The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Seeking justice for Oyekanmi

    Seeking justice for Oyekanmi

    More than a year after the tragic murder of Taiwo Oyekanmi, 51, an accountant and former Director of Finance and Accounts in the office of Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, the immediate past Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, lamented that his failure to solve the murder was his “only regret” in the state. He was appointed as Commissioner of Police for the state in July 2023. Alamutu, who expressed his regret to journalists, retired on December 9, after a 32-year career in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

    He was quoted as saying, “The only regret I have in this state is that up till now, we have not been able to arrest the person who shot the finance director.

    “That’s the only regret I have and it still boils down to what we are saying, no information, no clues. It took us to so many places, it took us even to Ibadan. That is the only regret I have.”

    Oyekanmi was fatally shot by unidentified armed robbers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, four days after he celebrated his birthday. Inevitably, the tragedy triggered several questions, particularly whether it could have been prevented.

    At the time, Alamutu, said Oyekanmi was in “a homemade bullion van” with a driver and one other person, and they were returning to their office from a Fidelity Bank branch where they had gone to withdraw money when the armed robbery happened on November 29, 2023. “They were supposed to have a police escort, but for certain reasons, the person (policeman) was permitted to travel to attend to some issues,” he stated.

    According to another version, the mobile police officer, Inspector Rasheed Adegbite, who was supposed to be with the bullion van, had travelled to Igbo-Ora in Oyo State the previous day, without permission. The police said he had been arrested for investigation.

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    It was unclear what the police chief meant by “a homemade bullion van,” but the description suggested that the vehicle was not a standard purpose-built bullion van. Indeed, the victim’s elder brother observed in a reported interview: “Will you call what my brother was in a bullion van or contraption? There was no risk assessment whatsoever.”

    Alamutu said the armed robbers’ vehicle had blocked the bullion van, and “five occupants of the vehicle came down, shot at the director and from their vehicle, they brought out a sledgehammer to force the receptacle where the money was kept open and they left with the money.”

    Oyekanmi, the only fatality, was said to have withdrawn N97.335m from Fidelity Bank and N15m from Sterling Bank. The bullion van was said to be carrying N112.335m at the time of the attack.

    Why did he withdraw such a sum? Why was their vehicle transporting such a sum?  In these days of increasingly cashless transactions, why was there such an apparently overriding need for cash? 

    The police suspected the robbery was “an in-house (thing)” because the robbers knew they would need a sledgehammer to break the receptacle where the money was kept. “They must have had information that he was going to take a large amount of money from the bank,” Alamutu said.

    According to him, the driver claimed to have trailed the robbers’ vehicle up to a point “where he lost sight of them.” It was after this that he took the shot director to a hospital.  This was a strange narrative. What was the point of chasing the attackers unprotected? Normally, he should have tried to save the director’s life first.  

    The armed robbery exposed poor security arrangements. It was curious that the absent police escort was not replaced with another guard, leaving those in the bullion van without protection.

    Apart from this, it was puzzling that there was only one guard attached to the bullion van, who happened to be unavailable on the day. If he was available, or if someone else had replaced him, would one guard have been able to protect the occupants of the bullion van from the said five attackers?  Such an approach to security was questionable and condemnable.

     Governor Abiodun described Oyekanmi as “a dedicated, truthful, and diligent official,” adding, “It is indeed a colossal loss for our administration.”  The governor directed the immediate payment of his gratuity, and also instructed the Ministry of Housing to provide his wife and children with one of the affordable houses built by his administration. He told the widow: “Your children, the state will be taking over the responsibility of their education.” However, it can be said that the administration did not do enough to protect him, and possibly prevent the tragedy.

    The Ogun State government announced a reward of N50m for any information that could lead to the arrest of the killers. But there has been no official update on the case since then. None from the state government; none from the police. Are the armed robbers who killed Oyekanmi going to get away with armed robbery and murder?   

    Alamutu said: “My successor will continue from where we stopped because it is important we get the culprits and God will assist my successor.”

    The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the posting of Olanrewaju Ogunlowo as the new Commissioner of Police for Ogun State. It remains to be seen if he will be able to solve the Oyekanmi murder. He is expected to review the investigation of the murder and ensure that it does not end up as an unsolved murder.   

  • Unending cash scarcity

    Unending cash scarcity

    The House of Representatives had cause last week, to take on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the lingering cash scarcity that constrains the citizenry from accessing their basic needs. It directed the apex bank to urgently address the festering cash squeeze if it was not responsible for the shortage.

    The directive followed a motion by Uguru Emmanuel highlighting the economic and social implications of the cash scarcity that has left many Nigerians unable to access cash for their basic purchases. The House further directed its committee on banking regulations to investigate the cash crunch in commercial banks and report back within one week.

    The intervention of the House of Representatives brings back the sad memories of the naira redesign and cash swap policy of the last administration. The CBN had towards the last quarter of Buhari’s regime announced the redesign of the N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes with January 31, 2023 as the deadline for eventual phase out of the old notes.

    It followed the policy up with gradual withdrawal of the old notes to replace them with the new ones. Soon after, the apex bank enthusiastically announced it had withdrawn N1.9 trillion worth of currency outside the banking system within two months of its naira redesign and cash swap policy. Through that intervention, CBN said it had reduced the currency outside the banking system to N900 billion from a whooping N2.7 trillion before the new policy came into effect.

    The bank sold the new policy to Nigerians with a promise that it would combat counterfeiting, improve the effectiveness of monetary policy tools on inflation and mop up excess liquidity.

    But what followed was a scandalous shortage of the national currency. Neither the old naira notes nor the new ones were available to Nigerians as acute scarcity set in. It was such a confused and hopeless situation that many families could not even afford to buy food due largely to the unavailability of cash.

    In the face of the acute and inexplicable cash shortages, Nigerians resorted to buying naira with naira at inflated rates from those who had them. Allegations were freely traded. The CBN claimed it was disbursing enough cash to the commercial banks even as the banks rationalised their inability to dispense cash on insufficient funds received from the CBN. So confused was the situation that the governors of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, all members of the ruling party approached the Supreme Court to nullify the naira redesign policy.

    Before then, it had become clear that the January 31, 2023 deadline for the phase out of the old currency had become a near impossibility. Suffocating challenges compelled Buhari to extend the deadline to February 10, 2023. But that never brought any respite.

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    The Supreme Court in the suit filed by three governors issued an interim order suspending the enforcement of the deadline. It directed that the old and new notes should continue to circulate pending the determination of the suit.

    Curiously and despite the apex court ruling, the CBN insisted that the old notes ceased as legal tender after February 8. Buhari went against the ruling of the Supreme Court when he restored the validity of the N200 notes contending that the N500 and N1,000 notes had ceased as legal tender.

    It was a very confused situation as nobody seemed to know the high-wire intrigues and politics the naira redesign policy had been enmeshed. But partisan politics was easily fingered even as some top contestants alleged it was a subterfuge against their candidacy.

    The confusion snowballed into the general election. But the apex court settled the matter in its March 2023 verdict when it ruled that both the old and new currencies remain legal tender until December 31, 2023. It also nullified the naira redesign policy and declared it an affront to the 1999 constitution. The court declared Buhari’s disobedience of the Feb. 8, order as a sign of dictatorship.

    That was the situation before President Bola Tinubu assumed office and it subsisted after he was sworn in until November 2023 when the new Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi approached the apex court informing it that the federal government had not been able to print sufficient quantity of the new naira notes to be able to withdraw the old ones from circulation. He prayed the court to extend the deadline to enable the federal government print sufficient quantity of the new currency.

    In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, the Supreme Court ordered that the new and old notes should remain legal tender till further notice. It further ruled that the old notes would remain in circulation pending when the federal government puts a process in place after due consultation with the relevant stakeholders.

    That has remained the situation till date. It has been over one year since that order was issued by the policy court. Yet, the federal government has not finished its consultations with the relevant stakeholders. It has also not been able to print sufficient quantity of currency to approach the court to lift its indefinite order.

    That is why the old and new currencies have continued to circulate contemporaneously. But the cash squeeze has refused to abate even with the old and new currencies in circulation. Something must be wrong somewhere. It is curious that after more than a year and half of the current regime, the sad events of the Naira redesign and cash swap policy are still much with us.

     Nothing underscores the gravity of the situation more clearly than the intervention of the House of Representative asking the CBN to address the cash shortages if it has no hand in it.

     But the CBN has continued to assure the public that there is enough cash to meet their needs. Its governor, Olayemi Cardoso’s threat to fine banks not loading their ATMs with cash or hoarding them has failed to change the equation. CBN’s promise of spot checks across banks with a threat to impose penalties on underperforming institutions has been of no discernible effect as cash scarcity persists.

    More disconcerting is the reality that the cash squeeze has persisted even with the anomalous circulation and use of two sets of national currencies that present difficulties of recognition to the general public. Not only are the commercial banks unable to dispense cash, the Point of Sales Operators POS operators exploit the situation to fleece hapless citizens due to additional charges on cash withdraws. Nigerians are at the losing end especially with the excruciating cost of living accentuated by hyperinflation consequent upon subsidy elimination and the floating of the national currency.

    Recent random surveys by some national dailies indicate scandalous inability by the commercial banks to dispense cash either through their Automatic Teller Machines ATMs or across the counter. Those who manage to dispense, pay their lucky customers between N20,000 and N10,000. Others pay nothing even as their ATMs dispense no cash.

    This mocks the CBN cash withdrawal limits of N500,000 and N5 million for individual and corporate bodies respectively. The situation has taken a toll on citizens’ easy access to the basic needs of life and normal business transactions.

    Yes, the naira redesign policy encourages electronic transfers. But ours is still largely an agrarian and poverty ravished economy with a preponderance of illiterate population. Poverty and illiteracy are serious bottlenecks in embracing the modern technology of monetary transactions which electronic transfers entail.

    Even at that, the requisite technological infrastructure that should be in place for such modern transaction methods to operate unhindered is not just there. There are still no bank branches in some local government areas; making it difficult for people especially farmers who sell basic food items in the rural localities to embrace the banking culture. All these are constraints to the cashless policy implementation and they foretell the huge challenge posed by the cash squeeze.

    More seriously, the embarrassing situation has persisted because the federal government is yet to frontally address the challenges thrown up by the naira redesign and cash swap policy suspended indefinitely by the apex court. It remains largely inexplicable that after one year, the government is yet to finish consultations with stakeholders to come up with final policy solution on the issue. It is nothing to cheer.

    This is perhaps, the first time in recent memory a country is operating two sets of national currencies for that long even with dire challenges of recognition they entail. It is high time the federal government moved to resolve this national embarrassment.

  • Forfeited 753 Abuja duplexes

    Forfeited 753 Abuja duplexes

    Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been beating their chests on the final forfeiture to the federal government of a large estate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja comprising 753 duplexes and other apartments.

    The order to that effect was issued by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court, Abuja following an application filed by the EFCC. Before then, the same judge had on November 1, 2024 ordered the interim forfeiture of the estate.

    The anti-graft agency did not disclose the name of the owner or owners of the expansive estate measuring 150,500 metres located on plot 109 Cadastral Zone Lokogoma District, except it belongs to a “former top brass of the government”. The other clue was that the government official which fraudulently built the estate is being investigated by the EFCC.

    The agency was spurred to celebrate because the forfeiture in its calculations represents the largest single asset recovery secured since it was set up in 2003. Even as monetary value is yet to be placed on the 753 duplexes and other apartments, their magnitude and sheer number, stand the asset out in the recovery efforts of the EFCC.

    So, the mood of the agency can be understood. But as refreshing as this recovery effort is, the inability to name the characters behind this monumental fraudulent activity did not sit well with the public.  It was little surprising that allegations of possible cover-up and double standards have since been levied against the agency.

    When this ambivalence to full disclosure is placed side by side the fanfare the agency goes to town naming and publicizing suspects in crimes of even lesser magnitude, its position puzzles the more. It conjures the miserable impression that there is more to the fraud than ordinarily meets the eyes.

    But the EFCC sought to justify its position on the ground that, the proceedings for the forfeiture of the estate are in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which allows legal action on a property and not on an individual especially in a situation of an unclaimed property.

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    It further contended that since the substantive criminal investigation is continuing, it will be unprofessional for it to go to town with the names of the individuals whose identities are not directly linked to any of the title documents of the properties. 

    The resort to legal niceties and moral appeal as the basis for not disclosing the identity of the suspect may sound appealing especially in climes where due process serves as veritable guide for public conduct. But not really here. Not with the reputation of the agency in handling fraud suspects in the past.

    Before now, the EFCC is known to relish in public parading and even medial trial of suspects in very minor cases even when they are yet to be brought before the courts of competent jurisdiction. In November last year, the agency broke into a private hostel occupied by students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State and  arrested 69 students on suspicion of internet fraud.

    They claimed the invasion of the student’s hostel in the middle of the night followed credible intelligence linking it to internet fraud. But that was not all. They ferried the suspects to their zonal office in Ibadan, Oyo State and proceeded to publish the names of the arrested students even before profiling them.

    The publication drew the ire of the public leading to protests and ultimatum for their release from the OAU students’ union. After the intervention of the authorities of the university and subsequent profiling, 59 of the arrested students were released as no evidence of internet fraud was found against them.

    But the harm had been done by the publication and medial trial of the innocent students. This is not an attempt to justify arbitrariness or media trials. But the OAU incident represents a tip of the iceberg in the naming and shaming of suspects by the EFCC when criminal cases are yet to be established against them. So the agency is bound to run into murky waters if it now seeks to hide under legal sophistry and touted professionalism for not disclosing the owner of the estate. Even then, the court proceedings for the asset forfeiture were unambiguous on the top official suspected to own the estate. So, what fear is in there then?

    They know the top official under their investigations. They know the funds with which he acquired the estate were not his legitimate earnings but proceeds of unlawful activities, corrupt enrichment, receiving gratifications, kickbacks and abuse of office. All required to unmask the identity of the owner are readily available. The affidavit named him as Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    So those who read meanings to the reluctance of the EFCC to name the estate owner have strong reasons to do so. Sadly, issues of this nature often nurture public suspicion and mistrust against those in positions of authority. Lack of trust and confidence in public office holders and institutions account largely for the reverses that characterised policy implementation on these shores.

    But that is beside the salient issues raised by that fraudulent transaction. It baffles that such expansive and massive property development program could go on within the seat of the federal government without being noticed by any of the arms of the country’s security architecture. Admittedly, the expansive property was originally meant for mass housing development.

     But the prying eyes of the security agencies should have spotted the time it changed hands especially with the massive movements in human and material capital involved in such huge construction projects. It was either a case of total failure of intelligence or official compromise.

    Curiously, all these happened during the last administration that touted the fight against corruption as one of its cardinal objectives. But how could the fight against corruption have proceeded credibly when the candidature of Ibrahim Magu, the first acting chief executive of the EFCC under Buhari’s regime was twice refused confirmation by the senate?

    That was sequel to a letter from the DSS informing the upper legislative chamber that Magu failed integrity test and would constitute a clear liability to the anti- corruption war.

    Buhari refused to listen to credible intelligence on the unsuitability of Magu’s candidature and allowed him to operate for years without senate confirmation. The fears raised by the DSS were later vindicated by the abrupt and unedifying manner he was arrested from office and detained by the same DSS following mounting allegations. Magu never returned to that office after that arrest.

    That should say a lot on the integrity of the anti-corruption war during that regime. It is not just enough for the anti-graft agencies to wait for financial crimes to be committed before arresting, prosecuting and recovering stolen funds and properties. That is the snag in the current strategy of the relevant agencies.

    The emphasis should be on detection and prevention of crimes. The huge sums of public funds carefully stolen and stashed away by rogue officials masquerading as leaders, signpost failure of fool-proof mechanisms for detecting and preventing crimes before they are committed.

    It is not just enough for the anti-graft agency to brandish statistics of the 3,455 convictions it secured and over N248 billion recovered during the first year in office of its current chairman. These may be relevant but credible intelligence leading to the detection and prevention of crimes will save even more.

    This calls for systemic and institutional reforms that will substantially address the relative ease with which government functionaries loot public funds at their disposal unnoticed. Sadly, Nigeria’s standing in the corruption ladder of Transparency International in the last two years, has continued to indicate the pervasiveness of the malfeasance.

    It is getting increasingly clearer that many of those presiding over our collective patrimony cannot be trusted with public funds. Or, how else do we rationalise the criminal love for money and unbridled quest for property acquisition by one man in a country populated largely, by hewers of wood and fetchers of water?

    It assails public sensibilities. That has been the disconnect accounting for suspicion and lack of trust in government policies entailing sacrifice from the citizenry. That narrative must change for this country to make reasonable progress.

  • Slippery saboteurs

    Slippery saboteurs

    Two striking incidents in November further highlighted corruption in Nigeria’s oil sector and the ironic implication of state actors in crude oil theft. 

    Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, Chairman, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL), a private security firm engaged by the Federal Government to secure oil assets, accused the Nigerian Navy of sabotaging the country’s fight against crude oil theft.

    Investigative journalist and founder of Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) Fisayo Soyombo, who was arrested at an illegal oil bunkering site in Port Harcourt and detained by the Nigerian Army while conducting an undercover investigation, alleged that “known illegal oil bunkerers were bribing different people with various security formations.”

    Allegations of collaboration between members of the country’s security forces and oil thieves are not new. These recent repetitions of the old allegations not only reinforced the narrative but also underscored the failure of the authorities to deal with the alleged collusion.

     After he was released from a three-day detention, Soyombo said media reports of his confinement had forced the army authorities to set him free. “I repeatedly asked them that I need to speak to my lawyer and they denied me and they instructed all soldiers around there that none of them must give me their phones,” he said.

    It is puzzling that after confirming his identity and why he was found at the site, the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, still kept him in detention. The army, he reasoned, “should be interested in ending illegal oil bunkering and should have seen me as a partner.”

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     According to him, the army’s operation had happened because “someone in the security setup was offended that he didn’t get bribed because the illegal bunkerers would bribe people in security. One got annoyed and tipped off others.” He also said: “the illegal bunkerers had said they had settled everyone and the guys who came were the ones that were not settled, and a conversation was going to settle them…”

    The investigative journalist said he “obtained hard evidence by experiencing the entire process. We were to load crude onto a truck and move it to Enugu, a buyer was waiting. Some move it to Enugu, some move it to Anambra or Abia, some go as far as Kano.”

    Before Soyombo’s story, Tompolo had told a story that also raised questions about the war against crude oil theft while receiving the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), led by its President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), at Oporoza, Delta State. According to him, the navy “is working at cross purposes with other government and private security agencies saddled with the responsibility to curb illegal oil bunkering.” He supported his claim with two recent cases of alleged navy operations that went against the war to stop crude oil theft.

    First, he recalled that when men of Tantita intercepted a vessel carrying stolen crude oil in Port Harcourt, they found that personnel of the Nigerian Navy provided escort duties on board the vessel. He said these navy personnel “and others speedily mobilised to the scene with gunboats and other equipment, opened fire on our men and officials of civil defence corps and DSS, who insisted that the vessel could not sail further.” The outcome was that those who were protecting the vessel won.

    He added that a similar incident occurred at Ovwian community in Delta State when naval personnel “also overpowered and subdued Tantita operatives to secure safe passage for another vessel carrying stolen crude.” He declared that the cases of involvement of naval personnel in oil theft were “too many to recount,” adding that the Nigerian Navy “has sacrificed its constitutional obligation for pecuniary benefits.”

    These accusations are bad for the image of the state security forces, which are not expected to work against the country’s interests. However, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, called Tompolo’s allegations “laughable” and “cheap blackmail,” saying, “We are all partners.”

    In July, during an investigative hearing on crude oil theft and revenue losses, Speaker of the House of Representatives Abbas Tajudeen observed that the statistics on crude oil theft were “very alarming,” and its negative impact on the economy “quite monumental.” He noted that between January and July 2024, Nigeria lost about 437,000 barrels of crude oil per day due to theft, vandalism and other criminal activities, resulting in a loss of over $10bn.

    At the same investigative hearing, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Maurice Nnamdi Mbaeri, said crude oil theft and the associated losses had “devastating implications for our economy and national security.” Nigeria has continually failed to meet its daily production quota as set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a result of oil theft, he stated, adding that the situation “not only undermines our revenues but also hampers the provision of essential services that millions of Nigerians rely upon.”

    The SGF also said, since 2020, expenditure aimed at tackling crude oil theft and securing the country’s oil infrastructure had exceeded $1.5bn “allocated towards enhancing surveillance capabilities, securing pipelines, and increasing the presence of law enforcement agencies in critical oil-producing areas.”

    This is why Tompolo’s allegations were not only disturbing but called for urgent intervention by the authorities. The huge spending to stop crude oil theft may well be going down the drain on account of the alleged sabotage by navy personnel.  

    Private security companies, including Tantita, were controversially contracted to secure the country’s oil infrastructure because of poor performance of state actors in the first place. Allegations of collusion with oil thieves worsens the case of poor performance against state actors.

    In November, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced that it had increased oil production to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) and hoped to get to two million bpd by December. The firm’s CEO, Mele Kyari, attributed the improvement to rigorous pipeline monitoring, among others.

    To ensure that the country continues on this path of recovery, the Federal Government must launch an independent investigation regarding Tompolo’s allegations and resolutely pursue the arrest and prosecution of oil thieves and their enablers.

    In November, the Chief of Navy Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, at a media briefing where he was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Rear Adm. Olusegun Ferreira, said in the past four years, the Nigerian Navy “has confiscated over 8.1 million barrels of stolen crude oil… and arrested 392 suspected oil thieves.” It is unclear if state actors were among the arrested suspects.

    To win the war against crude oil theft, the authorities must tackle the claimed collusion between members of the country’s security forces and oil thieves. Or are the saboteurs, particularly state actors, too slippery to be caught?

  • Atiku’s league of democrats

    Atiku’s league of democrats

    Atiku Abubakar is not having peace in PDP, what with the Damagum conundrum. So, he has turned elsewhere for succour: The so-called League of Northern Democrats. If you go through the list of its mainstays, you will know it is the voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau. It is not a league, but a smokescreen for one man: Atiku Abubakar. He has thrown up his façade of followers to give the impression of a new outfit. It’s an old toga dyed anew. It is better named the League of Atiku Democrats. More appropriately, the Smokescreen of Atiku Abubakar. The leader is an Atiku man. His name, Ibrahim Shekarau. He is the man who played coquette in the last election and decided to dump Kwakwanso for Atiku and PDP. His disgrace in Kano still rings through Kofar Mata. Who is the convener? One Dr. Umar Ardo, a historian, who served Atiku as an aide when he was vice president. They have quite a few others, including Namadi Sambo, who pitched his tent with the Adamawa chieftain.

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    LND is the sort of name Atiku would like because it irradiates his irridentist mantra. We cannot forget his bluster in the last election campaigns when he posed as the northern star and asked Arewa to vote its own in a language of vile hegemony. As proprietary northerner, he said the other candidates should not be considered because they are southerners. LND also has some renegades who are bitter that they have been left out of the APC fruit bowl, like one Emmanuel Jime, a failed gubernatorial candidate who was removed as head of the Shippers Council after half a dozen years in the saddle.

    You don’t turn bitterness into a cause. That is becoming a fashion. LND and Atiku are trying to deploy ethnic hubris to pursue personal ambition. Pity.

  • Holy theft

    Holy theft

    We do not mourn when we call an uncompleted building a carcass. The word humours the dead. Few Nigerians were in jubilant humour when the EFCC announced its biggest catch ever: 753 duplexes.

    It is perhaps the most beautiful acreage of carcasses ever found. Stolen things often stay hidden. Millions of dollars stashed in furtive bank accounts. Jewels in vaults. Cars out of sight. In Nigeria, some highfalutin thieves have buried them like carcasses in their backyards, bought houses to tenant billions of naira. They now encrypt them and, without irony, they call it cryptocurrency. Even kidnappers seal cellars for their stolen captives.

    The irony with these carcasses is that they never had a breath of life before they are pronounced dead. The other irony is that, unlike a few miracles like Lazarus, these carcasses can come back to life. The miracle does not require a prophet or a holy water or oil of gladness. It can even be brought to life by an unclean spirit, like a real estate magnate. He will be a prophet but with guile, and will use water, which is necessary to mix cement to mould blocks. Holy water is not necessary. No oil but gladness is the final sentiment when the full building is ready. Well, for believers, they will anoint it.

    The 753 had no such finesse. They are in the open, as if the thief wanted to tell Nigerians there is a new art to public plunder: in your face. But it has always been in your face. They steal, line up limousines, buy private jets, build mansions here, in Dubai, in the U.K., in Miami, et al. But we see them. We know they were stolen. But we can do nothing about it.

    Yet, not in your face like what we have seen with 753. Maybe, it is a new chapter in thievery. We all want to get this set of carcasses. These ones are a gem. As the Bible says, “where the carcass is, there will the gathering of the eagles be.” The Nigerian eagle just found gems of corpses. It is gem as precious as William Faulkner’s dead character in As I lay dying. The dead seem to be more remarkable than the living in the novel, much like Cassandra in Homer’s Odyssey where Faulkner sourced his title. When the bible’s Samson duels a lion to the death, the carcass invents a marvel: it drips with honey. Out of the eater comes forth sweetness.

    Well, the good news is that this honey of a carcass will be open for all. The houses are now government property, and the EFCC will now make it a thing for all who can pay. As Malian singer and instrumentalist croons, “honey does not only taste sweet in one mouth”

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    The EFCC could not cement its efficiency and loyalty to nation with a courage: to name the thief. Its first statement locates the person as a sacked government official. Heads turned to former CBN chief Emefiele. Many asked questions but the most worrying was: Is it the former CBN chief, and why not name him who is known as Mefi in his intimate circle? Again, even Mefi, who in the past was quick to lash back at any perceived media hurt, has been as quiet as a pond. Not once when he was in office did he keep quiet over even a slight innuendo. He even hired his media minions to take a two-page advert against Sam Omatseye in this newspaper over his ambition to be – remember? – Nigeria’s president. He wanted the Job Tinubu now has. But he, who toted a giant bible – is as retiring as a mouse. As Abiola said in the June 12 tumult, “an elephant has given birth to a mouse.”

    His silence has created a guilty verdict, even after the EFCC hid under a legalese to take back its first statement. Not one  person but a chattel. That is what it can tell. So, EFCC told us without telling us that it is Mefi. Those who accessed the document have shown that it is Mefi. The judge knows it. The document said it. It is another irony in this tale. The accuser is guilty of accusing, or not accusing enough or well. But no matter.

    What is important is that Nigeria has gotten a big find. The untold story of the saga is the boon of a major project using government funds but administered like a private concern. We do not know how much it cost to erect the duplexes. But imagine if government wanted to build the same 753 duplexes. It might have cost ten times more.

    Normally, for government to complete this, there would have been a long time spent doing the necessary paper work. Billions of naira would go to architects. Billions more to acquire land, to do the survey, and also to get the contractors to bid for it. Then we shall have bribes for the government officials who would award the contracts.

    After that, there might be merry-go-rounds about work done on the survey, and why one report needed to be reviewed and another survey done. Or when the architect has done its work, there might be an order from above that the architect was not the right one. Anyway, they would spot a professional error in the process the architect was appointed, and another bid will ensue.

    In all these, no work has started, and billions have already gone down the drains. At last, they get to work. They pay to clear grass, although there is none. They pay to save the pond and marshes on the property, although it is solid earth. Billions, you may be surprised, has gone down a nonexistent strip of land.

    After they start, they realise inflation has set in. They do a variation, though the initial cost was ten times the original. With variation, they double it, which makes it twenty times. Then they set out to work. Everyone is happy: minister or commisioner, perm sec, contractor, publicists, lawyers, even bricklayer. We are happy that it happens during the reign of a governor or president. Or else, if its lapses, a new government decides to begin again. If the money sunk is too much of a scandal to bear, it becomes an abandoned project. Why get bogged down when you can start your own merry-go-round. That’s why we have abandoned projects all around.

    But the 753 duplexes did not have to go through that. The thief handled it like a private concern, and there was discipline from survey all the way to building. So, it happens fast, and efficiently. It is meant for profit, not for charity, since that is how government projects are perceived.

    This 753 thief steals to deprive us of corruption. He defeats bureaucracy, short cuts, lies, account variations, fronts, impersonations, and billions of naira down the drain. For once, a project was started and completed in right time, without kickbacks or red-tape rigmarole. Out of rottenness blooms a flower. In pidgin English, it is called “thief thief thief.” Where process fails, crookery prevails. Public indiscipline begets private discipline begets public good. Out of Samson’s carcass drips honey. It is the purest act of corruption in Nigeria’s history.

    The bible says “one man builds and another occupies.” Here, one man builds, the owner occupies. The thief has stolen for the owner. It is an edifying act, a sacred theft. It begins a theft, but ends a gift. It is unwholly but ends up holy. It is like Judas, who betrays but saves mankind. It is forbidden but we accept the fruit. We never pray for another Judas but we cannot resist such plums out of a rotten earth.

    Now that we have the carcasses, we expect that the homes get to the right buyers the right way and the money is ploughed for the common good.

  • IDPs of Southeast

    IDPs of Southeast

    A worrisome picture of the humanitarian crisis engendered by violence and ecological challenges in the Southeast was laid bare last week by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DSP), Benjamin Kalu.

    In a roundtable discussion with representatives of International Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the Kalu reeled out startling statistics on Internally Displaced Persons IDPS from the southeast region.

      Titled “Through Their Eyes: A Call to Action, Addressing Humanitarian Challenges in the Southeast”, the aim of the roundtable was to explore collaborative strategies to address humanitarian, ecological and systemic challenges affecting the zone.

     By the figures released at the event, there are more than 268,000 IDPs spread across 158 camps and affected communities in the southeast zone of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. Kalu threw further insight into the nature of the humanitarian challenges characterised by displacement, violence, ecological problems including gully erosion that has destroyed homes and left many without shelter.

    “Shelter, in particular remains a pressing concern. Families live in makeshift camps or overcrowded host communities, exposed to health risks, insecurity and loss of dignity…This crisis demands not only immediate intervention but also sustainable strategies to restore stability and hope.” he further stressed.

    Midway in the discussions, a documentary on the grim humanitarian crisis arising from violence, displacement and ecological challenges was shown to the audience. It brought close the reality of the displacements and huge ecological challenges confronting the zone. 

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    It was perhaps, the first official attempt to recognise and document the existence of IDPs and their make-shift camps in the southeast. The sheer number of displaced persons and the reality of the existence of IDP camps in the zone must have altered preconceived notions on the issue.

    Before now, the impression was that there are neither IDPs nor their camps in the southeast region. That notion may have festered due to the absence of federal established and funded IDP camps even in the face of the dislocations arising from festering insecurity and ecological displacements. The attitude of the federal government overtime to issues affecting the zone may also have had a hand in sustaining that notion.

    All that have been dispelled by the chilling statistics reeled out by the Office of the Deputy Speaker in conjunction with Peace In South East Project (PISE-P). The reality of IDPs and their camps (no matter the shape they take) in the region is no longer in doubt.

    What should be of utmost concern is how to galvanise and pull efforts by governments at all levels to provide humanitarian interventions and sustainable development solutions to the challenge. The humanitarian crisis in the southeast is real. It is not just a regional issue but a national challenge that requires collaborative action.

    The military operations in the zone, constant attacks and killings by the so-called unknown gunmen and violence often ascribed to the IPOB have all led to huge displacements and relocation of a host of communities fleeing to safety.  Many of the displaced persons are scattered in overcrowded villages considered relatively safer, make-shift camps, shanties and the state capitals.

    Due largely to the itinerant and mobile nature of people of the zone, the full weight of the displacements is not being properly felt by the authorities. But that does not in any way whittle down the enormity of the crisis as the displaced contend with the challenges of shelter, health risks, insecurity and overcrowding in host communities.

    Displacements as a result of insecurity and organised violence have equally taken a serious toll on the cultural practices of the people of the region. It is commonplace these days to see the Igbo organise traditional wedding ceremonies and bury their dead ones outside their ancestral homes due to insecurity. These are cultural practices hitherto considered abnormal by the people. Perhaps, the burial of a university professor from Orsu Local Government area of Imo State in his Owerri residence just two weeks ago reinforces the gravity of the displacements.

    The southeast is also home to devastating erosion that has over the years led to displacement of families from their ancestral lands with no hope of return. Communities and entire farmlands have been completely washed away. The major cluster of gully erosion sites are in the highland regions of Imo State: Ideato North and South, Orlu, Njaba and ihitte-Uboma. Gully sites in Anambra State are located in three sites in Nanka rated as the largest in Nigeria at 66 metres deep, 2,900 metres long and 349 metres wide according to American Journal of Geographic Information System.  Oko-Ekwulobia, UruOkpala-Ozubulu and Agulu-Ezechukwu erosion sites are some of the few to mention.

    Isuochi in Abia State, Udi in Enugu State and others in Ebonyi add up to the 2,800 active erosion sites recorded by the World Igbo Environmental Foundation (WIEF) in the zone. A breakdown of this figure shows Anambra has 1000 active erosion sites, Imo 300, Abia 500, Enugu 500 and Ebonyi 500.

    When these sites are aggregated, the enormity of the risk faced by the zone consequent of erosion menace becomes very frightening. That is why the recent intervention by Kalu comes in handy. No doubt, a lot of effort was put into documenting IDPs and their camps as well as the mortal threat of erosion in the zone.

    These figures highlight the utter neglect of the humanitarian and ecological challenges plaguing the southeast region. The focus on the peculiar security and ecological challenges of the southeast is a patriotic and worthwhile effort that deserves commendation. The challenge has been identified thus softening the ground for its solution. What remains is for the various levels of government in collaboration with NGOs to take up the initiative.

    The National Policy on IDPs provides for assistance and protection of affected persons in the areas of food security, sanitation, hygiene, shelter, health services and non-food items. Curiously, there have been no efforts by the federal government working alone or in conjunction with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to tackle the humanitarian challenges of the southeast region.

    At the end of 2023, data put together by the UNHCR said Nigeria had an estimated 3.3 million IDPs representing a slight improvement in the 2022 figure of 3.6 million. About half of this figure was generated from Borno State fraught with Boko Haram insurgency.

    The rest was made up by IDPs from other states in the northeast, northwest and north-central plagued by Boko Haram, banditry and the insurgency of the herdsmen. Data from the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), a program that collects and analyses IDP data in Nigeria indicated that as at December 2023, the number of IDPs in Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Nassarawa, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara states stood at 1,092,196 persons in 183,437 households.

    It is therefore not surprising that Nigeria is rated one of the 10 countries with the largest number of IDPs in the world. When the UNHCR figures are paired with the 268,000 IDPs of the southeast, the enormity of the challenge is better conjectured. The figures could even be higher given the difficulty in generating accurate and reliable data on these shores.

     The federal government maintains IDP camps in many of the northern states plagued by sundry violence and the Federal Capital Territory FCT. It also works with international NGOs as part of the humanitarian response to provide shelter, non-food items, blankets, cash assistance apart from supporting water sanitation, health and education as priority areas.

    But the same measure is yet to be extended to the southeast. Rather, our leaders opted to live in denial of the reality that the festering insecurity, violence and killings in the zone are bound to lead to displacement of persons in their numbers.

    Kalu pledged the commitment of his office to champion the legislative and policy frameworks that will address the issues most comprehensively. This gives hope. It is not just about immediate humanitarian support but sustainable strategies to restore peace, order and stability to affected communities.

    That is part of the durable solutions’ component of the National Policy on IDPs. It entails addressing and eliminating factors that accentuate the displacement of persons from their home such as insecurity, violence and ecological factors.

    With this achieved, issues of return, sustainable reintegration and resettlement can then progress in earnest. It is hoped the new reality presented by the existence of IDPs in the southeast region will henceforth be factored into federal government’s comprehensive policy response to the issue. This should ensure all sections of the country are carried along in evolving immediate and long term solutions to factors that incubate IDPs.

  • Misunderstood

    Misunderstood

    Not many are happy that the Port Harcourt Refinery is back on stream. Not all humans crave prosperity. It is an aspect of the human archetype. The Israelites clamoured for redemption from Pharoah’s gulag. When it happened, they idealised their oppressor saying, at least, they had regular meals. They did not appreciate Moses and their new berth of freedom and the manna that dropped free from heaven. It recalls what Shakespeare said of drooling servants: “How fine my master is.”

    Hence, when the NNPCL announced the rebirth of the refinery, the pushback was fierce. We were not supposed to be this fortunate. Mele Kyari should not have done this to them. Bola Tinubu should not have a reason to gloat. They are a culture of complaint. They wanted a reason for tears. Joy was not part of the bargain.

    For them fortune is not fortune, unless it comes from somebody other than President Tinubu, much less from Mele Kyari whose head they have been seeking with the machete of ritualists.

    Kyari is like Nostromo, the hero in Joseph Conrad’s masterpiece who was lying down in respite after a battle. A bird of prey hovered with menacing appetite, salivating for a meal of carcass. Nostromo saw the flapping creature, and he said, “I am not dead yet.” They want Kyari as a prey of their malice.

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    They did not like the video of the NNPCL chief in the PHR overall as he stood ramrod tall beside some labour partisans. He announced the first flushes of the engines, and the labour men chanted. It was a nightmare.

    They were not happy with Kyari for a number of reasons. They were not happy that on his watch, the NNPCL paid off the $2.4 billion debt with IOCs, and that proclaims the company has become debt-free. Putting NNPCL in the black is not what they want from him. They just want to paint him black. It did not make headlines. Yet, when the debts happened, they splashed the headlines and sullied talk shows on television.

    Nor are they happy that we now have moved to drilling 1.8m crude per barrel a day and 7.4 billion standard cubic feet per day in gas production. It passed the news as though it was bad omen. We are quick to remember when people err, but not to forgive. As Ghandi wrote, “the weak never forgive.” I had a dialogue with a top media fellow the other day over the crude uptick. Rather than celebrate it, he pointed out that why would you employ Tantita and Tompolo. I shot back that Tompolo, if not perfect, had led us to a milestone over and above those military men who had become stumbling stones. They love the stumbling stones, but not milestones.

    The PH Refinery has been long on the way. It was a hard journey. There were promises made and joys delayed. It is now known that sabotage played a role in  that journey, ambushes and derailments. Lately we learned that the last time it was to take off, gaskets blew. It turned out the folks at the refinery could not trust everyone in their midst, especially the security personnel.

    They had to deploy DSS officers for their eagle eyes and fealty. That was how they got to this point. Even in a matter that should help everyone, a few want us to fall. Now that we have it running, those who are not happy will have to live with the facts. After the PH rollout, I called another media topman who had written off the refineries. They argued furiously that Kyari was taking the nation on a merry-go-round. I said it would happen sooner than he expected. When it happened, I placed a gloating call to him.

    Many forget that you can only work as well as your boss allows you. Did Buhari begin the process to revamp the refinery? Of course. Was deadline sacrosanct? Of course not. But it was not Kyari’s fault. He operated according to the interest of his boss. Obasanjo may have been right to say Buhari was Baba-go-slow, but Obj was Baba-go-nowhere. He spent a golden $800 million on the refinery only to sell it off for nothing. It took a discerning “Umoru” to nullify it.

    Kyari is doing much because he is operating in an enabling environment. Even at that, it was on his watch that the NNPC instrumentalised the PIA? Was he not the one who engendered many gas infrastructure projects from Ohaji-Egbema to Oredo  to Kwale? Or the Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant, or GIPP now seen as a game changer for power? Is he not in the middle of the CNG project, an arduous undertaking that requires the buy-in of all?

    The refinery news is maybe hard to absorb. It is good news but good news can be bad news for those who want us to stagnate. T.S. Eliot wrote: “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.”

    Maybe they want an angel, and angels in human forms are an illusion. As poet Rilke noted, “an angel is terrible.” It is the same a certain set of critics expect of the President. They want him to be perfect so they can make him a fallible human. If they make you human, your genius may shine. Angels are no geniuses because only humans are. If you make your foes human, then you will bow to their geniuses and absorb their frailties are persons in flesh and blood. As essayist William Hazlitt wrote: “It is well that there is no one without a fault; for he would not have a friend in the world.”

    Kyari should remain human, if even his critics want him otherwise. That is perhaps why he is, perhaps, the misunderstood public servant today.

  • Poor ambassador

    Poor ambassador

    The other day in the summer at Denver, Colorado, I attended a renewable energy meeting. One of the attendees walked up to me, and probably recognized me from my time as a journalist in town, and confirmed with my accent and my clothing.

    “Are you not from Nigeria?” she asked.

    “Yes.

    “I love Nigerian music.”

    “Thank you. Which of the musicians?” I asked

    “Wizkid and Burna Boy,” she said with suppressed glee. “Whenever they are in town, our whole family attends their concerts.”

    I thought these two guys are better ambassadors of Nigeria than Davido, who calls himself an ambassador of the country but talks it down. He said Nigerian economy is in shambles. One, he does not know the meaning of the word. Online illiterates cheer him on. To be in shambles is to be in total disarray or disorder.

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    It is in disorder and he makes his big money here. It is in shambles, his father, as Reno Omokri noted, runs a $2 billion power company. It is in disorder and countries’ leaders visit us and receive the president to invest here. Top banks oversubscribed their share calls. Bonds fill to bursting. The refinery is back on stream. Many young men not born with a silver spoon like him are taking advantage of loan scheme for university education. Davido is no ambassador. He should learn, even when he wants to flay his country, from Winston Churchill: “When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home. “

    I would want  him to  talk about the vanity of his dancing uncle and his governance of levity.

    Some have said even the president attacked the country from abroad during the Abacha regime. Abacha was a pariah regime and ran an autocracy.  We are in a democracy, just like Churchill’s England.

  • Misquoting Kukah

    Misquoting Kukah

    I got a call from Bishop Matthew Kukah, and I kind of knew why. So, I hailed him and called him “the great Bishop.”

    “Don’t call me great,” he retorted. He was not in a mood to return my humour.

    He said he was not happy with me because of a comment online over his assertion, as reported in some major news media, that President Bola Tinubu was not prepared for the job. He denied it flat. He said he didn’t say such a thing. He then remarked that I had his phone number and we spoke quite a few times and I should have called him to ascertain if what was reported was true. I then remarked that it was in major newspapers. If it was not true, he had all day to rebut, and he didn’t. So, I had to assume it was true.

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    I also argued that Wole Soyinka never brooked anyone who misquoted him or took his words out of context. Bishop Kukah said he was a busy man. I replied that he should not be too busy for his image. It was an important news story attached to his name. When he said he did not say so, I promptly apologised for the inconvenience with the advice that all he needed was a press statement denying it. I looked at the tape, where he was addressing an audience last week. The bishop was right. He said President Tinubu was prepared for the job, although he said most Nigerian presidents since 1999 were accidental and unprepared for the job. The news reporters got it wrong.

    It is a sad commentary on journalism. It is also a feature in the Tinubu era that some news organs tend to skew reports to put the president in a bad light. That is what happened. They collapsed him into a collage of accidental leaders. If reporters or their editors are looking to make great headlines, they should not sacrifice veracity for sensation. That is what happened. It took a phone call from Bishop Kukah to correct this. How many have the opportunity or privilege of a rebuttal. Even the Bishop did not know he had that power.