Tinubu’s Christmas gift

By Casmir Igbokwe

In those days when things were good, Christmas hampers would have flooded many shops and supermarkets in Nigeria. Today, you can count the number of supermarkets that sell such things. Is it not when one eats that one would think of buying hampers? The hardship in Nigeria today is indescribable. To cushion the effect, presumably, the Federal Government announced a 50 per cent reduction in public transport fares via luxury buses and zero fare by rail across the country. The reduction is for the Yuletide and it will last from December 21, 2023 to January 4, 2024.

Ordinarily, this is a noble idea that deserves commendation. Solid Minerals Minister, Dele Alake, said the gesture was a demonstration of President Bola Tinubu’s love for Nigerians. The transport companies that have partnered with the government to achieve this objective are God is Good Motors, Young Shall Grow, God Bless Ezenwata, Chisco Transport and Area Motor. The routes include, among others, Lagos to Kano, Lagos to Onitsha, Lagos to Owerri, Lagos to Abuja and Lagos to Jos, Enugu, Uyo, and Port Harcourt. Air travel was excluded because only the rich fly.

Somehow, I suspect that this largesse from Mr President is a Greek gift. In the first place, just a few poor Nigerians will benefit from this palliative. Over 100 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor. They don’t even have 10 per cent of the transport cost, not to talk of 50 per cent. This means they won’t even travel. Most of those who wish to travel may have travelled. Some others have approached relatives who have cars to join them in their vehicles. At least, this will not cost them anything.

Besides, transport fare has always been high even with the so-called reduction. Usually, the fare doubles during the festive season, especially for travellers to the Eastern part of the country who usually troop to the East en masse this period. Before now, the fare from Lagos to Onitsha is between N20, 000 and N25, 000. It could be higher depending on the transport company and the type of vehicle one boards. Now, the fare is double. The question is, how many people can even afford half of this money?

Former Anambra State Governor and the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, spoke my mind when he questioned the integrity of the scheme. Though he lauded the policy as a step in the right direction, he cautioned that it should not be used as a spin to curry favour from the public. He noted that most of the participating transport companies were not aware of the FG’s intervention. The contacts he sent to consult widely with transporters in major parks across the country confirmed this assertion.

We are good at leaving substance to pursue shadows. The President and his team should stop deceiving themselves. They know what to do to ameliorate the plight of the poor. All these cosmetic palliatives will not take us anywhere.

Upon his inauguration as President on May 29, 2023, Tinubu announced with glee that fuel subsidy was gone. This immediately triggered high cost of goods and services. The high rate of inflation has been unprecedented. Before this government came to power, I used to fill the fuel tank of my car with less than N10, 000. Today, it takes about N50, 000 to fill it.

What this government did in the name of fuel subsidy palliatives after some angry backlash from Nigerians was to announce cash transfer to select vulnerable families. The criteria for the selection were not very clear. Obviously, the palliatives became a mockery in the midst of the profligacy that surrounds almost every action of this government.

While the poor masses go to bed hungry and even die in some circumstances, the functionaries of this government revel in ostentatious living. The ministers went home with luxury vehicles soon after they were sworn in. The National Assembly members took delivery of expensive Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) the other day to the chagrin of many Nigerians.

Just recently, Nigeria came third among other countries in terms of the number of delegates who attended the Climate Change conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Over N3billion was said to have been spent to sponsor the delegates.

The needs of many Nigerians go beyond 50 per cent reduction in transport fares for a few days. Nigerians need sustainable policies, not flash in the pan kind of policies. They need a holistic reduction in the cost of living. The cost of a bag of 50kg of rice is about N50, 000 or more. A few months ago, it was less than N30, 000. Before this All Progressives Congress (APC) government came to power in 2015, it was less than N10, 000. Meanwhile, we are still debating upgrading the minimum wage from N30, 000 to N35, 000.

Government should empower the youths by engaging them in meaningful employment. Even this seems a tall dream. Some of the companies that should employ our youths have closed down their operations in Nigeria. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has gone. Procter and Gamble (P&G) is no more. Michelin, Dunlop, and many other multinationals had left before now. Yet, we are being told that the President was junketing around the globe in search of elusive foreign investors.

Tinubu should sit down at home and re-strategize. His Renewed Hope Agenda has turned into Renewed Hopelessness! Our school system, especially our tertiary institutions, has been living in past glory. Those citadels of learning have become citadels of rot. Why can’t this administration pump the necessary funds into education to save our schools?

Why can’t it fund our health care system to bring it up to standard? Doctors are leaving in droves to seek greener pastures abroad. Patients are dying unnecessarily because of lack of medical care. We have continued to move on as if all is well.

The best Christmas gift Tinubu should give Nigerians is to cut the cost of governance and plough the proceeds back into improving the lives of the people. Today, our debt profile is over N87 trillion. And the government is bent on borrowing more. We should learn to borrow less.

Also, Nigerians need tight security. In most parts of the North, farmers no longer go to farms because of insecurity. Those farmers need to be reassured that their security is guaranteed for them to go back to the farms. Why can’t the government adequately fund and motivate our security agencies to do their work? Why can’t it deal with those engaging in sharp practices in the procurement of arms and ammunition for our armed forces?

Churches and prayer ministries are booming because people have resigned to fate and have only put their hopes and trust in God. As pastors pray for financial breakthrough, you will hear the congregants chant, “I believe it, I claim it, I receive it! Amen! Amen! Amen!”

Embassies are besieged daily by people who wish to escape the existential problems at home. Some manage to escape, but find themselves in hotter soup outside because they have no skill or genuine papers to remain relevant in foreign lands. Some die on the way because they see Europe from Sahara Desert and they think it is easy to cross over. Let this government show seriousness for once.

As you celebrate your Christmas, remember that there are those who have no food to eat. Forget government for now and share whatever you have to neighbours and the needy. That little cup of rice can go a long way. That N1, 000 to a widow can put smiles on her face. That N500 to a beggar can get him water and a small loaf of bread. Let’s share love to fellow Nigerians this season, transport fare or no transport fare.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Re: Standing on Fubara’s mandate

Mr Igbokwe, how are you sir? I love your write-up on happenings in Rivers State. It shows how stupid the likes of Wike are and God almighty will show them who He is. Thank you for a good work and your pen will never dry in Jesus name, amen.

-Nwachukwu, 0808 461 5955

Ordinarily, where would Wike be if not for the fact that he had bulldozed his way to the massive wealth of Rivers State which he now uses to destabilize the country’s peace for the past one and a half years. Amaechi’s greatest mistake was that of introducing this man to the path of political light. Wike’s temperament and cantankerous nature only qualify him for a mere Local Government Chairmanship Seat: yet, because of the so much money that he has made from politics he now has the temerity to bid for Nigeria’s Presidential Seat. This man is the main destroyer of PDP. I’m surprised that he has been indulged to this extent! Wike’s belief in choosing an ‘apolitical’, humble and reclusive Fubara was to plant a compliant platform for his continuous vice-like grip on power and easy access to Rivers money. But he has now realized that Fubara is not the dummy that he had imagined. Fubara must jettison the Tinubu/Wike Poisoned Chalice. He shall succeed to the chagrin of all the Wikes of this world.

-Edet Essien Esq @ Cal South, 0810 809 5633

Casmir, Wike has proved himself to be an Apostle of Jagaban.  His meddling in the governance of people of Rivers State has shown that he loves to establish ‘Wike’s Dynasty’. He singlehandedly installed the current governor of Rivers State and many other elected officials in the House of Assembly and National Assembly. His suffocation of the Governor’s cabinet with his loyalists calls for greater insight into his desire to inherit Rivers’ treasures. However, the people of Rivers State must be made to realize that the battle for the control of Rivers State Soul is not Fubara’s alone. Rather, they must understand that it’s their battle. Some school of thought has alleged that the real reason why there’s disagreement between the ‘father and son ‘ was because of the control of the internally generated revenue. The mandate of Fubara must be fought for by all good people of Rivers State in order to protect their wealth from ‘economic scavengers’

-Pharmacist Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, December 25, 2023

Standing on Fubara’s mandate

By Casmir Igbokwe

In a video that trended online recently, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was seen singing and dancing President Bola Tinubu’s campaign song, “On your mandate we shall stand”. His gesticulations and the way he moved his emaciated frame gave a hint of some sinister motives. Or triumph over some unknown enemies.

Not quite long after, the commissioners he planted in the current administration in Rivers State started resigning. It started from the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Zacchaeus Adangor. Then, the Commissioners for Works, George-Kelly Alabo; Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Mrs Inime Aguma; and Special Duties, Emeka Woke, followed suit. Some others who have tendered their resignation letters are Commissioners for Transportation, Dr. Jacob Nbina; Education, Prof. Chinedu Mmom; Housing, Gift Worlu; and Finance, Isaac Kamalu. As of press time, at least 10 commissioners were said to have tendered their resignation letters.

Before the resignation of the commissioners, 27 House of Assembly members had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). They were elected on the platform of the PDP, but because they stood on Wike’s mandate, they decided to leave the platform on which they were elected. Legal experts say the lawmakers have lost their mandate. Supreme Court had since ruled on similar cases. But we operate a system where rules and laws can be turned upside down. Don’t be surprised to see the Supreme Court change its ruling if the matter comes up there.

In name, Wike himself is still a member of the PDP. But he is body and soul with the APC. He connived with the ruling party during the presidential election to perform some electoral magic that made Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, to win in Rivers State. The President rewarded him with an appointment as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

From his base in Abuja, Wike still wants to control happenings in Rivers State. And that is the crux of the current crisis in the state. He has his foot soldiers. He calls them his structure. His handpicked governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has no firm grip over his commissioners and Assembly members. That was why the lawmakers attempted to initiate impeachment proceedings against him last October. The lawmakers appear to have no mind of their own. They apparently acted on the instruction of the one who sponsored them to the Assembly.

But Fubara is no fool. Physically, he looks dovish. But, he is like the proverbial rat that will bite you and blow you air to cushion the pain so you won’t move to kill it. As soon as the impeachment talks came up, explosion and fire rocked part of the Assembly complex. President Tinubu tried to intervene to broker peace. Fubara came back from the peace meeting in Abuja to show a remorseful mien and apologized for the crisis in the state. He promised to embrace peace. We thought the matter was over.

Last Wednesday, December 13, 2023, bulldozers moved into the Assembly complex. Before the lawmakers could fathom what was going on, the expensive complex had come down. It has been demolished. At the same time, the governor presented the 2024 budget proposal to four lawmakers loyal to him in Government House, Port Harcourt. His own factional lawmakers are led by Edison Ehie while Wike’s faction has Martins Amaehule as Speaker.

The state government has a ready-made explanation for the demolition of the Assembly complex. According to the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Warisenibo Joe Johnson, the demolition was based on advice of professionals to discontinue the use of the building in its present state. He said the complex had structural defects arising from the fire and explosion of last October.

This is monumental waste! Public funds will be deployed to reconstruct this complex. Are we moving forward or backwards as a nation? Soon, individuals will begin to count their losses in this whole theatre of the absurd. Already, Ehie, the factional Speaker loyal to Fubara reportedly had his residence attacked by gunmen said to have been led by a senior police officer in the state.

In a way, I like the way the governor is trying to assert himself now. We must call bad political godfathers to order. We must put a stop to their impunity. I blame the PDP in all these. I don’t know why the party has not sacked Wike. He has shown in all his actions that he is not a true member of the party. During the campaigns for the general election, he led a group of four other renegade governors at the time to rebel against the PDP. The party had sacked some members for anti-party activities. Why it has not deemed it necessary to boot Wike out for anti-party activities is still strange to me.

Elder statesman and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, was bold enough to speak out against Wike’s shenanigans. Clark wondered why Wike who had denounced the godfather phenomenon immersed himself in the antics of godfathers. He urged Tinubu to call the former governor to order, saying Rivers State was very important to the stability of our national economy.

Other elders and stakeholders in the Niger Delta should emulate Clark. An elder does not stay at home while a goat delivers on its tether. They must speak out now and call a spade by its name. Else, this nonsense will continue.

Rivers State has become a reference point for political battles between governors and their successors. Former Governor Peter Odili had a soured relationship with his successor, Rotimi Amaechi, when he left office. Amaechi handed over to Wike. But the gulf that separates their relationship is wider than that of Odili and Amaechi. Now, Wike and Fubara have taken the same pathway. The tragedy of it all is that Fubara has merely stayed a little over six months in office.

The good people of Rivers State will bear the brunt of this fight. Good governance will take a flight. As it is now, the major thing that will be on Fubara’s mind will be how to tackle his godfather and save himself the embarrassment of being removed from office. He will most likely deploy resources that would have gone for development to crisis management. Wike himself will also be distracted from his main assignment of superintending over the affairs of the FCT.

I laugh at suggestions that President Tinubu should intervene. Yes, it is good if he intervenes. He has already done so, but it didn’t yield much dividend. He is the ultimate godfather of Nigerian politics. He is a member of the APC. He knows and appreciates the role Wike played in bringing him victory in Rivers State. Except Governor Fubara joins the APC tomorrow, Tinubu will most likely have sympathy for the man who performed magic for him in Rivers State. Wike even appears to be understudying the President who has Lagos State under his firm grip. Tinubu’s political structure is what is still holding Lagos today. And you think Wike would want to allow his own structures to go down?

My suggestion to Fubara is to stand firm and resolute. As the incumbent governor, he is the one holding the knife and the yam now. What Nigerians understand most in politics is money. That is what has worked for Tinubu. It has also worked for Senator Godswill Akpabio, the exponent of “what money cannot do, more money will do.” That is what is working for Wike at the moment. Fubara should find a way to deploy this talisman to create his own political base and consolidate on it. The commissioners who resigned are not indispensable. They have resigned to irrelevance. Let Fubara quickly appoint his own men to take over their positions.

It will be melodious to hear the governor’s acolytes sing, “On Fubara’s mandate we shall stand!” Yes, he is the man elected to govern Rivers State for four years. He should be allowed to concentrate on his core mandate. Those singing APC’s mandate song in Abuja should allow him be. Enough is enough!

Re: Dubai’s climate change jamboree

Casmir, APC has proved to be government for ‘Looters and Liars’. Its first eight years passed away leaving tears, sorrow and blood. The years were characterized by looting and lies. No wonder the arrival of Tinubu started with removal of fuel subsidy which has paved way for continuous looting and lies often camouflaged with subsidy’s palliatives. Nigerians should not be deceived by ‘renewed hope’ agenda. This is another white elephant calculated to over-enrich the favoured ones and impoverish the masses of this great country. A party that welcomes looters and brand them Angels with more lucrative appointment given to them cannot improve the conditions of the citizens. A country which leaders embark on festive celebrations in the name of official engagement cannot salvage the sufferings of the citizens; they will rather impose more sufferings on them through senseless taxation and burdensome practices.

-Pharmacist Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Casmir, it is an irony that, while Nigeria has superfluous natural resources, it, unfortunately, has a dearth of  selfless, compassionate or in summary ‘good leaders’ to help manage these God-given resources to the benefit of all! Simply put, the quality of leadership in Nigeria is appalling. Otherwise, whoever approved the list of 1,411 delegates to the COP28 has done a disservice to the nation and to the tax payers in particular. What a monumental waste of funds! The comment of the ministry of information is enough proof that the trip was a circus show of ego centrists in power. If the venue was Togo or Burundi, the number of the delegates would have been less than 200! It is the quality and relevance of the delegates at the COP28 that matters; not the quantity! If 300 delegates had attended and come back to organise seminars, workshops etc in Nigeria based on what they learnt, it would have been more economical and sensible. ‘Profligates in power’ love to show off as they are full of riotous living. Tinubu has robed Nigeria in the garb of ‘acting big nation’. Funny is the fact that Nigeria will go borrowing after creating another false impression. Eko (Lagos) for show is now Nigeria for show too! Adieu to my uncle, the late Chief Frank Ovie Kokori. Condolence message to his children (my cousins): Cordillia, Frank jnr. Aghorghor, Efe and Onome. May uncle’s soul rest in peace. May his labour over Nigeria not be in vain IJN! Amen! What we are experiencing now, is not the type of democracy he envisaged and died for. Pity!

-Mike, Mushin, 0816 111 4572

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, December 18, 2023

Dubai’s climate change jamboree

By Casmir Igbokwe

It is not only churches that organize harvest and bazaar these days. Since President Bola Tinubu became the President of Nigeria on May 29, 2023, we have been in an unending season of bazaar. Nigeria has been auctioned off. But, the proceeds are not meant to favour the over 133 million Nigerians living in multi-dimensional poverty. They are exclusively reserved for the ruling class, their aides, family members, hangers-on and mistresses. For most government officials, there is nothing like offering time anymore. Every day is now blessing time!

The latest blessing time is the ongoing climate change conference called Conference of Parties (COP28) holding in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 30 and December 12, 2023. This year, out of over 70,000 participants and delegates from over 100 countries, the host country, UAE, has 4,409 participants, the largest at the conference. It is followed by Brazil with 3,081 delegates. Nigeria and China clinched the third position with 1,411 delegates each. This means the number of our delegates surpassed that of big economies like the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, laboured to offer an explanation. He said the Federal Government only sponsored 422 delegates. These are drawn from ministries, agencies and the National Assembly. The rest, he said, came from non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, private companies, and the media, among others.  “As the biggest economy and most populous country in Africa, with a substantial extractive economy and extensive vulnerability to climate change, Nigeria has a significant stake in climate action, and our active and robust participation at COP is therefore not unwarranted,” he added.

Tales by moonlight! I can understand China sending fairly large number of delegates to Dubai. It has the capacity and resources to do so. But for chronic debtors like Nigeria, the rest of the civilized world will be laughing and wondering if this is what the giant of Africa does with the loans it takes from them.

My worry is that there appears to be no end in sight to this type of profligacy. President Tinubu removed fuel subsidy on the day of his inauguration and urged Nigerians to tighten their belts. From about N185 a litre, fuel price jumped to over N600 a litre.  The already traumatized citizens had no energy to even protest. People started walking long distances because the cost of transport skyrocketed. The rate of inflation has been climbing to unbearable levels. Currently, it is 27.33 per cent. Unemployment is at its peak. Fellow citizens have been migrating abroad in droves. Some have become refugees after selling off their property to relocate abroad.

Within this short period that Tinubu has been in the saddle, at least 1,197 Nigerian medical doctors have relocated to the United Kingdom alone. A lot of Nigerians have resorted to local concoctions to treat their ailments as they cannot afford the cost of medical care today. Prices of essential drugs have gone beyond the reach of most people. Prices of basic food items like rice, yam, and beans have also gone up drastically such that many people find it difficult to feed these days.

On top of these, terrorists have made life worthless by their orgy of destruction and abductions. Hapless families who are thinking of how to survive are being forced to sell property and mop up the little they have to pay ransom. To put it mildly, life in Nigeria has become hellfire.

A period like this calls for prudent management of resources. It demands sympathy for the citizens from a sensitive government. But what have we seen so far from a government that promised us renewed hope? Renewed hopelessness! While the citizens have tightened belts and have become walking skeletons, those who should comfort and rescue them live in insensitive display of opulence.

Just take a good look at the number one citizen of the country. He has shown in words and deeds that it is his turn to grab from where his predecessors left off. He gave us a hint of what to expect even before he became president. After he won the presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he landed at the presidential wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos with pomp. As he entered the city in a long motorcade, his supporters constituted a public nuisance to the hapless citizens of Lagos.

Soon after he was sworn in as president, he repeated his triumphant entry into Lagos with a long convoy of over 100 cars. Many citizens complained, but they failed to realize that it was just the beginning. Now, many people have lost the strength to complain. They grumble in their cocoons and resign to fate. The culture of peaceful protest which was vibrant when Tinubu and his acolytes were in opposition has almost fizzled out. Nigeria has been totally captured.

This is why you did not hear any whimper when the President travelled to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September and wasted $507,384 or N390.6 million on his hotel room alone in one week. That is why the National Assembly members quickly passed the 2023 supplementary budget even when some of the items were not in the overall interest of Nigeria. Yes, we made some noise in the media about the wastage; about allocating billions for purchase of vehicles for the Office of the First Lady which is unknown to our constitution; about the billions of naira mapped out for the renovation of the residences of the President and the Vice-President. After the media noise, what happened next? More wasteful expenditure followed. In the 2024 budget, a total of N20bn was earmarked for the renovation of the President and Vice-President’s offices. The sum of N15.961bn was mapped out for trips of aides in the presidency. If the trip of aides could gulp this much, you can imagine what that of the President and his deputy will be. This is a country said to be planning to borrow over $9bn to fund N27.5 trillion 2024 budget.

The climate conference in Dubai gave us a glimpse of what such trips could cost our nation. Estacodes and flight tickets alone took an amount that would go a long way in rehabilitating some of our dilapidated tertiary institutions. Premium Times estimated that Nigeria spent about N3 billion to sponsor government officials for this conference. This is even a conservative estimate as the newspaper computed the cost based on economy class tickets, whereas a number of the officials travelled in business class which is more expensive.

It will be understandable if the Party delegates are even useful in Dubai. But from available information, most of them are not. They reportedly have no understanding of COP negotiation procedures.

It is shameful that we have continued to exhibit our tomfoolery before the international community. Tinubu has travelled to about 10 countries since he assumed office a little over six months ago. He has been attending conferences, making some coherent and incoherent speeches and marketing our potential to foreign investors. But these investors are not fools. Out of courtesy, they listen to you attentively and make one or two promises. But, at the end of the day, they know that there are no clear-cut policies that will protect their investments. They know that insecurity can wipe off their sweat in one fell swoop. A few months ago, international pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) left Nigeria after 51 years of operations in the country. Recently, the world’s largest household and personal care products company, Procter & Gamble (P&G), also exited Nigeria. These companies no longer see any prospect of growth in our business environment. There are some other companies both foreign and local that have closed shop in Nigeria.

Shall we lose hope? We shall not. Only dead people lose hope. As long as there is life, there is hope, but not Tinubu’s touted “renewed hope”. Nigerians have planted patience. They have sacrificed a lot. Their harvest time will come one day. And when it does come, the bazaar of the masses will surpass whatever certain greedy government officials had cornered. The power of the people remains supreme.

Re: Plot thickens over 2027 general election  

It is ludicrous that of all the people on earth, it is Jega that will have the effrontery to come out and pontificate on electoral reforms. A Jega whose imprints dot the present rot we scoop now. Pray can Prof Jega honestly swear by the Koran that the elections he conducted in 2015 were free and fair? Can he use his family to swear that the results he declared then were the true reflections of the people’s vote or that Muhammad Buhari really won the election? It seems what they used to stuff the pockets is finished and he has scurried out from wherever he has been to seek further patronage. Abeg Teacher, don’t teach me nonsense.

-Aloy Uzoekwe, Anambra, 08038503174

Casmir, Nigeria is the undisputed record holder in both poor governance & electoral malfeasance! She extended the record in 2023 with the poor organisation of the hotly/’courtly’ disputed presidential elections. Anyone expecting electoral reforms from Tinubu before and beyond the 2027 elections will wait forever! Such a vision will end as a mirage! Tinubu is not the late Yar’Adua and Yar’Aadua is not Tinubu. Yar’Adua became remorseful over the 2003 elections that brought him to power and decided to embark on reforms to correct the aberrations in it! With Tinubu, the opposite is the case. He believes he won the elections fair and square; because PDP was fragmented into: PDP1 (Atiku), PDP2 (Obi), PDP3 (Kwankwaso) and PDP4 (Wike and the 4 other rebels). The National Assembly as presently constituted and led by an ally of Tinubu won’t do any reforms. He is too subservient to his benefactor – Tinubu! To do that is to indict INEC and delegitimize Tinubu’s purported victory. 2027 is the year of ‘once beaten, twice shy’! But, nemesis will catch up with them as the renewed hope is gradually turning out to be a dashed hope due to too many ‘false starts’ in governance.

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, 0816 111 4572

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, December 11, 2023

Plot thickens over 2027 general election

By Casmir Igbokwe

Frustration and despair have secured permanent residential permit in Nigeria. The cost of living has gone haywire. Insecurity is at its peak. Poverty and hunger have turned many citizens into beggars. The ruling cabal had promised renewed hope. The majority of Nigerians suspected they were lying. They desired change. They voted for competence and capacity against primordial sentiments. Their desire is that their country should rise and reclaim its giant status in Africa and in the world.

Alas, the hopes and aspirations of these Nigerians were dashed. The master riggers snatched, grabbed and ran away with power. They dared their opponents to go to court. At the courts, the compromised judiciary gave a stamp of legitimacy to the electoral robbery. The snatchers now move with swagger after claiming questionable victory. The worst is that their eyes are now fixed on the 2027 general election. The plots are thickening.

The signs are staring us in the face. The recent appointments of President Bola Tinubu are a typical example. He has planted his loyalists in strategic places just like he did in Lagos. After ruling Lagos for eight years, he refused to let the state be, turning it into his private fiefdom and dictating the trend of events.

Now, they have begun to capture everywhere. The legislature has been captured. The judiciary is not left out. The executive belongs to them already. If in doubt, check out what transpired at the budget presentation of President Tinubu at the National Assembly. Rather than sing the national anthem, the lawmakers started singing Tinubu’s campaign song: “On your mandate we stand.” This National Assembly comprises members from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and so on. Do all these opposition lawmakers also stand on Tinubu’s mandate? Or have they cross-carpeted to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)?

We are tilting towards totalitarianism. And that is why some politicians are cross-carpeting. The Senator representing Anambra South in the Senate, Ifeanyi Ubah, just moved to the APC. I am a member of his constituency. We elected him on the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP). But, the Senator felt joining the APC was the best thing that had happened to his constituency and to the Igbo race. I guess he is fighting for his political and economic survival. I pity him.

The other day, Tinubu appointed some INEC Commissioners. Some of them are said to be card-carrying members of the APC. Despite the outcry over the appointments, and in spite of the fact that the action is against the 1999 Constitution, the President has not deemed it necessary to cancel them.

Obviously, they don’t want a repeat of what happened in the 2023 election. In the presidential poll, held on February 25, 2023, the APC suffered great defeat. Tinubu even lost in his Lagos base. But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulated the exercise to favour the ruling party. It claimed there was a technical glitch during the transmission of presidential election results. The so-called Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the touted electronic transmission of election results became a farce. Just as Nigerians were waiting and wondering what would happen next, the electoral umpire sneaked an announcement of the result in the wee small hours of March 1, 2023. In announcing the final result, the commission ignored widespread reports of violence, voter intimidation and falsification of results. The protagonists knew that once the announcement was made, nothing would happen to change the situation.

That was why people like Bayo Onanuga would have the effrontery to spew hate speech against a whole ethnic group. He said Igbo were existential threats to the Yoruba. “Let 2023 be the last time of Igbo interference in Lagos politics. Let there be no repeat in 2027,” he warned. For his bitter diatribe against the Igbo, Onanuga was rewarded with a juicy appointment as the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.

The cabal appears to be perfecting its strategies. Today, many Igbo landlords in Lagos are crying. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Lagos State Government suddenly realized that some buildings in Abule Ado, Lekki, Ikota, Ajao Estate, Festac and some other parts of Lagos were built without approvals on water drainage channels. Hence, they embarked on a demolition spree. Over 600 houses have come down. About 700 others on 6th Avenue in Festac town are said to have been partially demolished. True, the victims are not only Igbo. But who does not know that Ndigbo have greater stake when it comes to owning property in Lagos and elsewhere in Nigeria? I don’t support lawlessness. But one wonders why the relevant authorities allowed the developers to build without stopping them at the initial stage. Some of those buildings have stayed for decades. Suddenly, people were thrown out of their houses without any feelings. In these hard times! Could this be a vendetta mission? The answer is blowing in the wind.

In any case, the world we live in is vanity. You can be emperor today and food for termites tomorrow. Where is Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic? Where is Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada of Uganda? Where is Adolf Hitler of Germany? Where is Col. Muammar Ghaddafi of Libya? Where is Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe of Liberia? Where is General Sani Abacha of Nigeria? The list is endless.

One major problem of most rulers is that they never learn from history. That is why history keeps repeating itself. We had a cantankerous First Republic. Politicians undermined the political process, leading to some crises like ‘Operation Wetie’ in the South-West. The military struck to put things right, but ended up worsening the precarious situation. Soldiers stayed in power until 1979 when they handed over to the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. The ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) went for total capture of Nigeria. Chieftains of the party committed all manner of electoral heist against Nigeria. Corruption became the order of the day. Again, the military struck in 1983 ostensibly to put things right. But they had their own challenges and problems. Luckily, they handed over to another civilian government in 1999. Since then, we have wobbled on with our tainted democracy.

Some other smaller countries have been showing us the light. Look at Liberia. On October 10, 2023, that West African country held a free, fair and credible presidential poll. Twenty candidates contested for the election. The first ballot failed to produce a clear winner. The candidate of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), President George Weah, and former Vice-President Joseph Boakai who is the candidate of the Unity Party, went for a run-off on November 14. Boakai emerged victorious. Weah quickly congratulated his opponent even before the final result was announced on November 20. He has earned accolades for this. As Weah, the former international football star put it, “The CDC has lost the election, but Liberia has won. This is a time for graciousness in defeat, a time to place our country above party, and patriotism above personal interest.”

This is how it should be. The people of Liberia cast their votes and their votes counted. Former President Goodluck Jonathan did what Weah did in 2015. He lost the presidential election to Muhammadu Buhari. Even before INEC could finish announcing the results, Jonathan threw in the towel and congratulated Buhari. A good number of his party men felt betrayed. They labelled Jonathan lily-livered. Some said he was a fool. But it was democracy that won in Nigerian then.

Today, the scenario has completely changed. We are now in the era of snatch, grab and run with power. People will cast their votes but the judiciary will select the winner. It is injustice. It is reprehensible. And it is unjustifiable!

The erstwhile Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has made some germane suggestions on the way forward. Speaking recently in Abuja at the citizens’ town hall meeting on electoral reforms, Jega recommended an immediate review of the appointment of INEC Chairman and National Commissioners. He said it was unfair and unjust to vest power to nominate the INEC Chairman and National Commissioners only on the President. He advocated a transparent process for such appointment and called for the unbundling of INEC because the commission has a lot on its plate to deal with. He also called on the National Assembly to ban cross-carpeting by politicians, saying it had destroyed our democratic ethos.

Jega is right. INEC should be reformed. Right now, many Nigerians have lost confidence in the commission as presently constituted. They have lost confidence in the judiciary. They have also lost confidence in almost all the major institutions in Nigeria. The National Assembly should embark on comprehensive reforms of our political and electoral systems. Let’s have a new constitution that will define the way we want to live our lives. Let’s make electronic voting mandatory in Nigeria.

That is the only guarantee that people will come out to vote in 2027. If these reforms are not carried out before the 2027 general election, people like us will not near the polling booths on the election day. They can continue with their snatching and grabbing of power. Good luck to them. But, it shall end one day. That is my only renewed hope.

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, December 4, 2023

Pastor Eno’s uncommon gospel in Uyo

By Casmir Igbokwe

Everywhere you go in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, you are bound to see ‘ARISE’ starring you in the face. This is not about Arise Television. Nor is it about the biblical crippled man Jesus told to arise and walk. It is a gospel according to Pastor Umo Eno, the governor of Akwa Ibom state. You can see it on many billboards in Uyo. You can also see the insignia on the clothes of government officials and supporters.

ARISE is an acronym. It is Eno’s visionary plan to propel Akwa Ibom’s socio-economic growth and transform the lives of the citizens. It means Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development, Infrastructure Maintenance and Advancement, Security Management and Educational Advancement. This is aimed at building upon the achievements of the previous administrations and to take the state to new heights.

As I ruminated about the ARISE Agenda, I remembered what a good friend of mine who was a journalist but now a public relations guru with Dangote Industries Limited told me recently. He said almost all my articles tended to see nothing good about Nigeria. He asked if I knew about the concept called developmental journalism. In answering him, I asked him to mention one good development in Nigeria in recent times which I should devote my time to. He couldn’t mention any.

This is partly why I am focusing on Akwa Ibom today. Between November 14 and 18, 2023, members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors were in Uyo for their annual All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC). Beyond the presentation of different papers, some of us took time to move round some parts of Uyo to see things for ourselves.

What will strike any visitor to Uyo is the state of the roads in the city. Most of the roads are neat and well tarred. Editors are usually conservative when it comes to praising people in government. But most of the comments I heard from my colleagues centred on praises than condemnations for the government of the state.

Of course, the state of Uyo and some other parts of Akwa Ibom is not the handiwork of any one governor. It is a combination of the efforts of some past governors such as Victor Attah, Godswill Akpabio, Udom Emmanuel and the incumbent governor, Pastor Eno. That each of these governors continued from where their predecessors stopped is commendable.

In June 2021, I had cause to write about this same Akwa Ibom state. Titled, “Udom Emmanuel: Footprints of a professional in politics”, the article dwelt on some of the achievements of Emmanuel as the then governor. One of them was Ibom Air. I have had cause to fly with that airline, the only one run by a state government in Nigeria, and I was impressed by its services. The common refrain in Nigeria is that government doesn’t effectively run business in this country. But here is a state government running a commercial airline that has served the public well since it started its operations on June 7, 2019. From a little beginning of only three aircraft, the airline increased its fleet to five. As of June 2021, it acquired two new Airbus A220 series to bring the number to seven. The Airbus series are bigger than the other five aircraft, Bombardier CRJ-900 which it earlier acquired. Last week, the airline took delivery of the first of 10 new Airbus A220-300 aircraft it ordered from Airbus in November 2021. With this new arrival, the airline is expected to expand its operations to other West and Central African countries. Emmanuel also expanded the runway at the Victor Attah International Airport. He embarked on the construction of the international terminal building and maintenance repairs and overhaul facility at the airport.

The central focus to achieve Emmanuel’s five-point agenda was industrialization. The aim was to transform Akwa Ibom from being a civil service state to one that has a robust manufacturing base. He tried his best to achieve his dream. For instance, he attracted such industries as pencil, plastics, plywood, toothpicks and tissue paper manufacturing plants. Some others include Meter and syringe manufacturing plants, Flour Mill Company and Sterling Petrochemicals.

The incumbent governor appears to have a similar vision. For instance, his administration has turned the E-Library complex of the state to more productive ventures. In that complex is the state’s Leadership and Entrepreneurial Development (LED) Centre. At the centre, about 400 participants are currently undergoing Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (EAP). It is for three months. The programme runs every quarter and the state government pays N150,000 per participant. And at the end of the programme, each of the trainees is given N500,000 to start business. We visited the facilities of the shoe and tailoring start-ups within the complex. Their product can compare with any foreign product.

We had earlier visited the Model Primary School in Uyo. The school was known as the Christ the King Primary School, but it is now being remodeled to Christ the King Model Primary School. The construction is almost completed and the plan is to replicate the model in all the 31 local government areas of the state. It has staff quarters. About five members of staff, including the head teacher, will live in the quarters. The Commissioners for Education, Idongesit Etiebet, and Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, Dr. Bassey Okon, noted that the contract for the building of the school included a four-year maintenance retention contract with the contractor. This means the contractor will not just build the school but will also maintain it for four years.  With a 20KVA solar power, constant electricity is guaranteed.

The school can compare with any in the world. It is equipped with modern facilities that make learning a pleasurable experience. It is equipped with Montessori learning kits, tablets, sick bay, cool indoor assembly ground and a lurch playground. Although it is built to world standard, it is free. It is meant to take 600 pupils.

Like schools, there will be model primary health centres across the 31 local government areas of the state. We visited the one at Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area to see things for ourselves. The project was started 12 weeks ago and is aimed at reaching the grassroots with standard health care.

Governor Eno has also reportedly released N100m scholarship grant to persons living with disability in the state and has released funds for disbursement of bursary to Akwa Ibom students in public tertiary institutions across Nigeria. This is in fulfillment of his campaign promises to enhance educational development in Akwa Ibom. So far, he is said to have paid N5.3bn as backlog of pension and gratuities of some civil servants. He has also restored and renovated dilapidated historic/heritage sites such as Lord Lugard House and War Museum at Ikot Abasi.

Eno did not forget road construction in his ARISE agenda. He has flagged off construction of some roads in different parts of the state. He is also upscaling Ibeno beach and other tourist sites.

To ensure food availability and security for his people, Eno’s government has acquired over 50,000 hectares of land across all the 31 local government areas. The administration has also flagged off Songhai demonstration farm at Nsit Ubium.

I know some people will say Akwa Ibom is an oil-producing state. That is true. As an oil-producing state with access to a lot of oil money, the government has no excuse not to do well. It is not doing the people any favour by doing what it is elected to do. However, the state is not the only oil-producing state in the country. Some of these oil-bearing states compete with the rest of the less endowed states in poverty of the citizens, poor infrastructure and general low standard of living.

Nevertheless, it is still early to sing praises of the Pastor Governor. He has spent barely six months in office. This is just an attempt to encourage him and others like him to do more for their people. If our leaders utilize resources effectively, Nigeria will not be where it is today. As I have canvassed on this page before, there is need to restructure this country to make governance less attractive to thieves and looters. Whoever is aspiring to govern as governor or president should be prepared to render selfless service to the people with minimum remuneration to go with it. May other state governors who are lagging behind study Akwa Ibom, arise and walk as well!

Re: Nigeria’s snatch-and-run elections

Dear Casmir, I feel somehow ‘frustrated’ about the current position of our country when I remember all the opportunities I turned down over the years because of my belief that Nigeria will get better. Little did I know that I’ll be proven wrong, but I still thank God. Who knows what would’ve happened if I’d taken the alternative route. With the recent elections this year, it’ll be difficult convincing people like me to ever go close to a polling booth. However, we’re still waiting on the Lord in spite of everything. Thank God for journalists like you. Let’s keep hope alive.

Chief Chinasa, +234 802 300 8302

Dear Casy, when the head is rotten, the rest of the body shall, also, degenerate into rottenness. Since the Nigerian political system is rotten, the process is, equally, rotten to the point of placing the nation in inverse position where all indices of a decent nation is on reverse gear. A nation where elections have turned into ‘(s)elections’! A nation where for you to clinch political power, you must do the unthinkable, including surrounding yourself with goons and sending them, under statutory security protection, after any person(s) considered as threats to the wiles and guiles deployed towards the realization of your political ambition! A nation where the Judiciary, seen in saner climes as the last hope of the common man, is inversely, the lost hope of the common man because the Judiciary ‘speaks in tongues’, especially, where matters affecting the mighty or the ‘anointed’ are concerned! Hence, all manner of rots, including shams, now, baptized as ‘snatch and run elections’ that have turned the nation into a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

-Steve Okoye, Awka, 08036630731.

Casmir, Tinubu is a major reason why we are in a near state of collapse! He has been ‘playing god’ with the destiny of Nigerians in the last 8 years. He ‘gave’ us Buhari in a special arrangement of you go 1^st – via my moral & financial support – and me next. How can the facilitator/promoter of ‘snatch & run’ elections save Nigeria from impending collapse? Those who saw the successful practice of ’emilokanism’ by Tinubu will put to practice what they learnt in the ‘school of emilokan’! The philosophy of emilokan is: the kingdom of ‘politics in Nigeria’ suffereth violence and only ‘the violent’ take it by force! A bad and dangerous template has been handed over to the political class with the expected ‘final outcome’ of the Feb 25th, presidential elections. It is now a case of: do all you can to make INEC declare you the winner and the rest is ‘easy’! The problem is not really the systems in place, but the nature/character/attitude of our politicians! Take Nigerian politicians to America in a swap arrangement; they will destroy America in a twinkle of an eye! Bring American politicians or Americans in general to Nigeria and watch Nigeria prosper!

-Mike, Mushin, 0816 111 4572

•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, November 27, 2023