifesto as it is today, is cheap rabble-rousing democratic rituals or a near worthless political exercise and lexicon.

    What is bandied about as manifestoes by most parties are mere trickery and sham to gain political office with no iota of good faith or fidelity. If you think I am lying, ask some sitting ministers or governors today.

    These so-called documents are mere literary pros and linguistic finesse that are morally bankrupt and fit for the garbage after the mornings of the June 12 swearing-in ceremonies.

    The promises embedded in these manifestoes indicate a possible band of clowns or circus with a bag filled with MAGICFESTOES to fool gullible Nigerians. So beyond the fine print, Nigerians must dig more intentionally in search of true leaders and demand competent, sincere and true patriots that will reinvent this great Nigeria. It is not a difficult choice if we put aside ethnicity, religion and party affinities.