Beware: My Impersonators On Rampage! – Peter Obi

 By Peter Obi

My duplicates are still on the rampage, they now mimic my voice and call people. There is no limit that people cannot go to cause mischief on their target. I have been a target both locally and internationally.  

*Obi and his wife 

The latest incident happened in Abuja yesterday, 17th May at the Court of Appeal premises of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal venue, where my attention was drawn to what was going on outside the courtroom. 

A report came to me while I was seated in court that one Prince Mustapha Audu, son of the late Governor of Kogi state, held the OBIdient's Chief Spokesman, Dr Yunusa Tanko and some others spellbound – castigating and talking down on me, describing me as an ethnic and religious bigot.  

Weep Not for Tinubu, But Nigeria

 By Dele Momodu

Call it what you will, what happened at Chatham House London yesterday was a complete charade… The Bola Tinubu handlers fumbled, and bungled it big time… They showcased him like a packaged invalid. It would have been better to present him as a brilliant politician and administrator, warts and all, who’s capable of independent thoughts. No man is perfect. His gaffes would have been more pardonable and acceptable… He was expected to sell his own vision and mission…

Tinubu speaks at Chatham House, London

But what we saw yesterday was a theatre of the absurd. It brought back memories of our great President Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and how he mysteriously disappeared from radar and some of his aides governed by proxy. I was one of those who led the Enough-is-Enough protest against the Yar’Adua cabal in Abuja in 2010. What was unacceptable then is even more unacceptable now with benefits of hindsight. Our country should be placed above friendship. 

Ndigbo And Outcome Of PDP Presidential Primaries

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

It is no longer news that when Nigerians return to the polls in February 2023 to elect a president for their beleaguered country, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, will fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. At the PDP presidential primaries held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, May 28, Atiku clinched the party ticket with 371 votes.

Nyesom Wike, Rivers State governor, polled 237 votes; Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, got 70 votes; Bala Mohammed, Bauchi State governor, garnered 20 votes; Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom State governor secured 38 votes; Pius Anyim, former Senate president and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, secured 14 votes, and Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, renowned pharmacist and boardroom impresario, secured one vote.

How Southern Nigeria Can Win 2023 Presidential Election

 By Dele Momodu

Buhari and Gov Akeredolu of Ondo

Fellow Nigerians, please, allow me to remind you of an article I wrote in 2014 titled IN SEARCH OF MATHEMATICIANS. It was a simple calculation and permutation I made about how Major General Muhammadu Buhari was going to defeat the incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the 2015 Presidential election. As at that time, the confidence level of the Buhari camp was still quite shaky, indeed it was quite low. 

Buhari And His Dream Of A One Party State

 By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, where and how does one begin? Whenever you think you have seen it all in our dear beloved country Nigeria, something bigger, bizarre and sometimes even more dastardly occurs. Let me be honest, I have no problem with those decamping in droves from the opposition party PDP to the ruling party APC.

*Buhari 

As far as I’m concerned, they are merely exercising their inalienable rights of freedom of association, speech and movement. However, I have serious issues with only one man, President Muhammadu Buhari who seems to be the Talisman that they all credit with their defection. It is because of him they all turn into turncoat, notwithstanding their previously avowed aversion and derision of this same personage that has been the butt of their ridicule or denigration.

President Buhari And His War Against Twitter

 By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, I had planned to write on a different topic today, but man proposes and God disposes. Nigeria has become such a rollercoaster that it is very difficult to catch up with news and events. Since President Muhammadu Buhari and his acolytes took power six years ago, our country has known no respite from news of gloom and doom. Where we had looked forward to the easing of our pain, what we got was a dissipation and destruction of our gain. It has been one day, one fight. Even a world heavyweight boxing or wrestling champion who fight for fun and for finance will ordinarily get tired at some point and decide to retire, but not these ones.

*Dele Momodu 

Where there is no fight, they will find it and create one, making sure it is bigger and more violent and virulent than the last. There is a sense in which you are made to feel that those in charge of this government thrive only in chaos and confusion. They seem to get off on playing to the gallery and practising dangerous brinksmanship. And so, the country lurches from one foreseen disaster to another unforeseen problem and then back to another foreseen calamity and the orgiastic cycle and circle of a litany of woes continues and persists forever.

Nigeria: The Truth My Fulani Friends Must Accept

 By Dele Momodu 

“Everything that has a beginning must have an end. As they say on the street: “E fit take time, but one day, one day, Monkey go go market”

I love this quote about injustice:

“Every person remembers some moment in their life where they witnessed some injustice, big or small, and looked away because the consequences of intervening seemed too intimidating. But there’s a limit to the amount of incivility and inequality and inhumanity that each individual can tolerate. I crossed that line. And I’m no longer alone.” – Edward Snowden.  

“One day, and very soon, Nigerians will cross that line too. For there is indeed a limit to human endurance. One day, we all shall rise to say Enough is enough. One day!”

                         *Dele Momodu and President Buhari 

Fellow Nigerians, I have had to shelve the continuation of the celebration of Ovation International magazine at 25 in order to address matters of pressing national importance. I have just received some new horrific videos of bestial killings in some parts of Nigeria, and it is obvious Satan himself has landed in Nigeria. 

Gov Ambode: There Shall Be Secondary After The Primary!

By Abraham Ogbodo

And so, Ambode could not be forgiven his ‘sins’ by the godfather. He has been smashed like a gadfly and when the polls open sometime in February next year to pick a governor for Lagos State after the 2015/2019 electoral cycle, his name shall be missing from the ballot paper. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is part of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration in Lagos as managing director of Lagos Property Development Corporation (LSDPC) has been chosen by the oracle to replace him. 

*Bola Tinubu and Gov Akinwunmi Ambode

It wasn’t as if a proper trial was conducted and Akinwunmi Ambode found guilty of serious and unpardonable sins. He was just unfortunate to be on the scene at this time. The charge, specifically, was that he had forgotten, since he became governor about three and half years ago, to invite the real owners of Lagos State to the dining table. It was not also said that he was eating alone while others were kept at bay salivating. 

Buhari’s Presidency: Facts And Fiction

By Abraham Ogbodo

I am worried about the ongoing narrative that Nigerians desired a change from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) misrule and agreed in 2015 to kick out Goodluck Jonathan and vote in Muhammadu Buhari as President.

Nothing sounds more fraudulent. Was there a consensus at anytime on that? The answer is no. Rather, the Buhari presidency was a risk specifically undertaken by a tiny but powerful clique solely for its benefit and not the benefit of Nigerians.

*Jonathan and Buhari

Now that the risk has failed and woefully too, the same clique is trying to change the narrative and make the mistake look like everybody’s mistake. It will not happen. I know the truth is always a casualty when history is being hurriedly written from many perspectives. But not this time please because I am going to tell the truth to shame the devil and stop it from escaping with vain glory. 

How President Buhari Falsified Professor Achebe's Greatest Thesis

By Jimanze Ego-Alowes

I have a certain interest in President Muhammadu Buhari. It is not as a fellow citizen. My interest in Buhari is as an object of study. And this is in the course of my day job as an independent scholar, a lay historian.

*Chinua Achebe

And matters get interesting. It is only that one small aspect is missing. To some preempt oneself, one wishes that Professor Chinua Achebe was well and alive. Achebe is the lead and most famous proponent of the thesis that the problem of Nigeria is a problem of leadership deficit. And it is all well with and for us.

The Unmasking Of Diezani Alison-Madueke

By Sonala Olumhense

His name: Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President-Elect.  The man who, in one week, would take control of the Africa’s most bewildering country.  He was a much-feared man, with a certain reputation for character, a man who had fought for the presidency for years claiming he would rid Nigeria of corruption.

*Diezani Alison-Madueke

He was swiftly checked in, accompanied by just one person.  He took First Class Seat 3K.  

And then British Airways received another surprise VIP to the same flight: Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s powerful Minister of Petroleum Resources, accompanied by two aides also in First Class.  She sat behind the President-Elect.

Reports said the Minister, her tenure down to seven days, had booked her flight only after discovering Mr. Buhari would be on it.  Widely-alleged to be the most corrupt Minister in a government of great corruption, she hoped to soften him up in conversation during the flight, commentators suggested.

The omens were not good for the outgoing Minister.  After taking office, Buhari on almost a daily basis promised hell on earth for every corrupt former official. 

Mrs. Alison-Madueke had reason to be afraid.  As Buhari prepared to take office, there were further pressures.  As it turned out, on that late May 2015 trip to the United Kingdom, Buhari was received at 10 Downing Street by Prime Minister David Cameron, who pledged “technical assistance” to the Buhari administration to combat terrorism and corruption.

And then there was the United States, also offering help,and President Barack Obama reportedly giving him details of extensive corruption within the Goodluck Jonathan government, including of a certain Minister who had looted up to $6billion.  

Before President Buhari Returns Home

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, something major is happening in our dear beloved country and it is very positive. Every disappointment they say is a blessing. While we are very sad that our President, Muhammadu Buhari, has not been feeling too well for some time now and needs treatment and recuperation abroad, I now believe that God wants him to also have some time for sober and deep reflection. Someone asked me about two weeks ago, on Twitter if I have given up on the Buhari government? My answer was an emphatic NO! And the reason I gave was simple and straight-forward enough: I believe in miracles. 

 

*Buhari and Osinbajo

What has happened in Nigeria in the past few weeks, even days, can only be a testimony to that miracle I prophesised. When President Buhari left Nigeria he formally wrote to the Senate putting his Vice-President in charge as Acting President until he returns. That singular act which is merely a repetition of what was done during previous extended personal visits abroad by the President is salutary as it is stellar and itself heralded the transformation in this government that we are witnessing. It seems to me that President Buhari knew that his government needed some change in direction, some fillip, and in his infinite wisdom chose a subtle way to initiate that change without seeming to jettison his kitchen cabinet. 

When I flew out of Lagos to Johannesburg last Monday, February 20, 2017, a US dollar was selling for about 520 naira in the omnipotent black market. As at Thursday, it was selling at around 475 Naira. By yesterday, Friday 24 February 2017 the Naira was exchanging at about 460 Naira to the Dollar.  What a difference a week makes.  This remarkable resurgence of the Naira is coming on the heels of new policies and directives that the CBN has been mandated to put in place by the rejuvenated economic team that the Acting President is the driving force.

Not just that, I received a report from Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi that the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, paid an unscheduled visit to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Thursday, February 23, 2016, and caught the airport officials napping. My joy knew no bounds. Only last Saturday, I had complained bitterly about that unfortunate airport on this very page. 

In the past seven years, I must have written countless times about that that gory airport. It was one of the reasons I disliked President Jonathan’s government because it had done a wishy-washy renovation of the place and was celebrating it as if we can now compete with some of the best airports in Africa (note that I did not mention Dubai, Europe or America). I took pictures of dead escalators, comatose elevators, jet bridges in blatant darkness, leaking roofs, cranky conveyor belts, flooded and stinking toilets, murky basements, potential structural deficiencies from a disused underground car park and generally an airport in various stages of disrepair, dilapidation and decay. We did what we could to alert our leaders to the monumental disgrace at that airport. 

Before They Mislead President Buhari

By Dele Momodu 

Fellow Nigerians, let me say categorically and emphatically that our dear beloved country is dangerously haemorrhaging again and this perfidious drift must be halted urgently before we all end up in perdition. Anyone telling President Muhammadu Buhari that all is well or that his government is moving in the right direction is either lying or pretending like a rattlesnake. And there are many scorpions around ready to mislead every government and move on effortlessly when things fall apart. For sure President Buhari possesses the ability to move this country in the right direction and lead us to where we want to be but right now it is not happening and the soul of the people palpitates! I’ve been on several television and radio interviews in the past one week and the commonest question is on the performance of our President. The general perception is that the change mantra seems not to be working and the world is worried because of the importance of Nigeria in the comity of nations.

President Buhari and Dele Momodu

I hope our President will get to see this piece, read it and ruminate on the points I will raise. The Buhari government has lost a substantial equity in just one year as I will try to explain in the next few paragraphs. It must be noted that Nigerians were happy with the election that ushered in President Buhari. Even those who did not vote for him accepted him with unusual equanimity. Those we expected to fight and throw tantrums simply vamoosed into their bunkers. The expectations were high then but I doubt if enough effort was put into seizing the momentum and translating it into a mass movement that would have stood the test of time. It is not too late to reclaim the moment.

The faith Nigerians had in the abilities and incorruptibility of Buhari is mighty enough to move mountains. But unfortunately, I think the government took many things for granted once it took over the reins of power. The government mistakenly believed that the support of the people was like several blank cheques which it could cash at any point in time. The general impatience of Nigerians and their desire for progressive action were never put into consideration. I remember writing two memos to our President in quick successions, when I realised that Nigerians were getting restless and restive, one of which was the desperate memo that earned me an invitation to the Presidential Villa for which I am so honoured and proud.

Still the government did not respond appropriately to the yearnings of the populace. The major problem is that the priorities of Buhari were never palpable to the general public as everything seemed to operate in utmost secrecy. This is probably a relic of the military days when surprise and spontaneity achieved more. However, democracy is an open book and it has become even more so since the internet turned the world into a global information minefield. I’m sure it was assumed that the people would never doubt or query the sincerity of a messiah. So there was no need to provide any real information about the activities of government. That was the first fallacy.

The second fallacy is that people would give the President plenty of time to unfold his change agenda. One year on, it is obvious that this has not been the case. President Buhari should have moved faster once the people started grumbling about the apparent sluggishness of his administration. The selection of his cabinet was annoyingly slow and by the time it eventually came it had evaporated into a deja vu. There was no element of surprise to elicit major excitement. In fact, most people wondered why it took so long to assemble his present team most of whom he could have picked in two weeks or even before he was sworn in. The demystification of Buhari became manifest from that moment not because the team he picked is not worthy or creditable but because the interminable delay in making the choices cost the nation dearly.