Of Abacha Loot, Malami And Twisted Narrative

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

A narrative in a section of the media about the repatriation of our national assets stashed in a number of foreign jurisdictions by the late former head of state, General Sani Abacha, has been insidiously skewed against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). The narrative has become so routinely rehashed that the underlying motive has now become writ large to the uncritical readers: it is purely to tar Malami with the brush of malfeasance in the loot repatriation. The overarching goal is to damage the Malami persona, discount his integrity capital and contaminate the whiff of his discretionary prowess in decision-taking.

*Gen Abacha 

The rash of calumnious campaigns against Malami finds anchorage in the determination of the contract of the Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, and the engagement of a team of Nigerian lawyers-Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN) and Tope Adebayo-in Monfrini’s stead to complete the processes that he began. The Olusegun Obasanjo administration had engaged Monfrini in 1999 to trace, confiscate and repatriate looted Nigerian funds kept in coded accounts by Abacha. From 1999 up until 2016 when Malami disengaged Monfrini, the Swiss had turned the repatriation into a slush fund in service of a cartel. The good news is that Malami had since dismantled the cartel to the chagrin of vested interest.

The Limits Of President Buhari’s Powers

By Obi Nwakanma
 Adams Oshiomole, former President of the Nigerian Labour Council (NLC), immediate past governor of Edo State and, most recently, National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC, has called on the Federal Government to “deal ruthlessly with looters” of the national treasury. The reports of Oshiomole’s statement carried in the Nigerian newspapers variously led with this headline “Buhari should deal ruthlessly with looters.”

*President Buhari 

My problem is: I do not know exactly if Oshiomole is actually conflating the president with the Federal Government of Nigeria. The president is Head of the executive branch of the federal government, and thus head of state, since the executive is that branch of government that is constitutionally mandated to manage the executive functions of the state by the act of the federation. The executive is however not the “Federal Government of Nigeria.” It is a branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Soccer, Politics And The African Condition

By Dan Amor

As of Friday last week when this piece was written, Senegal was the first African team to score a goal at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia. They recorded a 2-1 win over Poland in Tuesday's World Cup clash in Moscow, to join Japan at the top of Group H. It was a huge relief for Africa, the black continent, which was decimated and devastated with the 2-0 defeat of Nigeria by Croatia baring the 3-1 loss of Egypt to Russia on Tuesday. Indeed, it wasn't a memorable start for Africa whose national governments see soccer as a tool for political influence and personal aggrandizement.

The atmosphere was very inclement throughout Africa, but the mood changed when Nigeria demonstrated their superiority to Iceland with a 2-0 win at regulated time. Nigerians and Africans at large, were now in a celebration mood as at press time on Friday. This is because soccer is the opium of the youths, and most adults alike. It is therefore the most unifying factor in any modern society leading to attempts by successive administrations in Africa to make enormous political capital from it. Consequently, the beautiful leather game plays a monumental role in local and international politics.

Why President Buhari And June 12 Can Never Meet

By Jesutega Onokpasa

Apart from his recent June 12 gimmick, President Muhammadu Buhari had hitherto never mentioned MKO Abiola or even June 12 in any positive light. In any case, since Gen Sanni Abacha who stole Abiola’s mandate and whom Buhari happily, thankfully and gratefully worked for remains Buhari’s hero, then that same Buhari cannot deserve any moral credit on account of anything he does about June 12, however laudable.

*President  Buhari 

The bitter truth is that the only viable explanation for his sudden volte face is that Buhari, seeing his Northern hegemony in tatters in the Middle Belt thanks to his rampaging cattle herding kinsmen and clearly perceiving himself to be a drowning man, now finds himself clutching to Abiola (whom he hitherto never showed any regard for) and to June 12 (which he hitherto never expressed any fidelity to) for sheer survival.

Fulani Herdsmen And The Adamawa Five

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Any lingering doubts that these are the best of times for Nigerian herdsmen of Fulani extraction become easily vitiated in the light of two recent developments in the country. The Federal Government has just released a bumper package of incentives of over N179 billion for their business.

The government is to use this amount to set up ranches for them in 10 states including Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

Those who have dismissed as an idle boast their position that they cannot be denied access to any part of the country to graze their cattle may now be ruing their delusion. 

But the government needs to be reminded that with Nigeria becoming a haven of herding, this budget would be doubled, even tripled in the days ahead.

Or how would this amount cater to the herding needs of other Fulani herdsmen in other parts of the world who would now bring their cattle here?

Nigeria: Akwa Ibom States’s Debt Burden

By Etim Etim

There have been a great deal of controversy and secrecy around the quantum and composition of debts owed by Akwa Ibom State government to the banks and contractors, especially the portion incurred by the Akpabio administration. The problem is exacerbated by the apparent cold war between the incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel and his predecessor, Senator Godswill Akpabio, over governance and political issues in the state.

*Akpabio and Emmanuel 

Governor Emmanuel has persistently blamed his lacklustre performance in the last three years on the huge debt burden he inherited from his predecessor. He’s trenchantly criticized Akpabio for investing the state’s resources on worthless projects like the Tropicana Entertainment Complex which had remained uncompleted after over N150 billion had been sunk into it.

Late last year, the governor complained publicly that his administration was compelled to pay Julius Berger N6 billion in a lump sum, in addition to an undertaking to make a monthly payment of a billion naira to the construction company to offset government’s obligation.

What June 12 Reveals About Nigerian Democracy

By Femi Aribisala

Exactly 25 years ago, a landmark election was held in Nigeria after ten long years of military rule. There were two main contestants: Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention.  Abiola was from the South-west: Tofa from the North-west.

*Gen Abacha, MKO Abiola, Bola Tinubu (behind Abacha)

 Although the results of the election have never been officially certified, nevertheless, they are well known and readily-accessible.  Abiola won with 8,243,209 votes; while Tofa lost with 5,982,087 votes. 

June 12: Celebration Of Yoruba Triumphalism Or Righting Historical Wrong

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

My “June 12: I Still Remember” article last week elicited, expectedly, diverse responses. The annulment of the election and the consequent turmoil remain very emotive issues. What the responses prove most conclusively is that President Muhammadu Buhari remains a very polarising leader. And he profiteers from that. Sadly. I will come to that shortly.

*MKO Abiola

A quarter of a century after the annulment of that historic poll and 20 years after the death of the winner, Bashorun MKO Abiola, President Buhari sprang a political surprise on many penultimate week by declaring subsequent June 12 anniversaries Democracy Day and honouring Abiola with the highest national award – Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).

My article, though an endorsement of the president’s action, was issue-specific as captured in the last paragraph which read:

On Biafra And Democracy

By Obi Nwakanma

These are busy times for Nigeria. May is the month of blooms. But in the last couple of weeks, two parallel celebrations came to underscore the fragility of the Nigerian state, and the hollow rituals of its self-annunciation.  First, on May 29, the president like the other presidents before him since the year 2000 when it was initiated by Olusegun Obasanjo, celebrated what it now calls “Democracy Day.”

*Odumegwu-Ojukwu 

I personally think this a truly annoying misnomer because May 29 carries with it, the germ of a profound national tragedy. It was on May 29, 1966 that the Pogrom of Easteners commenced in earnest in Nigeria. On May 29, 1967, General Ojukwu declared the birth of the Sovereign state of Biafra, and announced the excision of the East from the old Federation of Nigeria.

Nigeria: Toxic Request On Anti-Grazing Bill

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Many Nigerians were greatly disturbed by the hasty decision suggesting that anti-grazing bills, as operational in some states in the country, should be repealed. The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), had spear-headed the abrogation move, arguing that laws enacted by states prohibiting open grazing should be suspended. Dan-Ali had called for the suspension of the implementation of anti-grazing laws in some states while instead negotiating safe routes for herders. For the Defence Minister, suspension of the law would reduce tension and restore peace in the country.

The Anti-Open Grazing Law seeks to outlaw open rearing and grazing of livestock and provides for the establishment of ranches and livestock administration, wherever the law is operational. It is currently being used in Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states. Abia is working on the passage of the bill. In Ekiti, the law prohibits open grazing between the hours of 6pm and 7am. In Benue, it enforces an absolute ban on open-grazing throughout the state and in Taraba, there is a proviso that it would be implemented gradually after massive enlightenment and awareness campaigns across the state. The legislation further prohibits movement of livestock and requires livestock owners to ranch them by criminalising free grazing and movement of livestock by foot. The implication of this is that the law seeks to end the age-long practice of nomadism, particularly, among the Fulani herders, whose activities in recent times have heightened violent clashes with farmers in many states across the country.

Gen Obasanjo's Swan Song And Hubris

By Dan Amor

That General Olusegun Obasanjo, the emperor who misruled Nigeria for eight miserable years ( May 29, 1999 - May 29, 2007) recently raised the alarm that President Muhammadu Buhari was plotting to arrest him, shows how transient or ephemeral power can be! But, to paraphrase Frank Arthur Vanderlip, the great American banker and journalist, "Since nothing is settled until it is settled right, no matter how unlimited power a man may have, unless he exercises it fairly and justly, his actions may return to plague him." Yet, how many Nigerians can see Obasanjo's frustrations and arrogant gaffes as plain as a boil on the nose? As an army general, former head of state and an imperial president for eight years, Obasanjo is a tacit representative of the reactionary faction of the Nigerian ruling class - those shameless apostles of feudal revival who want Nigerians to continue in medieval servitude.

*Olusegun Obasanjo 

Obasanjo's recent alarm is Karma at work. The question is: why is Obasanjo still walking about freely in Nigeria in spite of his crime against the people of this country? For almost eight years, he was the petroleum minister who would not brook any nibbling at shouting down anyone who had the courage to challenge him to appoint a substantive minister to man the oil and gas portfolio. The restiveness, acrimony and rancour which had enveloped the Niger Delta were deliberate creations of President Obasanjo, who would continue to stoke the fire while mindlessly looting the booty. Only a demented despot would spend N200,000,000 daily to maintain the presence of Joint Taskforce in the region that produces over 90 per cent of the nation's foreign exchange earnings while fueling agitations and restiveness among the youths.

June 12: President Buhari’s Left Handed Charity…

By Obi Nwakanma

Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, announced on Wednesday, that June 12 will now be “Democracy Day.” He went further to award posthumous honours to the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, with the GCFR, the highest political honour in the land, and his running mate, Babagana Kingibe, the second highest honours, the GCON. To top the gravy, he also honored the late Gani Fawehinmi with the GCON too.

*Buhari 

Quick as the announcement came, there were various reactions. Not unexpectedly, many from the Southwest of Nigeria, particularly the partisans of the APC, began to call Buhari the “new progressive.” Mr. Ahmed Tinubu in fact did gush so much that he came short of describing Buhari as the greatest democrat of Nigeria’s modern history. This is not unexpected, because Buhari’s gesture fits into the logical interest of the APC partisans of Southwestern Nigeria. And I shall return to this. But the president’s gesture was quickly called into question – the legality of it: first from the senate, came a flurry of tongue-in-cheek statements.

Again, Where Is Nnamdi Kanu?

By Obi Nwakanma

Last week, I felt nauseous just watching “our own WS” stand at a podium talking-up the Buhari gesture of naming June 12 “Democracy Day” and awarding the GCFR to the late Moshood Abiola. It was a dog-shit fare clothed in damask. I half hoped that Soyinka would not be part of this hollow ritual; but in the end Soyinka’s presence there served to remind us all that Nigeria is a circus; and the relationship between circus masters, puppeteers, and the circus animals is that they are all there to entertain us. 

*Nnamdi Kanu 

And Nigerians were properly entertained in what I still regard as the hollow ritual of forgetting. Every time, this government and its mind-warpers try to turn us all into amnesiacs, so that we will forget for instance, that Muhammadu Buhari himself was not only a key beneficiary and supporter of the abrogation of June 12, he himself led a military coup that overthrew a properly elected civilian government on the last day of 1983.  Nigeria began to slide radically down the order of things from that very coup. 

If Buhari Apologised For June 12, Who Will Apologise For Him?

By Reno Omokri

To say I was stunned when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said Buhari had fulfilled his campaign promises and deserved a second term would be an understatement. I mean it is the holy month of Ramadan for goodness sakes. Even if Bola Tinubu wanted to spew such nonsense, why would he do it at a time when the Muslim Ummah should be displaying piety.

*President Buhari 

Even as I write this, I am trying to comprehend why Tinubu made such a fallacious statement. How could he possibly say that Buhari deserves a second term because he has kept his campaign promises? Why do Buhari, Lai Mohammed, Garba shehu and now Tinubu continue to lie during Ramadan? Is ₦1 equal to $1? Is petrol ₦40 per liter? Has he created 3 million jobs per year? Is Buhari paying the promised Job Seekers Allowance?

President Buhari’s Queer Blandishment Of A Kleptocrat

By Ochereome Nnanna

 President Muhammadu Buhari gave hints of how his supporters will enter the upcoming electioneering fray when he met his Buhari support groups in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday last week: it’s going to be a gale of lies all the way. I am not referring to his allegation of $16 dollars spent on power projects “without power”. Figures that have been bandied down the years – from $3billion to $6 billion to $10 billion to $16 billion.

*President Buhari 

This reminds us of how former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor (now the Emir of Kano) Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had in February 2014 bandied figures as the amount “diverted” by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, instead of being remitted to the Federation Account. He started with $20 billion, brought it down to $10 billion and readjusted it to $12 billion. That is Nigeria for you. Others use figures to inform and educate. We use ours to confuse and promote falsehood. 

Nigeria: June 12: I Still Remember

By Ikechukwu Amaechi
June 12, 2018, was the 25^th anniversary of Nigeria’s historic election, which outcome held out so much promise. How time flies! Who will believe that 25 years have rolled by and yet the June 12, 1993 poll, which by the sheer magic of one man’s transcendental personality almost obliterated the country’s primordial fault lines of religion, ethnicity and prependalism, remains on the front burner. 

Generals Abacha and Babangida 

While some claimed to have stood on June 12 in the days the locusts ate under military jackboots, many dismounted the high horse at the return of civilian rule on May 29, 1999, partly because the primary beneficiary, President Olusegun Obasanjo, worked so hard to ensure that the date and what it represented were consigned to the dustbin of Nigeria’s history. The winner of the election, Bashorun MKO Abiola, had died almost a year before the 1999 polls and most stakeholders had been sucked into the new political tendency.

MKO Abiola Deserves Apology, Not Humour

By Afam Nkemdiche

When I first heard about President Muhammadu Buhari’s surprise posthumous honour to Chief M. K. O. Abiola, the widely acknowledged winner of the 1993 presidential election, my instinctive thought was, “My God! How could he nerve his conscience to do that – he was a principal confidant of the maximum ruler who denied MKO his well deserved mandate, until the mysterious death-in-detention???”

*Abiola 

It cannot be gainsaid, even in fiction, that Buhari was the closest public figure to the Kano-born general in Nigeria’s darkest years. Soon after Abacha sacked Ibrahim Babangida’s contraption (Shonekan’s Interim Government), he decreed that all monies that accrued from petroleum be pooled into a Fund, the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF. The humongous size of the envisaged pool qualified the PTF to be immediately referred to as a “parallel government”; even the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had to look to it for funding. Buhari was the first and only executive chairman of the PTF. This was a measure of the unique camaraderie that the duo enjoyed when Nigeria teetered on the brink of disintegration from November 1993 until June 1998 when Abacha suddenly succumbed to death ahead of his detainee. 

Nigeria: President Buhari’s Greek Gifts

By Sunny Awhefeada

June 12th 1993 was a Saturday and it met me in Ughelli.

June is a month of unpredictable rain, but that day was bright; bright and fair.

We trooped out to vote for a new dawn. 

 I was then an impressionable undergraduate of the University of Benin possessed by ideals instilled by youth.

*President Buhari 

The buildup to that day was momentous and exciting. The military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida had embarked on the rigmarole it called transition to civil rule programme.

In the course of that tortuous experience, political parties were formed and disbanded.

Politicians were classified as new breed and old breed and they were banned and unbanned.

Nigeria: June 12: Every Life Matters

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After the elaborate ceremony of apology and award of honours, it is now time to come to terms with the fact that the greatest tribute has not been paid to the victims of the truncation of the nation’s democratic watershed on June 12, 1993.

*Abiola 

Clearly, there has been in the past 25 years a persistent clamour for restitution for the victims. Every June 12 has witnessed calls for the closure of the sad political trajectory in the nation’s life. President Muhammadu Buhari has apparently heeded these calls. But sadly, Buhari’s action has rather shown the poor premium we place on life in the country. 

Nigeria: Their Tomorrow Will Surely Come!

By Dan Amor

Are Nigerians hopeful of the day after? The collective answer to this rhetorical question is a resounding NO. If Nigerians are no longer hopeful of tomorrow, they deserve pardon. For, never in the history of mankind have a people been so brutalized by the very group of people who are supposed to protect and take care of them. They ought to be pardoned knowing full well that their manifest state of hopelessness has extended beyond disillusionment to a desperate and consuming nihilism. Which is why the only news one hears from Nigeria is soured news: violence, arson, killing, maiming, kidnapping, robbery, corruption, rape.

*Buhari, Obasanjo and Abdusalami

It is sad to note that Nigeria is gradually and steadily degenerating into the abyss. Even in a supposedly democratic dispensation, a sense of freedom, a feeling of an unconditional escape, a readiness for real and absolute change, is still the daydream of the whole citizenry. Everything is in readiness for the unexpected, and the unexpected is not in sight. You cannot possibly conceive what a rabble we look. We straggle along with far less cohesion than a flock of sheep. We are, in fact, even forced to believe that tomorrow will no longer come. Quite a handful of us are simply robots without souls, as we are hopeless because we are conditioned to a state of collective hopelessness.