PROLOGUE
The outgoing year has largely been shaped by political transitions and economic turmoil occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy coupled with the fluctuation in foreign exchange rates.
Politically, the country experienced changes of baton at the federal and across state levels. Some of the political parties lost states that they had controlled since the beginning of the present political dispensation. Apart from the general election,the year also witnessed the conduct of some off-circle elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states.
The year kicked off with the economy walking on bended knees following the scarcity of new naira notes and the deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the citizens to stop using old naira notes. Businesses and service providers recorded massive losses as they could not access cash to carry out their activities. Those who could not cope closed shops, causing many to lose their jobs. A number of bank customers slept at ATM points to get money causing some people to die of exhaustion. Depraved business people latched onto the opportunity and turned the naira to a commodity that sold to the highest bidders.
The anguish of the people was taken away when the Supreme Court ruled that the old and new notes should continue to be used simultaneously.
The month also witnessed fierce political campaigns among the dominant political parties- the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party especially for the presidential election.
The campaigns took a different turn compared to what obtained in the past when just two major political parties vied for the most coveted political seat in the land.
In February, the political tension in the country came to a climax with voters going out to vote for their respective presidential candidates.
Aside from the election in February, the month also experienced some high and low points economically. The country’s money supply (M3) rose to N53.3 trillion in February 2023 from N52.16 trillion recorded at the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, the inflation rate climbed to 21.91% in the month representing a 0.09% point increase when compared to the 21.82% recorded in the previous month.
The month of March was ushered in with the declaration of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the keenly contested February 25 election.
Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku Abubakar of the PDP came second with a total of 6,984,520 votes.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
As the tension generated by the presidential election fizzled out, political hostilities shifted to the states in the course of the month as candidates of various parties entered the political ring to do battle for the governorship and house of assembly elections.
The governorship elections were conducted in 28 states.
The tensed political landscape witnessed some comic relief in April when Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Hudu Ari, sneaked into the state governorship collation centre to declare Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed of the All Progressives Congress winner of the governorship poll held in the state.
The REC’s announcement was voided by INEC who summoned him and the Returning Officer, Prof. Mele Mohammed, to Abuja and halted further collation of results of the supplementary election in the state.
Prior to the laughable development in Adamawa, murderous herders had thrown the nation into a mourning mood following the murder of 49 people in Benue State.
The victims who were mourners included the son of the Otukpo Local Government Council Chairman and a police officer. The incident took place at Umogidi village, Enetekpa Adoka district of Otukpo LGA of Benue state.
The country began the month of May on a sour note with the sentence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and Dr. Obinna Obeta at the UK’s Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, to nine years and eight months, four years and six months, and 10 years in prison respectively in the first conviction of its kind under Britain’s modern slavery laws.
After all the brickbats that greeted the outcome of the presidential election, the flag bearer of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn-in as the 16 president of the country on May 29. President Tinubu was sworn in together with his running mate, Kashim Shettima
In the first policy directive of his administration, President Bola Tinubu in his inaugural speech on the day of the swearing in announced the removal of fuel subsidy.
According to him, subsidy can no longer justify its ever increasing costs in the wake of drying resources.
Shortly thereafter, President Tinubu said his government had saved over one trillion naira within two months it ended the subsidy regime.
But the policy was not without some dire consequences. The subsidy removal tripled fuel prices nationwide – from N195 to the current N600, with a resultant astronomical rise in transport, food and other basic needs costs.
In June, the economic situation of the country didn’t get better as the inflation rate accelerated for the sixth consecutive time to 22.79 per cent.
The inflation rate in Africa’s biggest economy rose to a new 17-year high of 22.79 per cent in June 2023 from 22.41 per cent in the previous month.
July began on a controversial note with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) accusing a candidate, Ejikeme Mmesoma (Joy) who had earlier been celebrated to have scored the highest mark in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) of falsifying her result. The candidate made a series of defenses claiming that she was incapable of committing forgery and also alleging that JAMB was out to malign her. At the end of the day, Mmesoma owned up that she altered the result and begged JAMB for forgiveness.
The month also witnessed the election of principal officers of the National Assembly. Senator Godswill Akpabio emerged the 10th President of the Senate after defeating Senator Abdulaziz Yari. Senator Jibrin Barau merged as the deputy. Hon Tajudeen Abbas emerged as the House of Reps Speaker with Hon Benjamin kalu as the deputy.
The federal government made further moves to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal in August by providing states with more cash.
The National Economic Council (NEC) approved the release of N5 billion each to the 36 states.
In the course of the month, the Federal Government filed a 20-count charge bordering on procurement fraud, abuse of office and conferring corrupt advantage on a junior colleague against suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Bitter pills were forced down the throat of Atiku Abubarkar and Peter Obi in September when the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The five-man panel of the Tribunal was led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
On the political scene, The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party, LP, counterpart Peter Obi, continued their quest to wrestle power from President Tinubu when they went to the Supreme Court to challenge the dismissal of their petitions by the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC.
Barely two weeks after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 polls, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, filed 86 grounds of appeal at the Supreme Court to nullify the judgment.
The two candidates in separate appeals asked the apex court to set aside the PEPT ruling and nullify Tinubu’s election, describing the verdict as erroneous.
The eight-month legal battle that followed the declaration of President Tinubu was finally laid to rest in October when the Supreme Court agreed with the September 6 verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, on all counts in favour of Tinubu.
The respite enjoyed by the citizens following the resolution of the presidential election by the Supreme Court was shattered towards the end of month as an explosion rocked the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.
The incident came amid alleged moves by some lawmakers to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The festering crisis was arrested with the intervention of president Bola Tinubu who brokered peace between Governor Sim Fubara and his predecessor cum FCT minister, Nyesom Wike.
In November, political battles shifted to Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states for the off-cycle governorship election.
In Bayelsa, Governor Duoye Diri of the PDP polled a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Timipre Sylva of the APC to get a second term in office.
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State also got re-elected.
APC’s candidate in the Kogi governorship election, Usman Ododo, also won the November 11 governorship election in the state.
December took off on a sad note for the country with the killing of over 80 worshippers in Kaduna following an airstrike by the military. President Tinubu called for a probe of the incident.
The DHQ apologised for the killing, saying, “The military views every civilian death in the cause of operations as a tragedy.”’
A similar tragedy was recorded towards the end of the month when gunmen attacked 15 communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi local government areas of Plateau State on Christmas eve, killing over 150 persons and destroying 221 houses.
Deaths of two high profile people were equally recorded as the month and the year by extension wound up. First to filter in was that of Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu who after a long battle with cancer bowed out amidst eulogies from across the country. Akeredolu was replaced by his deputy, Lucky Ayedatiwa.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, was also reported to have died the same day that Akeredolu, popularly known as Aketi passed on. Akeredolu was 67 years old while Ghali Na’Abba was 65 years old.
