Will The Real Beneficiaries Of Petroleum Subsidy Allow Its Abolishment?

 By Anthony Agbo

Nigeria has been confronted with the economic quagmire of petrol subsidies for the past 20 years. Though the programme dates back to the 1970s, the fact that it has since become a conduit for the corrupt few around the corridors of power has been concealed by our stupendous national wealth, which eventually yielded to the mismanagement of successive governments. With our national wealth depleting faster than a rocket set for orbit, it became clear that this programme was unsustainable. 

Regardless of this obvious fact, many continue to hammer on the dangers of abolishing the programme and the possible negative impact on the ordinary person on the street. These doomsayers have big mics, too, and they talk straight to the nerves of ordinary Nigerians who swallow their bait hook, line, and sinker. The result has been the engineered uproars we see each time the matter is discussed.  

Mr. President, You Dine With Corruption – Open Letter To President Buhari

By Chima Amadi

Your Excellency,

Naturally, conventional wisdom and etiquette will require that I start by expressing my happiness for the safe return of your son, Yusuf, from his medical sojourn. However, I am constrained to hold my horses in that regard for like everything now surrounding you there is no clarity as to the status of that journey. First, patriotic tales of how you have placed the young man’s fate in the hands of Nigeria’s quirky medical expertise and facility regaled us, then later, an announcement of a successful surgery and discharge was made to the delight of a relieved nation. Sir, you can pardon my reticence in not going the courteous route when all that drivel from your handlers is just that; yet, another mishandled spin. Yusuf had been in Germany all along. Given this deception, I beg your indulgence to skip niceties and to proceed right to the crux of this open letter.

*President Buhari 

Why an open letter to you? As I read the drab defence of your government’s anti-corruption credentials by your Media Team in reaction to Transparency International’s 2018 Corruption Perception Index(CPI) which scored Nigeria poorly, I was left to wonder if that was the quality of advice you were getting. Admittedly, against the backdrop of efforts by the EFCC to ratchet up the public show of force against corruption, you have every reason to wonder why the rankings would suggest that Nigeria’s corruption perception has regressed under your watch. While your angst would not be misplaced, it was the duty of your trusted aides to tell you the truth about the situation and why we would continue to be perceived as one of the most corrupt places on earth irrespective of the uncoordinated, incoherent and tactless efforts of the nation’s leading anti-corruption agency. 

Allow The People’s Will To Prevail In Bayelsa – PDP Tells Buhari

PRESS RELEASE 

‘Steer Clear Of Bayelsa Governorship Election’, PDP Tells Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) forewarns President Muhammadu Buhari to steer clear of Bayelsa governorship election and allow the will of the people to prevail, if he really desires to sustain the nation’s democracy.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Sunday said intelligence information reaching the party shows that President Buhari is neck-deep in APC’s desperation to forcefully take over Bayelsa state, for which he has directed a covert military and other security operations to assist the APC to rig the election, which has already been won by the PDP.

“At the head of this illegal military operation is one Capt. Louis, who led the hijacking of elections in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, the largest in the state. Military personnel have seized ballot materials including result sheets in Igbematiru, Peremabiri, ward 3, ward 6, ward 8, ward 12, ward 13 and ward 15, which they took to Ologbobiri in military gunboats, where massive thumb-printing is going on in favour of the APC. In Ward 7 Ekowe, the military hijacked and destroyed voting materials.

Why I Withdrew From The APC Bayelsa Governorship Primary

By Timi Alaibe

It is with all nostalgia that I recall the zeal, enthusiasm and hope with which thousands of Bayelsans made a statement in the direction of change in August, 2015. I can also vividly recall a mental replay of the occasion wherein a qualitative representation of the leadership of our great party, the All Progressives Congress ( APC) ushered in respected leaders and members from their then party, Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP)

That singular event has been phenomenal just as its true meaning and direction have all exuded confidence, unity of purpose, cohesion, collectivism and courage. That day undoubtedly marked the beginning of a people's journey from hopelessness and quandary as enunciated by the accidental PDP-led ‎government in Bayelsa state to that of quality leadership that an APC government will represent.

As one of such leaders who took that historic decision, I thought of giving a further bite to my burning desire to extricate the state from‎ abysmal leadership failure. Therefore, my aspiration to be governor after series of consultations was to rekindle our collective hope and lift the state beyond its current state of decay under the PDP.