Prominent Nigerians and groups on Sunday took a swipe at the National Assembly over the N13.5m running cost being paid to senators.

The Campaign for Democracy, senior lawyers, including Mr. Femi Falana, Mr. Yusuf Ali and Prof. Itse Sagay, in separate interviews with The PUNCH also commended Senator Shehu Sani for the disclosure.

Sani had, in an interview with TheNews, revealed that each senator received N13.5m monthly as running cost apart from the N700,000 consolidated salary and allowances paid to each of them.

Sagay said Sani’s revelation had vindicated him on his criticism of the lawmakers.

Sagay said. “I’ve always said they earn too much. This figure by Sanni does not include constituency allowances, which is in billions of naira.

“We still have budget padding from which millions are made by them. By the time you put all that together, you can see that these people are collecting a huge chunk of the Nigerian budget.”

The CD, in its reaction, said the N13.5m running cost could employ over 100 graduates in the country.

The CD President, Usman Abdul, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the huge earnings by the senators contributed to the bastardisation of the economy.

He said, “You can take good care of over 100 graduates from a senator’s salary. The legislature should deliberate on the abject poverty and unemployment in the country.”

Also speaking, Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, said Sani must be commended for his courage.

Ogunye said, “What Senator Shehu Sani said has confirmed the long-held fears of Nigerians that Nigerian legislators, both at the state and national levels, have been short-changing Nigerians.

“They are not expected to use that elevated position to serve their own interest at the expense of public interest. They are not expected to allow their self-consideration to override their commitment to abiding by the law.”

The Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Monday Ubani, said Nigerians must demand a review of the lawmakers’ earnings.

Ubani, “It means that Nigerians have not been getting a fair deal from our legislators. If a single person will be earning that kind of money in a country where the minimum wage is N18,000; something has to be done. We need to insist on a review of these jumbo allowances.”

The Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said Nigerians had a right to be displeased because they had not been getting a fair deal from the lawmakers.

Adeniran said, “The outcry wouldn’t have been if the legislators have been living up to the expectation of their constituents. Nigerians don’t see the lawmakers as people who are representing their interest.”

Falana said Sani’s revelation had proved that Nigerian legislators were the highest paid in the world.

Falana, in a statement on Sunday, said, “Apart from the monthly package of N13.5m, each senator is given the opportunity to execute constituency projects to the tune of N200m per annum. However, the disclosure made by Senator Sani does not cover the allowances for cars, housing, wardrobe and furniture running to several millions of naira approved for each senator.”

Also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Ali, said the allowance was insensitive given the state of the economy and the minimum wage of the workers in the country.

He said, “Even if there were no mass unemployment and if the economy were buoyant, suchallowance is totally unrelated to our circumstances; it is very insensitive.”

The Head of Abuja office of Social Action, a non-governmental organisation, Mrs. Vivian Bellonwu-Okafor, said the revelation was another sad commentary in the history of political offices emolument in Nigeria.

A former Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mr Rislanudeen Mohammed, said there was no justification for the N13.5m monthly pay.

But the Senate said there was nothing new in what Sani said.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, in a statement said the figures Sani disclosed were in the public domain.

“Senator Shehu Sani, on the salaries and funds for running of offices of Senators, did not disclose anything new as the figures he gave out about running cost of the offices of senators were contained in various line items and expenditure heads of the budget of the National Assembly, which has been made public,” the statement  said.

Also, the House of Representatives on Sunday said the issue of the total earnings of legislators had been “over-flogged” in Nigeria.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said, “The legislature had addressed the issue several times.”

Namdas, who spoke for the House, also declined to give what each members of the House earned as running cost.

Punch 

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco with effect from June 4, 2018.

In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, said the new excise duty rates were spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products.

The minister said the new excise duty regimes followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.

According to her, the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to achieve a dual benefit of raising the government’s fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.

“The Tariff Technical Committee (TCC) recommended the slight adjustment in the excise duty charges after cautious considerations of the Government’s Fiscal Policy Measures for 2018 and the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Technical Assistance Mission on Nigeria’s Fiscal Policy.

“The effect of the excise duty rates adjustment on trade and investment was also assessed by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and it adopted the recommendations of the TTC.

“Furthermore, peer country comparisons were also carried out showing Nigeria as being behind the curve in the review of excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco.”

Following the president’s approval, Mrs. Adeosun said the new excise duty rate on tobacco was now a combination of the existing ad-valorem base rate and specific rate while the ad-valorem rate was replaced with a specific rate for alcoholic beverages.

“For alcoholic beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices,” she said.

“This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis (UCA) for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages.

“For tobacco, the government will maintain the current ad-valorem rate of 20 per cent and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices.”

Under the newly approved excise duty rates for tobacco in addition to the 20 per cent ad-valorem rate, each stick of cigarette will attract a N1 specific rate per stick (N20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018; N2 specific rate per stick (N40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019; and N2.90k specific rate per stick (N58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.

The Minister explained that Nigeria’s cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand, as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in Gambia.

The new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages cuts across Beer & Stout, Wines and Spirits for the three years 2018 to 2020.

Under the new regime, beer and stout would attract N0.30k per centiliter (Cl) in 2018 and N0.35k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020.

Wines would attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for Spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2.00k per Cl in 2020.

The minister added that the new excise duty regimes are in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) directive on the harmonisation of member-states’ legislations on excise duties.

It would be recalled that the ECOWAS Council of Ministers had at its 62nd and 79th Ordinary Sessions in Abuja in May 2009 and December 2017, respectively, issued directives on the harmonisation of the ECOWAS Member States’ Legislations on Excise Duties.

The directives seek to harmonise member-states’ legislations on excise duties of non-oil products and also stipulate the scope of application, rate of taxation, taxable event and amount.

PT

The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not promise an absolute crime-free Nigeria while campaigning for the presidency in 2015.

Shehu stated this on Sunday while reacting to criticism triggered by the death of several persons from the herdsmen-farmers crisis and other security issues in some parts of the country.

“I think that nobody, no politician should try to deceive Nigerians by saying that there is a country without lawlessness,” he said during his appearance on Channels Television’s SundayPolitics.

“Even when he campaigned – the President, yes, committed to ridding the country of terror but he would never have said that this country would be 100 per cent without criminality,” he added.

Shehu, however, said that the Federal Government is working hard to ensure the safety of the lives and property of Nigerians in all parts of the country.

As part of efforts to find a lasting solution to the killings, he further gave a brief on President Buhari’s scheduled visit to Benue State on Monday, March 12, having visited Taraba.

The presidential aide recalled that a statement was issued to the effect that the President was embarking on the visits after he had received all the reports he had commissioned.

He added that President Buhari believed it was time to go around and see things on the ground and make important decisions on what to follow.

On the President’s engagement in Benue, Shehu said: “The programme, as it stands now, is as we had it in Taraba. There will be a meeting of stakeholders in the State House.

“The President will listen to all the parties in the conflict and thereafter, he will deliver his own homily and, of course, sympathies to the people over the unfortunate losses of persons and property.”

He further faulted claims that the President’s visit to the state is politically motivated, saying his principal was engaging in more of acting than talking to stop the killings.

“I would have thought that if he had intended to inject politics into it, he would have been on the plane the morning after the incident,” Shehu said.

“But he chose to act, rather than to talk and as you have seen yourself over this period of time, there was intervention by law enforcement, there was intervention by NEMA and aid agencies.”

The President’s spokesman further took a swipe at a group of people whom he accused of leveraging the tragic incidents to score political points.

According to him, “They are just celebrating and exalting over all of these matters instead of coming together so that we can solve the problems.”

Daily Post

The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sitting in a plenary session have elected Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji of Nigeria as President of the Court for a three-year term with immediate effect.

Judge Robert Fremr from the Czech Republic was elected First Vice-President with Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France as Second Vice-President.

‘I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously. I look forward to working together with them as well as with all the judges, all the Officials and the staff of the Court in a spirit of collegiality.

 I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously

I also look forward to collaborating with the Assembly of States Parties, civil society and the international community at large, acting together to strengthen and reinforce the Rome Statute system, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of which we celebrate this year’, President Chile Eboe-Osuji stated following the election.

‘I am also grateful to the previous President, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and Vice-Presidents, Judges Joyce Aluoch and Kuniko Ozaki, for their work and leadership,’ he added.

Background of Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji.

Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji was born in Anara in Imo State, Nigeria, on September 2, 1962.

He obtained his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

He obtained his master of laws degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and doctor of laws degree from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986 and practised briefly there.

After achieving his Master’s degree from McGill in 1991, he worked as a barrister in Canada. From 1997 to 2005.

During his stay in Canada he worked as a barrister and law lecturer.

Judge Eboe-Osuji worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as prosecution counsel and senior legal officer to the judges of the tribunal. From 2005 to 2007.

Working for the Special Court for Sierra Leone as senior prosecution appeals counsel in 2007/08 and returning to the ICTR from 2008 to 2010 as Head of Chambers, he became the Legal Advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2010.

He has authored two books and numerous law journal articles in international law.

On 16 December 2011, he was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court. He won the office in the fifteenth ballot in the Assembly of States Parties with 102 votes.

The Nigerian born judge in 2014 recused himself as a member of the bench that tried the case involving Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who was standing trial with his vice William Ruto for crimes against humanity following the Kenya’s post election violence in 2007.

The work of the ICC Presidency:

The Presidency – consisting of the President and the two Vice-Presidents – plays a key role in providing strategic leadership to the ICC as a whole.

The Presidency coordinates with the other organs and seeks the concurrence of the Prosecutor on matters of mutual concern.

In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC’s governing treaty, the Presidency is responsible for the proper administration of the Court, with the exception of the Office of the Prosecutor.

The Presidency oversees the activities of the Registry and provides input into a broad range of administrative policies affecting the Court’s overall functioning.

Furthermore it conducts judicial review of certain decisions of the Registrar and concludes Court-wide cooperation agreements with States and international organizations.

Africanews 

INTRODUCTION
In a few weeks, it’ll be seven years since Senator Ibikunle Amosun took over Ogun State as Governor. He came with the slogan “Mission To Rebuild Ogun State” (MITROS). His promise was to ‘rebuild’ the State in all critical sectors - education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, employment generation, community development, empowerment of women, creating enabling environment for business, etc.

Having spent his first term and another three years out of the second and final term in office, all that Governor Amosun has got to offer Ogun State are already manifest. We all have seen Amosun’s very best, we’ve seen his MITROS - warts and all!

WHY THE RESCUE MISSION?: FACTS AND FIGURES
Besides the normal recurrent expenditure, which has been consistently high under the Amosun Administration, about 90 percent of what remained for capital expenditure has been spent on expansion of very few existing urban roads in a few locations in the State. Out of a total of 2,545 kilometers of state (Trunk B) road across the State, Governor Amosun has spent almost N300 billion to expand a total of 347 kilometers. This represents a paltry 13.6 percent of state roads crying for attention. Virtually all internal (Trunk C) roads in every city, town and village in the State have become impassable. This is the case because all federal allocations to Local Governments (LGs), as well as their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) are seized by Amosun using the instrumentality of a law he enacted immediately he got into office for what he described as State/LG Projects Joint Account.

Apart from all other sectors neglected due to this mono-focus on urban road expansion which, in real terms, adds little or nothing to the GDP of Ogun State, the real tragedy is the huge debt Amosun will be leaving for all of us and our children to settle in at least the next 30 years.

The incompetence and irresponsibility of the current government are vividly captured in the 2016 Financial Statement of the State published in some national newspapers on December 28, 2017. In that Statement, Ogun State had a total revenue of N114.8 billion. From this figure, FAAC allocation from Abuja was N32.6 billion, IGR N71.5 billion, and others (not specified - most probably short-term loans from banks) N10.7 billion.

From this revenue of N114.8 billion, N70 billion (or 61 percent) went on recurrent expenditure in 2016. While salaries and emoluments took N39.5 billion, overhead costs consumed a whooping N13.8 billion, with debt servicing taking away N16.7 billion (this amounts to N1.39 billion monthly).

From the figures above, it would be seen that only N44.8 billion was available for capital expenditure. To appreciate the level of incompetence and corruption of the Amosun government, I’ll cite two roads that are typical of the road expansion projects executed by it.

1. OGTV-Brewery junction road with a distance of 8.7 km at a total cost of N17.2 billion and per/km cost of N1.98 billion.

2. Sagamu-Benin Express junction/Oba Erinwole junction road at a total cost of N11.87 billion and per/km cost of N1.7 billion.

If the total amount available for capital expenditure in a typical year (as it was the case in 2016) was N44.8 billion, how does anyone justify spending N1.98 billion to expand one kilometer of an existing road with no strategic importance or the potential to boost the local economy? At that rate, it means the whole N44.8 billion could expand a total of only 22.6 kilometers in a budget year out of the 2,545 km Trunk B roads and tens of thousands Trunk C roads needing attention.

Now, the reported costs of the road projects are another matter entirely. The Lagos-Ibadan express road being executed by the Federal Government is 124 km at a cost of N167 billion, which translates to N1.35 billion/per kilometer. While the Sagamu-Lagos end is 8 lanes, the Sagamu-Ibadan portion is 6 lanes. Apart from the width of the FG’s road, the construction is a total overhaul of existing road with massive excavation and very thick concrete and asphalt overlay that are several times the volume and dimension of any of Amosun’s roads. Yet, the FG’s road is far cheaper than what is delivered to us in Ogun state.

The foregoing is the very reason there are no passable roads in the towns and villages of Ogun State outside of the 300+ km in the few urban locations. It is the reason the education and health sectors have deteriorated so badly. It is the reason unemployment is at its worst in the history of the state. It is the reason the 7,334 CDAs and 55,000 cooperative societies in the State receive no attention whatsoever from the government. It is the reason only one out of the 22 so-called Model Schools started 6 years ago is operational. It is the reason the government is owing civil servants 18 months salary deductions and 4 years of backlog in gratuities and pension. It is the reason so many manufacturing concerns in Sango Otta, Agbara, Igbesa, Akute, Ogijo, Mowe and Ibafo axis have shut down and retrenched thousands of workers because there are no motorable roads to their factories. It is the reason agriculture receives no tangible government support and it is the basis of the lie and fraud called MITROS rice. It is the reason all the taps hitherto serviced by public pipe-borne water are dry. It is the reason the whole economic environment of Ogun State is so dreary and mournful.

THE DEBT OVERHANG
In the 2016 Financial Statement referred to earlier, the government reported a total debt stock of N113.2 billion, being internal and external loans. This is partial reporting and concealment of facts. Non-flow debts of liabilities to workers and pensioners, outstanding payments to contractors and suppliers are not included. Informal estimates have it that total non-flow debts are about N150 billion. With the interest-based debt of N113.2 billion, the $300 million (= N109 billion) World Bank loan recently and dubiously approved for Amosun by the National Assembly, the current government will be leaving a whooping N372 billion debt overhang for Ogun residents to sort out for the next two generations. For, if the debt repayment rate remains at the N1.39 billion per month level of 2016, it’ll take a minimum of 30 years to settle the debt at a conservative single-digit interest rate of 9 percent.

‘THIRD TERM’ FOR AMOSUN?
It is ironic, therefore, that the man and his government that promised to rebuild Ogun State at the inception, through their own publicly presented records, which obviously must have been doctored - suggesting that the reality would be worse than presented -  have only succeeded in effecting monumental destruction and degradation on the State. This makes it imperative that conscious and concrete efforts be made to retrieve our State from him and halt its decline. Yet, this is the Governor that has been boasting that he’ll foist on us a successor to continue the pillage and cover his back. Evidently, this man has no worthwhile interest or plan for the State beyond dominating and cornering its resources. For, it is certain that anyone from his camp would definitely continue along his line of bad governance.

It should be obvious to all right thinking observers that Ogun State cannot and should not be allowed to continue under the tutelage of Governor Amosun and his ilks in All Progressive Congress (APC), as the party and its standard bearer have shown themselves as incapable of rebuilding Ogun State as promised. And in the light of the stark evidence staring us in the face about the level of denudation that the State has been subjected to under the APC government, it should be the responsibility of all Ogun State indigenes and residents to work assiduously to see that APC is prevented from further mounting the saddle of governance in the State. The case against APC cannot be made better than the way the current government has misused its mandate.

NEITHER APC NOR PDP
Incidentally, it is not only APC that should be consciously prevented from governance in Ogun State. Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in his celebrated open letter on the current APC-led government at the federal level has this to say on the two leading political parties in the country at the moment: “I have had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties - APC and PDP - were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my view. The recent show of PDP must give grave and great concern to lovers of Nigeria … If neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria (and we must painfully add Ogun State here) at this crucial and critical time, what then do we do?” We know all men and women of goodwill in Ogun State want the best for the State and would want to stop in its tracks the bad governance which the former President has remarked as basic characteristics of both APC and PDP. The former President, has of course, recommended the urgent need for people of goodwill across Nigeria to come together and present an alternative to both discredited parties which have woefully failed our people and pauperised them. I offer myself to be part of this new crop of leaders in Ogun State.

I believe we in Ogun State, having been witnesses and victims of the deleterious effect of the high-handed and pernicious rule of the APC-led government in the State in the last seven years, have an abiding duty to come together to rescue the State from falling further into morass or getting into the hands of those who only know how to prey on the State or those who are so poor in everything that the only thing they have is money with which they think they could lord it over the good people of the State.

NOW THE REAL DEAL
We have the capacity to prevent further denudation in the State and it should be our responsibility to ensure that the State is put back on the path of development that was its hallmark under the tutelage of its founding fathers like the late Governor Olabisi Onabanjo. The time to act is now! This is why it has become imperative for me to ask all men and women of goodwill in Ogun State to rise up and join me in this onerous task of rescuing our State from the present miasma of hopelessness to which it has been consigned by those currently superintending over its affairs and their ilks who are seeking to perpetuate the hopelessness. The time to rescue Ogun State is now. We have a duty to rescue the State and I am pledging myself to this task even as we are sure that SUCCESS would be ours. Omo Ogun, ise ya!

• For a well thought-out programme of action on how to effect a new deal for our people in Ogun State, kindly visit:www.sinakawonise.com.ng

‘Sina Kawonise (SK) is an Ogun State gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)

Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal government of failing to protect the 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram from Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe state.

The former Vice President said the APC government failed to use 150,000 policemen guarding VIPs to protect the abducted schoolgirls.

In a chat with ThisDay, the Waziri of Adamawa described government’s failure to protect the girls as ‘carelessness.’

He called on the authority to take firm action to forestall a recurrence in the country.

According to Abubakar, ”Let me paraphrase Oscar Wilde and say that to lose one set of girls to Boko Haram may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose another set, looks like carelessness.

”As an opposition party, the APC was vocal to the point of exploiting the issue of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping. They did not cut the Jonathan administration any slack.

”They criticised that government every step of the way and some may even claim that they undermined the then government’s efforts at resolving that unfortunate incident.
”So, it is rather surprising that a set of people who were so unsparing in their critique of the previous government would be in a situation whereby they have allowed these same terrorists to kidnap 110 girls.

”What would I have done differently? Recently, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro, revealed that 150,000 policemen were guarding various elites and those we know as ‘big men’.

”If I had my way, I would have recalled all of those 150,000 policemen who are not performing core police duties and send them to provide security for every school in the North-East region. That to me would be a better use of their time and services.

”We already know that Boko Haram has an agenda to cripple Western education in Nigeria. So, how could we have left those schools unguarded? Why should the police be guarding VIPs who can afford personal guards and leave vulnerable girls unguarded?

”We are spending billions trying to encourage girls to go to school only to allow them be abducted by terrorists. I condemn these abductions and I urge the federal government to take firm action to ensure that it would never reoccur in Nigeria.”

DailyPost 

A National Executive Committee, NEC, member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulrahman has disclosed that some ex-military officers and politicians are reforming the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, into an organized and effective political force ahead of the 2019 elections.

Mohammed, a former political secretary of the Northern socio-cultural group, ACF and an international security surveillance consultant since the time of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, revealed to Sunday Sun in an exclusive interview last Tuesday that three Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stalwarts have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SDP.

According to him, all the retired soldiers in Nigeria, whether under Obasanjo, Babangida, the retired soldiers, ex-military officers are the people leading the SDP back to light.

“They are getting ready. If 2019 proves to be a herdsman issue and a Buhari power confrontation… all the former soldiers will set up a group that will deal with Buhari and every other person in Nigeria that is creating problem. So, they should not just look at SDP simply,” he added.

Mohammed also addressed other pressing national issues facing Nigeria and disclosed that the government was planning a firm official action to be taken against the media in Nigeria.

Recently, PMB appointed Tinubu to bring about an end to the crises in the All Progressives Congress, APC, by reconciling the warring factions in the party. I’ll like to have your thoughts on that.

I think Buhari may have the honour to be president of Nigeria, but I think he is very bereft of political wisdom, a man lacking, very lacking…the poverty of political wisdom is afflicting him.

Can you break that down?

He is suffering from the poverty of political wisdom. That is the simplest I can put it and I think Nigerians will understand this.

Is it because he appointed Tinubu as the man to reconcile the warring factions in the party?

Yes. You have abused a man and disparaged him. A man led you to success…I was one of those who insisted…you remember during the alliance when they were having a meeting in Abuja, the first alliance meeting when I held a press conference in Kaduna that Babangida now owns 51 per cent of ACN of Tinubu and that I was there when it happened, then Buhari said the meeting was inconclusive and that the alliance will not hold. They went to polls after then and he failed woefully. It was then that Aliko Mohammed and the rest of them called me and begged me to use my spirituality to…

Let’s address this present issue rather than what happened in the past.

I was trying to let you know the genesis of the reason why Buhari is suffering from the poverty of political wisdom. The magic which Tinubu brought to the victory of Buhari through the alliance was disparaged, abused and rendered useless  by his nepotism by the way he operated the presidency, neglecting Tinubu completely, never knowing that there will be a tomorrow, never thought of 2019 at that time. Buhari’s political strategists are the most useless ones I have ever known in my life. Even if there is any political strategy for him, there is no political adviser. The person that is supposed to be his political adviser he doesn’t listen to him. He is not even present there. So, most of the infrastructure that the presidency used for leadership and rulership are not present in Buhari’s government because personal common sense and personal uncommon sense and wisdom are the three things that help a leader to be a good leader. So he is suffering from leadership dysfunction because there is no common sense regulated. Nigeria is too big for his small brain. So, he needs a political adviser, he needs strategic adviser. Tinubu brought a big luggage of political wisdom to him. He didn’t use them. From his appointments you can see he never used it. The people they call the cabal are diminishing the effect of Buhari’s capacity and capability to rule Nigeria. They are not helping him.

If you say these things of Buhari what would you say about Tinubu who was that disparaged after victory as you have said who accepted the job of reconciling factions?

Tinubu is a Nigerian. He knows the luggage he brought into ACN and CPC alliance that led to the formation of the APC. The Yoruba nation as a whole may not focus on the fact that Tinubu is a political businessman and can never be a good leader in Nigeria. Tinubu will make one of the worst presidents Nigeria will ever have if he ever goes into that table. It is money he cares about and it is money he knows how to capture, but leadership he cannot. He is so selfish that he can never be a leader of any group of ethnic or tribal collective which is what Nigeria is. He can never be their leader because he likes money too much.

Will Tinubu succeed in reconciling these factions in APC?

No, he will just throw it back on the face of Buhari that sorry APC cannot win election in 2019. So please just stand down your efforts. It’s all Nigerians that gave you the effort because the Yoruba nation will tell Tinubu he is unintelligent. What reconciliation can Tinubu do when he led the entire Yoruba nation to the Villa? Whatever profit they made out of it is not responsible profit. They are hustling profits. There is a difference between responsible profit and hustling profit. Responsible profit is the one you earn as a citizen being nationalistic and patriotic to your nation and government. That is not present.

Would you advise Buhari to re-contest in 2019?

They are bandying the masses they captured on video when he went to Kano, Nasarawa…they are not the people who will come out for voting in elections. It has never worked like that. Have they forgotten the twelve two-third of the Akinjide era? Do you remember that? So because the whole of Kano are in the picture, the whole of Nasarawa and Zamfara are in the video and he has up to 20 million people there doesn’t mean that he would win an election. They are preparing for the greatest of all rigging and post-election violence that Nigeria has ever witnessed in its lifetime as a country. The indicators are all the pictures and videos they are showing of people in one city that welcomed Buhari.

What has that got to do with general election in 2019? How can that be an indication of those going to vote for Buhari if they are not planning to rig an election? It doesn’t imply. The fact that they have put all their weights, thinking, resources and responsibilities on just some people who have gathered in one visit of Buhari and they snap it and start showing Nigerians and some people who think that they are political strategists will say he has already 16 million votes. Those people hardly come out to vote. So if they are not planning to rig an election they will not be grandstanding on this. They should look at the ingredients of progress in Nigeria, economy and leadership. Look at the issue of herdsmen, the unpeaceful situation, the economy, inflation, schools.

We are now in another turn of Chibok in Dapchi, Yobe State. You can imagine that. How can such a man think that he can become president again? Are Nigerians fools? So they are only holding on to illiterates and poor people who want to come out to see a president. They are not thinking about why people go out to line up and vote. And the government wants to disenfranchise those who can vote and disabuse their minds. If INEC is not watched, the materials for voting will not go to where the opposition party or PDP or SDP can win an election. They will be short of election materials. They will concentrate the materials only where Buhari is going to get big votes and they will come out with a decision that Buhari has won the election.

What then is your projection of all those who are now eyeing the presidency?

My projection is a very funny one. Funny in the sense that Atiku is the one who is going to carry the day. But in my vision some people have decided to assassinate Atiku.

Assassinate?

Aren’t herders killing people all over the place? Is that not assassination? No, I am asking you. If a herdsman…they have infiltrated everywhere in Nigeria. If Atiku’s aeroplane gets up, don’t ask me how they are going to know it is Atiku’s aeroplane. Don’t you see herdsmen being driven out of tarmac? Don’t you see herdsmen using telephone all over the place? If Atiku boards a plane and is going up, herdsmen can shoot down the plane. What are you telling me? I was more inclined with NSO (defunct Nigerian Security Organisation), the military security in those days. You know it was when NPN government was going to come in that we converted NSO into three organizations. I wrote the document and I still have the document, the document with which Vision 2010 was written and if you remember Abacha did a national broadcast on Vision 2010. They will stop Atiku. Then out of the blues, emergency, Dankwambo will be asked to take his slot as the presidential candidate.

How will that happen?

That will be worked out, but Dankwambo got interested in the race after my eyesight on the Atiku presidency. Somebody called me from his state and tried to find out how right is the efficacy of my vision and I told him it is 99.9 per cent. So, Dankwambo, whatever it is will be railroaded to that contest to be a president. If they have already zoned the presidency to the North… I don’t know why because when Ekwueme and Shagari were in power, Ekwueme was going to be the next president as the Vice-President, but Buhari did a coup against them. Now, Yemi Osinbajo is favoured to be the next president and he has performed very well when he was Acting President… Nigerians have no doubt that Osinbajo can do it and Osinbajo is saying Buhari is not nepotic.

Let’s look at the position of the Igbo in the equation. The Igbo, especially those in the APC are banking on the fact that if they assist Buhari to realize his second term dream, the Igbo would get the presidency in 2023. What do you think?

(Prolonged laughter) So you have not seen the plan? Haba, my brother. We struggled in Abiola days in the trenches with you. You ought to be seeing it now. They want to give Buhari…they want to revenge what happened to Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election. Do you think any human being, a candidate will ever spend as much money as Jonathan in a presidential election in Nigeria again? They moved the Central Bank pounds and dollars onto the streets. They went section by section of Nigeria…

(Cuts in) I want you to address this issue of Igbo presidency. Is it not feasible in 2023?

They are trying to revenge what happened to Jonathan my friend. They have it in their hearts. That’s why they have come out en bloc to say that Buhari should continue. They want to let him hit the ground badly. They want his political injury not to heal at all. They know that the issue that will make them get Igbo presidency are more than just shouting and talking. It is in the question of attitude. It is in the question of IPOB and all that. It is a question of character. Igbo should look forward to becoming Nigeria’s president if they change their style. Do you remember all the documents in the media about paradigm shift? I started the issue of paradigm shift and I think you did an interview for me at that time. Paradigm shift, age shift, that a young man should be president of Nigeria. It was what I used to help Jonathan become president. I moved against the traditional rulers in the North, the Military establishment in the North and the ACF. I even weakened the political committee of the ACF all for Jonathan to become president of Nigeria. If Jonathan seeks for presidency today, the failure will shock you.

You need strategists and spiritualists who are reading God’s intention to be able to walk somebody into the corridors of power in Aso Rock. I did it for Jonathan and the North and ACF started cursing me to make sure that I and Jonathan never became friends so that I will never benefit from God using me to make Jonathan president. So, I didn’t get a Kobo from Jonathan. That was the first thing he mentioned…

In other words, Igbo presidency is not feasible in 2023?

It is not. It is not. If Igbo would be president they will have to change their style. You don’t use blackmail to become president. You don’t talk about IPOB and become president. As long as there is a faction of Igbo land that thinks about IPOB they cannot be president of Nigeria. It means they will turn the whole of Nigeria to Biafra.

Is that the thinking of the North?

What would you say about the race for the presidency in 2019? What do you think is likely to happen?

(Cuts in) If you meet face to face with Buhari today, what will you tell him?

I will not tell him anything because he doesn’t listen. When the wife talks to me on the social media I always advice her on what would happen to Buhari. There are certain things the Bible and the Quran have prevented us from talking about. The power of the unseen is that of God alone. So we can see certain things about people’s longevity we may never know the day the person will go because only God knows that. But if Buhari contests 2019 the predicament he would face from the diabolical casting of shadow they will do on his life and living, please watch my words very carefully my brother, do not misquote me, the people that are going to fight Buhari, who do not want Buhari to continue as president of Nigeria, are going to confront Buhari spiritually and diabolically. What I have seen in APC’s Chairman’s extension of tenure, because some people have gone to court already to challenge that, is that the court will either stop Oyegun from the extension they did or the APC will break up and not be able to set up an infrastructure that will go into election in 2019. But Nigeria is not Buhari alone. From a contraption, what we have not seen, or envisaged can come up as a contraption of God’s will for Nigeria.

Would I then be right to interpret what you have just said to mean Oyegun’s tenure extension will break APC?

Yes. Absolutely. Very well. I want to be honest with you. I want to be very honest with you. The spirit of Oyegun and Buhari are repulsive to each other. And that cannot be changed. But Tinubu’s spirit is even more amiable to the spirit of Buhari than Oyegun’s. But Tinubu is not destined to be leader of Nigeria.

Some Nigerians may not believe your predictions

Let them not believe me. Let them fight God. Even Saraki has made up with Tinubu now maybe a ticket of two of them can work. It cannot work. Ekweremadu has a better chance of becoming an Igbo president although not in 2023 because the entire political system we are in now are diabolic. Look at what the herdsmen are doing. Look at how we are being ruled, people killed everyday, blood is flowing in Nigeria. So, the entire political alignment is scattered. It will never bear Nigeria any good.

You mentioned SDP earlier as one of the opposition platforms that should watch INEC. Tell me more about the SDP because it has never come up in any political discuss.

You see, Shehu Yar’Adua was a top holder and a prince from the Katsina royal house hold. He was a good, die-hard soldier. All the retired soldiers in Nigeria, whether under Obasanjo, Babangida, all the retired soldiers, ex-military officers are all the people that are leading this SDP back to light. They are getting ready. If 2019 proves to be a herdsman issue and a Buhari power confrontation… all the former soldiers will set up a group that will deal with Buhari and every other person in Nigeria that is creating problem. So, they should not just look at SDP simply. They cannot fight the SDP. They should not even attempt to do so. Let them get rid of their herdsmen, let us have peace. Then everything will be okay for everybody and Nigeria we hail thee.

But SDP is dead and not operating now as a political party that is registered.

Watch what is going to happen, my brother. The people involved, people like Ibrahim Mantu, Jerry Gana, Tunde Adeniran, all these PDP stalwarts are all going into SDP. For God sake, let me tell you, they are the best tacticians that politics has. They are the best strategists in politics in Nigeria. They have held Nigeria under their vice grips at one time or the other. They will be able to institute 2019 properly to a conclusive end, not inconclusive end, please. So, no leader can be that powerful to hold Nigeria prostrate on their knee. No leader has ever emerged like that. If they could get rid of Obasanjo on the third term plan, Buhari should just stay clear and leave quietly. Nigeria will be peaceful. Nigeria will survive.

And you think they will use an unregistered political platform?

All the confrontational institutions in East and South Africa, are they registered parties? The ones in Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, all of them, they are contraptions. The power groups are political parties but the powers that be may not be in political parties. If they are registered as a political party and they create havoc…I am not one of them but I am seeing what they are doing. You see the SDP, do you know that Prof. Jerry Gana, Tunde Adeniran , Ibrahim Mantu have all joined SDP. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SDP already.

Who are the leaders of SDP?

No. I am not going to tell you that. You won’t hear it from my mouth. But I know Atiku is one of them. They contacted Binta Yar’Adua but she said she is not a politician and that her husband is dead now, that the leaders of the party that were close to her husband at that time can go ahead and do what they want to do. But definitely, she is not a politician. Three former Heads of State are in support of this arrangement.

Who are the three?

Oh no, my brother, I can’t tell you. Why are you trying to rail road me into this talk? It is too premature to talk about that. They have three powerful former Heads of State behind them and they have South West behind them.

The three key figures you mentioned- Jerry Gana, Tunde Adeniran and Ibrahim Mantu- are still with the PDP and here you are linking them with the SDP.

They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SDP already. Bukola Saraki is with them. Ekweremadu is with them; Rochas Okorocha is with them, Willy Obiano is with them. That recalcitrant governor that is from Rivers State, Wike is with them. Intimidation; you remember one time I said Buhari should release the people that they have arrested? I said all the people they have arrested let them release them. You don’t arrest the people you want to rule over. That will be his saving grace and protection. But with all the people incarcerated now and the arrests they are making about this thing is going to finish Buhari before he starts reining down the current political establishments in Nigeria. That is the situation. And the Buhari government is planning to clamp down on the media. They should not try it because if the media gets back into the trenches, the government is finished. I am being honest with you. They are going to clamp down on the media. That is what the cabal asked him to do. They feel if they are able to do that they would have effectively cut down Obasanjo and Babangida’s influence on the political journey to 2019. But they are wasting their time.

Let me end this interview by giving you the opportunity to treat the subject matter in the nation that is dearest to you.

What is dearest to me as a subject matter in the nation now is the herdsmen issue. You see, Buhari should stop…there is a difference between herdsmen that are Nigerians of Fulani and herdsmen from North Africa and West African Coast. They are not the same. The herdsmen that are entering Nigeria and carrying AK47 rifles are not the Nigerian Myetti Allah Fulanis. So, Buhari should be honest to his God and protect the Fulanis in Nigeria. Look, the herdsmen that are coming with AK47 are devouring our farmlands. Food will soon become scarce and famine will come in. See how they devour yams and eat everything. Yam is not only all we have but all harvests that they get in the farms before they pass them herdsmen are there. Why are these herdsmen, foreign herdsmen, why are they all over Nigeria? Buhari should reverse their tracks and let them leave Nigeria. We will survive. Nigeria will survive.

The politics of Nigeria and the inter-relationship in our ethnic and tribal collective will be peaceful. Distrust has come into Nigeria seriously. All these things about colonies and others are not Buhari’s business. Let’s leave herdsmen. It is not the Fulani herdsmen that you know, Myetti Allah, no.  It is the foreign herdsmen carrying AK47 and all that. Our Nigerian Fulani herdsmen don’t carry guns. The ones in Zamfara came in from Niger. So, let Buhari take his hands away from that. That is the problem he has. That is the terrible end time disaster that Buhari has. This cattle colony that is being proposed will bring disaster to Nigeria. How many cattle do we have? The table of cattle all over the world I put it on Facebook. I distributed it through WhatsApp. Nigeria is not even in the list of the first 50 countries with cattle in the world. Why has it become a problem for us, killing each other and all that if it is not end time destruction? And all the people who are the main players and actors will be carried away with it because these international Fulani herdsmen have had their problem with every West African country and the only way it was solved was that they were pushed out, banned from those countries.

All over West Africa, from Niger to Burkina Fasso to Senegal, they were banned. Why should Nigeria accept them? And Nigeria is thinking of colonies. Why?  So this is the problem. So that is what is on my mind. Let them ban all these AK47 carrying international herdsmen. Let them leave our country. John Shagaya said it then he died. I am not going to say they killed him because two former Heads of state have called me and said I shouldn’t say anything about it, that they smell a rat. Shagaya told them what has been happening since the Military on this international herdsmen coming into Nigeria. What Shagaya said is in the media. So, they should just ask all the AK47 carrying international herdsmen to leave Nigeria. Then Nigeria will survive. Look at them in Benin, Akure, Ondo, everywhere.

Which time did we ever have enough herdsmen in Nigeria; Nigeria herdsmen as many and numerous to be able to cover up the entire landscape of Nigeria?

Even in Lagos they are there. We are deceiving ourselves. If he doesn’t expel them, if he doesn’t remove them from Nigeria, he himself will be part of the first of the example of the predicament that is going to hit Nigeria on this herdsmen issue. It is a very serious issue. He will be part of God’s intervention to rid Nigeria of this problem that we are faced with because every ethnic and tribal collective pray to the same God. The God we have in Nigeria is not the God of Buhari alone, it is not the God of politicians alone, it is the God of every ethnic and tribal group in Nigeria and they all pray to God and God will listen.  So, they should never think they are going to have a safe landing on this herdsmen issue. Get rid of them now and let Nigeria live the way it was living before. Let them stop killing people that don’t want herdsmen here. Anybody that does not want herdsmen, they kill the person the following week. Why? More blood, more blood. Is this how we are going to live? Trump has explained why we are a dysfunctional country. We live on blood. Those who live by blood shall die of blood.

Sun

Matthew Syed, the British journalist and author, is one of my favourite sports columnists. His article, ‘Why Chelsea fans are doctoring reality over the latest controversy’ (The Times of London, August 17, 2015), readily comes to mind as I ponder over the nature and quality of public debate in Nigeria. Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea coach at the time, had been in the thick of controversy over the way he treated the team doctor, Eva Carneiro. Mourinho publicly chastised her for going on the field to treat an injured player, Eden Hazard, while the team was desperately searching for a winning goal in the dying minutes of a league match against Swansea.

Syed analysed the pattern of reactions among football fans as the incident snowballed into a crisis. While, as expected, Chelsea fans sought to rationalise Mourinho’s action, fans of other clubs were, unsurprisingly, critical of the Special One. Syed then asserted: “The twist, of course, is that had Arsène Wenger engaged in the same behaviour, Arsenal fans would have been falling over themselves to justify it. Ditto with other clubs and fans.” His take is that “managerial behaviour is judged not by what happened, but on pre-existing allegiances… Chelsea fans know that Mourinho was in the wrong… but they defend him out of a sense of loyalty.”

I have been sitting in my balcony, with popcorn on the one hand and soda on the other, keenly observing the patterns of public debate on President Buhari since he came to power. You would find the debates quite amusing if you are a FIFA-badge spectator like me. There are people who think Buhari can do no wrong. And there are those who think he can do no right. On the other side of the hemisphere, there are those who believe Jonathan has never done anything good in his life, and there are those who insist he has never done anything wrong. In fact, the whole game seems to be Jonathan vs Buhari. The match was decided in 2015 but we are still settling the score.

Syed says “self-conscious hypocrisy” is an occasional demand of group cohesion. That is, we overrule our senses to go along with the group. Several experiments have proved that we tend to respond to issues not strictly on the basis of the logic of the facts in front of us but based on the biases in our minds. If a governor pulls down the house of his political opponent for tax default, our responses would be shaped by our disposition to him. If we are sympathetic to him, we would seek to justify it by saying “but that guy should have paid his taxes”. If we are not, we would say: “This is surely political vendetta.” A neutral person would ask: what is the penalty for tax default? Bulldozing?

There is yet another interesting dimension to hypocrisy. Syed, in the same article, recalled a famous experiment by Professor Lee Ross, a psychologist from Stanford University, in the 1990s. Lee took peace proposals prepared by Israeli negotiators, labelled them as “Palestinian proposals”, and asked Israeli citizens to assess them. “The Israelis liked the Palestinian proposal attributed to Israel more than they liked the Israeli proposal attributed to the Palestinians,” Ross said. Logically, Palestinians would automatically dislike a Palestinian-authored proposal attributed to Israel. Both groups would judge proposals not on their merit but according to the identity of who came up with them.

I find the article by Syed so instructive that I must have read it a million times. It has helped me to understand public debate in Nigeria much better, especially the psychology of it. There are issues that I think are so glaring that there should not be much argument on right or wrong. But when you hear people talk, you will be gripped by the fear of God. You support Jonathan so you have to defend him, no matter what. You are Buhari’s fan so you have to behave the part, no matter what. There are people who support or attack blindly because they want to be seen to be right all the time — that their original position was not a mistake. They are always looking for reinforcement.

By the way, I don’t think it is a hidden fact that I am a fan of Buhari. I supported Buhari to be president long before he threw his hat in the ring in 2003. However, I am man enough to admit that things are not turning out well. But to say he has achieved nothing is to go overboard. No single president can transform Nigeria overnight, no matter the grandiose campaign promises. Developmental governance is a relay race, I often theorise. Jonathan did his part and deserves recognition and commendation. Buhari is building on many of Jonathan’s achievements, as seen in railway, agriculture and anti-graft war. Is that too much to admit? Is it not about Nigeria, after all?

One thing that discourages me about public debate in Nigeria is the dominance of duplicity. It easily blinds us. I can give an example straightway. Jonathan went to dance “Azonto” in Kano after the Nyanya bombing in 2014. Four years later, Buhari went for an extravagant wedding in Kano after the Dapchi kidnappings. Jonathan’s aides did not see anything wrong in the Kano rally convened to welcome Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau to PDP while Nigeria was bleeding. In 2018, Buhari’s social media aide said the president was an adult and could decide to go anywhere he liked. Are you getting me? That is group allegiance at work. Nigeria takes the back seat in the reasoning.

I’m running out of space, so I will now rush my argument. First, I surrender to the fact that bias is human and universal. It is not peculiar to Nigerians. I will, also, not dispute the fact that partisanship is always a factor in public debate. We tend to go with group dynamics in advancing our arguments irrespective of the facts. Three, we cannot legislate on people’s emotions. We live in a world of opinions and no matter how annoying we find some people, we have to defend their freedom of expression. However, I am beginning to think public debate needs to be “hijacked” by a third force — I mean critics whose primary loyalty is to the progress of Nigeria, no matter who is in power.

No commentator is perfect. We all wear goggles. But some goggles are darker than the others. I benefit tremendously from reading and listening to the intellectual contributions of those who look at issues more dispassionately, suppressing ethnic, religious and partisan allegiances. But many commentators are not capable of controlling their jaundice. In the Fulani herdsmen impasse, for instance, it is so predictable to know where people, including government officials, will pitch their tents. We make it look like a killing competition. The critical issues of deforestation, insecurity in the land, anarchy and weak law-enforcement are not dominating discourse.

Can any society make progress when their collective reasoning is so narrow and lacking in intellectual rigour? I would think the issue that should bother Nigerians the most is that human lives are being lost unnecessarily and the government owes each and every one of us the duty of providing security and ensuring that justice is done to lawbreakers. I would readily accuse Buhari of being lethargic in the herdsmen affair. He deserves to be thoroughly criticised for that. In fact, there are enough issues on the ground for which he should be properly criticised. I can list a dozen instantly. But why hate a man because of his religion and ethnicity? Why?

We need to examine our collective reasoning. Nigeria can never be better than the collective reasoning of Nigerians. Everybody cannot reason alike, but we can reason together. I understand that elections are around the corner and politicians must politick to remain in office or gain control of power. I know.

However, we need to birth a new political mindset that emphasises a common loyalty to the development of Nigeria. We need men and women who, after voting for whoever they like, will continue to insist on good governance — whether or not the winner is their preferred candidate. This group of Nigerians must overwhelm the cults of partisans in the public sphere.

I am aware that those who refuse to be blinded by sectional emotions stand the risk of being accused of “sitting on the fence” or being “naïve”, but then there is always a price to pay for your convictions. You should prefer to be abused for having a bias for national cohesion and development. Our collective thinking, as things stand, is very detrimental to our progress. The wrong people are controlling the airwaves.

We cannot be reducing the whole debate about Nigeria to Jonathan vs Buhari. For all you care, Buhari and Jonathan will pass away. Presidents will come and presidents will go. Nigeria will remain. If we are wise then, our priority should always be Nigeria.

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AND FOUR OTHER THINGS

‘FISCAL FEDERALISM’

Lagosians are having a foretaste of “fiscal federalism” as higher taxes have been introduced by the state government. The vehicle licence for a 16-tire trailer will now cost N200,000 — up from N8,750! You could pay a fee as high as N50,000 for sinking a life-saving borehole at home! Land use charge is heading for the skies! But why are advocates of “true federalism” protesting? When oil-producing states begin to keep their petrodollars, taxation is going to be fastest way to make up for the lost revenue in most states (or is it regions) of the “true federation”. It’s not only northern Nigeria that will pay the price, as the spiteful campaigners think. You ain’t seen nothing yet, guys. Reality.

THE MONEY MACHINE

Finally, a senator has revealed what they “earn”. Senator Shehu Sani says every senator gets N13.5 million monthly, which they “account” for (LOL), and another N700,000 they don’t account for. Of course, principal officers collect more. There is also the N200 million for “constituency project”. Long ago, we heard about blackmail money under the pretext of “oversight” function. Failure to play ball will lead to public hearings, probes and resolutions. There is also “prepaid” budget padding — under which MDAs pay “cash down” to have their budgets handsomely inflated. Many lawmakers even nominate contractors or do contracts. We are a bunch of jokers in this country. Disgusting.

AJAOKUTA STEALTH

I was fascinated by the recent “public hearing” on Ajaokuta Steel Company. Ms Natasha Akpoti, a lawyer, made a depressing presentation on the history of the project. But she missed it when she said it should not be privatised. She didn’t name a single company that is well run by government. We that can’t run refineries will run a steel mill? Are you joking me? She made me laugh when she said foreigners should not run the mill because it can produce guns. She probably doesn’t know Nigeria actually imports arms from foreigners! As it has now turned out, the lawmakers, in fact, approved N2bn for the concessioning and are now opposing it after “public hearing”. Nigeria!!!

PEACED OFF

The National Assembly is hell-bent on turning a private security outfit, called Peace Corps, into a government agency. At this rate, the lawmakers will soon upgrade Arksego and KingsGuard to parastatals. President Buhari did the right thing by withholding assent to the bill. If Nigeria is under-policed, the logical thing to do is strengthen the police force — both in numbers and with modern systems that reduce the physical presence of police everywhere. But to create yet another body, after NSCDC, and keep bloating the huge public service is not what we need now. Whenever we have a challenge in Nigeria, we always think the solution is a new law or new agency. Warped.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Mr. Alfa Mohammed, tells TOBI AWORINDE that the party will form the majority in the National Assembly before the 2019 elections

Can you confirm that some governors and senators are set to defect to your party?

First of all, you know there is a leadership vacuum created by the two bigger parties – the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress – as a result of bad governance. That led to a situation where Nigerians were disillusioned and the search for an alternative platform commenced. So, likeminded Nigerians from the political class and the civil society organisations came together and began the search for a new political platform that is credible and capable of ushering in a credible government that will implement the people’s programme. It is a fact that five governors and 35 senators have been meeting and they have endorsed this coming together. They are strongly behind it and it does not end there; others will also begin to join as soon as the time permits. It has to do with strategy. So, it is a fact that we have those numbers that we have been meeting with for some time, and for strategic reasons, their names will not be mentioned now.

So, there is that consensus of opinion by a majority of those who want to aspire to political offices in 2019 that they are at home with the Chief Olu Falae’s leadership.

How can the SDP survive in a political climate dominated by the APC and the PDP?

The party (SDP), as you know, has a long history. It has won elections in the past at governorship level and even at presidential level. This long history has also contributed to the factors that have led to the adoption of the SDP. The party, as it is now, despite the fact that it is an opposition party, has a broad base. As I speak, if you go to Delta State, the SDP has members in the state assembly. If you go to the North-Central states of Adamawa and Taraba, we have members in the state assemblies. Even nearby here in the Suleja Local Government Area (Niger State), out of the 10 councillors, the SDP has three. So, you can see that it is not a regional party. So, all these factors contribute in large portion to earning the SDP the endorsement of Nigerians. I say the endorsement of Nigerians because those who sat in Ladi Kwali hall and endorsed the SDP last week (penultimate) Thursday as the third platform to be used to usher in a credible and people-oriented government in 2019.

Do you enjoy the backing of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, being the most prominent advocate of a third force?

As far as the SDP is concerned, we have been using the words ‘third force’ all along. Even now, in some of our write-ups, our national chairman has continued to use ‘third force’, saying we are the third force. So, it is not because (former) General Obasanjo mentioned in the past few weeks that the words ‘third force’ are coming to the vocabulary of Nigerians. It has always been our watchword since the appearance of the SDP. But all the same, I would not say we don’t enjoy the backing of (former) President Obasanjo, though he has not come out openly (to express support for SDP). But I can confirm to you that at all the meetings that led to the emergence of the SDP as the adopted third force; some of the members of Obasanjo’s coalition were there. The National Intervention Movement — Dr. Jahlil Tafawa-Balewa; the South-West Coordinator of the NIM, Dr. Olu Agunloye, and so on — were there. Then, you have Sani Garba, who is a staunch member of the coalition; he was there. In fact, he gave the closing remarks.

In Chief Obasanjo’s organisation, members were present and I think it won’t be wrong if I say that the organisation was represented at the endorsement ceremony of the SDP. The organisation has not made an open declaration but we have a lot of them coming. Very soon, when we are stabilised, one by one, the organisations will visit the party secretariat and make open declarations. It is a mass movement that we have now; the SDP has become like a mass movement in Nigeria. Since that weekend when the adoption took place, so many people have been trooping into this party. The traffic of new members has become so high and it has never happened in the history of Nigeria.

In fact, yesterday (Tuesday), a chieftain of the APC in Adamawa State, Emma Bello, defected to the SDP. He is a former governorship aspirant and a former member of the House of Representatives. Similarly, today (Wednesday), about seven former commissioners in Minna (Niger State) had discussions with me, and that is what is happening all over the country. In the next few weeks, you will see a great surprise. You will see the influx of progressive-minded Nigerians into the SDP; not from the political class alone but even from civil society organisations, youths and even market women.

No. For the first time, let me make it a bit clear: For the governors, three are from the PDP and two are from the APC. That is the most I can say. I have not mentioned this to any correspondent. For the senators, they are mixed and, as of this morning, our contacts in the National Assembly informed me that people have signified their interest and they have advised on what we should do again. By the time we finish all the arrangements, I assure you that the SDP will become the majority in the National Assembly before the election, and I am sure of what I am telling you. It is the truth. People have come to discover that there is the need for a third force. The PDP has disappointed Nigerians and Nigerians. In the quest for a change, they went for the APC, believing that it would be the messiah they were waiting for. Regrettably, the PDP was like Egypt, where the Jews were enslaved. And it was like the APC took Nigerians to the wilderness and abandoned them. So, Nigerians now are at a crossroads, whether to go back to slavery or remain in the wilderness.. The SDP is therefore the vehicle that will drive Nigerians to the Promised Land, insha’Allah.

Are the defectors from the same region?

They are from different regions. This movement is about all the regions now. I was at Hot FM this morning. If you listened, you would have heard different calls coming in from Sokoto, Katsina, Calabar and so on. It is a mass movement. What is happening now can be likened to a football. You know the best time to unite Nigerians is during football. Another source of unity for Nigerians now would be the SDP. Nigerians will be united in the manner they are united during football (matches). The SDP’s quest is to drive Nigerians to the Promised Land.

Which presidential candidate will you put forward to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari?

We have not got to that level, but we assure you that not only presidential aspirants, we will educate the delegates in all the primaries. We will educate every Nigerian that is involved in elections on the need to vote and elect credible and competent candidates because that is the first source of problems. When you elect people that are not competent, you run into problems. There are people who are already going around signifying interest, but we have not reached that level now. When the party is stabilised, everybody is allowed to aspire but the delegates will decide. We will offer a level playing field to everyone, but I can assure you that by the end of the day, we shall be guided by the imperative of credibility and competence in the choice of the leaders that will lead Nigeria from 2019. That is very important and I can assure that that is what will happen. There will not be sentiment this time around. Nobody will be elected based on sentiments. No! You will be elected based on your integrity and your capacity to perform.

How will your party deal with the problem of contamination from the mass movement of the same old opportunistic defectors?

It is not as if there are no credible, progressive-minded people in other parties. Also, it does not mean that everybody that moves into the SDP is interested in contesting elections. Some people are only desirous of a Nigeria that everybody can be proud of. Some people are only interested in helping to enthrone a credible leader. So, it is not everybody that wants to conduct election. The major concern of the majority of people is to have good government where you can go to your house and sleep with your two eyes closed; where you can go to your village and celebrate Christmas without fear of being kidnapped; where your son will graduate from the university and have a job that he can be proud of. These are what so many people want. And how many elective positions are there to contest compared to the volume of people moving to the party? So, it is not an issue.

Prof. Jerry Gana was a minister and all of us know that he performed creditably. So, it does not matter whether every government engages him. You cannot remove the popularity from Prof. Gana in the Nigerian politics; you cannot divorce him from the politics of the Middle Belt. So, he is an electoral asset to any party. He was a founding member of the PDP; the same goes for Prof. (Tunde) Adeniran. When people like Prof. Gana and Prof. Adeniran leave a party, the soul of that party is gone.

Punch