The Nation Newspaper

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  • The saga of unbreakable Uncle Sam

    The saga of unbreakable Uncle Sam

    • Dare Babarinsa

    Sam Amuka-Pemu (Sad Sam) has staying power.  He has remained a prominent Nigerian for more than half-a-century.  In 1967 when he was appointed the editor of the Sunday Times, he was just 32.  Before then, he had been the editor of Spear magazine, also published by the Daily Times group.  In 1973, he collaborated with Chief Olu Aboderin, a wealthy accountant, to start the phenomenal Punch newspapers.  It was a collaboration made in heaven.  Amuka had the idea.  Aboderin had the money.  The Punch remained till today, but not the friendship or collaboration between Aboderin and Amuka-Pemu. 

    In 1985 – 40 years ago – Amuka-Pemu established the Vanguard newspapers. The truth is that Uncle Sam has been everything possible in journalism and beyond.  On Friday June 15, many of those who gathered in Lagos to celebrate this living legend were not around when he was a roaring lion on the pages of the old Sunday Times.

    At 90, Uncle Sam has become a Living Deity of the Press. His impact on Nigeria, especially on the press, is great.  Around 1988, I had gone to see him at his office at Kirikiri Canal overlooking the sandy waterway.  I was assigned by my boss in Newswatch to do a story about a young publisher who allegedly was owning money to Vanguard for printing and other services.  Amuka said the story was true, but he would not want any story about it published.  He promised to reach out to Ray Ekpu our Editor-in-Chief,  

    “The young man is restless, but he is trying to do something good,” Uncle Sam said. “We should not discourage him, but help him.  His success may be good for journalism.”

    He was clairvoyant. The restless young man of that day has now become an iroko tree of Nigerian journalism. The truth is that Uncle Sam is an excellent human being. His serenity and royal poise belie the battles he had fought and won.  As the editor of the Sunday Times, he was running the most important weekly in Nigeria the Nigerian Civil War.  It was a testy period when news could have more implications that mere intellectual curiosity.  He made good friends, and remained the journalist  he has always been.  He never tried to trade places with any other profession.

    Amuka-Pemu’s career can be calibrated into three phases.  First was his experience with the Daily Times during the Golden Era of Nigerian journalism.  That was the era of Alhaji Babatunde Jose, the legendary editor who became the Managing Director of the Daily Times in 1962.  There were too many stars in the Daily Times firmaments: Peter Enahoro, Alade Odunewu, Henry Odukomaya, Segun Osoba, Tunji Oseni, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Tola Adeniyi, Areoye Oyebola,  Tony Momoh, Femi Sonaike, Idowu Sobowale and many more.  We grew up to know them.  They were the heroes of my youthful years. 

    Under Jose, Daily Times was the tree that made a forest.  No reporter thought of leaving the Daily Times except Sam Amuka-Pemu, the irreverent columnist of the old Sunday Times writing under the pen name, Sad Sam.  His writings were witty, filled with sarcasm and ironic twists of words.  He made use of short sentences and crisp elucidations.  He was bold and often ran into trouble.  He was totally unafraid.  Then he thought of leaving the phenomenal Daily Times group! It was fortuitous that he met with Aboderin and they soon start the sassy Sunday Punch, noted for its racy prose, its irreverence and its barely clad page three girls.  Then the two friends fought and Sam-Amuka was pushed out of the Punch.  He went to court and won! Thus began the third phase of the Sam Amuka-Pemu’s story.

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    After Punch, he founded The Vanguard and proved to sceptics that there is life after disaster. The Vanguard is Uncle Sam.  His open personality, his effervescence and his sheer humanity are all expressed in the openness of the Vanguard; its irreverence, its great prose and its damn-the-consequence reporting. The paper attracted intellectual gipsies; those who preferred radical and unorthodox opinion typified by the radical rhetorics of Alhaji Kola Animasaun, Dap Dorman, Chuks Iluegbunam, Eric Teniola, Bisi Lawrence, Pini Jason, Tony Iredia and Chris Momah.  The Vanguard Alumni lists some of the most iconic journalists in modern Nigeria: Muyiwa Adetiba, a living legend of the profession, Toye Akinode, first-class reporter in the old National Assembly, Frank Aigbogun, cerebral, fearless,  Fola Arogundade, informed, courageous, and the incredible Uncle Sam’s alter ego, Gbenga Adefaye, the journalists’ journalist whose delicate dance with trouble has earned him some deep stripes.

    There are many proud Vanguardians, including Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, Hubert Unegbu, Uche Onyebadi, Chris Okojie, Kunle Oyatomi, Tunde Ajani and Wole Akinola, who regards themselves as eternally part of the fraternity.  The truth is that once you have joined the Vanguard Family, you may move on, but you remain parts of the orbit.  Uncle Sam is an incredible mentor; unbreakable under pressure, resilient, fearless and steely stubborn as the military regime of General Sani Abacha found out.  During the Abacha era many newspapers and magazines, including TELL and TheNews, came under intense pressure and they paid dearly for their opposition.  Alex Ibru, The Guardian publisher, escaped an assassination attempt, but was fatally wounded.  The Punch, under the resilient and unbending leadership of Chief Ajibola Ogunsola, was closed several times and its editors and reporters faced incredible oppression and harassments.  The Vanguard, with its irreverent and iconoclastic reporters and editors, paid dearly for their daring. One of the Vanguard reporters, George Onah, the defence correspondent, spent his one-year detention in solitary confinement at the underground cell of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI, Apapa, before he was transferred to the underground cell under the Ikoyi Cemetery on the order of Colonel Frank Omenka, the fiendish boss of the DMI. Yet the Vanguard remained the vanguard of our freedom. Time has moved on, but the Vanguard newspaper remains on the beat.   

    The leader of the team, the Unbreakable Uncle Sam, has lived 90 incredible years, witnessing the transformation of our great country.  That Uncle Sam agreed to be celebrated at 90 is a testimony that he too at last has been transformed.  Ten years ago,  as his 80th birthday was drawing nearer, I called him, reminding him that we needed to celebrate him.

    “What is the hurry all about?’’ he asked.  “Wait until I am dead, then you can have all the celebrations that you want!!”

    This time around, I was told that it took deep conspiracy, led by the iconic investigative reporter and living legend, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, to ensure that Uncle Sam attended his own 90th birthday.  Osoba, former Managing Director of the old Daily Times, drew on his experience and resources, including Gbenga Adefaye, to ensure that Uncle Sam was successfully kidnapped and brought to attend his own birthday!

    The truth is that Uncle’s Sam has lived an incredible life.  Every Nigerian leader has known him on a one-to-one basis: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  While the tapestry of power was changing, Uncle Sam remains the incredible witness, a Voice of Reason, a temperate interlocutor, a towering symbol of our national resilience and possibilities. What a life! 

    Congratulations Uncle Sam! Please get ready to be kidnapped for your 100th birthday!!

  • Thank God subsidy is gone

    Thank God subsidy is gone

    By Ibraheem Mouftah

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was perceived to have made a blunder when, on his inauguration as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he stated that the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, had been removed. I was among those who viewed the president’s statement as hasty and ill-timed. But I was wrong. I acted in ignorance, not after reading the accounts of the subsidy regime fraud by a former chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, in his recently published book, The Shadow of Loot and Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud.

    The book is an expository and a must-read. It revealed the insider deals in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) from 2006 to 2012. According to the author, he felt a strong urge to share a story defined by the pursuit of justice and the prevalence of fraud. And the content of the book didn’t deviate from the motivation, in my opinion. It gave insights into the petroleum industry and the history and causes of petroleum subsidy fraud in the country.

    He also highlighted the various ways these frauds were perpetuated by a network that consists of oil marketers, tank farm owners, bankers, vessel owners, civil servants within the petroleum industry and some highly placed individuals in the country. After reading, one would be glad that the subsidy regime had ended.

    Among the listed manner these frauds were perpetuated by the actors, the one that struck my attention was “Bridging by air fraud”. He narrated that this was among the earliest forms of petroleum subsidy fraud that involved, largely, the reimbursement for transportation/freight of petroleum products from coastal (loading) depots to the inland (receiving depots), and the National Transportation Allowance through which diversion was carried out.

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    “Oil marketing companies were to load their trucks using meter tickets and waybills. The waybills would be stamped by Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) officials at the point of dispatch from the loading end. They would also be stamped at the receiving end upon arrival at the inland depots to confirm their receipt.”

    He said the fraud is perpetuated when some oil marketing companies would sell products at the coastal depots, and complete the documentation as though the trucks were loaded and dispatched at the inland depots. Meter tickets and waybills are thereafter obtained and flown to the receiving end to be processed and submitted to PEF as claims for reimbursement. This is quite interesting and indicates how insider dealings by the relevant government officials at the coastal and inland depots aid this fraud in return for kickbacks. Also, oil marketing companies were involved in substituting short distances between the loading depots and a filling station with longer distances to secure financial compensation.

    For example, a claim would be presented that a truck delivered PMS to a retail station in Maiduguri, whereas the PMS was sold elsewhere or claims would be made for delivery to retail outlets that do not exist.

    In my opinion, as simple as this process might seem, it was an avenue where hundreds of millions were fraudulently obtained by the consortium of racketeers. The author made some honest submissions with regard to efforts by PEF to address the concern. But it was also breached. He said, “PEF invested billions of naira in the automation of the verification process through a software called Aquilla. Aquilla succeeded in eliminating both the bridging by air fraud and the diversion fraud to some extent. However, during the teething period of the deployment of the software, oil marketing companies found a way by which they removed the Aquilla tags from their trucks in order to perpetuate the bridging by air. Based on the foregoing, additional controls were put in place by which any tag removed from a truck would no longer be functional. Also, licenses, registration numbers and chassis numbers of oil trucks had to match whenever trucks were scanned at the loading and receiving ends. Despite all these, PEF struggled to achieve accurate oversight as smuggling and black-market sales persist.”

    The PEF example should resonate in other sectors. It is an indication of a deliberate attempt at improving service delivery. There are fraudulent practices almost everywhere, and one of the ways to address these concerns is the deployment of technology, just like the case of the Aquilla software that helped a great deal in drastically reducing the bridging by air fraud. There are lessons to be gleaned from this example, and this much the author alluded to by highlighting the adoption of technology to modernize government operations and creating deterrents by promoting a legal environment that ensures swift investigations and prosecutions of wrongdoing, public perception of risk can shift. I like the creating deterrents angle from a psychological perspective. It can be further understood using the carrot and stick approach in discouraging undesirable actions.

    The book “The Shadow of Loot and Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud” should be a staple item for policymakers and implementers. It is a quasi-academic work with insights into the issues, examples and recommendations on ways forward. Worthy of note is his allusion that had the system been more efficient, and instances of fraud minimized, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu might not have deemed it necessary to eliminate the subsidy regime. He also argued that “retaining a well-managed subsidy programme could have provided much-needed relief to vulnerable populations by ensuring that the cost of living remains stable and providing a buffer against economic shocks.” However, as we all know, the subsidy is gone, and our focus now should be on improving domestic capacity for uninterrupted refining of crude oil.

    In my opinion, there are positive steps in that direction with the sale of crude in naira to local refineries. The first step has been achieved, and the next step should be ensuring the availability of products to the refineries to ensure a seamless flow in the value chain. If this is done, we might as well perish the idea of importation of petroleum products into the country. I hope a major actor in the petroleum sector in the country would be led by the spirit to also give us a glimpse of the intricacies of the fuel subsidy regime. This insider perspective would indeed be a knowledge addition about a regime that is arguably the most fraudulent in our history. My two cents.

    •Mouftah comments on public affairs from Abuja, FCT.

  • Sudan: When rape becomes a war tactic

    Sudan: When rape becomes a war tactic

    By Faizat Badmus-Busari

    On June 19 annually, the world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. It is a day dedicated to honouring survivors, demanding accountability, and renewing the commitment to justice.

    But for too many women and girls in Sudan, this day will pass in silence, because their stories remain unheard, their pain unseen, and their suffering weaponised.

    Sudan is experiencing one of the gravest crises of our time. Since April 2023, brutal fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated cities, displaced millions, and left women and girls exposed to widespread and systematic sexual violence.

    Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Sudan has been deliberately used by the warring parties as a weapon of war to terrorise, dehumanise, displace, and destroy, according to the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network, which has been documenting these atrocities across Sudan since the war began in April 2023.

    The patterns are undeniable. A vast majority of the 386 cases verified involve gang rape, some with as many as 12 perpetrators at a time violating a single woman or child. In many instances, women are abducted, held in inhumane conditions, and subjected to prolonged sexual torture. Children account for almost 25 per cent of these documented cases, exposing a horrifying level of brutality.

    In our documentation work, we have spoken to women who survived unimaginable brutality. One woman, abducted in El Geneina, West Darfur, was passed from soldier to soldier, and she described herself as being treated “like a gift.” When she was finally released, she walked back into her displacement camp, bloodied, in pain, and in silent torment.

    In another case, a mother sobbed as she recounted how both she and her teenage daughter were taken away. She was eventually freed after days of assault, but her daughter never returned. “Every morning, I wake up and wait,” she told us. “But the sun keeps rising, and she’s not here.

    These are not isolated crimes. They are part of a deliberate strategy, a campaign of gendered terror designed to humiliate communities, punish dissent, and assert dominance. And yet, there has been no accountability. Armed actors continue to operate with total impunity.

    While Sudanese women cry out, the global community remains largely silent, treating this war and the women it targets as though African lives are less important and unworthy of the world’s full attention. The international system continues to respond selectively, where some conflicts are considered emergencies, and others, such as Sudan, are often forgotten.

    For Nigeria, these accounts should strike a chord. We have seen how Boko Haram used abduction and sexual slavery as tools of terror. We know the scars left behind by insurgencies, from the Northeast to the Middle Belt. But we also know the power of collective outrage, the global call to #BringBackOurGirls showed that global solidarity is possible, yet Sudanese women continue to be met with silence.

    Sudan needs that same solidarity now.

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    Despite multiple United Nations (UN) briefings and African Union (AU) resolutions, there has been little concrete progress in delivering justice to survivors or in ending the war that continues to place them at risk. While some courts remain operational, most survivors have no safe or trusted pathway to report.

    Fear of retaliation, lack of protection, and deep-rooted social stigma silence many. With a lack of access to or the availability of safe shelters and severely damaged medical infrastructure, survivors are left to navigate trauma in isolation, often without the hope of redress.

    We must ask ourselves: What will it take for Sudanese women to be seen?

    Nigeria, as a leading voice in Africa and a member of the African Union Peace and Security Council, can no longer afford to be silent. We must support Sudanese organisations to:

    •          Call for a hybrid tribunal on Sudan that includes CRSV as a core pillar, ensuring an end to the cycles of impunity and that perpetrators of atrocity crimes are finally held accountable;

    •          Fund survivor protection and recovery programs across Sudanese refugee camps in Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt;

    •          Support Sudanese women’s organizations already doing frontline response work with little to no resources; and

    •          Push the UN, AU, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to include CRSV in all peace and mediation processes, not as a side note, but as a central issue of justice.

    The crisis in Sudan demands a continental reckoning with how war continues to target women’s bodies and with how the absence of justice has allowed war to repeat itself. This is not the first time sexual violence has been used as a weapon in Sudan, and it will not be the last, unless impunity ends. Justice must no longer be an afterthought. It must be central to our progress.

    On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Nigeria must move beyond words towards action. I call on Nigerians to join in naming the violence, the perpetrators, and standing with the survivors — not just in words, but through action, funding, and political will.

    Because until we do, the war on women’s bodies will continue. History will remember those who stood by and watched, versus those who chose to act.

    •Dr. Badmus-Busari, a lawyer is Regional Programme Manager of SIHA Network, a pan-African feminist organisation working across the Horn of Africa.

  • NNPC: New dawn in transparency

    NNPC: New dawn in transparency

    • By Ifeanyi Onuba

    Last Thursday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd released its monthly performance report for April, 2025. This is the first time the report will be released under the leadership of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari.

    In releasing the performance report, Ojulari has sent a clear and resounding message to stakeholders that, like his predecessor, the era of opacity in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is over.

    By walking in the footsteps of the immediate past NNPC GCEO, Mele Kyari—whose tenure redefined transparency, accountability, and commercial viability within the NNPC, Ojulari has demonstrated that the company’s transformation is not tied to individuals but is now institutional and irreversible.

    This transparency is not mere formality—it is foundational. It builds public trust, encourages foreign and local investment, and holds NNPC Ltd accountable to the Nigerian people whose natural resources it manages.

    It also reflects the continuous culture of openness that aligns with global standards of corporate governance and aligns seamlessly with the demands of the Petroleum Industry Act.

    Moreover, the report underscores NNPC’s growing role, not only as a profit-oriented commercial entity but as a nation-building institution. The combination of strategic project execution, financial performance, gas infrastructure expansion, and far-reaching social investments marks a new chapter in the company’s evolution—one where energy leadership is matched by developmental impact.

    According to the report, the NNPC is to take a Final Investment Decision (FID) on four major oil and gas projects in the fourth quarter of this year.

    FID is a formal decision made by the executive management or board of a company—particularly in the energy, oil & gas, or infrastructure sectors—to proceed with a major capital project. 

    It marks the transition from planning and evaluation to full-scale project execution.

    In the report, the national oil company listed the projects where FID would be taken before the end of the year to include Ntokon Development (OML 102), Crude Oil Production Expansion Project (OML 29), Gas Development Projects (OML 30, 42) and Brass Fertilizer (Financial Close).

    The Ntokon Development refers to the recently discovered oil and gas field on OML 102, located about 60 km offshore in shallow waters (approximately 40 m depth) off Nigeria’s southeast coast.

    It was discovered by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria in June 2023, with NNPC Ltd holding 60 per cent interest and TotalEnergies 40 per cent.

    Wood Mackenzie estimates reserves could be 300–400 MMboe, with a notional scenario of about 320 MMboe leading to first oil in 2029, yielding a healthy 24 per cent Internal Rate of Return, assuming current concession terms.

    This is expected to accelerate NNPC’s growth ambitions, enhance Nigeria’s oil production profile, and add value using low-cost, low-emission development approaches favoured by the Petroleum Act (PIA) regime.

    The NNPC Ltd would also be entering into collaboration with venture partners to accelerate sustainable production enhancement, which would ensure the completion of relevant presidential directives and executive orders for its upstream operations. 

    It also revealed the completion of Turn Around Maintenance of OML 18, OML 58, OML 118 and OML 133. The national oil company recorded the sum of N5.89tn as revenue, resulting in a profit after tax of N748bn.

    In the report, the NNPCL put the crude oil and condensate production at 1.603 million barrels per day, while natural gas production was 7.473 million standard cubic feet per day.

    Crude oil production was 1.67MBPD in January before dropping to 1.62MBPD and 1.56MBPD in the month of February and March this year, respectively. 

    Between January and March this year, the company also made statutory payments of N4.225tn and empowered 531 NYSC Corps members with solar power starter packs, igniting a new generation of clean energy entrepreneurs under the NNPC/NYSC Business Empowerment Initiative.

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     In the report, the NNPC stated that the AKK Gas pipeline project is about 70 per cent completed, while the OB3 pipeline project is about 95 per cent completed.

    The completion of the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project would enhance the transportation of gas across Nigeria, facilitating greater domestic supply and export capabilities.

    According to the report, the NNPC, through its Foundation, also equipped 83 ICT trainees & 170 creative industry talents with business starter kits, driving youth innovation across Nigeria’s digital and creative economies.

    The company also restored vision for 2,005 individuals through cataract surgeries in the Southeast and South-south, delivering dignity, hope, and new beginnings.

    Also achieved during the period under review are the rehabilitation of three hospital wards with 100-bed capacity at National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, advancing access to quality healthcare and saving lives.

    The NNPC Foundation also commissioned STEM books and science libraries in Abuja and Lagos schools, building future scientists, thinkers, and innovators from the ground up.

    Over 3,860 vulnerable farmers were trained in modern, climate-smart agriculture across the Southeast and South-south, transforming rural livelihoods and food security.

    Under Ojulari’s watch, NNPC is not just investing in barrels of oil—it is investing in people, sustainability, and Nigeria’s future. From rural farmers to NYSC entrepreneurs, schoolchildren to surgery patients, the impact is tangible and far-reaching. These are not just figures in a report; they are lives transformed.

    As the company prepares for critical Final Investment Decisions later this year, its actions today will shape Nigeria’s energy security, industrial growth, and environmental resilience for decades to come.

    Ojulari is not only continuing a legacy—he is building upon it. And with each transparent report, successful project, and human-centred initiative, NNPC Ltd has again reaffirmed its place not just as Nigeria’s energy giant, but as one of its most vital agents of progress and hope.

    During the inauguration of the NNPC board by President Bola Tinubu, Ojulari had expressed optimism on the positive market response to the company’s recently appointed management and board of directors.

    He emphasized that although the new leadership team has been in place for less than two months, it has already begun to inspire renewed investor confidence in the company and the wider oil and gas sector.

    He said, “Already, the market has responded to say that they believe this new management team will take the industry and the country to a different level. The same applies to the new board of directors.”

    Ojulari called on Nigerians to give the new board time to drive the anticipated transformation across the company and the industry.

    Highlighting growing interest from both local and international partners, he revealed that the NNPC is now receiving more business proposals than in recent years.

    He said, “People are coming forward, saying, ‘we think you have a new board, we think corporate governance will be improved, we think there’ll be more transparency, and we are ready to do business with you. Some of these entities have stayed away from NNPC for over five years.”

    The release of the April 2025 performance report under Ojulari’s leadership is more than a routine corporate disclosure—it is a defining statement of intent. By prioritizing transparency, institutional continuity, and impact-driven initiatives, Ojulari is reinforcing a transformative agenda that reaches far beyond the oilfields.

     As Nigeria stands at the threshold of a new energy era, the company’s renewed credibility and expanding partnerships suggest that the future of its oil and gas industry is not only brighter but also more inclusive, transparent, and resilient than ever before.

    •Onuba wrote from Abuja.

  • Sudan: When rape becomes a war tactic

    Sudan: When rape becomes a war tactic

    • By Faizat Badmus-Busari

    On June 19 annually, the world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. It is a day dedicated to honouring survivors, demanding accountability, and renewing the commitment to justice.

    But for too many women and girls in Sudan, this day will pass in silence, because their stories remain unheard, their pain unseen, and their suffering weaponised.

    Sudan is experiencing one of the gravest crises of our time. Since April 2023, brutal fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated cities, displaced millions, and left women and girls exposed to widespread and systematic sexual violence.

    Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Sudan has been deliberately used by the warring parties as a weapon of war to terrorise, dehumanise, displace, and destroy, according to the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network, which has been documenting these atrocities across Sudan since the war began in April 2023.

    The patterns are undeniable. A vast majority of the 386 cases verified involve gang rape, some with as many as 12 perpetrators at a time violating a single woman or child. In many instances, women are abducted, held in inhumane conditions, and subjected to prolonged sexual torture. Children account for almost 25 per cent of these documented cases, exposing a horrifying level of brutality.

    In our documentation work, we have spoken to women who survived unimaginable brutality. One woman, abducted in El Geneina, West Darfur, was passed from soldier to soldier, and she described herself as being treated “like a gift.” When she was finally released, she walked back into her displacement camp, bloodied, in pain, and in silent torment.

    In another case, a mother sobbed as she recounted how both she and her teenage daughter were taken away. She was eventually freed after days of assault, but her daughter never returned. “Every morning, I wake up and wait,” she told us. “But the sun keeps rising, and she’s not here.

    These are not isolated crimes. They are part of a deliberate strategy, a campaign of gendered terror designed to humiliate communities, punish dissent, and assert dominance. And yet, there has been no accountability. Armed actors continue to operate with total impunity.

    While Sudanese women cry out, the global community remains largely silent, treating this war and the women it targets as though African lives are less important and unworthy of the world’s full attention. The international system continues to respond selectively, where some conflicts are considered emergencies, and others, such as Sudan, are often forgotten.

    For Nigeria, these accounts should strike a chord. We have seen how Boko Haram used abduction and sexual slavery as tools of terror. We know the scars left behind by insurgencies, from the Northeast to the Middle Belt. But we also know the power of collective outrage, the global call to #BringBackOurGirls showed that global solidarity is possible, yet Sudanese women continue to be met with silence.

    Sudan needs that same solidarity now.

    Despite multiple United Nations (UN) briefings and African Union (AU) resolutions, there has been little concrete progress in delivering justice to survivors or in ending the war that continues to place them at risk. While some courts remain operational, most survivors have no safe or trusted pathway to report.

    Fear of retaliation, lack of protection, and deep-rooted social stigma silence many. With a lack of access to or the availability of safe shelters and severely damaged medical infrastructure, survivors are left to navigate trauma in isolation, often without the hope of redress.

    We must ask ourselves: What will it take for Sudanese women to be seen?

    Nigeria, as a leading voice in Africa and a member of the African Union Peace and Security Council, can no longer afford to be silent. We must support Sudanese organisations to:

    •          Call for a hybrid tribunal on Sudan that includes CRSV as a core pillar, ensuring an end to the cycles of impunity and that perpetrators of atrocity crimes are finally held accountable;

    •          Fund survivor protection and recovery programs across Sudanese refugee camps in Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt;

    •          Support Sudanese women’s organizations already doing frontline response work with little to no resources; and

    •          Push the UN, AU, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to include CRSV in all peace and mediation processes, not as a side note, but as a central issue of justice.

    The crisis in Sudan demands a continental reckoning with how war continues to target women’s bodies and with how the absence of justice has allowed war to repeat itself. This is not the first time sexual violence has been used as a weapon in Sudan, and it will not be the last, unless impunity ends. Justice must no longer be an afterthought. It must be central to our progress.

    On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Nigeria must move beyond words towards action. I call on Nigerians to join in naming the violence, the perpetrators, and standing with the survivors — not just in words, but through action, funding, and political will.

    Because until we do, the war on women’s bodies will continue. History will remember those who stood by and watched, versus those who chose to act.

    •Dr. Badmus-Busari, a lawyer is Regional Programme Manager of SIHA Network, a pan-African feminist organisation working across the Horn of Africa.

  • Thank God subsidy is gone

    Thank God subsidy is gone

    • By Ibraheem Mouftah

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was perceived to have made a blunder when, on his inauguration as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he stated that the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, had been removed. I was among those who viewed the president’s statement as hasty and ill-timed. But I was wrong. I acted in ignorance, not after reading the accounts of the subsidy regime fraud by a former chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, in his recently published book, The Shadow of Loot and Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud.

    The book is an expository and a must-read. It revealed the insider deals in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) from 2006 to 2012. According to the author, he felt a strong urge to share a story defined by the pursuit of justice and the prevalence of fraud. And the content of the book didn’t deviate from the motivation, in my opinion. It gave insights into the petroleum industry and the history and causes of petroleum subsidy fraud in the country.

    He also highlighted the various ways these frauds were perpetuated by a network that consists of oil marketers, tank farm owners, bankers, vessel owners, civil servants within the petroleum industry and some highly placed individuals in the country. After reading, one would be glad that the subsidy regime had ended.

    Among the listed manner these frauds were perpetuated by the actors, the one that struck my attention was “Bridging by air fraud”. He narrated that this was among the earliest forms of petroleum subsidy fraud that involved, largely, the reimbursement for transportation/freight of petroleum products from coastal (loading) depots to the inland (receiving depots), and the National Transportation Allowance through which diversion was carried out.

    “Oil marketing companies were to load their trucks using meter tickets and waybills. The waybills would be stamped by Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) officials at the point of dispatch from the loading end. They would also be stamped at the receiving end upon arrival at the inland depots to confirm their receipt.”

    He said the fraud is perpetuated when some oil marketing companies would sell products at the coastal depots, and complete the documentation as though the trucks were loaded and dispatched at the inland depots. Meter tickets and waybills are thereafter obtained and flown to the receiving end to be processed and submitted to PEF as claims for reimbursement. This is quite interesting and indicates how insider dealings by the relevant government officials at the coastal and inland depots aid this fraud in return for kickbacks. Also, oil marketing companies were involved in substituting short distances between the loading depots and a filling station with longer distances to secure financial compensation.

    For example, a claim would be presented that a truck delivered PMS to a retail station in Maiduguri, whereas the PMS was sold elsewhere or claims would be made for delivery to retail outlets that do not exist.

    In my opinion, as simple as this process might seem, it was an avenue where hundreds of millions were fraudulently obtained by the consortium of racketeers. The author made some honest submissions with regard to efforts by PEF to address the concern. But it was also breached. He said, “PEF invested billions of naira in the automation of the verification process through a software called Aquilla. Aquilla succeeded in eliminating both the bridging by air fraud and the diversion fraud to some extent. However, during the teething period of the deployment of the software, oil marketing companies found a way by which they removed the Aquilla tags from their trucks in order to perpetuate the bridging by air. Based on the foregoing, additional controls were put in place by which any tag removed from a truck would no longer be functional. Also, licenses, registration numbers and chassis numbers of oil trucks had to match whenever trucks were scanned at the loading and receiving ends. Despite all these, PEF struggled to achieve accurate oversight as smuggling and black-market sales persist.”

    The PEF example should resonate in other sectors. It is an indication of a deliberate attempt at improving service delivery. There are fraudulent practices almost everywhere, and one of the ways to address these concerns is the deployment of technology, just like the case of the Aquilla software that helped a great deal in drastically reducing the bridging by air fraud. There are lessons to be gleaned from this example, and this much the author alluded to by highlighting the adoption of technology to modernize government operations and creating deterrents by promoting a legal environment that ensures swift investigations and prosecutions of wrongdoing, public perception of risk can shift. I like the creating deterrents angle from a psychological perspective. It can be further understood using the carrot and stick approach in discouraging undesirable actions.

    The book “The Shadow of Loot and Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud” should be a staple item for policymakers and implementers. It is a quasi-academic work with insights into the issues, examples and recommendations on ways forward. Worthy of note is his allusion that had the system been more efficient, and instances of fraud minimized, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu might not have deemed it necessary to eliminate the subsidy regime. He also argued that “retaining a well-managed subsidy programme could have provided much-needed relief to vulnerable populations by ensuring that the cost of living remains stable and providing a buffer against economic shocks.” However, as we all know, the subsidy is gone, and our focus now should be on improving domestic capacity for uninterrupted refining of crude oil.

    In my opinion, there are positive steps in that direction with the sale of crude in naira to local refineries. The first step has been achieved, and the next step should be ensuring the availability of products to the refineries to ensure a seamless flow in the value chain. If this is done, we might as well perish the idea of importation of petroleum products into the country. I hope a major actor in the petroleum sector in the country would be led by the spirit to also give us a glimpse of the intricacies of the fuel subsidy regime. This insider perspective would indeed be a knowledge addition about a regime that is arguably the most fraudulent in our history. My two cents.

    •Mouftah comments on public affairs from Abuja, FCT.

  • Sam Amuka: Very unNigerian

    Sam Amuka: Very unNigerian

    By Ray Apkn

    A few days ago, on June 13, Samson Oruru Amuka-Pemu, better known as Uncle Sam, and also widely known as Sad Sam joined the nonagenarian club and was fittingly celebrated by the media and political elite in Lagos. A day earlier, President Bola Tinubu had honoured him with the national honour of Commander of the Office of the Niger (CON), an improvement of his OON which he received many years ago.

    In a country where buildings collapse and kill people frequently, where fuel vans fall and spread fire that kills many people regularly, where people over-speed on good roads and kill themselves, their passengers and bystanders, where doctors kill people easily with wrong prescriptions and go scot-free, it is certainly a big deal to live up to 90 years. Besides, 13 is said to be an unlucky number but it has turned out to be a lucky number, a very lucky number, for Sam Amuka.

    Amuka is a very different Nigerian. He is, in fact, a very unNigerian human being, very pleasantly unNigerian. This is a country of titlemania, a country where both achievers and nonentities are crazy about titles, they crave exhibitionism, they write three or four titles before their names and then write their qualifications after their names. Some of them who are chiefs do not derive contentment from just being called chiefs. They now prefer to be called High Chief. Before long some of them will ask to be called Highest Chief. That is the kind of stupidity that we live with here.

    I don’t know if Amuka is a chief or prince because he has never indicated that he is any of those. He is a very self-effacing man, he is simplicity personified, the epitome of humility. A few years ago I had a problem that I wanted to discuss with him. So I called him on the phone and asked for an appointment. He said that he would rather come to see me. I was shocked by his response for three reasons (a) He is 14 years older than me (b) He is many years older than me in journalism (c) I was the one who needed his advice on a problem that was bothering me. I, of course, refused to give him my address. I thought he might get my address from any of my colleagues. So I got dressed quickly and drove to his house before he would think of coming to see me.

     Some years ago during one of Uncle Sam’s birthdays I decided to write a tribute on him even though I knew that he doesn’t like such things. I thought I could ask him to allow me to write something on him to give inspiration to younger journalists but I changed my mind and decided to write it without getting permission from him. However in the article, I asked for forgiveness if he thought I had done something wrong. I went scot-free, there was no punishment to me from this publicity-shy man. This time, I need no permission at all because he has accepted that he cannot dodge forever the attempt by Nigerians to appreciate and celebrate him for his exertions to Nigeria.

    In 2005 the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) was about to conduct an election to fill its offices. I was doing my second term as the General Secretary of the association. Uncle Sam asked me whether I wanted to run for the presidency of the association. I said “No” to him. Then some members of the association put pressure on me to run for the office because they thought that I had enough experience that might be beneficial to the association. So I changed my mind by deciding to run. I told Uncle Sam of my latest decision. He told me that he was supporting the chairman of Punch, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola. I respected his decision but requested that he should allow me to come and campaign within his company, Vanguard. A large-hearted man, he allowed me.

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    This story and his stand are important because since he and Olu Aboderin, the founding chairman of Punch parted ways there was still that lingering hostility between Punch and Amuka who had now founded Vanguard after the split. Some other person, not as open-minded as Amuka, would not have supported Ogunshola at the election. I won the election and when I finished my term I spoke to Uncle Sam about giving Ogunshola a chance to run the affairs of the association as its president. He was a bit surprised that I was the one making the proposal because of the hostility that Ogunshola’s supporters unleashed on me during my presidency. I told him that I would like to move a motion for the association to elect Ogunshola by acclamation and that I would urge my supporters to back the plan. Again Amuka supported Ogunshola. I moved the motion and he became president by acclamation. Another evidence of Amuka’s broad-mindedness.

     When I was General Secretary of the NPAN, I benefitted from Amuka’s wide experience and wisdom in the management of public affairs. In 1997, General Sani Abacha had, as Head of State, published a draconoian document on what he called “The National Mass Media Commission and Press Court.” If implemented, these two institutions would have destroyed the Nigerian media almost irreparably. So the various arms of the media started meeting and looking for ways of combating the demons that Abacha wanted to inflict on the media. One day Amuka said to me: “Ray you are the engine room of this association. Don’t let us come and gather here debating what to do because Abacha can send his goons to come and pack all of us into prison.” So I asked him what he wanted me to do. He said I should always draft a communique at home and simply come and distribute at the meeting and we would look at it and take a decision within a few minutes and run away. In obedience to that advice, I drafted the NPO position on the National Mass Media Commission and Press Court which the NPO printed and distributed widely to counter Abacha’s incendiary document that would have killed the Nigerian media.

     Amuka is an eminent journalist who had been at various times a reporter, writer, columnist, editor and publisher. He edited Spear magazine which became a fierce competitor to Drum which was published in South Africa and was prominent in the Nigerian market. He also edited the iconic Sunday Times which had a roller coaster life in the Nigerian media scene before he went to establish the Punch newspaper along with his friend Chief Olu Aboderin. He was also a famous columnist writing under the pseudonym Sad Sam, a witty, sometimes satirical column that made some people actually sad and some people actually sanguine. In real life he is also very humorous and has the enormous capacity to turn every situation into a scene for roaring laughter. He is someone who lights up any and every room where he steps into because he always feels able to share his ready wit with all and sundry. He is also a dispenser of ready smile, the kind of smile that can disarm a lion. And because of his easy manners and unconditional accessibility many people wonder whether he ever gets angry either in his personal or professional life.

    He has been a strong pillar of the media, supporting all the media arms, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors, the NPAN and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) where he has been a member of the Governing Council for many years now. Journalism is lucky to have a man like Amuka in its fold. There are not many professions where nonagenarians are still active. But wherever there is something affecting the media, Amuka is always there dispensing knowledge, experience and wisdom. That is why he earns the respect of all journalists, veterans and young ones alike.

     But Amuka is more than a journalist. He is a nationalist and patriot who along with General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Bishop Mathew Kukah have worked hard to bring sanity to Nigeria’s elections by their exertions in the Peace Committee. His dedication to the work of that committee makes him a quintessential patriot and statesman to whom Nigeria owes a huge debt of gratitude.

  • Lagos: Evolving face of intermodal transport system

    Lagos: Evolving face of intermodal transport system

    • By Tayo Ogunbiyi

    With a multimodal transport revolution underway, from electric rail lines to modern ferries and smarter bus routes, Lagos is positioning itself as a model African megacity. For decades, the challenges of overpopulation, infrastructural decay, and inefficient public transport have plagued commuters and impeded economic productivity.

    But today, Lagos is charting a new course, one that positions it as a continental leader in sustainable and integrated urban transportation. With over two million passengers transported on the Blue Line Rail since its launch, more than 60 million served by state-run buses since 2019, and a vibrant, revitalized water transport system, Lagos State is showcasing the power of coordinated transport policy, innovation, and political will.

    One of the state government’s most remarkable achievements is the successful take-off of the Blue Line Rail, an electric light rail system that has transported over two million passengers since it commenced full commercial operations.

    This feat reflects both the reliability of the infrastructure and the readiness of Lagosians to embrace mass transit solutions. Phase I is now fully operational, while work is ongoing on Phase II with its eight stations and additional rolling stock.

    The Red Line, a 37-km rail system stretching from Marina to Agbado, utilizes the existing Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) corridor, thereby demonstrating smart infrastructure leveraging.

    Equally impressive is the performance of state-owned buses under the Bus Reform Initiative (BRI). Since 2019, over 60 million commuters have benefited from the Lagos Bus Service Limited (LBSL), which now moves more than 42,000 passengers daily through a fleet of over 300 buses and 21 active routes. With average fares pegged at N261.67, lower than standard commercial rates, the initiative not only ensures affordability but also promotes inclusivity.

    Water transportation, long underutilized in the state, has emerged as a critical mobility option, thanks to the Lagos Ferry Services (LAGFERRY) and the strategic OMI EKO project in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD).

    Within just one year, LAGFERRY has transported over 280,000 passengers, operating a fleet supported by state-of-the-art terminals and modern surveillance systems. These efforts have helped decentralize urban movement, improve safety, and catalyse growth along the waterways.

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    In a city surrounded by water, tapping into the potential of inland waterways is not just practical—it is visionary. The OMI EKO project is a flagship water mobility initiative that will see the construction or renovation of 25 terminals, the acquisition of over 78 electric ferries, and the dredging of 140km of routes to enhance accessibility. This investment is already bearing fruit. The opening of the Ijegun Egba Ferry Terminal in January marked a new chapter for waterfront communities, reducing commuting times and creating new economic linkages.

    LASWA’s ISO 9001:2015 certification is a testament to its commitment to operational excellence and safety. In a bid to demystify water travel for young Lagosians, LASWA also launched the Water Savvy Kids Program, educating children on water safety and swimming—a community-forward, life-saving intervention.

    To drive tourism and increase water ridership, LAGFERRY has launched promotional events like IGNITE THE WATERWAYS, International Women’s Day ferry tours, and the annual Boat Regatta. These not only highlight Lagos’ cultural vibrancy but also position its waterways as viable commercial and recreational corridors.

    The heart of Lagos’ transport reform is its strategic and inclusive Transport Policy, championed by the Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi. This framework promotes safety, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability across all modes—land, rail, and water. It embodies Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s vision of A Greater Lagos Rising, one where development serves people at every socio-economic level.

    The Bus Reform Initiative (BRI) exemplifies this vision. It organizes the chaotic bus transport landscape into three coherent tiers: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Standard Routes, and First and Last Mile (FLM) services. These tiers are designed to optimize connectivity from city centres to underserved neighbourhoods. Key BRI achievements include the commissioning of the Abule Egba Bus Terminal and the construction of 51km of Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs), offering dedicated lanes and upgraded infrastructure to reduce delays and enhance commuter comfort.

    Furthermore, the integration of the Cowry Card, a digital fare payment system, has streamlined operations, eliminated the inefficiencies of cash-based transactions, and improved accountability. With the card usable across multiple modes, Lagos is taking bold steps toward a unified ticketing system, mirroring standards in advanced cities.

    Sustainability underpins Lagos’ transportation overhaul. Solar-powered traffic signal lights, road markings, and medians have been installed across 49 upgraded junctions. These enhancements facilitate smoother vehicle flow and improve pedestrian safety. With 3,941 newly developed parking slots and enhanced enforcement of traffic regulations, Lagos is tackling congestion on multiple fronts.

    Technological integration is also central. The Lagos Bus Service Limited (LBSL) has implemented an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to optimize route planning, personnel deployment, and fleet maintenance. The benefits of this digital backbone are evident: efficient scheduling, reduced vehicle downtime, and improved commuter experience.

    On the rail front, energy efficiency is a top priority. The Blue Line uses electric trains that drastically reduce carbon emissions. When fully operational, it is expected to ferry 500,000 passengers daily, significantly decreasing the number of cars on the roads and cutting pollution.

    Transport in Lagos is no longer just about getting from point A to B. It’s about connecting people to opportunities, lowering the cost of living, and building resilient communities. The economic benefits of this multimodal network are immense: time savings, improved business logistics, job creation, and urban renewal.

    Moreover, improved connectivity helps bridge spatial inequalities. Communities previously marginalized due to poor access are now benefiting from robust transport links. From the slums of Makoko to the waterfronts of Badagry, mobility is becoming a right, not a privilege.

    The government’s collaboration with private sector players, such as Yamaha, Showmax, and local media, has opened up avenues for branding, logistics, and content distribution via the water routes. These innovations hint at the future potential of Lagos’ Blue Economy, an ecosystem where transport, tourism, and technology converge.

    While the achievements thus far are laudable, Lagos is not resting on its laurels. The Green Line Metro Project, which will run from Marina to Lekki Free Zone, and the Purple Line connecting Redemption Camp to Ojo, are future metro expansions that promise to extend the gains of current investments.

    With population growth showing no signs of slowing, urban transport will continue to face pressure. However, Lagos’ model provides a compelling case study for other African megacities. Its blend of long-term vision, public-private partnerships, and community-centred planning is proving to be both scalable and replicable.

    In an age where cities must innovate or collapse under their weight, Lagos has chosen transformation. From the silent hum of electric trains to the roar of water taxis on the lagoon and the buzz of bus terminals alive with activity, the city is finding its rhythm.

    What the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has achieved in the past six years in the transport sector is more than just transport upgrades—it has reimagined the possibilities of urban life. In doing so, the administration is sending a powerful message: Africa’s future is not just arriving. It’s moving—and in Lagos, it’s moving smart.

    •Ogunbiyi is Director, Features, Ministry of Information & Strategy.

  • Musk from rants to regrets

    Musk from rants to regrets

    Tech billionaire Elon Musk may have just learnt a lesson most moneymen already imbibed. In a tiff between deep purse and political power, it is the latter that prevails. And that is because it is political power that fosters the policy environment in which moneymen make their money. You do not by reason of your enormous resource endowment trade tackles with political power that oils the wheels of your fortune and hope to remain fortunate. Wealth is power, but political power is greater power.

    Musk, the world’s richest man, backed down from tantrums in an ego duel with United States President Donald Trump over the last couple of weeks into humbled regrets. He lost billions of dollars in net worth from that voyage of impulse. Even though he is far from being ruined – he remains the world’s richest with a $334.5billion fortune – he came up against a bluff by Trump that he couldn’t call. Rather, he softened up and sought a make-up that the American leader was in no mood to readily oblige. There’s relative calm now, but that is largely because Musk ate the humble pie and pulled back from the battle line.

    Trump and Musk have a long history of friendship. Reports said during his first term in office, Trump extended significant federal support to Musk’s companies, most notably SpaceX and Tesla, often bypassing traditional regulatory hurdles to give the tech mogul a direct pipeline to Washington’s purse. They’ve been an item since the 2024 presidential electioneering in the U.S. when Musk deployed his vast wealth and penetrating influence – he’s the owner of X (formerly Twitter) – in support of Trump’s campaign. As a Republican donor, he spent close to $300million to get 78-year-old Trump elected back into power. They were near-constant companions in the president’s early months back at the White House, such that Musk proclaimed himself the “first buddy.” Not that he was making an empty boast. Upon returning to power, Trump appointed him special advisor and put him in charge of a so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) where he oversaw mass layoffs of federal workers and the shuttering or partial closure of several agencies, including  the arrowhead of U.S. soft power, the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID). The pair often showered each other with praise, and Trump used to invite Musk to attend cabinet meetings.  Observers, however, said while Musk ostensibly led the battle charge to save costs for the Trump administration, he championed regulatory changes as would favour his companies.

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    Like most ties in Trump universe, the political marriage has unraveled. The fall-out between the duo came with Trump’s signature tax cut and deficit spending legislation that he calls the “big, beautiful bill,” but which Musk opposed. The bill is already voted in by the American House of Representatives and is awaiting passage by the Senate, with the president projecting it would clear the Congress before the July 4th American independence anniversary. Musk argued that the bill, which the congressional budget office projects would raise U.S. deficit by $2.42trillion over the next decade, promises to bloat government debt load and he called it a “disgusting abomination.” The catch is, the legislation provides for eliminating electric vehicle tax credits, and Trump says this is the root cause of Musk’s frustration. Financial analysts estimated that provisions in the bill would cut some $1.2billion from Tesla’s full-year profit.

    Musk left his job as a special government employee at the end of May. Trump marked that event with an Oval Office send-off for “The Dogefather” (Musk’s T-shirt imprint for the day) that featured mutual congratulations and at which he handed the Tesla founder a symbolic golden key. But the bonhomie didn’t last. No relationship has room for more than one narcissist, and the Trump-Musk alliance effectively had two. Neither did it help that the two men – both billionaires – share similar traits like large egos and bellicose social media conduct. Days after leaving government, Musk took to X to lampoon Trump’s agenda: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore, This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it,” he posted.

    Trump isn’t known to take criticism supinely and on his own platform, Truth Social, he described Musk as a spent force. He accused the entrepreneur of feeding at the government trough and threatened to cut off his plunder. “Elon was wearing thin, I asked him to leave. I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” the president wrote.

    It didn’t take long for the former allies to descend into a dirty war of recriminations.  Musk escalated the feud with a flurry of posts that were obviously impulsive and which he pulled down shortly after making them. Among the most nuclear was the allegation that the president’s name featured in files on disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, which he said was why they were yet to be declassified. Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking minors. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk said and doubled down in a follow-up post: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” He gave no evidence for the claim that, within a few days, disappeared from his handle. X users who clicked on the message were greeted with: “Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.” In another post that he also deleted, Musk called for Trump to be impeached.

    Meanwhile, the president wasn’t silent. He rebutted the allegation about Epstein, saying: “That’s called ‘old news,’ that’s been old news that has been talked about for years.” He added: “Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It’s old news.” In the Oval Office, Trump deplored Musk’s criticisms, telling reporters: “I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill. I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.” He also dismissed a widespread notion that he couldn’t have won the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania in the 2024 election without Musk’s help; to which Musk shot back on X: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” He added in a separate post: “Such ingratitude.”

    The back-and-forth featured threats of policy ruptures. The president hinted at possible termination of Musk’s contractual ties with the government, posting on social media: “The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” referring to federal contracts with SpaceX. “I was always surprised that (former President Joe) Biden didn’t do it!” Musk momentarily dared the president to do it: “Go ahead, make my day,” he said. He even pressed in his own threat, saying SpaceX would begin to decommission its Dragon spacecraft – a critical link to space for the U.S. National Aeronautic Space Agency (NASA) that depends on Musk’s company to ferry cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station. Roughly five hours later, though, he withdrew the threat.

    Musk’s reconsideration notwithstanding, the markets reacted swiftly and harshly. The mogul’s personal net worth slumped by $33.9billion in one day, while Tesla reportedly lost $152billion from its market capitalization, its biggest hit ever, though its stock price has since shed some of those losses. And Trump threatened him with greater ruination if he funds Democratic candidates against Republicans who vote for the bill. “If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” the president told American media in a phone interview, but declined to share what the consequences would be. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” he added.

    By mid-last week, Musk was back with regrets over his social media activity in the spat. “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” he said in a post on X. But it isn’t yet reunion time with Trump. Asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk in the wake of the spat, the president told journalists: “You mean the man who has lost his mind?”

    •Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

  • Putin has won: The US now speaks his narrative

    Putin has won: The US now speaks his narrative

    • By Phillips P. Obrien

    Over the last few days, if you have not noticed, the two most important US cabinet members who have authority for American foreign and strategic policy released or made statements that previously would have been unthinkable and caused massive outrage. In this case, however, the statements caused only tiny ripples of disquiet.

    This is important—as now the US government is spreading the Russian narrative, and hardly a word of protest is said. And certainly, there is never a retraction or walking back of things that would have been seen as extraordinary only a few months ago.

    Yesterday the US State Department released an official statement congratulating Russia and Russians on their national day. It was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and couched as a statement by Rubio himself. It started with this quote.

    The United States remains committed to supporting the Russian people as they continue to build on their aspirations for a brighter future.

    Actually, the Russian people through their government are making claims to seize Ukrainian territory and kill Ukrainians, so needless to say people in the State Department, including Rubio himself, had to know that this was being deliberately provocative and would be widely noticed at this extraordinary time.

    At the same time, in a series of Congressional testimonies over the last few days, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a few notable statements. When it came to sanctions against Russia, Hegseth admitted that the US was, for all of Trump’s threats, not going to ramp up sanctions on Russia and that he (Hegseth) was fine with that. He claimed that the US did not have to use “every tool” at its disposal to make the Russians agree to peace.

    This was only the start of a remarkable series of claims that the Secretary of Defense would make to different Congressional committees. Hegseth, for instance, refused to call Ukraine the victim in the war and refused to say that he wants Ukraine to “win” the war.

    He even prevaricated on the question of whether the US would respond to a NATO article 5 request if Russia invaded a NATO country.

    All of this has happened in the last few days—which btw saw the expiry of Trump’s two-week deadline during which he was to decide whether to bring in harsher sanctions on Russia. That deadline passed without the slightest comment from Trump or the Press—though the next time Trump makes one of his fake threats, we will undoubtedly hear about how he really, really, really might bring in harsh sanctions that time.

    Now why are the Rubio and Hegseth statements worthy of note? They are actually evidence of the same phenomenon—Trump cabinet members are now speaking the Russian narrative instinctively, regularly and without the slightest hesitation. Russian reflexive control has so taken over US government thinking that the US national security state instantly acts in such a way to reinforce the Russian position.

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    I’m sure Trump did not have to give the State Department orders to congratulate Russia on its national day, nor did Trump tell Hegseth specifically to downplay any new sanctions on Russia or to the try and avoid the question of not honoring the US commitment to NATO—however both the heads of the State and Defense Departments are now operating with these assumptions inbuilt into their positions.

    They know that this is what Trump would want them to do—and they do it without hesitation and prompting.

    It represents almost the complete triumph of Russian reflexive control—a concept I started talking about a few years ago.

    At that point I mentioned how the Biden Administration’s fears of Russian nuclear escalation had been shaped by the Russian narrative so that the Russians had created a fear narrative that was shaping US policy.

    This is worse, far worse. Now the US government on almost every foreign policy question and on a daily basis, speaks the Russian narrative. And they do it without Trump having to give orders for them to do so.

    Putin has won.

    • This article was originally published in www.kyivpost.com