It was one of our girls’ hang-out evenings, our special ‘cult’ outings where we let down our hair and say things we would never say when a man is within earshot. We also join hands and pray and fast when we have to ‘bandy’ together against any bandit problem. But this particular episode was just about wine, smoothies and barbecue and pulling one another’s legs. 

Then Mobola announced to the girls that her son, Ope, had just told her he thought Mimi was the one. 

In other words, after foraging through dozens of skirts, Ope had finally made up his mind to settle down. He had proposed to Mimi in one of those grand colourful events.

At last.

About time.

Long overdue.

Thank God oooo.

It was a chorus of sighs of relief.

Ope is cute and he knows it. He’s successful and well bred. He also has a great job in one of the telecommunication companies.  So, getting the girls was not a problem. Indeed, getting the girls to pull out their claws from all over Ope had been the problem. These girls just love what they love and Ope with his cute innocent manners took full advantage. He walked through them like hot rod through wax. Until Mimi. Now, at age 34, Ope has said he was all ready to quit the bachelors’ club and his mum is saying No. Incredible.

‘Mobola, you sound like a witch right now. You do not want your son to get married? That is witchcraft o, ore.’ I told her point blank.

‘I thought you were getting worried that he was going to end up a cranky old bachelor? What is wrong with Ope marrying Mimi?’ Joke was looking closely at Mobola as if she was trying to figure out what the ailment was that had Mobola in its grip.

Annette rose to her full five feet height, hands on her petite waist. Her worry is different.

‘God will not allow you to ruin my chance to plan a blue chip wedding. Imagine all the colours, primary and secondary, jostling for space and attention at Ope’s wedding, the cake, the aso ebi, the food…. Ah and above all, all those loaded telco guys all in one room. Please, Mobola, God will not spoil your joy, don’t even think of spoiling our hip-hop with your blues.’

Annette is 49, pretty, divorced life-of-the party and according to her, a bride-waiting-to-happen-for-the second-time. See, her vested interest is not just about Ope’s happiness, it is about her second missionary journey.

But why was Mobola resisting Mimi as a prospective daughter-in-law?

Mimi is too beautiful.

W-h-a-a-at? We all chorused.

How is a beautiful bride, daughter-in-law a problem? She will give you grandchildren that turn heads everywhere. What is the matter with you, Mobola? When did it become a sin to be beautiful?

‘When you are about to bring trouble to my doorstep, that’s when.’ Mobola blurted.

Ah, e gba mi. Someone rescue me. What kind of mother doesn’t want her son to have a beautiful wife?

Pray explain how does shopping, gisting, going all over the place with your beautiful daughter-in-law become a tragedy?

‘Okay, I’ll spell it out. A girl with Mimi’s face and body is good as a girlfriend, not a wife for my son. Every man will want her. Her bosses, the neighbours, even my son’s friends. She is an endangered species. She is temptation on two feet.  I know Mimi is a good girl but what about the bad guys, the wolves who’ll lust after her like dogs in heat? Imagine what that will do to my son, their marriage. It will be like planting a mango tree by the roadside. Everybody will want to pluck. They will use sticks, throw stones, even their shoes at it, anything for a piece of the action. It’s not about whether Mimi can control himself, it is about what all those men wanting my son’s wife will do, what they are capable of doing. Yeah, I’d want my grandchildren to be beautiful but I do not want to get my son killed because one crazy man wants his wife at all cost.’

Even Annette looked pensive after that homily by Mobola.

Mothers, they think deep, look far into the future where their children are concerned. I know most men will think Mobola is overthinking things but she does have a point but I guess only mothers can see it. We are selfish that way. Like Mobola, most mothers confronted with a shapely, beautiful Mimi in their son’s life are too worried, too selfish to imagine or ask themselves: what if Mimi is my daughter? If we all take Mobola’s stance, who will marry our beautiful daughters? But that is not the thought on the mind of a mother whose concern is his son’s welfare. The issues of her very beautiful girls being at a disadvantage because of their good looks are a matter for another day.

Crazy as it may sound, Mobola does have a point here. I remember this story of a man who fell victim of ‘magun’ in his own bed, in the warm confines of his own wife’s bosom. Incredible, right? A diabolical man somewhere had set the ‘magun’ trap on another man’s wife and the husband fell into it. He died, untimely, because his fine wife refused to cheat on him with a desperate and obsessed evil louse.

But one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Kate, my friend from Warri is all about her daughters-in-law being loaded on both sides, if you get my meaning. As far as she is concerned, a woman should have appreciable knockers and knock-out hips. ‘Otherwise nothing go fit am.’ She is a fashion designer, so I guess her point of view is understandable.

That started a line of discussion. For fashionista and health freak Annette, it was a shocking revelation when she said, she would resist any woman with a tattoo, pieced nose or nose ring from becoming her daughter-in-law. Wow! For my friend, those things signify deep-seated sense of inadequacy or inferiority complex.

‘I think a girl who has to go under the pin or knife so early in life to enhance her look or the one who got a tattoo will be difficult to satisfy. She will always be in search of some elusive thing.’

Yours sincerely took classes in sociology and psychology in the university but I’m still trying to decode Annette’s logic, but true, I do not like tattoos. A little stud on the nose, yes.

What about a prospective daughter-in-law with a kid?

She’s after one.

Used material, second-hand goods.

‘Why didn’t she marry the man who impregnated her or why didn’t he marry her? I hate long stories. I’d rather have a daughter-in-law without telltale evidence of where she’d been.’ Annette quipped.

I do not totally agree with her because she seemed to be insinuating that a woman who’s had a baby from a previous relationship has a longer past than the one who doesn’t. If your son’s fiancée has had a baby, isn’t that evidence that she is fertile? The baby is proof, if you ask me, but since you didn’t ask me, I’d ask you if you can vouch for the length of the past of the one that appears brand new. You cannot tell if a woman has incompetent womb or none at all just by looking at her face or waist. I know it will be difficult to get mothers to agree on the ideal daughter-in-law, but we can talk about it, right? What are those things you’d like to see in your prospective daughter-in-law and what are the things that will put you off? Pierced nose, tattoos, bleached skin, drinking and smoking high flying career big girls or homely schoolteacher… what’s your spec?

Reaction

Re – Are women mean or what?

This is an excellent article. We cannot say who is the meanest; women or men. It depends on the circumstances.

Unfortunately the ‘weaker vessel’ here is a man because women are stronger than men in the heat of passion!

Your advice is frank and profound! I always use the article to counsel younger people. I give God the glory I escaped the trap when I was more vulnerable!

More grace.

The bid of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, to contest in the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State has suffered setback.

Naija News gathered that the Court of Appeal in Abuja has refused the motions by the APC and Sylva seeking to stay execution of the judgment nullifying their candidature.

Sylva filed the appeal and stay of execution following the judgement of a Federal High Court in Abuja which barred him from contesting as the APC candidate because he has served twice as governor.

In a unanimous judgment of a three-member panel of justices, Justice William Daudu, struck out the motions for lacking in merit.

Recall that the high court had declared that Sylva was not qualified to run in the November poll because if he wins and is sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.

Citing the case of Marwa vs Nyako at the Supreme Court, the court held that the drafters of the country’s constitution stated that nobody should be voted for as governor more than twice and that the parties to the suit agreed that Sylva was voted into office two times.

It further stated that the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Marwa vs Nyako that nobody can expand the constitution or its scope. So, if Sylva is allowed to contest the next election, it means a person can contest as many times as he wishes.

The suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 was filed on June 13, 2023 by Deme Kolomo, a member of the APC.

Based on the court ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) excluded Sylva’s name and that of his running mate, Joshua Maciver, from the list of contestants of the November 11 exercise.

The list signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, had the column for the names of APC candidate and his running mate left blank with remarks, “Court order”.

[NaijaNews]

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has reacted to the judgment of the Supreme Court which affirmed the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Adegboruwa, in a statement, said the verdict of the apex court “is sound in law and accords with the relevant statutes on the issue.”

The lawyer, however, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) disappointed the expectation of Nigerians due to its failure to upload election results on iREV portal.

He said this was also affirmed by the Justices of the Supreme Court who held that the failure of INEC led to loss of public confidence in the electoral process.

He called on the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act to engender and entrench transparency in the election process.

He also faulted public office holders for “abandoning their official duties to attend court proceedings.”

“The Supreme Court held that failure by INEC to upload election results on iREV leads to loss of public confidence in the electoral process.

“The Court however held that such failure will not lead to the nullification of election results. The judgment is sound in law and accords with the relevant statutes on the issue.

“What then is the penalty for the electoral umpire that failed Nigerians upon its own voluntary undertaking? Because INEC is still busy assuring Nigerians that future election results will be transmitted electronically.

“It is left for the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to give us transparent elections. We cannot continue in this fashion.

“Presently, INEC has continued to assure Nigerians that the off-cycle elections for Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi governorship elections will be conducted electronically and the results uploaded on INEC iREV portal.

“The use of technology is to prevent manipulation of election results. I urge INEC to help Nigeria by keeping to its guidelines and public statements and undertakings.

“So many public officers attended court to listen to the judgment, leading to loss of manpower. When a politician is appointed into a public office, he ceases to be partisan but becomes an officer of the federal republic.

“Public officers abandoning their official duties to attend court proceedings in which they play no official role should be discouraged.

“The National Assembly should set up a special committee to scrutinize the judgment of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court for the purpose of amending the Electoral Act 2022.

[NationalDaily]

There appears to be a crack at the Supreme Court, barely 24 hours after it validated the election of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

A retiring justice of the court, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, who reportedly pulled out from the seven-man panel that dismissed all the appeals that sought to remove President Tinubu from office, has accused the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, of abusing the powers of his office.

Justice Muhammad, who spent 47 years in active judicial service, bowed out of the apex court bench on Friday, having clocked the 70 years mandatory retirement age.

He used the opportunity of a valedictory session that was organised in his honour by the Supreme Court, to address what he observed as rots in the judiciary that have continued to affect the justice delivery system in the country.

“Through the years, I rose to become the second most senior justice of the country’s apex court and Deputy Chairperson of the National Judicial Council. “Considering the number of years I have spent in judicial service and the position I have attained by the grace of the Almighty, I feel obligated to continue the struggle for reforms for a better Judiciary and would be leaning on the earlier submissions of those who had exited before me,” Justice Muhammad stated before he descended on the CJN.

He maintained that the judiciary, as presently structured, gave so much powers to the CJN who he said usually takes decisions without consulting other justices.

His words: “As presently structured, the CJN is Chairman of the NJC which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that appoints Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

“In my considered opinion, the oversight functions of these bodies should not rest on an individual alone. A person with absolute powers, it is said, corrupts easily and absolutely. “As Chair of NJC, FJSC, NJI and LPPC, appointments as council, board and commitment members are at his pleasure. He neither confers with fellow justices nor seeks their counsel or input on any matter related to these bodies. He has both the final and the only say. “The CJN has power to appoint 80 percent of members of the council and 60 percent of members of FJSC. The same applies to NJI and LPPC.

“Such enormous powers are effortlessly abused. This needs to change. Continued denial of the existence of this threatening anomaly weakens effective judicial oversight in the country,” he added.

On the current composition of the bench of the apex court, Justice Muhammad alleged that the refusal to fill the vacant slot of South East on the apex court bench, was deliberate, blaming it on “absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN.”

He further stressed that with his retirement, the North Central zone which he represented, would no longer have a Justice on the Supreme Court bench.

“My lord Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko JSC who also represented the zone retired on 23rd of May, 2022. It has been a year and five months now. There has not been any replacement. “With the passing of my lord, Hon. Justice Chima Centus Nweze, JSC on 29th July 2023, the South East no longer has any presence at the Supreme Court. My lord, Hon. Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta JSV died on 7th March 2021. There has not been any appointment in his stead for the South East. “As it stands, only four geo-political regions- the South-West, South-South, North-West and North-East are represented in the Supreme Court. “While the South-South and North-East have two serving justices, the North-West and South-West are fully represented with three each.

“Appropriate steps could have been taken since to fill outstanding vacancies in the apex court. Why have these steps not been timeously taken? “It is evident that the decision not to fill the vacancies in the court is deliberate. It is all about the absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN and the responsible exercise of same,” the retiring jurist added.

On the issue of membership of the panel that heard the presidential election appeals by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, Justice Muhammad, said: “To ensure justice and transparency in presidential appeals from the lower court, all geo-political zones are required to participate in the hearing.

“It is therefore dangerous for democracy and equity for two entire regions to be left out in the decisions that will affect the generality of Nigerians. “This is not what our laws envisage. Although it can be posited that no one expected the sudden passing of Hon.

Justice Nweze JSC, yet, it has been two years and seven months since the previous justice from South-East died and no appointment was made.”

On funding and independence of the Judiciary, the retiring justice bemoaned that though the budgetary allocation for the Judiciary increased from 70billion that it was in 2015 to 165billion presently, “Justices and officers welfare and the quality of service the judiciary renders have continued to decline.”

“It may interest one to know that the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court earns more than the Justices. While she earns N1.2m per month, justices take home N751,000 in a month. “The CJN on his part takes home N400, 000 plus. The salary of a Justice, curiously, drops rather than increases when he gets the added responsibility of being a CJN. “The unjust and embarrassing salary difference between the justices and the Chief Registrar remains intriguing, to say the least.”

He noted that it was owing to allegations of corruption and perversion of justice, that informed President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to order the invasion of homes and arrest of some judges in 2016.

“Not done, in 2019 the government accosted, arrested and arraigned the incumbent Chief Justice before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged underhand conduct. “With his retirement negotiated, he was eventually left off the hook. “In 2022, a letter signed by all other justices of the Supreme Court, including the current Chief Justice, the aggrieved protested against the shabby treatment meted to them by the head of the court and the Chief Registrar.

“In the event, his lordship Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad disengaged ostensibly on grounds of ill-health.

“My lords, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious that the judiciary I am exiting from is far from the one I voluntarily joined and desired to serve and be identified with. The institution has become something else,” Justice Muhammad lamented.

Meanwhile, earlier in the ceremony, the CJN, in his speech, paid glowing tribute to the retiring jurist who he described as a “quintessential Judicial icon with dazzling qualities and alluring stature.”

“His Lordship is one judicial officer that could be blunt, even to a fault; and is never known to be afraid to say things the way they are; and also never shies away from calling a spade by its name, irrespective of whose ox is gored,” the CJN stated. He decried that with Justice Muhammad’s exit, the apex court bench has further depleted to 10.

Vanguard News

The Director-General, Nigeria’s Country Department, African Development Bank, Mr Lamin Barrow, on Friday, said the bank’s portfolio investments in Nigeria is one of the largest among the Regional Member Countries, with a total commitment value of $ 4.4bn.

He stated this at the 2023 Country Portfolio Performance Review Workshop in Abuja.

This performance, however, is a reduction from the $5bn worth of portfolio in 63 operations recorded in 2022.

Barrow, reiterating the bank’s commitment to promote investments in the country, said 48 separate fundings were evenly distributed between public and private sector operations in the country.

He said, “Currently, the bank’s portfolio in Nigeria is one of the largest among the Regional Member Countries, with a total commitment value of $ 4.4bn. These comprised of 48 operations fairly evenly distributed between public and private sector operations.”

Barrow further noted that the rate of flagged operations had decreased from 36 per cent in January 2023 to 32 per cent in September 2023.

According to him, diligent monitoring of the procurement plans and implementation processes would help the bank achieve 100 per cent compliance.

He said, “We are pleased that the share of start-up delays has been reduced from 32 per cent of flagged operations in June 2023 to 28 per cent in October 2023, and is expected to reach eight per cent by end 2023 with timely and targeted actions for some projects.

“Some of our portfolio performance metrics have also improved. In particular, operations flagged for implementation challenges decreased from 36 per cent in January 2023 to 32 per cent in September 2023.”

[Punch]

“There is no merit in this appeal, it is, therefore, dismissed,” John Inyang Okoro, justice of the Supreme Court, said on Thursday in his lead judgment in the appeal Abubakar Atiku and his Peoples Democratic Party brought to upturn the verdict of the Court of Appeal, which validated the victory of Bola Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress at the 25 February 2023 presidential contest.

A few moments later, the appeal brought by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the election was also dismissed for lacking merit. The third appeal, brought by the Allied Peoples Movement had on Monday been dismissed at the adoption of address stage when its lead counsel could not show what the party would gain if it won the appeal having performed woefully at the polls.

With the dismissal of the appeals, the end came for months of legal agitations, perhaps masturbations, by the leading opposition parties who lost the presidential contest seven months ago. They had expressed their disagreement with the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, approaching the Presidential Election Petition Court for redress.

That court’s panel of five led by Justice Haruna Tsammani told them on 6 September 2023 that their grievances were misconceived and, indeed, had no basis. It accordingly trashed them. Unhappy with that unanimous decision, the litigants approached the apex court for a review. While it took the lower court a whooping 12 hours to deliver its judgment, the upper court used much less than three hours to conclude its pronouncements. The seven justices came short of saying that the appeals ought not to have been brought because the issues set for determination had been decided in several previous cases.

Understandably, Tinubu, in less than two hours after the pronouncements accepted the judgment and asked Nigerians to join him in the onerous task of rebuilding the nation. “We are all members of one household, and this moment demands that we continue to work and build our country together,” he said in his conciliatory statement, adding, “The strength of our diversity and the great citizenship that binds us must now compel us forward in directing the energy of our people towards building a virile, stronger, united, and more prosperous country.”

Nothing less could have been expected from a president, whose speed of delivery of electioneering commitments had been slowed down by the bitter disputations over his electoral victory. Given the zero-sum nature of politics in this environment, he must have been aware that the favourable outcome of the judicial challenge is not enough to guarantee the peace he needs to successfully implement his programmes. His soothing words of assurances to the opposition elements and the appeal for cooperation are, therefore, appropriate and commendable.

While the opposition camp has been largely muted, there was an indication of an elongation of hostility from the camp of the PDP yesterday with the leading opposition party expressing disappointment with the verdict of the apex court. “The PDP asserts that it is indeed a sad commentary for our democracy that the Supreme Court failed to uphold the provisions of the law,” it said in an angry statement by Debo Ologunagba, its publicity secretary.

It complained: “Instead, it trashed the expectation of the majority of Nigerians who looked up to it as a temple of impartiality to deliver substantial justice in the matter having regards to the laws and facts of the case.

“Nigerians earnestly expected the Supreme Court to uphold and defend the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in terms of qualification and minimum requirement for a winner to be declared in a presidential election in Nigeria.”

While its candidate, Atiku, is probably still studying the judgment, it is safe to say that this subsisting reaction on behalf of the party and its members typifies a familiar tendency among politicians to accept only favourable judicial outcomes. It remains to be seen how the party came to its conclusion that the Supreme Court did not uphold the provisions of the law. And coming from a legal mind like Ologunagba, who ought to understand the finality of the apex court, it must be shocking to his learned colleagues.

It is the requirement of the 1999 Constitution as altered and the Electoral Act 2022 that aggrieved parties submit their grievances to the judicial process and, having elected to do so, be bound by its outcome. It is commendable that all parties have complied with this. But it goes beyond that. The outcome ought to be acceptable while dissent should be expressed without casting aspersion on the judiciary and its processes. The PDP statement fails this test and is unfortunate, particularly because it was endorsed by a lawyer, whose primary responsibility is to promote public confidence in the judicial process. What else does the party want?

Between the lower and upper courts, 12 jurists, five below, and seven upstairs heard its dispute. All 12 came to the same conclusion: its complaint lacked merit. How can the party insist on the correctness of its position after it has submitted itself to the legal processes of the law? In any case, should the party not have a sober look at the comments of both senior courts that the presentation of its petitions showed a misunderstanding elementary principle of laws?

Anyway, what is important now is that the favourable judicial outcome has strengthened Tinubu’s hand by removing the legal distraction to the exercise of his mandate. Going forward, he will no longer be at liberty to complain or give any excuse for any act of omission. He must accelerate the formation of his government and proceed, as he has promised, to begin to confront those daunting challenges facing Nigerians.

As commentators on Nigerian affairs, there are situations and circumstances where  writers, out of niggling frustrations and hapless impotence, wish for something tragically severe, akin to a hot sharp knife skinning the hides off fat lambs, would descend on the irresponsible and insensitive portion of our governing blocs – especially the legislative mandarins. With tons of critical written pieces, brimming with righteous indignation, and well-articulated umbrage at the shenanigans of our political class, in the last three decades and more – it is quite heart-wrenching to now read that our 10th National Assembly are contemplating – as if it is their feudal right – to mass purchase over 400 hundred Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) to mark the beginning of another sleaze-and-freak show called legislative tenure. There are 360 odd members of the House of Representatives (HoR) and 109 senators – all would have a need for a new vehicle, apart from armoured versions for the principal officers. The fact that each regular imported SUV would knock us down by $35,000 to $70,000 (meaning ₦35m to ₦70m each); and that the top range bullet-proof vehicles are in excess of $200,000 (a sickening ₦200m each) does not seem to worry the undisguised spendthrifts. 

Even if the reports are a little off the track, there is a history of vagabond insensitivity in the way our legislators toy with Nigerian resources. Media reports show that between 2011 -2015, the 7th Assembly allegedly plunked a total of ₦3.5b on cars for serving lawmakers. Their colleagues in the 8th Assembly (2015 – 2019) notched it up by ₦1.2b, even as poverty ravaged the land. The total was ₦4.7b. The 9th Assembly (2019 – 2023) appeared less avaricious; increasing the total spent on their new cars by only ₦800m. So, in the era of great depression and recession when COVID-19 ravaged economies of the world, and some like Nigeria, were badly lacerated, our legislators still found it appropriate and wise to spend ₦5.5b on new imported vehicles. Never mind that many were immediate past occupiers of plush executive offices with a fleet of cars at their beck and backyards.

Before we add the honorable contribution of this current Assembly (2023 – 2027) which doubtlessly makes the last four chambers mere front-office receptionists in the indolent company of ‘money-miss-road’, let us revisit the justification of one of the leaders of the 9th Assembly in spending ₦5.5b at a time more conscientious leadership sacrificed their comfort for the sake of cushioning the adverse effects of a world gone bonkers on the welfare and safety of their populace.

The then Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, argued thus: “The N5.5 billion is from the National Assembly fund (that year’s N125b Assembly budget) and not money being sought from any other source. Besides, the scheme, as it has always been with previous assemblies, is a monetised one, requiring each of the lawmakers to pay back the cost of whatever vehicle is given to them.”  Of course, most Nigerians did not take Yahaya Abdullahi on his word, nor did they care to support the illogical justification of less than 500 Nigerians amassing ₦125b to spend on and for themselves…in one year!

One could have even wagered some semblance of plausible argument if our so-called honorables diverted their vehicular appetite towards our homebred automobile assemblers – Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Nord Automobiles Limited and Coscharis Motors – who are bravely struggling to consolidate without dedicated patronage, we would hail them half-heartedly for at least indulging in inward investment and championing local content production. Whossai!?

Back to the quadrennial madness: if we thought such steady incremental splurge on imported vehicles was reckless, unpatriotic and insensitive, leaders of the 10th Assembly appear to have taken such anomaly to a devastating depth that empties your tear ducts, rendering you incapable of shedding tears, or gnashing your teeth in profound anguish. Now, we are reading of attempts to eke out a staggering figure that eclipses all the totals spent by all the past six chambers of this Fourth Republic combined! In fact, even when we add all of the vehicular expenses of all the prior three assemblies as far back as the First Republic – in the 1950s –  these current strange occupiers would still keep a hefty change. A sinful ₦40b!

A slew of civil society organisations, including Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Transparency International (TI), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), among others, have raised alarm at the incredulous flippancy and arrogant display of insensitivity at a time the executive have been crying to Nigerians, begging them to endure the pains, lack and suffocating cost of living, while they work out some economic and fiscal magic that would bring us succour and positive outcomes.

 Very much like a house hell-bent on destroying its core and posterity, the legislators, to paraphrase SERAP while seeking an ‘order of mandamus’ compelling leaders of the two chambers to refrain from the spending orgy of public funds. The CSO is insisting that Nigerians have the right to expect honest and faithful performance of responsibilities by their public officials, including lawmakers; just as public officials owe a fiduciary duty to the general citizenry.

SERAP urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to restrain the National Assembly from spending ₦40b on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for its members and principal officers, and ₦70b as alleged ‘palliatives’ for new members.  It will be interesting to see on which side of the divide the judiciary will reside: the people or the purgers.

A statement by one of the leaders of the coalition of CSOs would serve as a fitting parting shot. Awwal Musa Rafsanjani was quoted recently: “We can’t continue this way. We can’t support that kind of spending on vehicles. That is not what democracy is all about. Democracy is about proper utilisation of public funds. Democracy is about ensuring fairness, equity and justice. These spendings on cars (are) not sustainable and not justifiable.

 “Every year, you go to the budget, you see the same items like laptops and cars. We can’t continue like that. There is diversion and stealing of public funds in the name of buying cars. Democracy in Nigeria is about looting. Some of us did not fight for democracy for people to come and loot.

“The National Assembly should know that Nigerians are watching them because, with the underdevelopment, poor infrastructure, we can’t continue to spend this kind of money on cars. 

“There must be a national dialogue and consensus on the kind of democracy we should operate. If we don’t do that, the politicians will continue to loot to the detriment of the masses.” 

Clearly, we know those who are existential threats to our democracy. Enough said.

The British High Court ruling on Monday overturning an arbitration award of more than $11billion against Nigeria is an historic result and cornerstone of international efforts to fight corruption. That was how UK’s Law Society Gazette summed up the judgement. Justice Robin Knowles found that the rogue oil and gas company called Process & Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) obtained the weird 2015 arbitration award of $6.597 billion in UK (which rose to over $11billion because of interest) “only by practising the most severe abuses of the arbitral process.”

The London law firm that led Nigeria’s legal team, Mishcon de Reya, deserves all the praise for brilliantly handling the brief. A partner in the firm, Shaistah Akhtar, remarked that the Nigerian government’s resolve in pursuing a just outcome led to it uncovering overwhelming evidence of bribery and corruption, adding, “we trust that this landmark decision will deter other potential fraudsters and their backers from exploiting the legal system in the pursuit of monetary gain.”

P&ID is clearly a rogue firm. Recall that in 2019, following the arbitration award, the firm ran to Justice Christopher Butcher of a Commercial Court in Britain, seeking to seize assets of the Nigerian government abroad. Even when Justice Butcher had not given any such permission, P&ID went about pushing a narrative that it had approval to seize the assets, all aimed at stampeding the government and people of Nigeria.

On another juncture in 2019, P&ID, registered in British Virgin Islands, pushed out yet another story that it had instructed its lawyers to identify Nigeria’s assets abroad that could be targeted to recover the bogus judgement debt. Haba! Enforcing which award? Who gave them the authority to enforce the award?

Thereafter, P&ID recruited a Lagos public relations firm, to intimidate Nigerians and the Nigerian government, with unending threats to seize the country’s assets abroad. The shameless Public Relations firm kept pushing out false stories about P&ID’s dishonest claims. P&ID and its Nigerian allies were really desperate.

Dubious Nigerians that signed a contract that did not protect this country in case P&ID failed to deliver, also worked for the firm at the Tribunal to get billions of Dollars for job not done. All standard international contracts provide for contingent liabilities on both parties. This was not the case with the illegal P&ID deal struck by these brazen Nigerians in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, headed then by the late Rilwanu Lukman.

Let’s critically look at the contract to understand why I often refer to P&ID as a reprobate. The failed Gas Supply Processing Agreement (GSPA), which P&ID wanted to use to fleece the Nigerian government, was signed in 2010 by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. The NNPC was to supply wet gas to P&ID for processing into lean gas for power generation, for a period of 20 years.

According to the GSPA, P&ID was to build two or more plants for the processing of the wet gas into lean gas at no cost to the government since it would be compensated from the proceeds. However, the NNPC failed to build the pipeline to supply gas to the company. P&ID also failed to construct the plant for processing the wet gas. So, the two parties failed to actualise their sides of the agreement. In any case, why would the NNPC pipe wet gas to a non-existing processing plant? It is simple logic. A processing plant must be on ground before anybody can start talking about piping wet gas to the place. Perhaps, the promoters of P&ID wanted the NNPC to pipe the wet gas into their mouths. These are evidently exploitative people. There was no intention to set up any plant in Nigeria. It was just a game to fleece Nigeria, using the flaws in the illegitimate contract.

On August 22, 2012, P&ID filed for arbitration. It accused the federal government of repudiating the contract it entered into with the company. Just as the Buhari government persistently argued, the agreement was on various grounds invalid, subsequently frustrated, varied or discharged by force majeure. P&ID failed to set up a processing plant and turned around to say that the petroleum ministry failed to pipe wet gas to them. Evidently, P&ID did not achieve its own part of the agreement and cannot, therefore, be making dubious claims on Nigeria.

So, why did the arbitration panel approve an award for the full value of what P&ID could have gained when the firm did not invest anything? It was all “arranged” by P&ID, using fraudulent Nigerians. A court in the US looked at this same case in 2015 and threw out the ludicrous enforcement request of P&ID. But the arbitration tribunal dubiously ruled that Nigeria was liable for the failure of the contract and should pay the British firm $6.597 billion as the profit that the company would have made in the 20 years tenure of the contract. This is preposterous. How certain is it that this voodoo firm called P&ID would make unending profit for 20 years?

It is germane to note that P&ID admitted at the arbitration tribunal that it invested just about $40 million on the project, during its two years sojourn in Nigeria. That in itself is dubious. The then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele confirmed that there was no evidence of capital importation by P&ID.

Emefiele declared in 2019: “As a foreign company, if you are investing either in a contract or a project in Nigeria, there are various options you will adopt in bringing in your investment. If you are bringing in capital, in which case you are bringing in the money, you will fill Form A and you will also collect a certificate of capital importation. If you are bringing in machines or assets to execute your contract, then in this case, you will fill Form M and also collect a certificate of capital importation to prove that you actually brought in money. We have gone through our records; we do not have any information in our records to show that this company brought in one cent into this country.”

Notwithstanding, to be awarded a $6.597 billion compensation for an unproven $40 million loss is crazy. It was the largest arbitration award in global history.

P&ID did not set out to build plants for the processing of wet gas into lean gas as contained in the agreement signed with Nigeria. It simply connived with dubious Nigerian government officials to sign an illegal contract skewed in its favour. Then, it ran to the UK and filed for arbitration. It was a well-laid out game plan. The main idea is to swindle Nigeria. This has always been the stock in trade of P&ID’s Irish founder/ Chairman, Michael Quinn, who died of cancer in May 2015. The $9.6 billion was to be his biggest dubious pay but Holy Ghost fire snapped him.

Its co-founder, Brendan Cahill, pushed ahead with the game plan. He teamed up with an American hedge fund, VR Capital Group Ltd. that bought a 25 per cent stake in P&ID, hoping that if the move to fleece Nigeria succeeds, it would benefit from it. They have all failed.

I need to unmask late Quinn, for readers to understand this fraud better. It is pertinent to point out that Quinn had previously colluded with Nigerian military officials to profit from a number of government projects that were equally doomed from onset. His collaborators are usually civil servants, lawyers, financial institutions, and politicians. They profit immensely from the deals. This is why his projects often end in litigation.

Quinn started doing suspicious business in Nigeria in the ’70s. He had previously made money from Nigeria for jobs not done through litigation. One of his sham companies, Industrial Consultants brokered a $5 million deal with the Nigerian Air Force in 2010 which failed. An arbitration panel found the military guilty and awarded $2.3 million for work allegedly done.

There was also a $150 million suit against the NNPC over delays in the construction of an oil terminal, which Quinn benefitted from when award was made against Nigeria. The late P&ID chairman also once had a contract with the Nigerian Army to repair scores of tanks and charged them for undelivered tank parts after inflating the cost of the repairs. But nothing happened because he settled those that mattered.

Even in his country, Ireland, late Quinn’s projects often end in disasters. At one point, Quinn and Cahill got a grant worth $450,000 from the Irish government to start a videocassette factory near Dublin. It was never actualised. The project collapsed and money disappeared. At another point, Quinn and Cahill got three million Irish pounds from the European Union to explore cleaner technology for making steel. The project also failed because it was a scam.

At the Arbitration Tribunal in London, Quinn worked on the Nigerian government officials and lawyers to throw the case. They did not defend Nigeria. Besides, there was no point agreeing to arbitration because the contract was a sham; yet, the Nigerian officials agreed to arbitration, working on a deal with Quinn. Based on largely unopposed proof provided by P&ID, Nigeria’s flimsy objections were thrown out by the arbitration panel. For example, Quinn, who took charge at the arbitration panel, claimed he spent $40 million on preparatory work for the gas plant, including a 3D digital model. The Nigerian team did not ask him to provide proof of this. There was also no evidence of capital importation by P&ID. Yet, the Nigerian lawyers were silent on this.

It is also ridiculous that Nigeria called only one witness, a lawyer without firsthand knowledge of any of the relevant events, before, during or after the so-called breach of agreement. The choice of the neutral member of the three-man arbitration panel was also curious. Nigeria nominated Bayo Ojo while P&ID nominated a Briton, Anthony Evans. The so-called neutral member nominated by the two parties was another Briton, Lord Hoffmann.

Why would Nigerian officials agree to the nomination of a Briton as a neutral member of the arbitration panel? This is easy to decrypt. Late Quinn simply fixed it in conjunction with the people who are supposed to defend Nigeria. Of course, the panel delivered judgement and the two Britons – Hoffmann and Evans – gave it to P&ID. They held that Nigeria was liable to $6.597 billion and that became the majority decision. Ojo, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, in a minority judgement, held that the P&ID was entitled to some compensation but should not be more than $250 million. A firm that claimed to have lost $40 million got $6.597 billion as damages! That is what it means to be a very strong swindler.

Minister of Budget and National Economic Planning Abubakar Atiku Bagudu said last week Thursday that Nigeria is so stone-broke, so impotently bankrupt it’s barely surviving. “There is no money anywhere in the country,” he said. “The government is just managing to pay salaries.” Oh really? Is the government also “managing” to fund the loud, in-your-face, insensitive hedonism of people in power?

Being “broke” is a boringly familiar refrain of APC governments. Type “Nigeria is broke” on Google, and you’ll find matches for it from at least 2016. Maybe PDP governments also made similar claims in the past, but my admittedly perfunctory Google search didn’t throw up any results. It doesn’t matter, though, because there are no political parties in Nigeria. There are only elites who are in power and elites who are out of power.

Lamentations about being “broke” while engaging in callously conspicuous consumption reminds me of a social media meme that trended a while ago in the United States. It’s called “not broke but broque.” “Broke,” we all know, is the informal term for being strapped for cash. “Broque,” on the other hand, is a playful lexical and semantic contortion of “broke.” 

Also called “bougie broke,” broque means being heedlessly lavish and showy in expenditures while claiming to be cash-strapped. In other words, it’s reckless profligacy and financial irresponsibility amid privation. Applied to Nigeria, it’s the exponential rise in multiple subsidies for fat cats in and out of government amid an ostensible financial crunch. 

It recalls my favorite Mahatma Ghandhi aphorism: “There is enough for everybody's need and not for everybody's greed.” Nigeria isn’t “broke” because of the need of everyday citizens; it’s “broke” because of the greed of the political elites. There is enough for everyone’s needs but there isn’t—and there won’t ever be— enough for the endlessly insatiable greed of the political elites and their underlings. 

When government officials say Nigeria is “broke,” they often only mean that the finances of the nation have dwindled down to the point that meeting basic, age-old governmental obligations like paying starvation wages to workers is threatening to cause them to give up an inch of the extortionate indulgences they habitually luxuriate in. 

If paying the miserly N30,000 a month to the federal minimum wage worker might lead to a little dip in the funds that finance the epicurean pleasures of people in government and their cronies, then Nigeria is “broke.”

 For example, although every member of the Federal House of Representatives will get a car worth N160 million this year, the House voted Wednesday to defeat Edo State Rep. Anamero Dekeri’s motion on the “Need to compel JAMB, WAEC and NECO examination bodies to register students for free in the 2023-2024 examination exercise,” presumably because Nigeria is too “broke” to afford to fund the education of its youth who have the misfortune to be sired by poor parents.

And, although Nigeria is barely paying salaries and is too poor to fund fuel subsidies (about the only benefit poor people derived from the government), N57.6 billion will be spent this year to buy foreign luxury cars for legislators. 

The Chairman of the Committee on Senate Services by the name of Sunday Karimi told newsmen on Tuesday that the price tag for the vehicles is steep because they are foreign, not locally manufactured cars, which are needed because of their reliability and durability. “These vehicles that you see [referring to their current cars that need to be replaced], go to Nigeria roads today, If I go home once, my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad,” he said.

Then he threw a challenge to critics who are fixated on the luxuries of National Assembly members while ignoring the more extravagant opulence that members of the executive branch bask in. “We know ministers with more than three Land Cruisers, Prado, and other vehicles, and Nigerians are not asking them questions. Why us?” I think that’s a fair point. 

In every budget, the Nigerian government allocates funds for the purchase of new, usually foreign, cars for people in the executive branch. I’ve always wondered what happens to the one-year-old cars that are replaced every year. Where do they go? Who gets them? No country in the rich, industrialized world buys new cars for government officials every year. But a perpetually “broke” country does. 

Recall, too, that Nigeria has one of the world’s most expensive presidential air fleets. No one seems to know for certain how many aircraft we have in the presidential fleet, but estimates range from 10 to 7. After our unceasing reminders to Buhari— in the early days of his first term— of his promise to sell off the aircraft in the fleet, he lied to the world that he had sold two. He lied to repel continual public scrutiny.

 Most importantly, though, a November 17, 2015, statement from the Buhari administration admitted that it cost the nation $15 million to maintain the presidential air fleet in just six months. That was how much it cost the British government to buy a dedicated plane for the British Prime Minister and the British Royal family in 2015.

Spending $30 million a year to maintain a presidential air fleet (if that cost hasn’t increased since then) is grossly offensive to basic decency for a country that interminably whines about being “broke” when it’s called upon to meet its obligation to its citizens. This is particularly unconscionable because presidential jets have now been converted to objects of transportational vanity by the family of the president.

Buhari inaugurated what, in a January 11, 2020, article I called the “Uberization and Keke NAPEPization of Presidential Jets.” In January 2020, it came to light that Buhari’s daughter, Hanan, paid a visit to Bauchi with the presidential jet "on a study tour... as part of her academic programme" at a London university where she was enrolled for a master's degree, according to Premium Times!

It also turned out that Hanan had actually used TWO presidential jets in the past to visit Kebbi State for her BA project on the Gwandu emirate. There was no precedent for that level of brazen abuse of the office of the president. 

As I wrote at the time, “None of Obasanjo’s children ever used a presidential jet for personal vanity trips. We definitely never heard of any Yar’adua children using a presidential jet for private functions. And most people never even knew Jonathan had children. We barely heard of or saw them, and surely never ever read that any of them used a presidential jet without their dad in it.”

Tinubu has continued from where Buhari left off. His son, Seyi, flew on a presidential jet—and flaunted it—to watch a Polo game in Kano. Apparently, he has also turned our presidential jets to his Uber.

Also consider that although the Nigerian government always says it’s “broke,” it budgets billions of naira every year to feed the president and the vice president. In the United States, on the other hand, presidents pay for their own food from their pockets. As Gary Walters, a former White House Chief of Staff, told the (London) Guardian, “All those things that are personal in nature that we all pay for, the first family pays for.”

“It’s just the tradition that it’s continued on through time that the president will pay for their own food and, I guess, if they needed something for the house that was personal. Toothpaste, cologne or whatever,” William Bushong, a White House historian, told the Guardian.

 “Nobody had told us that the president and his wife are charged for every meal, as well as for such incidentals as dry cleaning, toothpaste and other toiletries,” Ronald Reagan’s wife was reported to have said in 1981.

If Nigeria is truly “broke,” let it reflect this from the people in power. For starters, reduce the number of ministers to just 36. Cars for ministers and legislators should be replenished every four years, not every year, and should be locally manufactured. 

I have more suggestions, but I know it’s wishful thinking to expect that the elite will change their ways. Nigerians are not even interested in demanding accountability from their oppressors. Why should the oppressors willingly give up their sinecure? Frederick Douglass was right when he said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

1. The National Democratic Coalition, NADECO wishes to congratulate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his judicial victory confirmation by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in its October 26 2023  verdict on the election petition s filed by political opponents against his declared victory by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC after  the February 2023 Presidential Election.
2. NADECO wishes to restate that even though our preference was for the Nigerian State to first organize the necessary and desirable return to Federal Constitutional Governance upon which Nigeria secured her independence, we are gratified that the partisan politicians have locked horns, campaigned, contested, won and lost election and have exhausted all the legal remedies available for whatever redress they deemed fit in the circumstances of the elections.
3. NADECO further wishes to state that NOW is the time to deliver the much expected services in the socio-economic and political sphere through well thought out and rightly directed policies desirable to quickly alleviate the unacceptable level of suffering, poverty, economic misery and neglect to which Nigerians have been subjected by immediate past rulers and leaders, for many years now.
4. NADECO again restates for emphasis that while we strongly desire an immediate upliftment in the standard and quality of living of Nigerians, we expect much more than the necessary bread and butter economic gains.

5a.     NADECO believes that the President Bola Tinubu Government must equally prioritize the process of implementing the APC manifesto particularly in Article 7, pages 3, 7, 29, 37:

1. Under the aims and objectives of its article 7, the APC Constitution commits the party to firstly, promote and foster the unity, political stability and national consciousness of the people of Nigeria, and secondly, to promote true federalism in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
2. In the foreword to its vision for a New Nigeria (page 3, second paragraph), the APC Manifesto commits the party to ‘implement efficient public financial management strategies and ensure true federalism” as well as “restructure governance in a way that kick starts our political economy so that we can begin to walk the path of our better future”. Also, in its manifesto (page 7), APC entered into an “Honest Contract” with Nigeria to create a federalism with “more equitable distribution of national revenue to the states and local governments because this is where grassroots democracy and economic development must be established.”
3. In its Commitment to Restore Good Government (page 29, last paragraph), the APC Manifesto again stresses reliance on enhancing federalism through a two-pronged approach that consists of i) devolving control of policing and local prisons to the states and giving the right to nominate State Police Commissioners to Governors; and ii) Expanding the role of the Council of States to act as a consultation and negotiating forum between the Federal and State governments to agree on joint economic and social initiatives.
4. Finally, under its promised Reforms and “a Government You Can Trust” (page 37, last paragraph), the APC Manifesto pledges to “devolve more revenue and powers to the States and Local Governments so that decision making is closer to the people” and pledge to “bring the government closer to the people through political decentralization including local policing”.
5. The El-Rufai Committee’s Report recommended for a start the following among others that the APC Government should take immediate steps to return Nigeria to Federal Constitutional Governance upon which the country secured her independence;

Devolution of powers to State

• Resource control
• Making Local Government Affairs an affair of the states
• Constitutional amendments to allow merger of States
• State Police
• State Court of Appeal
• Independent Candidacy

2015. The above were the promises upon which people voted for APC in 2015. TIME IS OF ESSENCE because the necessity for a return to FEDERALISM is a critical existential matter that has overall bearing as to the continued co- mutual existence of the country.
2016. NADECO also wishes to restate again that, the so called "NADECO USA" is a FRAUD, and a DECEPTION being promoted by elements that were not in any of our structure while NADECO operated globally. We have denounced this farcical group, reminding them that NADECO at its November 1999 properly convened meeting in Virginia, USA, presided over by its National Leader, Chief Anthony Enahoro, the organization announced that it was winding down its overseas operations. There had been no reversal of that decision.
2017. NADECO recognizes the fundamental rights of Nigerians to hold personal opinion and to express them in persons or in groups. What is deeply objectionable is for elements who were not part of NADECO while it was losing its sweat, its blood, liberty, possession, and even martyred to suddenly start appropriating the good name and reputation earned through a lot of pain and sacrifice by NADECO for their transient pursuit of partisan objectives.
2018. President Bola Tinubu as a Critical Stakeholder in the highest structure of NADECO, who expended his resources and network together with others while we were in the trenches should prove beyond reasonable doubts that he remains faithful and committed towards restoring Nigeria to the NEGOTIATED FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. No one needs to remind Mr. President that the current warped, skewed, and lopsided national structure must be reconfigured in order to give hope and sense of belonging to all Nigerians that they are equal joint stakeholder in the Nigerian Project.
2019. NADECO wishes President Bola Tinubu divine guidance, robust health, necessary tact and discipline to deliver exemplary services to Nigerians during his tour of duty. THIS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY MUST NOT BE LOST, AS THE BLACK RACE HAS WAITED FOR TOO LONG FOR NIGERIA AS THE MOST POPULOUS BLACK NATION TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP FOR THE BLACK WORLD IN THE COMMITY OF NATIONS.

AYO OPADOKUN, ESQ