25042021 - B/Haram bandits almost succeeding in their mission CAN president warns

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PAGE 18—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 25, 2021 Couldn’t stand his steward having all the fun!! Bolaji is a cherished friend I’ve known for years and he loves a good gossip. Most of all, he’s learnt to laugh at himself from time to time no matter at what cost. It’s always a pleasure to listen to him on the few occasions he finds the time to phone. When he rang recently and opened the conversation with: “Your Benny has come again o!” My immediate reaction was; now what? Benny is Bolaji’s niece who came to live with him when his wife Alice, took a break from their marriage and went abroad to ‘clear her head’. Apart from leaving Bolaji free to live the bachelor life he said he’d missed, he was able to bring in Benny, who Alice didn’t really get along with, to help run the home. “Alice is slightly jealous of her,” Bolaji once confessed. “The poor girl lost her mother when she was in the secondary school and I’d promised my older brother to take care of her up to the university level. Alice saw that promise as rash, since my brother wasn’t exactly destitute. Whenever Benny came on holidays, you can see how fouled up the atmosphere was. But I ignored both of them especially since our three children were always glad to see her. By the time she got into the polytechnic, she’d turned into a beauty. Alice always complained her clothes were too revealing. Her make-up garish and she was always running after the neighbourhood thugs. As long as her grades continued to be good, that was all that mattered to me. “When Alice caught me almost pants down at the office with one of my ‘friends,’ she was livid. She said she’d had enough of my shenanigans and, as part of her ‘settlement’ she was going away for a Montessori cause abroad to help her improve the standard of the school she ran that wasn’t even breaking even. I gave her all the money she needed and told her not to worry about the kids, Benny would look after the home. She was in such a hurry to get away she didn’t even mind. I got the help of a good steward to make life easier for Benny and it was as if Alice never left. Except I now had the freedom to do as I pleased. “I was coming home late one night when I saw Benny in front of the boys quarters sitting on a bench with Dan, the steward. I was surprised. Benny lived in one of the rooms in the main house, what was she doing at the boys quarters? You remember I told you all about the incident and you laughed that they were just being friends? I should expect that you said, as there was no adult company for Benny to relate to.” I remembered the incident alright. Steward or not Dan was a sprightly bachelor who took good care of himself. Apart from his school certificate, he did a catering and house keeping course, and he was a very good steward. You could hardly call him an illiterate. “Oh, does that qualify him now to be Benny’s boyfriend?” he asked then, shooting daggers at me. They were not caught in any amorous clinch, so I asked Bolaji to chill – not everyone was as randy as he was! Now he was on the phone, almost burning the line with his rage. “Last week, I went to my town to see to the repairs of my house,” said Bolaji. “Benny is of course, at the Polytechnic and a ‘mama nurse’ is now looking after the kids. When I came back last night, the mama nurse told me I just missed Benny. I was shocked. The last time I heard of her was when I told her on the phone of my impending visit to our home town. What was she doing here knowing I was away, and why did she leave before I came back? The mama nurse had no clue but told me to ask Dan the steward. She let it drop that Benny didn’t sleep in the main house. I was livid! I summoned Dan and asked him what Benny was doing at his quarters? He needn’t lie, I threatened, because the mama nurse saw everything. He told me it was Benny who called she wanted to come over since I was away. ‘And where did she sleep?’ I barked. ‘With me,’ he said, avoiding my eyes; ‘You mean Benny left her comfortable room to spend a whole night with you in that poky room of yours? You were at it all night long with her? No wonder you were tired when I came in!’ Now I have seen this Dan character. Quite tall and good-looking in a rustic way, any girl would be happy to be his ‘friend’. Why shouldn’t Benny avail herself of this good fortune which was right under her nose? I told Bolaji this and he spluttered as he told me what I could do with my liberal attitude. “Steady on,” I said, “put yourself in that man’s shoes. A potential lover offered to spend the night with you, would you drive her away?” “He’s getting everything virtually for free and I’m sure she would have fed him food from the house and ply him with my booze,” he said, still livid. “I’ve never had any girl offer me anything on a platter – most of the time, I have to cajole and pay heftily before they play ball.” “You can afford to pay, and your ‘conquests’ know this”, I reminded him. “But the only thing Dan has on his side is his physique and your niece wanted a piece of that!” “Now look here...” “You look here,” I cut in. “You’re just jealous of the poor guy. And you can’t hold it against your steward for knowing a good thing when he saw one.” “If Alice gets to hear about this, I’ll be in trouble. I’ve warned Dan not to breathe a word to anybody. The mama nurse too.” And what did Benny have to say about all this, I asked? “She knew I was coming back home late last night and she hurriedly left before I arrived. I haven’t talked to her yet. I know loverboy would have been on the phone to her. Let her stew in her own juice until I’ve cooled off enough to deal with her. The trollop! Can you imagine? Spending all the money to give her a good education when all she has on her mind is sex! And with a steward! Doesn’t she have any class?” He hung up after he’d let off enough steam and I felt sorry for him. For as long as Benny’s ‘steward’ delivers, she’ll be happy to do all the running – even if Bolaji has ferocious dogs guarding her! Between Father And Son (Humour) A successful executive decides it’s time to make a man of his son so he takes him down to the local brothel. The son disappears into a room with one of the girls while he waits outside - but can’t help listening through the door. Now the son is very well endowed and the girl gasps at the amazing sight. As they begin the business, he takes it very gently but the girl begs for more. “Just put it in another inch”, she says and I will “knock N500 off the price.” So he does but still she begs for more. Another inch and I “knock off another N500”, she informs him. And so it goes on, the girl is so delighted with the man’s performance that she promises to take off more and more money. “Please, please”, she moans till eventually she cries, “a little bit more and it’s free”. Now all this time, the father has been listening outside the door and when he hears this, he bursts into the room and shouts, “Move over son, leave this to me. It’s time to make a profit”. As the Presidency hogwashes Pantami, Ohaneze warns on Igbo youths These are most certainly troubling days in Nigeria. First, there are signs that Nigeria is broke. Under this administration, which inherited a very robust economy, Nigeria is now what people are calling “the hungry capital of the world.” The administration came with an economic idea whose kernel was, simply put, the “almajirinization” of Nigeria. It aimed to equalize poverty, not create wealth. The administration alienated the key economic drivers of the nation; and then embarked on a policy of “handouts” which it said was to “get millions out of poverty.” What did that mission look like? Well, here it is: in the first term, it sent the Vice-President, the siddonlook pastor of Aso-Rock, to various towns distributing what they called, “Trader Moni.” Soft loans, they said, starting with N10, 000 to N50, 000. Skeptics of course saw through the entire laughable show. The money was a buyoff for votes, and since the elections, “Trader Moni” has come to a halt. Even Osibanjo himself must have known that it was a joke. It was very unlikely that such pittance handed to a few people could start or sustain any business, or lift anyone out of poverty. Trading with N50, 000? You cannot even buy a bucket full of peanuts to trade with that money. But the goal was frankly not to give people capital for a trade. The goal was to take cash from the federal coffers and distribute to the poor of the North mostly. It was to give a large swath of hungry and impoverished Nigerians, mostly from the North, chicken feed to keep them barely alive and hopeful, and “ranka-dedeing” from sun-up to sun-down. It is feudal economics in which the feudal lord hands out charity to the very poor who then go to the mosque to pray for more of where that comes from, and thereafter to the secret Pito bars, for a few rounds of millet beer. And the next day, back to the streets with their hands in the air panhandling. That is the administration’s way of lifting millions from the clutches of poverty. To give them “Trader Moni.” It is the weaponization of poverty. Its strategy was to buy the conscience of the extremely poor who would kill for a bowl of rice anyway. The sum effect of this administration’s economic policy was basically to suppress the economic vitality of the Igbo, destroy their political status, and reduce their capacity in the affairs of Nigeria. The administration always detested the uppity Igbo: Folks who always thought themselves better than everyone else, and whom the President fought at war from 1967-1970. It does seem that nothing else mattered to the administration but to teach the Igbo, those catalysts of the South, some lesson. Looking at it this way, the matter would be as simple as an ordinary, longstanding enmity. But it goes deeper than that. What is going on is a culture war. Nigeria under this administration is engaged in a very deep cultural and political conflict. What the Igbo represent – “too much Bukuru,” or “education,” particularly what they call “western education,” is what this federal administration detests. They think “education,” particularly the kind of education which the South, especially the Igbo of the South, embraced, is “haram.” Thus “Boko Haram.” Western education, and its purported values, set forth in the book by the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, The America that I have seen, is abominable to this cadre because it is upsetting the cultural foundations of the Islamic North, still rooted in the 18th century Salafist Nigeria under this administration is engaged in a very deep cultural and political conflict mission with its Jihad led by a General of the Ottoman Empire – the Shehu “Othman” Dan Fodio. Salafist Islam’s call is for a global jihad; its transnational agenda is to resurrect the Ottoman empire and restore the Caliphate-age Sharia law. Thus, indeed, the followers are organized in cells across the Islamic world fighting and subverting what they have described as the Jahiliya. Even so-called apostate Muslims are fair game. Today, a corridor of terror exists between Syria, Turkey through Egypt and Libya, funneling arms and fighters to West Africa through Niger, Mali, Chad and Nigeria. Nigeria is currently its operational base through which they intend to secure Sub-Sahara Africa because they have a friendly government in power. It is fruitless for this administration to deny this. It is on record that Boko Haram chose President Buhari as their go-between with the Jonathan administration. It is on record that the President described the fight against Boko Haram by Jonathan as a war against the North. It is on record that this administration has used amnesty programme to rehabilitate Boko Haram fighters. This is why many Nigerians are not surprised about the revelations that one of his key ministers, holding the strategic Communications Ministry, Dr. Isa Pantami, was not only a sympathizer of Al-Qaeda and ISIS in West Africa, but had preached loudly in support of Islamic terrorism both locally and globally. Buhari certainly knew this before he appointed him. As a former Director of Nigeria’s Directorate of State Service, Mr. Amachree, quite clearly asserted that Pantami’s affiliations were made known both to the President and to the National Assembly. They laid Pantami’s dossier before Buhari. It did not matter. So, what happened was not a failure of intelligence. It was rather the subversion of intelligence and a compromising of the national security of Nigeria. The statement released by the Presidency through Garba Shehu just basically hogwashes Pantami, because it is a rather shitty statement, if y’all would excuse my French! Calling the push for Pantami to be accountable to his past as a move to “cancel” him is rather rich with both irony and bile, and, of course, it is hokum. And it fails to answer fundamental questions about Pantami’s affiliations and support for a global terrorist ideology intent on foisting strange values on Nigeria. The fight is on, of course, and Nigerians must push, not only for the resignation of Isa Pantami, but also for the National Assembly to investigate this President, because as the saying goes, “there is no smoke without fire.” What does Buhari know, and when did he know it, that is the question. It does seem that the corporate being of Nigeria is being subverted right from the very top. The signs are there that Nigeria is approaching a reckoning, and this reckoning, if good sense does not prevail soon, is another civil war. I hate to say this, and I do not use these words carelessly. Nigeria is, under this President, fighting for its life. There are hints that 2023 will not resolve our current imbroglio, because this administration is intent on foisting a national emergency situation, which might inexorably provide the National Assembly full of this President’s allies the excuse to assert the National Emergency protocol. Under this protocol, if the nation is at war, as it has now clearly been forced to be, there may not be an election, and the President would be permitted to extend his administration ad infinitum, in so far as he comes before the National Assembly periodically to secure an extension of his emergency rule. The unfolding of this picture ought to frighten and awaken Nigerians, but everyone is hiding behind political correctness, and some illusion that time will resolve everything. The truth is we may long be out of time to salvage the situation. Part of this push to crisis is currently on to subvert and undermine Buhari’s strongest opposition, the South-East.
SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 25, 2021,PAGE 19 Fuel subsidy is a monumental fraud; even Buhari does not understand it —Aduwo By Adetutu Audu Femi Aduwo is the President of Right Monitoring Group and Permanent Representative of the Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity to the United Nations. In this interview, Aduwo speaks on the state of the nation and 2023 elections among other issues. •Aduwo The United States government exonerated the Nigerian Army of blame on alleged killings during the #ENDSARS protests at Lekki Tollgate, Lagos State in October 2020. What is your take? During the ENDSARS protests, I visited Lekki thrice to give support not through my NGO but another donor agency. On the day of shooting, I left the toll gate around 4am; not that I was told, I witnessed when the army came around 6.45pm. I am a father and everybody knows I am not a friend of the All Progressives Congress, APC, so it would be stupid of me to say what I did not know. Even when the army left, the police came and I was there. The event of that day was blown out of proportion. Yes the army came and, when you look at the recording done by one lady, you will see that they were shooting into the air and then you wonder, were they targeting the protesters in the air? The video does not show any corpse. The army team carried one magazine gun for the mission and it usually contains 60 bullets at one meter away a single soldier will kill more than 100 people. The incident was blown out of proportion. Now ask yourself, what happened after the army team left and the police came? Why was that one not reported? Mobile policemen came but nobody reported that. I don’t have another country. I have tendered some documents to the United Nations. My organization and the UN are doing a seminar in the next few days in Geneva; we will also tender some documents on why the American government should do more to help Nigeria military in tackling the issue of Boko Haram. So, what the American government said is what everybody knows, but Governor Sanwo-Olu said two people died while Amnesty International gave a figure they could not verify. The only area I had issues with is that Lagos State government had to admit that there was an error the way they declared the curfew. The fault was on the governor’s table. This protests lasted two weeks and the military was everywhere, it had to do with communication. And when they set up a panel, I told my brother, Ebun Adegboruwa, SAN, that he should pull out. The panel is just to save face. It can’t achieve anything. Can the governor appear before the panel? Can the governor sack the police or the army? He did not employ them. If it were to be at the federal level, it would have been better, but for the state to do it, you can only fire who you hired. The governor himself was indicted. Can he appear before the panel? No, because he has immunity and the panel is like a squash court. It has been four months now since they started sitting, the panel is just for the boys to eat. So what the American government said is not new, it is what we knew already. President Buhari is outside the country but the fact that doctors were on strike when he left has been an issue and bandits have taken over some parts of the country while we have many other challenges. What is your view? We woke up a short while ago and petrol price moved from N162 to N220. I bought fuel in Ondo State at N221 and later we heard from the Minister of State for Petroleum and the Presidency that PPPRA increased the price without approval. The issue is PPPRA is a government agency and that is why I told some people that, in few weeks time, government will increase the price of petrol. Now, the NNPC GMD, Mele Kyari, has said that they can no longer sustain subsidy payment. If you recall, in 2003, President Buhari said subsidy was a fraud and whoever was talking about subsidy was a thief. Now his government is paying subsidy, but he has not withdrawn that statement. We have 400, 000 barrels everyday for local consumption. If we refine that crude oil in Cotonou, you will get oil and bye products. It costs about $20 to produce a barrel of crude oil. When you produce that barrel, you can get more than 100 liters of kerosene, diesel, AGO from it. So, if we still sell petrol for N50, we will still make gain. To me, this is a monumental fraud that Mr. President himself does not understand. The word ‘subsidy’ is just a fraud. Even if you bring my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to rule Nigeria, he will be confused. President Buhari promised in 2015 that the refineries were going to work and now we are in his sixth year in office, yet none is working. They are now telling us that they are going to spend $1.5billion to fix a refinery when you have less than three years to go. The truth is that the money will be spent and nothing good will come out of that refinery. It is a big sham. Garba Shehu was saying the President did not go for medical tourism; that he only went to visit his doctor he had known for 30 years. Since President Buhari left government in 1985, he never travelled to London, so, where did he get a doctor of 30 years? He never travelled anywhere. He has never performed Hajj before. When he was head of state, it was Idiagbon (his deputy) that went to Mecca when he was overthrow. And when he went to Mecca recently, it was not Hajj; he went with former Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State when Kaabba was opened. The truth is that President Buhari may be nepotic but he is not a religious bigot. He is liberal when it comes to religion. Alignment, re-alignment in APC and PDP and the clamor that Asiwaju Bola Even if you bring my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to rule Nigeria, he will be confused Tinubu should run for presidency in 2023, what is your take? June 12, 1993 annulled election brought a lot of Nigerians together, the crooks, criminals and the good ones, to fight former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, for different reasons Former APC National Chairman, John Oyegun, was vocal because he was a governor under then Social Democratic Party. Prof Bolaji Akinyemi too and a lot of people joined the struggle for different reasons. It was later we learnt that someone was lobbying to be Petroleum Minister under the late Sani Abacha and Abacha rejected the fellow. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was detained for only two days before he fled the country. I spent many months in detention; am I a politician? And a lot of people too who fought for the actualization of June 12. For PDP and APC there is no difference. It is only in nomenclature. I was surprised former Governor Gbenga Daniel and former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, decamped from the PDP to APC. The only people who can’t decamp from APC to PDP are Tinubu and Buhari. How can Amaechi, Minister of Transport, say PDP spoiled Nigeria when he was a governor for eight years under the same party? Asiwaju has declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2023, we have seen the body language and we understand the game. I think he should study properly; many things are going to work against him. Tinubu is a Muslim. A Muslim/Muslim ticket cannot happen in Nigeria again. And he dares not bring a Christian from the North; if he does that, he is gone. The last time he did his birthday in Kano, we know the game because that is where they get highest votes during Nigeria’s elections. What he did there was the beginning of rigging. He gave Katsina people where a market got burnt millions of Naira but not one kobo to Oyo people when Sasa market in Ibadan was burnt or is he not aware? He gave Kaduna N200million to build schools; what about the schools in Lagos which are in a mess? Do you think Nigeria might break-up with the agitations from different parts of the country? To break a nation is not like cutting cake. Nigeria is difficult to break, the people must go to war unless the powers-that-be sit to discuss. Do you know that apart from the creation of the Mid-West State by the late Azikiwe and the late Tafawa Balewa, there is no civilian government that has created any state in Nigeria? All the states were created by the military. Whether we like it or not, the 1999 Constitution is a replica of the1979 Constitution, they only changed two or three words, and it was given to us by the military. Let the governors, senators, House of Representatives members come together and let us review the Constitution. Some people want their own to be President in 2023. Tomorrow if someone from the East becomes President, the agitation from that side will go down. Sunday Igboho does not represent the interest of the Yoruba. So he can’t say he wants to form Oduduwa Republic. Who is Sunday Igboho? He was involved in the Ife/Modakeke crisis, his family is not in Nigeria and he is saying he wants to break away. Igboho wants to be become a champion so that politicians will discuss with him ahead of 2023. He should be careful about the way he is going about it insulting monarchs. The state of Nigeria’s economy is frightening; do you think all is well with us? Truth is not being told what we owe. We need Americans and the EU to monitor our debt. Let this government go and we will know how much we owe as a country. Nigeria’s economy is like a road block that the police mount, in the ministry we have bandits and we also have bandits in the bush. Every year budget is presented and budget is spent. There is no unspent budget in Nigeria. How can we negotiate with bandits? There is a conspiracy on the issue of stealing in Nigeria. So many states are insolvent except Lagos.
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