Category: Letters

By Abiodun Komolafe

Clearly, the love Nigerians have for Bola Tinubu obliterates the supposed hatred which anybody may possess for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Otherwise, his recent visit to Osun State wouldn’t have been such a huge success. To this end, the immediate past Governor Gboyega Oyetola and other members of the party in the state deserve commendation for the laudable feat of February 2.

Well, the general belief is that politicians will always come up with promises but, at the end of the day, nothing happens. Be that as it may, what Tinubu said in Osun brought along with it a higher level of believability. Of course, this has to do with his antecedents.

Talking about issues like ‘changing the direction of the economy’; ‘creating jobs’; and ‘ASUU never to be on strike again’, the truth is that Tinubu has been to the university and he has seen how the system operates. In the realm of commerce, the former governor of Lagos State is no doubt a guru. So, he knew what he’s talking about! The presidential candidate also said he would establish industries in each of the six geopolitical zones to create employment opportunities in those localities without our young adults necessarily having to run to Lagos or Abuja to seek imaginary employment opportunities. Surely, any government that does that successfully will discourage rural-urban drift.

With regard to Tinubu’s opponents in the contest, what Nigerians should look for is what they have done. By this, we mean their antecedents. Since little is known about the involvement of the other presidential flag-bearers in the struggle for democracy in Nigeria, let the “accidental democrats” come forward and show Nigerians their credentials and, indeed, what they have done for dear country now that democratic structure is in place.

Tinubu’s visit to Osun is expected to help at resolving the lingering crises within the APC family in the state. Deploying his mighty influence and political balancing will be of great advantage to the party in the coming general elections. Besides, the senseless display of gangsterism by some followers of different factions will be appeased. The loopholes discovered in the last governorship election are also expected to be blocked with all sincerity and sense of sacrifice. These in my personal opinion should be the inestimable benefits from the visit of the Asiwaju of Lagos and his presidential campaign team to the state. After all, the ‘Jagaban Borgu’ is a voice that can’t be neglected, even by his ardent haters and negative propagandists.

In fairness to posterity, one issue that must be pointed out is that Osun APC is still burdened by inexplicable divisions, avoidable crises and self-inflicted conflicts. And that’s what makes it impossible for former governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Oyetola, his successor in office, to reconcile. Truth be told, the town is not smiling even as poverty is playing a major role. Everybody is poor; and everybody wants to be rich. Therefore, nobody wants to listen to the party. Since the party is also inanimate, zero emotion is emitted. That’s why those who want to scrape the remaining milk are always taking sides needlessly! The more reason the feuding leaders in Osun APC must start eating ‘amala’ and ‘gbegiri’ from the same plate; and Nigerians must see it to be so! If the party structure is intact, then, no individual is bigger than the party. Therefore, to say that Aregbesola has (his) followership, and Oyetola has (his) followership – in the same party; and in the same state – is an anathema to democratic norms. So, let the party tread the path of caution!

In the considered opinion of yours sincerely, loyalty to a single person in a party is a recipe for chaos. So, it’s mandatory for members to give absolute loyalty to the party. While preference for an individual’s profile in the party may differ from one person to the other, loyalty to the party is ultimately supreme. Otherwise, the party will collapse like a pack of cards; because the loyalty web is the central nerve of any political party. It is actually what holds a party together! That’s how our founding fathers left it! Indeed, that’s why people had to agree with the late Obafemi Awolowo even when his decisions might not be sitting well with their personal beliefs and/or interests. Again, that’s why you’d never see a party man like Lateef Jakande saying that he’d not accept Awo’s decision.

A lot of people learnt so much from Mahtma Ghandi that, long after Ghandi has gone, Ghandhism continues to wax stronger. Ditto for Chairman Mao Tse-Tung! On the contrary, Nigerians are so unreal that they embrace the show but reject the nitty-gritty of the drama presentation. Through interpretive understanding of symbolic interactionism, ‘Awoists’, so called, often wear ‘Awo cap’ to deceive the people; but not a bit of Awo’s character.

Awolowo raised leaders that were younger than him; some of whom, today, are setting the pace globally. Likewise, Tinubu has raised leaders, some of whom are not only better than him but also overtaking him while he is alive. Again, sad that Awoism as a concept was never defined. Otherwise, the likes of Ebenezer Babatope wouldn’t have become a political butterfly, searching for the proverbial nectar hither and thither! Well, the truth of the matter is that, once a journalist features a politician in the class of Awolowo, he or she is already taken for an Awoist!

Nigerians have seen beyond the smokescreen that the leadership trait of the party currently in power in Osun does not portray sympathy for the democratic public administration. For instance, a government which can withhold certain public servants’ salaries – and it’s not losing sleep about negative reports – has already weaponized poverty. Obviously, what it’s doing right now is to monitor where the state’s resources are allocated with a view to ensuring that the people are muzzled so that, when the election is few days away, the tight grip will be loosened a little bit to allow the song of Osun PDP being the people’s saviour resonates in the minds of the people.

In view of the foregoing, it will be in the objective interest of Osun APC to resolve the party crisis and mop up the votes of the undecided voters and repentant members before the D-day. It therefore behoves elders and leaders of the party to sit up and speak up so that everybody will queue behind the authority of the party. The party should also pump sufficient resources to lubricate the will of the party machinery. After all, holding the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) is not enough, doing the needful with it is what matters most!

• Komolafe wrote in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

SIR:  I saw a video on Sunday, February 5, that jolted me. It was a moving video of a man, a naked man in a banking office in Nigeria. I have seen numerous videos of Nigerians distressed in these times, I could add mine too, but this man’s distress, compelled by forces outside of his power to strip himself of all human dignity was riveting and startling for I have seen it before.

It is of historical genre. It is the inadvertent, reactive act of an ordinary citizen’s resistance against oppression. It is of the kind, in its poignant, wretched appeal that ignites a spark and moves other ordinary citizens. Empires, and yes governments have been engulfed by such acts and across mother Nigeria by the minute, such acts are being replicated.

 Nigerian klepto-cratic mis-leaders, a subsisting plague on mother Nigeria, have left footprints of suffering in their wake, but none, no matter how rudderless, have ever bumbled into the uncharted waters of threatening the uniquely delicate balance of their self-preservative existential relationship with Nigerians.

Uniquely, the Nigerian, high or low, has over time, ignoring the fundamental societal social contract, validating the very existence of government, taken upon himself/herself the mantle of government. It is suo motu for the Nigerian to be largely or wholly responsible for the personal and dependants’ provision of healthcare, education, electricity, water, shelter, local roads etc.

No class of ruling elite, constituting government, has at any time in Nigeria’s chequered history, ever done anything to lift this unique mantle of the Nigerian’s shoulder. Indeed, they have thrived in decadent conspicuous consumption and glory in the unassuming nature of the Nigerian in this warped relationship.

We can suffer fuel scarcity without threatening government like in other places. We seem divinely gifted among nations in being able to suffer perennial ineptitude and thieving of our mis-leaders. The threshold of the Nigerian’s ability to suffer and smile is almost miraculously elastic. But, even in our darkest days, and we have had our fair share in this nation – we have never, ever faced the prospect of being unable to access and use our own money!

Shortage of the naira is exacerbating all other dire existential realities, fuel unavailability inclusive. Nigerians are beginning to protest and its spreading every day. Nigerians are besieging banks with naked displays of frustration assuming worrying dimensions. Lives and property are being lost!

There are looming dark clouds, portending stormy waters ahead and Nigeria must be steered away from any calamitous collision. For so long, absent a capable captain to chart the course, ship mates in ranking positions on the Nigerian ship have been left to run amok. In spite of their best efforts, the Nigerian ship, beleaguered, has somehow still been able to keep afloat. These ship mates, implacable and seemingly irredeemable continually seeking ways and means to inflict suffering on the people will see the Nigerian ship capsize come what may!  

Banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) all over the country are empty no matter what the jejune economist running the Central Bank of Nigeria says. Godwin Emefiele, the man under whose watch Nigeria continues to reach new milestones in economic woes is a ship mate running amok.

 President Buhari, you must take the conn! There is a raging tempest and you do not have the luxury of seven days to chart a new course. Stir away from the storm now and let Nigerians have access to their money! It is the very least you can do.

•Victor Ikhatalor,

kingjvic7@gmail.com

SIR: Propaganda, lies, and chicanery have always been instruments of war. In World War 2, Germany actuated and deployed the most pervasive, yet incisive propaganda ever witnessed in history. For the Germans, the idea was to psychologically overwhelm their adversaries, and consequently, secure victory on terra firma. The most pernicious warfare is that of the mind.

Politics, ordinarily, should not be warfare. But in a system of constant collision of interests like ours; it is sadly so. The weapons of political warfare are both corporeal and subliminal. The battle is fought in the minds of the electorate long before Election Day.

The recent Nextier poll which arrogates dubious electoral advantage to Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, is an asymptote of political sorcery. The poll is essentially a subterfuge, a ruse, a gambit, an artifice; it is a serpentine machination through and through.

The Nextier 2023 presidential election survey like the ANAP Poll before it is a deliberate fabrication in the pursuit of political gain. The poll seeks to achieve predetermined objectives – (1) to endorse Peter Obi as the people’s candidate; (2) to exaggerate Peter Obi’s electoral value; (3) to create a siege of choice and chaos should the outcome of presidential election reflect a different candidate; and (4) to prejudice the election with an impossible fait accompli.

Nextier said it used ‘’144 enumerators to poll 3,000 respondents in all states in Nigeria’’ to determine its projections. This is clearly defective and not extensive — as it leaves more room for error than stated by the pollster.

According to Nextier’s projections, survey respondents in all the southeast states; in four out of six states in the southwest; in six states in the south-south, and in two states in the north-central preferred Peter Obi as president of Nigeria. The poll also projected impressive performance for Peter Obi in the northwest and the northeast. This is ludicrous. The survey obviously discounted voting behaviour across the states, demographics, as well as sociological and ethnological influences among the electorate across the zones.

The Nextier Poll is not worth a breath of concern, really. It is sufficiently flawed in conception, and design. The preconceived agenda is obvious. Political propaganda through questionable polls. The poll is not different from the quotidian tallying of goods by Onitsha-market traders.

There have been open threats of violence by supporters of Peter Obi if he loses the election. These polls which mock reality, objectivity and common sense could be ammunition for what is to come if the election does not go in the way of the ‘’Obidients’’.

There should be a ceiling for propaganda. When electoral impossibilities are sold as definite outcomes by established pollsters, the risk is ominous. There is nothing dissuading the thought that ‘’Obidients’’, known to be choleric and unthinking, in their delusion of certain victory will not unleash themselves on the nation.

There are concerns that the country may experience another insurrection in the gravity of the #EndSARS violence over the outcome of the presidential election. It is dangerous giving hope where there is obviously no chance; it is foolhardy creating a dream that is unrealisable. It is unwise holding unto an illusion, believing it and living it. The only way out of this phantasm is the asylum.

Running for president takes intention; it takes years of planning; building a network of people and structures. It is not a happenstance or what you decide on in protest against the scheming in your party.

Peter Obi is not running for president to win, ‘’Obidients’’ must understand this; he only wants to make a trenchant statement, and perhaps build a following to secure political value-ship. If he was really running to win, he would have started forging alliances and building the necessary cross-zonal network years ago.

‘’Obidients’’ must give up chasing a will-o-the-wisp; they must become realistic and measure their expectations.

•Fredrick Nwabufo,

fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com

SIR: Over the last few years, the apex bank seems to have lost focus and direction in the management of monetary policy. Essentially, monetary policy is a set of actions designed to control nation’s overall money supply. The monetary policy management is to ensure that CBN takes control when money supply in the economy needs to be contracted or expanded.

But, what has the nation been treated to? Spiral inflation even when CBN is contracting the money supply! How many users of funds are accessing facilities in the banks? High cost of fund has made this absolutely impossible! CBN response to management of liquidity and reserve ratio in the banks most times are also untimely, thus making their policy in this respect, counterproductive.

 Nigeria needs a CBN governor who embodies professionalism and astuteness and not one who is apex bank helmsman during the day and with the garb of political lord in the night.

The nation has in place a CBN governor who has continually refused the invitation of NASS whenever there is need to make clarifications on economic issues. The fact remains that this CBN governor sees himself as untouchable and not answerable to any institution whatsoever, not even the NASS, the highest law-making institution in the land.

A case in point is his adamant posture when NASS advised that the CBN needs to give more time, as well as review upward the withdrawal limits of #100,000 and #500,000 recently set by the apex bank for individual and corporate bodies respectively. He simply presides and manages the bank as if the institution is his inheritance.   

It’s also not in doubt that since the emergence of incumbent CBN governor, there have not been synergies between fiscal and monetary authorities. CBN governor knows he can’t operate effectively without marrying monetary policies with the development in tax and government expenditure, yet he carries on, nonetheless!

 The untold hardship that the citizenry of this nation are presently going through, occasioned by the decision of the monetary authority-CBN to pronounce, as well as impose on the entire country an unreasonable and very unrealistic deadline on migration of old currency to new currency, is characteristic of Emefiele’s arrogance, insensitiveness, insolence and contempt for Nigerians across the country, and around the globe. 

It is clear that it would be fool hardy and inimical to continue to retain Mr Emefiele with so many ugly developments the nation economy and financial sector have witnessed since his assumption of office. This is therefore an auspicious time for the president to relieve him of his post.                                                      

•Kola Amzat (FCA, FCIB)

Lagos.

SIR: The essence of the government is to better the lots of the citizenry. The expectation is that every government policy will improve the lots of the people. This is to say that every policy should have a human face. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. What we witness are half baked policies that leave the people worse than they were met.

Some unforeseen consequences are to be expected. This is to say that there is always a flipside to any policy. From implementation to evaluation, there is always need to put in place mechanisms to cushion the unintended effects of such policies on the people.

We are certainly not devoid of ideas in this country. But our problems have been how to translate these ideas to the tangibles in order to benefit the citizenry. More often than not, when policies are initiated, the process of implementing them tend to be punitive; sometimes creating brisk business for the middlemen who would always capitalize on these to milk the common man dry. 

Take the on-going currency swap by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as an example. Today, the hardships in the country have tripled. The already fragile economy is being pushed to the brink. There is increased hunger because people can no longer access their funds. The polity is mired in apprehension. And no respite is in sight. 

People who depend on daily sales of farm produce to make daily living are taking them back to their houses– no thanks to the unavailability of cash. 

The economy has always been a cycle. One transaction at a point would always have a multiplier effect in other sector. Now, who is sure that the prices of goods and services that have gone through the roofs would return to normal again? It is doubtful as similar situations in the past were not reversed. 

There is a saying that “what goes round comes round”. Nigeria continues to prove an exception. Nothing that has gone up in Nigeria has gone back to normal. Rather, they soar like the eagle.

The redesigned currencies have absolutely redesigned the economy. The economy is bleeding badly like a woman going through her monthly rituals.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and cohorts, when next you redesign, do it with a human face. Like the palm wine tapper, when next you tap, remember the masses!

•Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu,

<keshiafrica@gmail.com>