The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Ibadan Disco’s poor services and outrageous bills

    SIR: It was emotional devastation galore for the people of Ogbomoso when Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company [IBEDC], the new owner of PHCN Oyo Business Unit, stepped out with their wrong foot. Their subtle prevarication notwithstanding, IBEDC came out with what electricity consumers on their network should be expecting as slash and burn billing system.

    Before the conclusion of privatization exercise, PHCN was known for slapdash and inept service delivery with crazy and reprehensible bills. So many times, they forced their spurious bills on the laps of hapless customers with little or no resistance. When government finally handed over PHCN to the distribution companies (Discos), the masses heaved a sigh of relief, hoping that the era of paying outrageous bills are over, and that there will be efficiency in service delivery. But to our chagrin, it’s like moving from frying pan to fire within their short time in operation, as if government sold us out into total blackout and slavery under IBEDC.

    Of particular mention are some notable incidences in Ogbomoso area, where for some months there was power outage. In December 2013, and January 2014 notably, power supply was almost nil.

    When their marketers brought the bill for January, my previous balance was N3,149.98; while current charges was N538.73 plus VAT N26.94 totaling N3,715.65

    But to my utmost embarrassment, in their February bill, my previous bill that stood at N3,715.65 in January had jumped to N4,935.64 while the current estimated bill for February stood at N4,373.00 when I was billed N538.73 for January 2014 current charges. It is amusing how the billing could astronomically increase by 900% within an interval of one month, without regular power supply. I was estimated to use 75 units monthly, though my actual consumption was below 25 units using pre-paid. In January I was billed for three units, while February was jerked up to 300 units, when I’m not a ‘welder or rewire’.

    In spite of this, N500 fixed charges is still being added to my bill monthly for meter maintenance, when I’m yet to be metered. This is not in tandem with Electric Power Reform Act Section 1[4.1] which states that “every Disco shall issue bills for electricity used at each consumer’s address at regular intervals”. It is dubious and counterproductive for IBEDC to be insensitive to people’s grievances.

    Now the question is what parameter did they use in arriving at the obnoxious bill of N4,373.00 for February current charges, when January was the period of blackout in the area? What happened to my bill for January 2014 which the total was N3,715.65, but brought forward to reflect N4,935.64 in February 2014 as previous balance?

    They can only get away with this kind of treatment to customers in Nigeria, where the government has no penchant for addressing injustice done to the poor masses, unlike developed countries of the world where they can not try such exploitation and go scot free.

    IBEDC should not take people for granted like the notorious PHCN. They should be honest and alive to their responsibility to the customers on their network as this is the only way to douse the distrust and cynicism of Nigerians about the credibility of privatization exercise.

    I will like to call on Minister of Power, Prof Professor Chinedu Osita Nebo; the House Committee on Power; National Council on Privatization {NCP}, and National Electricity Regulation Commission [NERC] to please check this atrocity being perpetrated by Discos, and give hope to the frustrated electricity consumers.

     

    • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo [JP]

    Takie/Idi-Abebe, Ogbomoso.

  • CBN: We are all losers

    Given that the suspension of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has become a subject of litigation, this intervention is purely academic. With mixed reactions in torrent and scores of hate/love arguments for and against the sudden removal of the governor of the CBN, we are undoubtedly all losers as Nigerians. For an increasingly divisive nation, Sanusi’s removal has proved another polarising factor too frequent. Coming on the heel of partisan posturing for 2015, it is not surprising that the suspension has also become a handy partisan issue with objectivity in deficit and subjectivity in huge surplus. Predictably the ruling party (PDP)’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh backed the suspension, claiming  “the issues leading to the suspension bordered strictly on the management of the nation’s economy”. Expectedly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) accused the presidency of “seeking to use the suspension of ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Lamido Sanusi Lamido, to divert attention from the allegation of the missing 20 billion dollars oil funds”.  With these serial partisan diatribe, discussing Sanusi’s suspension tasks objectivity and even imagination. It is obviously academic and even a luxury at this interesting times to be concerned about the bigger picture of the far-reaching implications of the suspension for the banking industry in particular and the economy as a whole.  Historic facts might however prove useful in the search for objectivity.

    President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua nominated Sanusi as the Governor of the bank on June 1, 2009. His appointment was confirmed by the Senate on June 3, 2009 in  a record time. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Thursday, February 20, suspended him from office few months to the end of an eventful, albeit controversial single five-year term he had preferred. Of course the point cannot be overstated that the first and notable loser is Sanusi himself. As a labour market student, it’s of profound academic interest of how a process driven easy entry (with appointment and senate confirmation) of a chief central banker was inversely related to his suspension/ exit without recourse to the same process that brought him to office. So much for the provision of the CBN Act! Sanusi’s ordeal brings to memory the predicament of Bernard Longe, former Managing Director of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc (FBN) who was summarily terminated by the board of directors  for allegedly negligently granting an unauthorized facility to Investors International (London) Limited for the acquisition of shares in NITEL, which resulted in losses for FBN in  April 22, 2002. In March 2010, the Supreme Court of Nigeria issued a landmark judgment in favour of Longe upturning his suspension. Is history repeating itself? Certainly Longe got a judgment but it is debatable that he got the justice since he did not return to his job. Will Sanusi get justice or judgment in the court of law is one question begging for an answer. One thing is however clear; we are in the final analysis workers who are deserving of decent work, well paid for, secured with easy entry and exit. International Labour Organization (ILO) has shown over the years that millions of workers worldwide live on precarious works that are poorly remunerated. They get fired and hired at the behest of employers. The recent casualization of the CBN’s governor has certainly made another case for decent protected work for the driver, a messenger no less for a CBN governor or even a President. An injury to one is an injury to all.

    President Goodluck Jonathan may very not be a visible loser in this avoidable labour market crisis, but certainly he is not a celebrated winner either. The President legitimately claimed absolute power to hire and fire. That in itself begs the question.  Absolutism needs no interrogation, no less an explanation. In a democracy, everything is relative, the President’s enormous powers inclusive. Watching the President almost agonizing on Sanusi during the sixth edition of the presidential media chat  shows the suspension was far from being an easy presidential option. Indeed it was refreshing that the President left a window of reconciliation when the he said Sanusi still remained governor pending investigation of the alleged abuse of office. If we must all be winners we must return to the big picture of institution building, the economy and nation building.

    Countries preoccupied with the issues in development use their central banks to keep the economy on course through activist macro economics with respect to pricing, (inflation), exchange rates, interest rates, capacity utilization, employment, debt management, development financing etc.

    Whatever the hidden issues against Sanusi are, his tenure witnessed open activist central banking. Indeed with respect to the core mandate of the CBN, both the suspended governor and President Jonathan are winners. CBN bailed out “ Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank averting  their collapse.  Much credit obviously go to the Yar’Adua/ Jonathan presidency for maintaining institutional autonomy of the CBN which made Sanusi to deliver on his primary mandate as a central banker. Both President Jonathan and Sanusi must be credited with stable inflation and exchange rate figures in recent years. Of course double digit interest rate remains unacceptably high, (no value adding manufacturer can borrow at the scandalous interest rate of 23 per cent!).  The relative autonomy of the central bank has made the stability of the monetary policies possible. The major loss to Nigeria in this crisis is therefore institution building.

    The emerging picture is that of two strong men, namely President Jonathan and suspended Governor Sanusi. But what happens to institution and nation building?

    Central banking worldwide has been likened to a good (economic) driver, which must keep an eye on the road and maintain steady hands on the wheel for a good (economic) ride. Towards the end of his tenure, Sanusi was eager to read more balance sheets with all the controversies trailing the missing billions from NNPC’s unremitted sums. Devil is in the details. But it is instructive that, Sanusi has come to agree that the better is to read less of balance sheet. In a pre-suspension  interview with Metropole magazine, he accepts as much that; ‘…in a sense, in terms of managing communications that’s what our problem was and the way to have done that would have been maybe use channels other than public lectures, public statements, and public interviews to make some of the points that I have made.  If there is anything I think I could have done better, it is really in the area of communication.  Also, I think not being politically sensitive was a problem.  I am not saying the CBN governor should be a politician.  But just understanding the politics of communication in Abuja was something maybe I could have done better.”

     

    •Aremu mni is vice president, Nigeria Labour Congress

  • Cartoon

    Cartoon

  • Abacha: History is our witness

    SIR: I have followed with a keen interest the controversies and debates that followed Professor Wole Soyinka’s piece titled; I regret my share of this National insult after President Jonathan honoured the late General Abacha during the Centenary celebration few days back. I have read the ripostes from Gumsu and Sadiq Abacha, the late dictators two children. I have also followed reactions from commentators and those who witnessed the days of the locusts. Regrettably, I ran away with the tragic conclusion that history has shown that men never learnt anything from history.

    One clear answer as to why a President of Nigeria in the 21st century will include the name of Nigeria’s dictators, particularly the ruthless General Sani Abacha as one of the honorees at the Centenary celebration is that President Jonathan may not have known what Nigeria suffered in the hands of Abacha from 1993 to 1998. The conclusion is that those who did not know how we got the democracy we are rubbishing today have been the ones ruling Nigeria since 1999. This is the simple reason why Nigerians have been suffering for almost 16 years now. Men and women put lives on the line, walked a long road, scaled many walls, drilled the deepest wells, faced many challenges and chewed bullets to chase away the military dictators but lily-livered and impostors seized our hard-earned victory and have continued since 1999 to make a mess of our country. I regret to admit that there may be no hope in sight until we clear the Augean stable in Abuja.

    For the avoidance of doubt and for record purposes, it is a taboo in Igboland to cast aspersions to the dead because the person is no longer alive to defend himself. There is no need to fight a man who is down and not alive to respond to anything. When Abacha died in 1998 I broke that tradition. This is because the late Abacha committed abominations.

    Here below is what I wrote about the late General Abacha in my book: Heroes of Democracy published in 1999. “Much has been written about this error of history in Nigeria and many more are still going to be written by historians. I am yet to see how General Abacha’s legendary bad records can be beaten by any other leader in Nigeria dead or alive. Such a wicked dictator like General Abacha can never be left alone in Nigeria. Never in the history of Nigeria has one man so hijacked and traumatized the national psyche for his own selfish purposes. General Abacha jailed General Obasanjo who narrowly escaped death in prison. His former deputy, General Shehu Yar’Adua jailed with General Obasanjo could not survive as he died in Abakiliki prison, the worst gulag in Nigeria. General Abacha dethroned the much revered Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki and banished him from Sokoto. General Abacha murdered an International writer and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other prominent Ogoni sons. General Abacha attempted to blow up the presidential jet of his deputy, General Oladipo Diya and when that attempt failed, after the bomb had exploded and killed those who were detailed to carry out the operation, General Abacha arrested his deputy and other top officers, paraded them before the national television in handcuffs and leg irons, charged them for plotting coup and sentenced them to death… Abacha ordered killings of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, chief Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral Olu Omotehinwa, Dr. Omatshola, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, Toyin Onagoruwa and others….”

    Gumsu and Sadiq Abacha know nothing about Nigeria’s chequered history and the colossal damage their father inflicted on Nigeria. I feel sorry for this burden of history they have to carry for the rest of their lives. Actions carry consequences. Deploying unwarranted anger on a well respected person of Professor Wole Soyinka will not help Abacha family. Silence would have been golden for them.

     

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos

     

  • Politics of Second Niger Bridge

    SIR: The immaterial controls the material; a people’s circumstance is largely influenced by their philosophy. Other continents of the world have advanced so farther than Africa that it is often wondered if the African is less endowed (intellectually and otherwise) than the rest of humanity. Experience, however, shows the contrary for we see individual Africans across the globe proving that they are equally as good. The pitiable state of the continent and Nigeria in particular is therefore largely a consequence of defective philosophies of the people.

    One of these wrong orientations is in our concept of development. While in most other parts of the world development (especially as it pertains to basic amenities) is largely seen as a matter of necessity, here, politicians see them as luxuries, as favours to be bestowed as they wished. Sometimes due to malice or ethnicity, infrastructure which would benefit not just the host community/part of the country but also contribute to the overall growth of the country is left undone. A community/part of the country is subtly given crude conditions under which necessary amenities will be provided for them. Generally, politicians still play politics with matters of development, provision of basic amenities.

    One necessary project that has been the subject of so much politicking is the second Niger Bridge. Former President Obasanjo used it to canvass for Igbo vote, so did Yar’Adua. President Jonathan during his 2011 election campaign promised Ndigbo that he will construct the bridge during his first tenure if elected. Well, the tenure is almost up and the bridge is nowhere to be seen. This did not come as a surprise. I knew the same bridge would be used to woo Ndigbo ahead of the 2015 election; it was all too predictable.

    On March 10, the president performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the construction of the bridge. Only the hopelessly naïve will not see the politics behind the ceremony and its timing. It holds both promise and threat –vote me in and you get the bridge, fail to vote me and forget the bridge. It is so unfortunate that we cultivated such deplorable culture of politicizing development.

    The ground-breaking ceremony has come and gone, yet that is no guarantee that the project would be done –we still have a culture of abandoning projects. In fact some ‘smart devils’ would still prefer to have the project delayed for future political purposes. That would be very unfortunate indeed. I sincerely hope this is the last time a politician will ask Ndigbo for votes using the second Niger Bridge.

    • Nnoli Chidiebere

    Aba, Abia State.

     

  • Stone that the builders rejected …?

    Not too long ago, his governorship ticket got “K-leg”. Now, that leg has been straightened, and it is so strong and sturdy that it offered its former traducer a platform to stand on. Is it then a question of the stone that the builders rejected becoming the head cornerstone?

    O yes, you guessed right! It is the riveting story of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

    On the virtual eve of the 2007 election, All-mighty President Obasanjo and sole-controller of the All-mighty ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suddenly declared Amaechi who contested and won the Rivers PDP governorship ticket, stood disqualified. It was a classic from the PDP house of imposition. Hence, the infamous “e don get K-leg” quip.

    But thanks to the courts, impunity was vanquished, and the once-rejected Amaechi became the shining armour of an otherwise opaque PDP, with his good governorship performance. Of course too, the once-upon-a-time All-mighty president is now in decline. He is even threatened with irrelevance by his estranged godson and current president, Goodluck Jonathan.

    Now, Amaechi must have a grim sense of humour or was on a cynical demonstration of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” dictum — or both.

    Whatever it is, it is strange that the same Obasanjo who almost wilfully annulled Amaechi’s governorship right became the chief launcher of the latest of projects the Amaechi administration was delivering, even with the huge distraction of Mbu Joseph Mbu (whoever remembers him now?), Nyesom Wike and other Jonathan Rivers local political enforcers.

    Without any sense of irony, Baba, ever mortally scared of slipping into irrelevance, made himself available. What should be Jonathan’s as of right then became the happy chore of the Ebora Owu, as he strutted, commissioning one project after another.

    But the irony is not lost on any discerning mind. Back then, but with a wink, Obasanjo nearly torpedoed Ameachi’s hard-won ticket. Indeed, but for the courts that taught the polity a lesson in the futility of impunity, Amaechi’s “K-leg” would have stayed that way and, as Nigerians love to say, “nothing would happen!” But see the underdog of yore come to give the former thundering over-dog a rare platform in the sun, after his own godson had practically run him into a ditch?

    From Amaechi’s side, it is a study in resilience. A country should be governed by law. Even then, citizens themselves should wake up those laws — rudely if possible — whenever their powers were threatened by the powers-that-be. The beauty of Amaechi’s story is that he fought a good fight and crowned it with good service to his people.

    Lesson for Jonathan? Power is transient. After all, what people will remember you for is not how many high-profile sacks you pulled off or how good you were at political intrigues. Obasanjo was master of all those, but see how he craves attention now — even from mere boy, Amaechi.

    Jonathan must learn from Obasanjo and do his job meticulously. But so far, the signals are not too good. But perhaps if Saul turned to Paul, there is always hope of some Pauline conversion to good — is there?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Give South-west youths a voice

    SIR: I wish to observe on the Yoruba leaders of thoughts meeting held in Ibadan in Thursday February 27, on the issue of the agenda to be pursued by the Yoruba at the conference. While I have no doubt that the people at the meeting were eminent Nigerians of Yoruba stock, majority of who have distinguished themselves in public and private concerns and qualified to represent Yoruba at such conference, the absence of youths or failure to give the youths prominent role to play at that Yoruba leaders of thoughts meeting was disappointing. This is because issues to be discussed at the constitutional conference are issues for the future which have telling effects on the youths and fewer effects on the elders.

    Are our elders telling us that there are no youths in the South-west who can represent the region at the constitutional conference or they do not trust them? The irony is that most of the elders at the meeting were at some of the constitutional conference convoked to usher in Nigeria’s independence as youths probably under 30s. Not only that, many of them came into public offices in their 30s and early 40s. If the Yoruba leaders of those days could breed them as successors, why is it difficult for them to breed those who will succeed them and nurture them in their life times?

    I don’t need to belabour myself in showing the ages of the governors in the South-south, South-east and northern parts of the country to drive my point home. The failure on the part of South-west elders to replicate this is acceptance of failure on their part as parents.

    It is high time South-west youths wake up from their deep slumbers and take their rightful place in the affairs of the land. Obviously, fear of the future has forced them to run away from politics and seek for civil service and other professional jobs. The irony is that those who direct political affairs would continue to lord it over them in spite of the lucrative nature of their various vocations. They would have themselves to blame if they refuse to go into politics with their sound education which the South-west is reputed.

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

     

     

     

  • Let Ekiti governorship campaign be issue-based

    SIR: “Weep not, child, weep not, my darling, with these kisses let me remove your tears; the ravening  clouds shall not long be victorious.  They shall not long possess the sky – shall devour the stars only in apparition; Jupiter shall emerge-be patient-watch again another night – the Pleiades shall emerge”.

    These words are those of a father consoling his child on a beach at night in a bid to  give a highly importunate and crestfallen young one a lullaby to enjoy a relief from the endless cries piercing his eardrums.

    This is the season of politics in Ekiti State and politicians gunning for the forthcoming governorship election will use all tricks in the book including lies, blackmail, subterfuge, unrealistic promises and other devices to hoodwink the electorate.

    Many of the aspirants have resorted to telling lies all in the name of clinching the gubernatorial tickets of their parties.

    The most egregious falsehood from the governorship motley crowd was the one spewed by a recently sacked Minister who represented the state at the federal cabinet before he was relieved of his job for apparent non-performance.

    In a bid to justify his ambition of winning his party’s ticket  and ultimately clinch the highest seat in the state, the ex-minister accused the Fayemi administration of doing nothing with funds accruing to the to the state from the federation account.

    Those of us who knew the condition Fayemi met the state in October 2010 believe that the governor has faithfully utilized the resources available to turn around the fortunes of the state in the areas of infrastructure, education, tourism, human capital development, urban renewal, agriculture, empowerment, among others.

    One would have thought the ex-minister would have been honest to acknowledge that Fayemi has done a lot and that he should tell the Ekiti electorate what he would do better if realises his ambition if ruling the state on the platform of his party.

    I don’t need to be a minister to be able to educate this aspirant on the achievements of the APC-led government in Ekiti – in Ipoti Ekiti, his hometown. These achievements include the renovation of Ipoti High School, construction of the 17-kilometre Ipoti/Ayetoro road, 5.3km Ipoti/Ilukuno/Oke-Oro road and payment of  social security stipends to the aged people in Ipoti.

    We have not forgotten the Grants-in-Aid to communities to execute projects peculiar to their needs,  construction of five kilometres of roads across the 16 Local Government areas (phase 1 & 2).

    In all these, Fayemi has restored Ekiti’s core values through good governance, quality and viable representation and service delivery.

    I want to advise all aspirants in all parties to make their campaigns issues-based and not to engage in distortion of facts, character assassination, mudslinging and deliberate use of falsehood to gain advantage.

    Ekiti people are wise, knowledgeable and discerning enough to know what is good for them and they will speak with their votes at the June 21 governorship election.

     

    • Sina Odewale,

    Ado-Ekiti

  • Abacha, Soyinka and the centenary awards

    Abacha, Soyinka and the centenary awards

    SIR: I remember the day the man died. My younger brother and I after a very long queue at the Bida Sawmill came home around 7:30pm with two big sacks of sawdust to be used for the popular “Abacha Stove” necessitated by acute lack of kerosene and many more necessities of life. Things were really messy then.

    I can’t remember what we were watching but I can remember that it was something of great interest to dad and his friend. I was almost dozing off when dad and his friend went in to a sort of frenzy shouting, jumping and clapping hands. At first, I thought it was a football match. Then I listened carefully as the newscaster repeated the news that the head of state, General Sani Abacha was dead. Even as a kid, I couldn’t wrap my head around why dad and his friend were happy at the death of ‘the man’. I could remember how dad frequently associated ‘the man’ with virtually every woe we were experiencing from lack of water, food, money to freedom of movement.

    Abacha was simply called ‘the man’ or ‘this man’ by dad. Years later, I realised why dad and his friend were joyous. The man’s death meant different things to different people. To majority of Nigerians, Abacha’s death at least meant that the dark days were over. For my brother and I, it meant that going to queue at Bida Sawmill to fetch sawdust for “Abacha Stove” was over.

    When recently, the inept men and women running the affairs of this country decided to award people they felt have contributed to bring us to where we are today in celebration of 100 years of our ‘country-hood’, one wasn’t surprised to see Abacha on the list of awardees.

    I knew what he was going to say but I called my dad to ask him his opinion on Abacha’s presence on the list anyway. I was shocked when he said he would have protested if ‘the man’ didn’t make the list. To him, if the awards were for those who brought us here, then Abacha deserves double honours for quickening our steps down the path of lawlessness, terror, intimidation, monumental national looting, devaluation of naira and human life, impunity, and prostitution! Now I understand.

    So to Abacha’s children, your riposte to Prof. Wole Soyinka because he poked his long finger in the nose of your late father is in order. But the fact that your father was a dread to many a fellow country men and women can’t be eroded by even the best written open letter. You all must appreciate Nigerians for their patience and ability to suffer and smile. You owe God and humanity thanks that Nigerians are not like the Iraqis, Libyans, Egyptians or Tunisians. In Nigeria, we do not visit the sins of the father on the children. But please do not over stretch that rope of generosity.

    For the rest of us, we must not, as Prof. Wole Soyinka did, wait for the lion’s leg to be broken or till the lion is dead before we go asking for the debt he owes us. During the peak of the Abacha dark days, Soyinka stood out as a voice. We read of the activities of the “Radio Kudirat”. We read of how the man had to disguise to escape the Abacha-bred killer dogs. Standing up to Abacha even in the hidden was the most daring thing to do at that time. But Prof. Soyinka did. So to me, he’s earned the right to reject his own share of the national embarrassment called Centenary Awards fairly and squarely albeit giving us the reasons why.

     

    • Usman Katun Umar

    Bida, Niger State

  • When an engine refuses to return

    Every Nigerian adult must be conversant with the Ogbanje (Abiku) mythology in Nigeria’s traditional religion. Ogbanje is the (evil) spirit child whose intention of coming to the world is to bring pains and sorrow to his parents. How does he do this? Simple: No sooner is he born than he dies. But he would not be such a baleful augury if he remained dead; no, Abiku is a wanderer, a tormentor who goes and comes at will as if death is but a stroll in the park. Ogbanje, the brief sojourner would return again and again until he is stopped.

    Hardball obviously has been triggered into mythology by a strange event that happened last Saturday. President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clan had hit Minna, Niger State, for a rally and after the show it was time for the president to fly back to Abuja; the president and his entourage had boarded and were ready for take off. But behold, the engine Air Force One, our presidential jet, would not crack. The ‘return engine would not pick’, someone offered. After a frustratingly long period of fiddling by technicians the big bird would not budge. The president had to fly the vice president’s jet while the VP was given a ride by the senate president.

    You must have seen the Abiku connection now: the engine of the president’s number one jet refused to return to base after an outing; Air Force One refused to return home, it chose to sleep out on the tarmac of a lonely little airport. Hmm, rather ominous but coming on the back of a horrendous air mishap in far away Malaysia, we say rather the jet refused to crack than it stopped running mid air (Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board disappeared on Saturday and was yet to be found as at yesterday. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims).

    Even as we rejoice and raise praises to heaven that a divine force must have intervened to avert a presidential air mishap, few questions puzzle the mind of Hardball and Nigerians of course. One: is it feasible that a jet would fly from Abuja to Minna, a next-door city that would have been more conveniently accessed by road? Two: it was speculated that “high temperature affected the engine of the aircraft” as the weather in Niger State was very hot. The speculation went on that only Air Force One and not the other planes on the trip were affected by the excessive heat because the premium jet is ‘more digitalised’, if you understand what that means. Is it plausible that an aircraft at rest would have its engine ‘overheated’? What would happen to the engine if the aircraft was on long haul journey and firing away at 8000 kilometers per hour?

    Three: this is a N9 billion jet that is only about five years old. Our Air Force One suffered what Nigerian roadside mechanics call ‘hard-starting’ regardless that about N48 billion has been devoted to the 11 high-end jets in the presidential fleet in the last four years. In the current budget, N4.91 billion has been set aside for the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) out of which N1.52 billion is allocated for solely for aircraft maintenance. There is another N747 million set aside for the PAF aircraft fuelling. Having blessed our president with 11 luxury jets and with the multi- billion naira pampering of the PAF, we beg to be spared any ogbanje story.