As I was in the process of releasing this piece into the mass media,the news broke that President Tinubu had, on Wednesday, July 12,put forward a request to the House of Representatives, HoR, for five hundred (N500b) billion naira as extra funds for the provision of succour for the masses undergoing what Mr. President referred to as pains similar to childbirth pangs experienced by women who are mothers.

The sum is to be specifically deployed in the provision of succour to the distressed masses due to the immediate consequences of the withdrawal of subsidies on both petrol and the naira policies being implemented by the incumbent administration.

The funds are expected to be deducted from the 2022 supplementary appropriation act, which has a provision of N819.5 billion naira for palliatives envisaged by the predecessor administration.

It was quite a pleasant co-incidence to me because a critical question that I had posed in the later part of this piece before the request for approval for the allocation was: where would President Tinubu find the funds to provide the much-needed cushion for his temporarily painful but ultimately economically revolutionary policies?

Having searched and not being able to identify other more viable alternatives on the horizon,my answer to the question is that taking the option of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) loan may hold a better promise for our beleaguered country.

That is because, although Nigeria is currently distressed financially,it is endowed with the resources and potential to thrive as a prosperous and successful country, which are yet to be tapped or harnessed.

But with the self-imposed reforms—removal of petrol subsidies and end of multiple exchange rates of the naira with foreign currencies—that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government has voluntarily embarked upon in less than 45 days of being on the saddle of leadership,Nigeria is eminently qualified to seek and obtain the IMF loan.

Having basically fulfilled all the loan conditionalities made by the IMF as far back as 1986 under the watch of then military president Gen.Ibrahim Babangida, IBB,through the sweeping reforms introduced by President Tinubu via his Tinubunomics initiative since May 29 this year, the question that comes to mind would be: is Nigeria taking the IMF loan?

Everyone knows that our country is in dire need of revenue, and its external debt burden, which is hovering around fifty trillion (N50 trillion) naira added to its local debt, brings its indebtedness to an estimated eighty trillion (N80 trillion) naira. This has been acknowledged as unsustainable.

And given the paucity of revenue inflow that has been compounded by an epidemic and pernicious crude oil theft (Nigeria’s main source of revenue) that has assumed an alarming dimension,the country may not have any other option than to go the way of its neighbour, Ghana, which recently sought and received a loan of three billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund,IMF.

The option of an IMF loan recommends itself because it is becoming increasingly difficult for Nigeria to service her external debt due to the fact that the cost of servicing it practically consumes most of the revenue accruing into the coffers of the federal government, to the extent that our country’s debt to equity ratio is in negative territory and the World Bank reckons that our debt servicing obligations matched against our national income are at about 96%.

In fact,by some estimates in some quarters a year ago, our debt payment obligations (all things remaining the same) would outstrip our revenue inflow in less than one year.

Consequently,in recent times, there has been very little or nothing left to apply in providing infrastructure or even something as basic as basic remedies or palliatives for the hardship triggered by the removal of subsidies on the pump price of petrol and multiple naira exchange rate unification in the last month of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s sweeping economic reforms.

For instance,the economy is in such dire straits that it is the four hundred (N400m) that used to be pushed into the black hole, otherwise known as the petrol subsidy, on a daily basis and the four hundred billion (N400b) on a monthly basis that are being targeted as the funds for the new administration to kick start the much anticipated palliatives to ameliorate the hardships currently being faced by the Nigerian masses.

It may be recalled that the outgoing administration of President Mohammadu Buhari had programmed for the petrol subsidy regime to be over at the end of last June, beyond which there was no financial provision in 2023.

And the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPCL) had claimed that the federal government was owing it a princely sum of N2.8 trillion naira after netting off the income from crude oil sales from the cost of petrol imports.

That is despite the fact that N3.5 trillion was provided in the 2023 budget for petrol subsidy up until June, which is just half of the year after N6 trillion was appropriated as subsidy for petrol in 2022.
That brings subsidy in 30 months to a mind-boggling N9.5 trillion, for which the HoRs is determined to investigate its disbursement.

That is on top of Nigeria producing crude oil below the 1.8 million barrels a day quota from OPEC and its income from the sale of the commodity, which constitutes about 79% of our country’s foreign exchange earnings (gas is 11%), and as a result earning only a paltry income in the neighbourhood of $5 billion, which when converted to the naira is approximately less than N30 trillion annually.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has estimated that about $5.6 billion would be saved owing to subsidy removal from petrol and naira, which is about half of the over $10 billion that the country used to earn annually in the not too distant past.

In light of the above,despite the best efforts of tax experts,finding funds to sustain the government would be like trying to squeeze water out of stone.

And even with the dollar proceeds hitherto applied in defending the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via weekly interventions in the foreign exchange market through the sale of dollars to a vast array of bureau de change outfits that were mainly owned by government officials and fronted for by surrogates located in popular hotels, airports, and strategic street corners,the bonanza is not available anymore as NNPC ltd has been mandated to use the dollar income from crude oil sales to import petrol into Nigeria and sell at subsidised rates, which has been returning a net deficit for the federation.

At some point, the weekly dollar bazaar, which was carried out ostensibly to shore up the naira/FX rate, was no longer available for the twin reasons of crude oil proceeds being exclusively managed by NNPCL, which collects and uses the funds to import refined petroleum products into our country and which it subsidises before it is retailed to motorists.

And it is a largesse diverted to the NNPC that has also ended with
President Tinubu’s bombshell decision or pronouncement in his inauguration speech on May 29: "Petrol subsidy is gone ".

As observed earlier, NNPCL, in the wake of the removal of the petrol subsidy, claimed that our country owed it N2.8 trillion in payment areas for subsidising the pump price of petrol, an activity that it had been carrying out on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN.

What the narrative above indicates is that our crude oil revenue was not even enough to support the cost of subsidising petrol pump prices because the FGN was still owing NNPCL N2.8 trillion.
That explains why the FGN has been borrowing to pay civil servants emoluments and meet other governmental responsibilities.

In the light of the grim fiscal and socioeconomic situations described above, even as President Tinubu’s team that I have,for lack of a better nomenclature, branded Tinubunomics evangelists, are able to come up with strategies to ease the burden of galloping inflation that has been taking a heavy toll on the masses,the initiatives would need to be cash-backed.
Whence cometh the funds, Nigerians would wonder?

Definitely not the paltry $800m that the world bank offered Nigeria to help cushion the harsh effect of subsidy removal just before ex-president Buhari’s tenure ended, nor is it the new $500m that has been offered to President Tinubu’s new regime by the world bank, perhaps as a demonstration of its support for the far-reaching reforms so far introduced.

Clearly, both world bank funds to be availed of or already disbursed to Nigeria, even when combined, are inadequate as they would not even scratch the surface of our country’s needs.
So an IMF loan beckons.

Although President Tinubu appears to have answered the question, whence cometh the funds? clearly,N500 billion can only be a stop-gap measure in light of the urgency required to do something significant to ease the pain on the masses sooner rather than later.

And the request for approval from HoRs to apply for the N500 billion is all the more critical because it is very much needed to bridge the gap as the process of obtaining the IMF loan, in the event that the government decides to toe that path, can be relatively long.

Strikingly, Nigeria had attempted to take the IMF loan under the watch of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who incidentally had toppled then-head of state, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.

And the country was under a similar yoke because the Nigerian economy was at that time literally comatose following about two years of draconian policies of then head of state Gen. Buhari, wherein essential commodities such as rice, sugar, milk, etc. were so scarce that an agency known as Nigerian National Supply Company Ltd., NNSL, was set up to purchase and ration the items to Nigerians under a very stressful atmosphere reminiscent of the situation in iron-clad countries like the Republic of North Korea.

In my column of June 27, titled "A Comparative Analysis Of Tinubunomics Reforms And I.M.F. Conditionalities For Loan", and also widely published in traditional and online media platforms, I reflected on issues pertaining to our country’s contemplation of taking the IMF loan nearly forty (40) years ago, before it settled for a home-grown Structural Adjustments Programme, SAP, which it mismanaged with disastrous consequences.

To put things in perspective, below is a snippet: "As it may be recalled, Nigeria had also suffered the dilemma of financial insolvency in the mid-1980s (during the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, IBB (1985–1993)), similar to the situation currently being faced by Ghana, which just took the IMF loan.

"That was what prompted the country to seek a bailout loan from the LMF, and some reforms were demanded as preconditions for granting the loan.

"Some of the conditionalities were very stringent, and they were such that the nation baulked at taking the loan facility.

"New York Times reporter Edward A. Gargan, in his article titled "NNigerian Leader Wary On I.M.F. Loan," published on October 8, 1985, which is nearly 38 years ago, stated the following about Nigeria and the I.M.F. loan:
"As a condition for granting the loan,the I.M.F. has called for Nigeria to devalue its currency, the naira, and end the practise of subsidising petroleum products for consumers. At the official rate of exchange, the naira is equivalent to $1.08, but on the black market here in Lagos, money changers are selling nairas for as much as four to the dollar.

"Smuggling Is Rampant.
The tremendous disparity between the official and unofficial exchange rates has led to rampant smuggling and has sharply curtailed Nigeria’s ability to sell manufactured goods abroad", he noted.
"Moreover, gasoline in Nigeria remains the cheapest in Africa—less than $1 a gallon at the official rate and about 25 cents a gallon at black market rates. Today, General Babangida refused to say whether oil subsidies would be lifted and virtually ruled out any sharp devaluation of the nation’s currency,", the reporter concluded.

"Is it not stunning that the damning socioeconomic atmosphere currently prevailing in Nigeria is exactly the situation that existed nearly four decades ago and for which the L.M.F. demanded that Nigerian leaders make some tough decisions to reform as a critical precondition for granting her a bailout loan under the watch of military president Gen. Brahim Babangida?", I had observed.

The reality is that it is not only gut wrenching that as a nation, we have remained on the same path of ‘Debt Avenue’ and sought a bailout nearly forty (40) years after lBB considered it following the ouster of then Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as head of state via a palace coup de tat in 1985, but it is equally damning and pathetic that today,an IMF rescue may be contemplated once again after the reign of President Buhari, who was elected president in 2015, after which he succeeded in bringing the Nigerian economy to its knees and thus earned the unenviable reputation of being the world’s poverty capital, which he handed over to President Tinubu on 29 May.

Although this feeling is without concrete evidence, one gets the sense that it may be a precursor to seeking the LMF loan that President Tinubu has been rolling out revolutionising economic reform policies tagged Tinubunomics that are unshackling our country and making it investment friendly.

By the way, there is currently an equivalent of Tinubunomics in the United States of America, known as Bidenomics, which, as the name indicates, encapsulates President Joe Biden’s economic policies, including the ground-breaking infrastructure act that has reflated the economy and boosted employment amongst others through the ongoing massive infrastructure refurbishment in the USA.

As evidence, the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, in the world’s largest and wealthiest economy has dropped from 9.1 points to 3 from June last year to June this year.
And the drop in inflation by six (6) points between 2022 and June 2023 is owed to the Infrastructure Investments Act, or Jobs Act, which saw a humongous sum of $1.2 trillion being appropriated for investment in infrastructure.

The monumental investment dubbed a once-in-a-generation stake in infrastructure is encapsulated in Bidenomics, driven by the Build Back Better Agenda of President Biden.

And if Bidenomics has worked in the USA, as is currently evident,there is every good reason to believe that its equivalent in Nigeria, Tinubunomics, would equally have a positive outcome here if diligently pursued.

In Nigeria, Tinubunomics policies range from the repeal of burdensome and archaic economic policies that had shackled our country, thus putting long-suffering Nigerians literarily in economic manacles via the erstwhile funds-guzzling petrol subsidy, the operation of multiple naira exchange rates with the dollar, which is another type of subsidy, and the subsidy on electricity production and distribution arising from the fact that the activity was on the Exclusive List, meaning that hitherto only the federal government could provide electricity service.

It is a situation that the signing into law of the Electricity Act 2023 by President Tinubu has changed for the better, basically because the policy has thrown open the investment space in electricity services to the private sector for participation.

Apart from the earlier referenced Electricity Act 2023 and the Freedom of Data Act that would unleash the potentials of information technology, which has been elevated to the level of Artificial Intelligence and is being leveraged in advanced societies to enhance all spheres of life, there is also the passage of four (4) Executive Orders that have reversed some anti-business laws such as new tariffs on vehicles imported into Nigeria and 5% Value Added Tax and VAT on telecoms services, as well as similar sundry taxes that were stifling businesses.

It may be recalled that the aforementioned laws that are unfriendly to business were hastily passed by the immediate past regime before its exit on May 29.

The four (4) executive orders that are business-friendly appear to be in response to the organised private sector, which has cried out to President Tinubu for forbearance.

And as if to cap the myriad of policy decisions that have so far been taken by President Tinubu aimed at pulling our country out of the abyss of debt and the hole of despondency into which more citizens of our country, numbering up to 130 million of the 200 million, have descended, the president has also set up a tax advisory council with PwC team lead for West Africa, Taiwo Oyedele, as chairman.

The mandate of the council, comprised of other eminent tax experts, is to seek ways and means of optimally harnessing in a win-win manner the untapped tax resources in our country that are presently not captured by the existing system.

That is with a view to enabling the administration to carry out the onerous task of pulling our country out of the economic doldrums in which it is currently wallowing as a consequence of eight (8) years of monumental sociopolitical and economic mismanagement by the predecessor government.

It is undeniable that it is a consequence of the unmitigated disastrous socioeconomic and political leadership of our country by the outgoing regime that the Nigerian masses are being characterised as multidimensionally poor people.

That is even as an additional four million, one hundred thousand (4.1 million) are adjudged by the World Bank as having joined the ranks of the indigent since the withdrawal of subsidies on petrol and the naira exchange rate unification on May 29, when President Tinubu mounted the throne of leadership in Aso Rock Villa.

With the threat of an additional seven million (7m) joining the inglorious poverty club, which is a figure that the world bank is projecting would likely be the aftermath of the removal of subsidies on petrol and naira by this year's end, if palliatives are not rolled out to cushion the harsh effects of the policies aimed at preventing our country from falling into a looming debt trap, it is not an understatement to emphasise that there is an urgent need to make haste in providing buffers.

That is probably what justifies and is driving President Tinubu’s request for N500 billion from the supplementary appropriation act 2022 currently before HoRs, but which the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, is kicking against because it believes it is inadequate to support the 300% salary increase that it is demanding.

After breaking the somewhat forty-year jinx of operating an economy that has been bearing the debilitating burden of petrol and naira subsidies, which the multilateral and international financial institutions—the World Bank, IMF, and even investment bank JP Morgan—as well as other multilateral financial organisations have been demanding that Nigeria remove to free up the economy via major policy reforms as far back as President Buhari’s first coming as a military dictator (1984–85), it would not surprise me if the aforementioned global financial agencies are already wooing Nigeria with loan offers.

That would be more so because the ongoing reforms have been voluntary as opposed to imposed.

As such, despite Nigeria’s estimated N50 trillion external loan exposure, she may be able to obtain international loans on favourable terms simply because Nigeria, with its humongous potential (population in excess of 200 million and the largest in Africa), significant and reasonable purchasing power, and a virile middle class comprising 60% youth demographics that are very creative, is currently the toast of investors globe-wide.

But given the horrendous and frightening size of our current debt profile, a significant, if not broad, spectrum of Nigerians may kick against the idea of obtaining more loans.
But to dig the economy out of the hole in which it is currently stuck would require more funds.

And being that the debt servicing that watchers of our economy—the World Bank, etc.—had warned about a year ago would outstrip our income if adequate care was not taken to cut down on our expenditure costs and boost revenue inflow by plugging crude oil leakages to oil thieves (an admonition that was unheeded and has become a reality today), the future of our country is currently in jeopardy.

According to statistics from the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), the total exports from Nigeria for 2022 rose by 41.72 percent from N18.91 trillion in 2021 to N26.79 trillion in 2022. But imports rose by 22.77 percent, from N20.84 trillion in 2021 to N25.59 trillion in 2022.

When the value of Nigeria’s total exports last year, which was N26.79 trillion, is matched up, it is basically equal to the import value of N25.59 trillion in the same 2022.
That simply implies that our country’s exports and imports almost matched each other last year.

If the debt servicing obligation of Nigeria is added, which the Debt Management Office (DMO puts at N3.36 trillion in 2023, where would this administration find the money to undertake the under-listed huge investments that would facilitate a more people-friendly transition from petrol subsidy removal and naira exchange rate unification?

Although the administration has yet to disclose its plans, I would like to hazard a guess that the immediate needs for investment to soften the effects of the policy reforms would likely be: procurement of mass transit buses powered by Compressed Natural gas (CNG, provision of a one hundred percent (100%) salary increase to public servants; offering some tax breaks to businesses to enable the extension of a similar 100% salary raise for workers in that sector; and availing loans to indigent tertiary institution students as enunciated in the Students Loan Act.

The above-listed proposals are some of the lofty measures that are likely to be
undertaken by the administration as a panacea to the inclement fallout of the socioeconomic reforms so far rolled out by President Tinubu.
The introduction of the palliatives would enable the reforms to come into fruition or materialise without too much collateral damage to the masses.

As earlier observed, it is as if there was a synergy of thoughts and a meeting of minds of sorts that the government has put forward the request to HoRs for its approval for the executive branch to apply N500 billion in the 2022 supplementary appropriation act to mitigate the harsh effect of its reforms, which is currently receiving the attention of the legislators.

The NLC's dissatisfaction with the sum of N500 billion requested, which it deems to be too little, suggests to me that it may be a bridging gap as more funds,probably from the I.M.F., may be sourced to tide the country through the rough patch that it is currently passing through.

Whatever the case may be,the undeniable reality is that this country right now looks like a firm or business corporation that has just been taken over by a very bad manager and needs working capital to put it back on an even keel.

In my reckoning,to make Nigeria work again,it needs working capital,and as financial experts very well know,borrowing from the money or capital markets is obviously more expensive than sourcing funds from a multilateral agency like the IMF, World Bank, etc.

The snag may be that our country’s previous experience with LMF might have left an unsavoury taste in the mouths of Nigerians. But there is a difference between 1986 and 2023, which is that the IMF would not be imposing any harsh conditionalities on Nigeria because the country has already voluntarily swallowed the bitter pills.

So, should President Tinubu decide to pursue the option of an IMF loan, Nigerians would acquiesce with it as long as they were assured by Tinubunomics champions that the funds would be invested in production (infrastructure,factories , employment creation activities, etc.) as opposed to consumption items (salary payments,perks of office, and lavishness by public office holders), which has been the pattern in the past eight (8) years.

And the demand by the NLC for more funds to be appropriated for palliative care underscores the belief that a LMF loan may be the most viable option at this point in time.

Magnus Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, democracy advocate, development strategist, alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and a former commissioner in Delta State government, sent this piece from Los Angeles, California, USA.

“Seduction is a sibling of deception. He who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived (Machiavelli). But everything that has a beginning has an end. Deception is like a drug; its effectiveness ends at its expiry date. With the palliative books reading billions for politicians and other specialists while the people are yawning for life, there is a simmering stirring in town. The president needs to reexamine himself and his regime of ‘renewed hope.’ His family and friends need to pray if they are not praying; they should intensify prayers if they are already praying. The sharks that used SAP to drown Ibrahim Babangida’s government appear to have sucked in this president and his government. And they haven’t yet spent 60 days in power. If IBB’s SAP was a hole, what we are seeing at this moment is a deep ditch. And the unfolding tragedy is not just that our man is in there and digging, it is that there are other holes ‘they’ are helping him to dig to fill the subsidy-withdrawal hole. It is not funny. The result is terrible devastation and ugly blisters on the face of the Nigerian earth.”

Our president has charm. “Charm is seduction without sex,” says Robert Greene, author of ‘The Art of Seduction’ (2001). The president is a poet; metaphor is his refuge. Before the election, Bola Tinubu made a vulture of himself with a declaration that he had been eating sacrifices before his enemies were born and he would continue to eat the dreaded. When he met the 1999-2007 set of governors last week, Bola Tinubu was in his poetic best: “We went into the pond and wrestled with a pig. We got dirty, and cleaned up. That is why I am here today.” That is how our president poeticised his journey to the presidency. He said he fought a pig, he got dirty but cleaned up and found himself “here”. Where is ‘here’? His choice of enemy – dirty, clumsy pig – just as his choice of metaphor, thrilled me. His choice of audience too – he was addressing his colleagues, 1999-2007 governors who snatched the Nigerian bone from the jaws of the military. His audience were the Orwellian super boars who taught this democracy how to bite, and chew, and swallow, and digest all on behalf of the people. “My doors are open; you are my advisers,” he told them. They were happy.

Tinubu, president of subtlety, had other things to say; and he said them: “I understand that our people are suffering, (but) there can be no childbirth without pain.” His animated voice rang round the hall. Great metaphors are Tinubu’s balm of Gilead for hungry, hopeless folks, victims of a government that woke the sleeping dog before thinking of what to do with the consequences: “The joy of childbirth is the relief that comes after the pain,” he said as if he did not know that some clumsily handled childbirths end in horror with the gourds broken and their water spilt. The president went further and announced with joy that “Nigeria is reborn already with fuel subsidy removal. It is a rebirth of the country for the largest number over a few smugglers…” The man may be more than a poet; he reads and must have read every line and chewed on every letter of Robert Greene on how to charm and sedate trouble. That is what charmers do. Greene says they “are consummate manipulators…They understand your spirit, feel your pain, adapt to your moods. In the presence of a charmer, you feel better about yourself…” Ibrahim Babangida said something like this years ago: “I understand the psychology of Nigerians.” Our two-month-old government withdrew subsidy on petrol and defoliated the forest. The poor cried; the rich cried. The president heard their cries and intervened; he renewed their hope and, in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s voice, he told the Nigerian child to weep not: “Please, tell the people to be a little patient. The palliative is coming. I have done the arithmetic. But I don’t want cash-transfers to fall into the wrong hands. I know it pinches and it is difficult…In the end, we will rejoice in the prosperity of our country.” Very reassuring. The palliative truly came a day after those analgesic words. Everybody got something; the parliament got billions; the judiciary got theirs, and the president shoved N8,000 per month into the mouth of aching households. Painkiller is a synonym for palliative; it cannot cost more than N8,000.

Tinubu is a very lucky politician. He seduces without failing – because what beats in him is the heart of the art. Seduction, Kenneth Minogue (2006) says, is the central idea in political life. A man who boasted that he fought a pig and came out smelling sweet deserves attention. It takes more than courage to wrestle the mud with a pig. Critic, playwright and polemicist, George Bernard Shaw, called himself a “world betterer.” He made several interventions on the imperative of cleaning and cleansing the polity. He was totalitarian in his suggestions but he was careful enough to warn that you must “never wrestle with pigs.” He said if you do, “you both get dirty and the pig likes it.” Tinubu is a student of Greene: seduce your target by entering their spirit; adapt yourself to their moods; they will follow you even if you are going nowhere. He is also Niccolo Machiavelli’s Prince: “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.” That is why just last year, Bola Tinubu appeared fascinated by Bernard Shaw’s wise counsel on avoidance of wrestling with the pig. He told a town hall meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, in December 2022 that nothing, including provocation from his opponents, would make him fight a pig: “No other person is running like me. They have no facts, they have no experience. They have no track record. They have no degree of honesty. They can’t keep their promises. They resort to insults and abuses to detract. No, it doesn’t catch me; to divert, I say no, I’m from Tinubu Square; to wrestle, I’m a wrestler, but I don’t wrestle with the pig.” That was the poet at his seductive best seven months ago. Now we know that people change their minds; and those include wrestlers from Tinubu Square.

But I agree, and seriously too, that only cowards run away from fights – with anyone, with anything, anywhere. It is the weak who chooses where and who to wrestle (Àìlejà níí jé won ò bí mi ní’lè yí). But the flexible is the skillful. This president has shown what is possible with a mind that is rock solid and fluid at the same time. That is called mobility. World boxing champion, Mohammed Ali, was mobile; he pulled punches, and he pulled no punches; he floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. And that explains his becoming the Greatest of All Time. Last year, Tinubu wouldn’t fight a pig; this year, he fought a pig, cleaned himself up and became president of Africa’s most populous country. That is what shifty, sneaky courage does; the more the dirt, the healthier the seed. Our president has a brother in Iraqi war veteran, Burl Randolph Jr. who once gave the formula that saw him rise and become a colonel in the United States’ army: “I am often asked: ‘Burl, why would you wrestle with a pig? All you get is dirty and the pig enjoys it’…My answer is always the same: How do you think I made Colonel?” This American asked the one who would win anywhere to “learn to outmaneuver the pig.” He says he has never “encountered a neat, clean, problem…” True. No one has. And that is a lesson for all conformists and enablers of bumbling regimes. People who suffer and smile and even hail their tormentors can’t get better until they know that fighting to live is wrestling down the pig, the dirty.

Seduction is a sibling of deception. He who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived (Machiavelli). But everything that has a beginning has an end. Deception is like a drug; its effectiveness ends at its expiry date. With the palliative books reading billions for politicians and other specialists while the people are yawning for life, there is a simmering stirring in town. The president needs to reexamine himself and his regime of ‘renewed hope.’ His family and friends need to pray if they are not praying; they should intensify prayers if they are already praying. The sharks that used SAP to drown Ibrahim Babangida’s government appear to have sucked in this president and his government. And they haven’t yet spent 60 days in power. If IBB’s SAP was a hole, what we are seeing at this moment is a deep ditch. And the unfolding tragedy is not just that our man is in there and digging, it is that there are other holes ‘they’ are helping him to dig to fill the subsidy-withdrawal hole. It is not funny. The result is terrible devastation and ugly blisters on the face of the Nigerian earth.

We have a government that is determined to sweat the people like Orwellian Napoleon. It announced two weeks ago its plan to double its tax revenue. Do people pay tax from poverty? Digging holes to fill holes; the palliative from this government is N8,000 per household per month mixed with tax and rumours of more tax. The regime has slapped on us payment for Proof of Ownership papers for our vehicles every year. The price is N1,000. It started as a rumour but it is true and it is not funny. Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PwC, Taiwo Oyedele, was one strident online voice against this tax. He described it as “retrogressive…ill conceived and poorly designed.” He said “it is illogical to have to prove annually that you own a vehicle for which you already have a certificate of proof of ownership issued by the government.” Oyedele counseled that the tax “is wrong both in terms of signaling from a multiple taxation perspective and in terms of timing given the recent fuel subsidy removal…” He advised that the tax should be set aside in the interest of good order and to prevent setting a bad precedent. Then, he threw a snide remark: “Who says we cannot be asked to also renew our birth certificates, C of O, etc on an annual basis if this succeeds?” Valid questions! But, you know what? The very week Oyedele expressed those strong views, Tinubu appropriated the man. He gave him an appointment as the head of his tax reforms and fiscal policy committee. Seduction. ‘Why not sleep with the enemy? Politics is all about seduction.’ That provocative headline was cast by Suzanne Moore, columnist of The Guardian of the UK on 10 February, 2016. The Facebook wall of Oyedele, the latest catch of Politician Tinubu, has since been flooded with congratulations and felicitations in various flowery words and expressions. Interesting times. I congratulate him, too.

But, shall we ask: How much tax is enough for this government? When is it going to tax the super-rich who freely destroy our roads with their trailers and tankers? Hope is the food of the poor; sacrifice is the sacred duty they owe the state and its billionaire custodians. Like Lawuwo in Oladejo Okediji’s ‘Rere Run’, it is almost certain that we will all go bald – courtesy of the granite loads the Nigerian government daily heaps on our bare heads. Beasts of burden. That is an appropriate metaphor for the Nigerian poor. We pay taxes and overpay rates, explicit and implicit. Implicit taxes are unseen, unrecorded levies. You and I bear and pay them daily without complaining. It is our lot; the price for choosing to be born here. We think it is normal because we’ve been paying them from our mother’s wombs. African Development Bank (AfDP) president, Akinwumi Adesina, about two months ago hinted in Abuja that because our governments are historically asleep, the people sulk not, they provide public services. He made a lot of sense. He made even greater sense when he stressed that while tax payment was desirable, “it is not the amount of tax collected, it is how it is spent, and what is delivered.”

At the first national tax dialogue organized by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) in Abuja in January 2021, the same Adesina doubled down and said Nigerians were among top implicit tax payers in the world: “Truth be told, Nigerians pay one of the highest implicit tax rates in the world — way higher than developed countries. Think of it: they provide electricity for themselves via generators; they repair roads to their neighborhoods, if they can afford to; there are no social security systems; they provide security for their own safety; and they provide boreholes for drinking water with their own monies.” The man repeated himself in May 2023 (this year) at the inauguration lecture of Tinubu in Abuja. There, the man amplified his 2021 thoughts on what Nigerians suffer at the hands of their government with a warning that “…simply raising taxes is not enough, as many question the value of paying taxes, hence the high level of tax avoidance. Many citizens provide their own electricity, sink boreholes to get access to water, and repair roads in their towns and neighborhoods. These are essentially high implicit taxes. Nigerians, therefore, pay the highest implicit tax rates in the world.”

So, why should I pay tax to the government? Or, better put, why do I need a government?

Seeks Judicial Intervention, Proper Scrutiny Of Presidential Election Results

Bishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has described the 2023 elections, particularly the presidential polls, as the worst in Nigeria’s history.

According to Onaiyekan, “There have been previous instances of flawed elections, but what we witnessed in the last election is unparalleled. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

The respected cleric who spoke during a virtual town hall meeting organized by the Rebuild Nigeria Initiative (RNI) expressed regrets over the deep divide created by the intertwining of politics and religion among Nigerians.

Addressing the theme of the dialogue: “Nigeria-Pathway to National Peace and Reconciliation,’ Onaiyekan acknowledged that though there is nowhere in the world where elections are perfect, some of the acts witnessed during the last elections were simply foolish and absurd.

He expressed concern that while many aspects of the 2023 elections were still being challenged in court, individuals have been sworn into office, giving the impression that “nothing will come out of the court

“INEC promised us a standard election, but what transpired in the presidential election fell short of our expectations. We should not resign ourselves to accepting elections that lack credibility. These leaders claim to have been elected by us, yet we know we did not elect them.

“Even taking oaths with the Bible and Quran has become so common among politicians that they no longer have any moral compass.

“There are ongoing cases in court that have yet to be resolved. We have a president whose election is being challenged, and the court is handling the matter. It is not enough to attribute Nigeria’s problems solely to leadership. Why do we allow these same leaders, who have not denied being corrupt, to continue leading us?

“We do not need to legitimize it; what is wrong is wrong. They owe us the responsibility to wield the power acquired from public office judiciously,” he said.

Onaiyekan also recalled with nostalgia, the historical collaboration between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, highlighting a time when the nation was on the path to becoming a model country, characterized by peace and harmony.

“In recent years, we have witnessed a shift in this trajectory, a downward spiral, as religious fanatics have strained the relationship between the two religions.

“The emergence of Boko Haram caused significant damage, as it was perceived as an attack on Christians. Fanatics believe that anyone practising a different faith is in error.

“This is incorrect; we should assume that everyone is sincere and convinced of their own beliefs. That is why it is wrong for anyone to speak ill of any religion.

“I do not want it to seem as though we have lost our way as a people because we still coexist. Both religions have not given up on peace. While some individuals strive to create divisions for their own selfish gains, the majority of Nigerians still believe in unity,” he said.

The Cardinal emphasized the importance of speaking truthfully about the issues affecting the country, stressing that only the truth will save Nigeria from being destroyed.

“It is not a matter of being polite; it is about speaking the truth. For example, when I criticize a Muslim brother, it is not to provoke a quarrel but because it is the truth. We cannot refrain from telling the truth without sugarcoating it.

“When a politician wants to win or gain an advantage, they exploit ethnicity and religion, claiming, ‘I am fighting for you because you belong to this tribe or because you are a Christian or Muslim.’ This has further divided us.

“We complain about politicians manipulating situations, but why do we allow ourselves to be manipulated when the power to elect lies with the people?

“Moreover, it is challenging to distinguish between political leaders and religious leaders because their speeches blur the line between the two,” he said.

Onaiyekan reiterated the need for peace to foster national development, emphasizing the necessity of reviewing some national policies, saying accepting things merely for the sake of peace was wrong.

“When things are not done properly, development stagnates. The immunity clause, which shields wrongdoings, has hindered progress. We should not forget that Nigeria is the only country in Africa capable of making significant strides. If Nigeria fails, what other country can succeed?

“It is becoming shameful that despite our abundant natural and human resources, we remain at this level. I believe we can achieve more, not overnight, but a four-year term can make a significant difference.

“As a people, I do not believe we are powerless, as the people play an active role while the politicians play a passive role in elections. For far too long, we have placed trust in our leaders.

“We should no longer trust them, as they have taken us for granted and betrayed our trust. Those who have betrayed us still hold positions of power.

“We strive for peace, but I fear that if the court does not resolve the election petitions in a timely manner, issues may arise. Some of the president’s actions are in response to public protests, and we must continue engaging the government to voice our concerns.

“Although we have not seen the ministerial list, it will likely comprise the same old faces. The positive aspect is that no one remains in office forever; there will be an end when officials vacate their positions.

“We need functional structures in place. When these leaders leave the country, they behave properly, not because they are guarded, but because the system enforces it,” he said.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on Sunday night reportedly resigned from office.

There had been indications that Adamu was pressured to turn in his resignation letter while President Bola Tinubu was out of the country for an African Union (AU) meeting in Kenya.

Adamu speaking on the controversial development in a chat with Daily Trust promised not to comment on the matter until President Tinubu returns from the AU’s meeting.

The former governor of Nasarawa State said, “I won’t talk about the issue because the president is away.”

Meanwhile, a source that spoke with the platform revealed that Adamu submitted his resignation letter to the Chief of Staff of the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, around 4 pm on Sunday.

The source said, “He has resigned. The resignation letter signed by him has been sent to the villa. The letter was addressed to President Tinubu. But since the president is away in Kenya for the AU meeting, the letter was sent to his chief of staff.”

A source close to Adamu also confirmed the development, he said, “The national chairman resigned following a gang up by people around the president to embarrass him during the meetings of the party slated for tomorrow and Wednesday.”

The source, however, denied a report that it was President Tinubu that asked Adamu to resign ahead of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings of the party fixed for tomorrow and Wednesday.

A founding member of the APC claimed that Adamu resigned from his position following reports that two influential members of the party are mobilising against him ahead of the NEC meeting.

The politician said, “He resigned because they have started to collate signatures to impeach him during the forthcoming meetings. He resigned to save himself from humiliation.”

Nigeria’s prosperous future can only be assured by supporting the private sector to unlock wealth that will lift the populace, President, Africa Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said.

Speaking during the BusinessDay CEO Forum in Lagos at the weekend, he said the rejuvenation of the moribund manufacturing sector and fixing the perennial power problems were key in engineering an industrial revolution for the country.

Adesina, who spoke on the theme: “The Day the Lion Roared! Making Nigeria a Global Industrial and Economic Giant”, lamented that Nigeria, despite her potential, still lags behind other contemporary economies.

He made serious case for speedy and systematic development of the economy through private sector-led initiatives.

Adesina said Nigeria must learn that simply using foreign exchange reserves to back and overvalue the naira is not a sustainable policy.

“To grow Nigeria’s economy in a transformational way, there is an urgent need to move away from solely depending on “managing a demand for forex” to “expanding the supply and availability of forex” through greater export-oriented manufacturing,” he advocated.

He said such move would extricate Nigeria from relying only on the export of crude oil for access to forex and the instability that arises from the shocks to global oil prices.

He commended the bold decision of President Bola Tinubu in removing the distortions in the multiple foreign exchange windows, which he said, would help turn the tide on foreign direct investment flows into Nigeria.

He said: “While the share of manufacturing in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has hovered around seven per cent for decades, the nation has not been able to extricate itself from a comatose industrial manufacturing sector, in sharp contrast to the dynamic and rapid performance of manufacturing in Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, India, and China”.

He said Nigeria’s manufacturing sector represents only three per cent of the total revenue from exports, but accounts for 50 per cent of imports.

“Instead of being forward-looking in expanding the share of manufactured goods in its total export revenue, Nigeria focuses on an unsustainable model of import substitution. Import substitution, while important, is a very restrictive vision. It is focused primarily on survival, instead of looking to create wealth through greater export markets and value diversification. The result is a manufacturing sector that cannot even develop to reach its full potential nor compete globally. Rather, it is limited to a “survival mode,” and not a “global manufacturing growth mode,” he stated.

Adesina advocated Nigeria shifting toward being integrated into and moving up global and regional value chains, in areas of comparative advantage, specialisation and competitiveness.

“A well-developed and policy-enabled manufacturing sector, with export orientation will spur greater innovation, accelerate business and investment-friendly industrial policies to drive export market development and structural transformations of the economy,” he said.

“For instance, while Vietnam raked in $348 billion in 2020 from export and the export-led growth, Malaysia’s exports was valued at $234 billion while by contrast, Nigeria’s exports were valued at $29.7 billion. Nigeria’s total export value was a mere $33.5 billion,” he added.

He said African countries, including Nigeria, have had policies, templates and programs for industrialisation and expanding industrial manufacturing for decades.

But there is a huge gap between policy ideas and actions.

“Today, capacity utilization of factories hovers around 40 per cent compared to a desired 70 per cent. The reality, in view of several challenges facing the industrial manufacturing sector, is that firms are moving to other neighboring countries, where there is greater macroeconomic stability, more supportive enabling environments, and a better ease of doing business. To be a manufacturer in Nigeria is not an easy venture. You succeed not because of ease of doing business, but by surmounting several constraints that limit industrial manufacturing,” he said.

Adesina said major challenge facing the industry in Nigeria is the very high cost and unreliability of supply of electricity.

“Load shedding and unreliable power have made the cost of manufacturing extremely high and uncompetitive. Most of the manufacturing companies self-provide energy through a reliance on cost-prohibitive generators and diesel and heavy fuel oil. The polluting emissions, make them brown industries, not green industries,”he said.

He said that unless Nigeria decisively tackles its energy deficiency and reliability, its industries will remain uncompetitive.

“There should be massive investments in gas to provide power and to ensure stable base load power for industries, hydropower resources, large-scale solar systems, direct power preferentially to industries, and to support industrial mini grids that concentrate power in industrial zones. In addition, we should develop more efficient utilities, reducing technical and non-technical losses in power generation, transmission, and distribution systems,” he said.

Adesina said Nigeria’s industrial development is constrained by a poor state of transport, ports, and logistic infrastructure. “It costs $35,000 to export 100 tons of produce from Nigeria compared to just $4,000 in Ghana. About 90% of passenger and freight movements in Nigeria rely on roads but only 18% of the roads are paved.”

He said the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, with a collective GDP of $3.3 trillion, presents a huge opportunity for Nigeria to drive an export-driven industrial manufacturing pathway.

“Nigeria can unlock its industrial manufacturing capacities by taking advantage of duty-free exports within the zone. Doing so requires decisively tackling infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks that hamper industrial capacity and competitiveness; establishing and enforcing quality, grades, and product standards; ensuring the access of industries to land and providing investment relations management to attract and maintain investors and trade facilitation,” he said.

He also stated that the future of manufacturing will be digital. “The global digital economy is estimated to be worth over $16 trillion. The Internet of Things will raise productivity of labor in manufacturing, deploy smart machines, manufacturing platforms and systems, connecting machines and people, and using machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve speed and efficiencies of complex manufacturing processes,” he said.

In fixing the problems, Adesina recommended that Nigeria establishes Skills Enhancement Zones––new zones in partnership with industries, dedicated exclusively to skilling up Nigeria’s workforce.

“Students can be supported to be exposed to skills delivered by different industries. This will build up their vertical skills in such industries and horizontally across different industries. This will reduce the labor market skills mismatch that several industries face and allow feedback by private sector industries into the curriculum of universities and colleges,” he said.

Nigeria must also make agriculture a major wealth creating sector. It is time to take bold policy measures to drive the structural transformation of agriculture, with infrastructure and spatial economic policies that will help turn the rural economies of Nigeria away from being zones of economic misery to new zones of economic prosperity.

He said a perennial binding constraint facing manufacturers in Nigeria is the unpredictability and availability of foreign exchange.

“It also triggered a major decline in foreign direct investment inflows into Nigeria. The World Investment Report (2023) showed that foreign direct investment inflows into Nigeria declined precipitously from $3.3 billion in 2021 to a negative $187 million in 2022 ––the largest decline on the continent,” he said.

The distraught father of a two-year-old boy allegedly killed by stray bullet from operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Delta Command, has cried out for justice.

The operatives on July 13, raided a suspected den for drug peddlers at Okpanam, a suburb of Asaba, Delta State, where they allegedly opened fire.

But bullets fired at the scene allegedly hit the toddler and his infant sibling on the abdomen and eye, respectively, while they were in their mother’s shop, outside of the drug den.

The bereaved father, Fidelis Okogbe Omorhia, 40, a salesman, who expressed fears that the case may be swept under the carpet because he had no influence; told newsmen yesterday that his toddler son, Ivan Omorhia, was eating corn with his mother and two other siblings in their mother’s shop, Hillsi Cakes n More Academy, when the straybullet hit him.

He said the bullet narrowly missed his wife and four year old daughter, wondering why the NDLEA operatives would shoot sporadically in a crowded and busy area.

According to him, the operatives fled the scene after they were accosted for shooting the toddler, adding that his 18-month-old baby, Eromosele, was injured in his left eye from shrapnel from shattered glasses.

He said the straybullet pierced his son’s lower abdomen, exiting from his back and further pierced a plastic chair, shattering a glass door before lodging in a cupboard.

He said both children were rushed immediately to the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Asaba, for surgery where Ivan died around midnight July 14, after doctors battled in vain to save him.

Omorhia said: “I am a complete wreck. I cannot express my pain in words. As we woke up that fateful morning, it was Ivan who prayed for the family. I had no premonition of death at all. Even when I picked them from school, they wanted me to buy icecream, but I bought cooked corn which they were eating when he was hit.

“What really happened was that I went to my kids’ school to pick them up, and dropped them off at my wife’s shop, at a Plaza close to Sweet Spirit Hotel.

“That is where my wife’s shop is located so that I can go and meet up with my other activities. As usual I pick them up after we close for the day.”

“So, as I was going back to the house to pick up something, my house is just five minutes drive from the shop, my wife called me, sweetheart, please come! They don’t understand whether it is a bullet or anything. There is no gunshot within that environment. I then rushed back to the place, and when I got to the place, my wife called me and said that they are going to FMC, urging me to meet them there.

“It is like a gunshot because my wife said she saw my boy’s intestines coming out even the glass that the bullet penetrated, affecting my son’s eye. She held two of them and started shouting for help, that was when she then called me to meet them at FMC.

“As I was going to FMC, I said no, let me stop at the shop and know what was happening. When I got to the shop, I saw a Hilux Van, fully loaded with armed operatives of NDLEA.

“I saw another Sienna mini bus, they drove to turn at an intersection up the road and I saw another Honda saloon. The vehicles were all occupied by NDLEA operatives. So, they then parked close to my wife’s shop.

“According to the people around, they were chasing those guys that sell drugs but the guys ran away but I don’t know how the bullet got to my wife’s shop.

“So, I was trying to ask some of my neighbours. My wife just told me that there’s a gunshot that hit my boy and his intestines are coming out.

“Then one of the boys said it was the gun that was shot that hit my son. They had already parked and were trying to arrest some other boys while others ran away. The place was rowdy.

“The information I got emboldened to meet them and I was trying to take pictures and trying to take some videos. One of the operatives came out and asked why I was videoing him, asking me if I am mad.

“He then cracked his gun, I then told him that the gun you people shot has killed my son, and if you want to kill me, just kill me as I won’t leave. The guy (operative) punched me, I then held his hand. Immediately they heard that their gunshot killed my child, they immediately entered their cars and zoomed off.

“I jumped inside my car and followed them till we got to Issele-Azagba, they then stopped while I pulled over in one filling station and they came to me. I told them that the gun they shot killed my son, they said they know and they have called their Commander.

“They said I should follow them to their Head Office in Ogwashi-Uku, and getting to their office, their boss brought them out, and talked to them before coming in.

“They started pleading with me and enquired about the condition of the child and I told him that I haven’t seen him as I decided to stay around the shop to know what happened. That was when I discovered that it could be these guys who were armed.

“The Oga then said that was true. According to their Oga, he said what they told him is that they were chasing someone or that they wanted to cross the road and a bike or a vehicle hit the NDLEA guy, that was when the gun went off.

“He said I should not worry and that I should go and see my children as that is the most important thing to everybody right now and that he will send one or two persons with me. Immediately, I left for Asaba to come and see them and they told me that they were in the theatre and that they were looking for blood.

“After one and a half hour, the people that the Commander sent, then came that their Oga sent them to come and see the situation and I told them that they are trying to look for blood for him(Ivan) to survive.

“The blood they said we should donate is a fresh one and not the one they have in their blood bank. So, we were trying to look for some of my friends that came around as I could not donate because I am B positive.

“So, we then got one of my wife’s workers that is O positive who donated blood. We were running around and they were doing X-ray and all of that. About 7:00pm to 1:00am, Ivan had died because his intestines and kidneys were badly affected.

“The glass shrapnel hit my eighteen months old son in his left eye and body. They took him to the theatre yesterday at about 2:00 am and they came out at 6:00am this morning trying to ensure that the cut and wounds are treated.

“We need justice for our children. We need to take it up, it cannot just go like this. I don’t even know the condition of this one. I don’t know his fate, we need justice.

“The one that died is supposed to graduate next tomorrow. They have given the graduation gown to him,” he lamented.

State Commandant of the NDLEA, John Tunde, confirmed the incident but insisted that his men did not open fire on the kids.

Tunde said when his men stormed the notorious drug joint to raid and dislodge the place, there was a Toyota Camry parked within the precincts.

He said while the operatives were surrounding the place, the Camry “ran over one of our men while escaping. In attempts to demobilise the car, our men shot at it.

“What we cannot tell now is whether the children were inside the car at the time of the shooting. Our men did not open fire at any shop.

“As we speak now, our man who the car ran over, is at the Central Hospital in Ogwashi-Uku. Our attempt to stop the car was not successful as he escaped.

“So I can confirm that it happened but it is the true account that I have told you, we can’t be that unprofessional to open fire on a shop. I was at the hospital in the night with the father of the child. We are investigating it.”

Delta Governor, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, yesterday, condoled with the family of the slain toddler.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Festus Ahon, the Governor said the tragic incident was regrettable and avoidable if the officers had operated based on their rules of engagement.

He urged the NDLEA authorities and the Delta Police Command to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the boy and injury to his brother, with a view to bringing the culprits to book and avoiding a future occurrence.

“This incident is tragic, painful, and grievous because of the loss of a child and injury to his younger sibling.

“I condemn this unfortunate incident because no matter the provocation, armed security men must operate within the ambit of standard procedure as enshrined in their rules of engagement.

“Any action taken outside these international best practices could be catastrophic as in this case.

“I therefore call on the NDLEA and Police authorities to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident and bring all the culprits to book,” he said.

Also, a youth group, Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W) in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Ekwukwo Elvis, condemned the “shocking incident”, describing the action of the anti-drug agency as “reckless”.

He raised alarm over the lack of professionalism in handling firearms by security agencies in the state, warning that killings of innocent people by security agents will no longer be tolerated.

Part of the statement reads, “Such a blatant display of unprofessionalism, where firearms are handled carelessly, resulting in the loss of innocent lives, is an occurrence that has become a recurring decimal and must not be tolerated any longer.”

He added, “the wanton disregard for safety and professional best practices demonstrated by certain operatives in Delta demands immediate attention.”

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Chief Robert Clarke, has said the country would continue to linger in her socio-political problems until there is a change of the current 1999 constitution which lacks certain elements of federalism.

He said for over the years he has been practicing as a lawyer, the best constitution for Nigeria is the 1963 constitution.

He suggested that if a committee can be set up to look into the 1963 constitution and tinker with it in the light of modern developments, most of our problems as a country would be solved automatically.

Chief Clarke said the 1999 constitution has vested so much power on the president and governors, such that no one could hold them responsible for any misconduct or mismanagement of public funds while they are still in office.

“We call ourselves a Federal Republic of Nigeria, but is there any element in the constitution that makes it a federal republic? Every month, all the governors of the 36 states go to Abuja to collect (allocation) stipends and if the federal government gave them for instance, ecological fund and they decide to divert it for personal reasons, nobody may know because the funds are not appropriated.

“The constitution in section 5, aided this abnormality. For instance, it vested so much powers on both the executive president and the executive governors.

“Until a committee is set up to look at the 1963 constitution in the light of our modern development, the country may remain with current problems for a long time to come. The cost of governance is too much. We don’t need more than four or five regions with one House of Assembly because that is where all the money goes”

Chief Clarke stated this during a celebration of his 85th birthday and merger of two legal Chambers: Chief Robert Clarke SAN and Ade Oshodi Partners as a company in Lagos.

Reacting to question on the appointment of sitting judges as members of the Electoral Tribunals, the senior lawyer, who was unwilling to open up on past experiences retorted: “So far the judiciary is neither here or there. The problem of Nigeria is the people. However, federalism still remains the best option because our diversity is complex and corruption is our worst enemy and the people who dominate our public offices.

“There is need to look at the constitution as it pertains to appointment of judges. Today, if you are not a friend of the governor, you may not be appointed as a judge because the constitution has vested governors with the power to appoint judges.”

Also speaking on the occasion, Barrister Ade Oshodi, expressed his commitment to the legacy and legal journey bequeathed him by Chief Clarke. He also expressed his optimism that the judiciary would soon get over its current challenges, and still remains the last hope of the common man.

One Esther Godwin has inflicted bodily harm and severe injury on a nursing mother, Endurance Samuel, over alleged extra marital affair with her husband.

The 39-year-old food vendor reportedly attacked and poured hot water on Samuel.

The incident took place in Olofin community of Idanre, in the Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo state.

Esther has since been arrested by police in the southwestern state.

According to sources in the community, the suspect, had contacted Endurance via phone to come for the debt of palm oil owed her by her husband, Sunday Godwin.

Oblivious of Esther’s sinister plan for her, Endurance rushed down to Esther’s residence, in the hope of receiving the palm oil owed her.

However, upon her arrival, Endurance greeted with violent attack as Esther, who was spurred by suspicions and allegations of infidelity, allegedly poured hot water on her, causing severe burns.

The victim, who sustained injuries from the scalding water, was subsequently rushed to a nearby hospital, where she received treatment for the severe burns

Narrating how the incident happened, Endurance, explained that “She (Esther) called me from where I was learning tailoring to come and collect the palm oil her husband is owing me. I also work as a labourer for some farmers in the town.

”I rushed out of my oga’s shop excitedly to the place, not knowing that the call was just to lure me to her own shop where she was selling food, to pour hot water on me for the offence I did not commit.”

Meanwhile, the suspect’s husband, denied having a relationship with Endurance and claimed that he merely hired her as a farm labour.

“I was surprised by this development and have been paying for the victim’s treatment at the hospital since the incident occurred.”

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, has revealed why the Department of State Services (DSS) will not prosecute the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

The Secret Police, after a directive of the court, charged Emefiele to court for possessing one single-barrel shotgun without a license.

In a lengthy post on his Twitter handle, Sowore claimed that the DSS would eventually release the former CBN governor.

He claimed that Emefiele’s detention had nothing to do with the gravity of his alleged high crimes but that he was being held on behalf of those in power.

According to him, if Emefiele is charged to court for the alleged crimes, he would implicate a lot of influential persons in the Mohammadu Buhari-led administration as well as the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Sowore said, “For those who may not be familiar with the modus of the @OfficialDSSNG, holding @GodwinIEmefiele had nothing to do with the gravity of his high crimes, the game is to hold him on behalf of those in power.

“If @GodwinIEmefiele was to be prosecuted for his real financial crimes, economic sabotage, money laundering, and terrorism financing involvement, FX round-tripping, etc., he would take down with him @MBuhari, and his entire family, in-laws, members of his inner circle, lots of @OfficialAPCNg leaders, state governors, Senators, media practitioners, military and police top brass and even people in @OfficialDSSNG,@officialEFCC as well as civil society. A lot would come crashing down. Right now, negotiations are ongoing. This is just the “holding charge” before they let him go!

“Above is similar to how they started with former NSA Col. Sambo Dasuki. He was first charged with illegal possession of firearms, precisely in August of 2015! The rest is now history.”

wing to disagreements arising from preparations for the recent general election, the Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been split into two. TheNation reports

UNITY is strength and a house divided against itself cannot stand. These wise sayings vividly illustrate the predicament of the Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Until two months ago, the APC was the ruling party in Plateau but has now become an opposition party due to disunity among its members.

The genesis of the party’s crisis could be traced to its primaries held in the last quarter of last year to pick candidates for the various elective positions in the recent general election.

There was a sharp disagreement among members over the conduct of the governorship primary in particular. The result of that contest, which saw the emergence of Dr Nentawe Yilewada as its flag bearer for the election, became the primary factor that destabilised the party. The other 17 aspirants protested the emergence of Nentawe, alleging that he was imposed on the chapter by higher authorities.

The inability of the party to resolve the conflict that emanated from the primary eventually resulted in its poor performance at the polls. The first sign that the party was in disarray surfaced when it lost the February 25 presidential election to the Labour Party’s (LP) Peter Obi. It also lost two senatorial seats and five out of the eight House of Representatives seats to the main opposition party, the PDP. It eventually lost the governorship election and the control of the state House of Assembly, by losing in many of the constituencies it represented during the last legislative session also to the PDP.

The Plateau APC went into the 2023 general election as a divided house; the party was split into two factions and remains so to date. One faction comprises the 17 aggrieved governorship aspirants and their supporters. The other faction is made up of members loyal to Lalong and the party’s governorship candidate, Dr Nentawe Yilewada.

It became clearer to all that after the abysmal failure in the 2023 general elections, the aggrieved faction led by Chief Amos Gizo began to launch efforts to create another party secretariat for APC since the APC leadership had failed to address their grievances and bring them back into the fold. Prominent among the new faction of APC are former governor of the state Joshua Dariye, former minister for women affairs and social development Dame Pauline Tallen, former minister of state for information Alhaji Salisu Nakande, former member of the National Assembly Alphonsus Komsol, Chief Amos Gizo, Senator Hezekiah Dimka, Sen. Nora Daduut, Lumumba Adeh, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande, Comptroller Victor Dimka, Chief Danyaro Sarpiya among others.

Those in former gov Lalong’s faction are Dr Nentawe Yilewada, Yusufu Gagdi and Senator Diket Plang. APC stalwart Alphonsus Komsol told The Nation: “The division in Plateau APC began from the presidential primary where the immediate past governor instructed all Plateau delegates to vote for Rotimi Amaechi to emerge as the APC presidential candidate. But, some of us who are die-hard disciples of Tinubu decided to vote Tinubu against Lalong’s presidential candidate. Since then some of us who disobeyed Lalong’s instruction were marked for victimisation in the party. That was where the crack in the party started. But the crack got widened and the party was messed up with the imposition of governorship candidate.”

Shortly after the recent general election in which Lalong himself lost his senatorial bid to the PDP and also failed to deliver his state for President Tinubu, some of the aggrieved members of the APC were said to have engaged in anti-party activities, and were listed up for disciplinary action. The rumour that the party was bent on suspending certain chieftains was confirmed in a recent stakeholders meeting in Jos, when the party chairman, Rufus Bature said: “The APC is aware of the desperate attempts by some members of the party to tear it apart through a wild goose chase of creating a parallel party office. We are aware of their nocturnal activities which we seriously frown at.

“The party has also watched with great dismay the activities of some self-styled leaders who have been jumping from pillar to post in search of federal appointments, especially ministerial appointments. Their embarrassing behaviour has portrayed them as people who want to reap where they did not sow.

“The party took note of their anti-party activities before, during and after the recent general election and has set machinery in motion to deal with such sundry issues at all levels. In doing so, due process would be followed and those who need to be sanctioned would be sanctioned in line with the party’s constitution. Let me advise them to bury the thought in their interest because the party would not allow such selfish individuals who are perpetual office seekers to temper with its rank and file.”

Ishaya Itse, a chieftain of the party, has cautioned Bature not to suspend any party member, because, in his view, he (Bature) lacks the power to do so. Itse called on other members of the party to disregard Bature’s warning. He added that any attempt to suspend anyone amounts to disrespect to the constitution of Nigeria.

In a statement, Itse said: “Rufus Bature is not an elected APC chairman. Therefore, he doesn’t have the right to threaten stakeholders with suspension. I am aware that Lalong has instructed APC wards and local government chairmen to suspend and expel some key members from the party. Such an attempt will fail. According to him, these are the same people that couldn’t deliver their polling units to the APC and they are now coming out with empty threats to create tension and an atmosphere of chaos to look relevant. He disclosed that Lalong couldn’t deliver his ward and that he lost the senatorial election due to non-adherence to the guidelines of the APC, which landed him in total rejection by the voters. He advised Plateau APC to follow the part of honour and work for the overall interest of all members; rather than building a wall of faction and division.

“But, despite the existence of factions in the party in Plateau APC, a member of the House of Representatives, Yusufu Gagdi insists that the chapter is united. He said contrary to rumours that members of the Plateau State APC are at loggerheads with each other, there is no division at the moment. The recent party meeting held at its secretariat, for instance, was not for reconciliation purposes, as speculated, because there is nothing to reconcile in the APC. It was the usual party meeting. I was at the meeting.”

In contrast to Gagdi’s position, a leader of one of the factions of the party, Chief Amos Gizo said there are pending cases requiring reconciliation which the APC leadership has been trying to sweep under the carpet. Gizo who was one of the aspirants that vied for the party’s governorship ticket in the recent election said: “Yes, I was in the recent APC meeting, but I worried that the party leaders claimed to have held a reconciliatory meeting. But, what transpired during the meeting does not look like reconciliation because if it were reconciliation, which factions were reconciled? What was the resolution after the reconciliation?

“Those of us that represented the other faction came even though we were not invited; no invitation was extended to us as stakeholders. It was deceptive for anyone to take that meeting as a reconciliatory meeting. It was just a meeting of critical stakeholders. If you noticed, there was no agenda for the meeting; they handpicked some selected persons to speak. If it was a reconciliation meeting, as they tried to claim, who spoke on behalf of my group? But, we were there as stakeholders. It was not a reconciliatory meeting.

“The APC belongs to all of us. The conference hall where that meeting was held was set up by me when I was chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). So, I consider myself a critical stakeholder. I came to that meeting as the leader of the other group, and I was not allowed to talk. But, Lalong understood that some of us are still aggrieved and he used the opportunity to tender an apology; that, to me, is not reconciliation.

“You cannot talk about reconciliation without talking about what caused the conflict in the first place. So, to me, the meeting was just a waste of time. There was nothing like reconciliation. They will continue to pretend that there is no faction in Plateau APC. Let them look at the APC in Nasarawa State; the people that were denied the party ticket went into the SDP and they won elections. Is that the progress of a ruling party?

“Nobody is contesting Lalong’s leadership of the party. I could not talk of contesting that position because I’m never been a governor. If there was an APC governor before Lalong, he would not have been the party leader; the constitution is very clear about it. But, it is high time they stopped pretending in the interest of the party. We have just started and we shall see how it will end.”

From all indications, there is a big problem in Plateau APC. The party has been split into two factions. The Gizo-led faction, is in the process of setting up its secretariat in a strategic location in Jos. Only genuine reconciliation will resolve the internal conflict in the APC chapter.