Headline

“Don’t Disgrace Us”, Yoruba Plead with Tinubu

Published

10 months ago

February 4, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

Considering how things are in the country presently, the ‘on your mandate’ slogan of the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who later emerged elected, that resonated during the 2023 presidential election, now sounds like a broken record. Many say it now leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

“Not many Nigerians are fit enough at the moment to stand on anything, not to talk of on a certain mandate that has become bad news,” a respondent told The Boss Newspaper, and the reasons are not farfetched.

President Bola Tinubu, who emerged winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election, beating the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to the second and third positions respectively, had promised to hit the ground running from day one.

“Actually, Tinubu hit the ground running from day one, but it was obviously for and on the wrong reasons. He messed up the mandate from day one with the unprepared removal of petrol subsidy,” another respondent informed.

On May 29, 2023 when Tinubu was sworn as president, he declared in his inaugural address that ‘subsidy is gone’. That declaration triggered a chain reaction that Nigerians are to recover from, eight months into the administration. It took the price of petrol from N181 to a whopping N617. The spiral effects are better imagined. Every sector of the economy has been seriously affected, and poverty has become the order of the day.

Across the Yoruba states of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti, complaints abound of how life has become unbearable for the citizens. Residents told The Boss that they are taking it personal because Tinubu is on the verge of disgracing the Yoruba race, that contributed to his ascendancy to presidential seat, through legitimacy, aggression and other means.

Among those that protested in some of the states were fish sellers, who lamented inability to make gains anymore amid the rising cost of fuel and every other item in the country.

Much as the government however, has tried introducing and implementing various policies in an attempt to cushion the effect of the harsh economic realities, the prices of food items, and services of every kind, continue to hit the roof, giving the so called poor masses no chance of survival, and no hope for tomorrow. No one is letting ‘the poor breathe’ in Tinubu government.

But among the major reactionaries to the hardship the Tinubu government has wrought on the people of Nigeria are the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria’s South West many of whom arguably voted for the president and stood stoutly in his favour during the electioneering period. These people are die hard fans of the ’emilokun’ agenda that preceeded and ran the aspirations of Tinubu.

On social media platforms, radio and television interviews and newspapers pages, netizens of Yoruba origin have pleaded with the President to soft pedal on his government’s policies, which rather make lives better, have continued to impoverished the citizens. They have separately pleaded with the president not to disgrace the Yoruba, noting that he has so far done everything wrong in the last eight months.

“I’m a Yoruba man, I regret voting for him because this is not what we bargained for,” has been the major refrain from reactions on social media space among those speaking out against the untold hardship the Tinubu-government has so far provided.

Another prominent Yoruba man was spotted on social, wearing a replica of Tinubu’s cap, lamenting the situation, and calling on the president not to bring disgrace on the Yoruba race. He said in part:

“President Tinubu, you are beginning to attract disgrace from Nigerians…if you listen to what Nigerians are complaining about; they are crying because of hunger. All the boys (appointees) working for you in Abuja cannot tell you the truth. You are disgracing us. When you were shouting Emilokan, you didn’t tell us it was your turn to make us suffer.

“There is insecurity. You went to Ogun State during campaign to prostrate to Nigerians to vote you. You are disgracing Yoruba. You should reshuffle your cabinet. All the people you appointed are your loyalists.”

Other regular citizens have taken the cue, calling on Tinubu to temper hardship with mercy as hunger reigns supreme in the land.

In a sermon before and after the elections, Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, told Nigerians that a vote for Tinubu is obviously a vote for hardship. He said Nigerians will suffer if Tinubu is elected as president.

After the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Tinubu winner on March 1, 2023, Ayodele reacted to the victory. He said that:

“I am seeing a new government of sorrow, hardship, failure, and economic disappointment. There will be more hardship because God never approved another APC government for Nigerians. Under this new government, Nigeria will not be regarded internationally, this government will not make it better than what we experienced in the outgoing government.

“This is not the government God approved for us. God has not approved Nigeria to be an Islamic republic, he has not said Christians will not be part of the government but these people have berated God, they want to stir confusion in the religious sector but God has rejected them.

“INEC and APC colluded to steal the will of the people, God will definitely fight for the cause of the people at the appropriate time. Nigeria will not enjoy this government, even the APC will not enjoy this government and Tinubu will be the last president the party will produce. The party will go into oblivion very soon because the present government has deprived people of their rights, they have made people suffer and lose hope in democracy,” Ayodele said.

But of all reations directed at the president from his kinsmen, the one from his staunch loyalist and unofficial campaign vocalist, K1 de Ultimate, was the most prominent.

The veteran fuji musician, whose real name is Wasiu Ayinde, practically called out Tinubu, telling him to live up to expectation as Nigerians are living their worse lives in his government. He made the comments while performing on stage at the funeral of the mother of the Are Ago Iyalode of Ibadanland, Bolupe Aramide, held at the University of Ibadan Endowment Fund Hall, Oyo State.

In his usual streak, K1 said in sonorous tune, “Nigerians send their greetings. They said because I am a supporter of your administration. One who dwells in the Lord will see God’s face. Tinubu, hear what the world is saying. Everybody in the country is frustrated, and wants you to do something about the current situation, with the issue of fuel and dollars.

“Someone collecting salary wouldn’t be able to use it for anything. But, I know that my boss, Tinubu, is merciful; and God had given you everything before you took on the burden of being Nigeria’s president.

“My boss, find a solution to this situation. Citizens are suffering, and crying, and there isn’t power supply. Tinubu, please find a solution. All the bad people should find a place to hide. You are merciful, Asiwaju. All of us in Nigeria are angry. The issue of kidnapping is enough to cry over. Please, we beg you to find a solution. Let us be patient with all that the country is facing. The president has said he will make things better.”

Apart from making the remarks at a public gathering, and before notable Yoruba sons and daughters, including a wife of the Ooni of Ife, Olori Ashley Ogunwusi; wife of Olowu of Owu, Olori Saka Matemilola; Otun Iyalode of Egbaland, Taofeekat Babayemi; a former Minister of Industry, Nike Akande; Abiola Olatunji, Suliat Malo, Idowu Agarawu, and Folake Anifosowoshe, the saying has gone viral on the social space, eliciting reactions from all and sundry.

Earlier in the year when Tinubu visited Lagos, he was spotted driving through Lagos Island after attending Jumat with a retinue of aides and fleet of cars in his convoy. But the crowd that gathered around was not there to hail. They came to complain of the prevailing hunger in the land with shouts of ‘ebi mpa wa’ (we are hungry) renting the air.

But the loyalists of Tinubu in the presidency and cabinet have continually mount podiums to defend the president amid his failing policies, rising cost of living, unaffordable fuel products, lingering insecurity, occasioned by kidnappings for ransom, killings among many others.

In his defense, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, who spoke during a programme on Channels Television, defended the decision of President Bola Tinubu, saying Nigeria would have been worse off if petrol subsidy was not removed.

“You are premising your argument on the fact this problem just started yesterday. The foundation of our economy had taken a beating a long time ago. The substructure of our national economy has been one that cannot hold a meaningful substructure on it.

“So, it is important that Nigerians recognise that the President and his team would have to go back to reset that and that is why from day one, he said, ‘Look, subsidy issue has to go’. He had to expect that there would be this pain, of course. He anticipated that Nigerians would encounter some difficulties. But it would be worse if that subsidy did not go. It would have been difficult to carry out any meaningful development. We needed to free up resources.”

But while the Yoruba are pleading for a face saving, Nigerians in general are wondering if there is an end to the excruciating pains the populace are experiencing in the present dispensation. They recalled that the eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari was clueless, and reduced Nigerians to less than citizens.

“The way it is, it appears Tinubu is contesting with Buhari to know who takes the crown of Nigeria’s worse president,” an analyst said.

Time, surely, will tell.

Headline

How FG Spent N19bn on Presidential Planes in 15 Months – Report

Published

6 days ago

November 12, 2024

Eric

At least N19.43 billion has reportedly been spent on the maintenance and operations of the Presidential Air Fleet from July 2023 to September 2024.

According to GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal government’s spending, showed that for 2024, the payouts amounted to N13.55billion, representing 66 per cent of the allocations for the fleet in the 2024 fiscal year.

Most disbursements were labeled ‘Forex Transit Funds,’ typically funds allocated for foreign exchange requirements to facilitate international transactions and engagements.

In the context of the Presidential Air Fleet, such funds are used to cover expenses related to operations outside the country, including fuel purchases, maintenance or services in foreign currencies.

“When aircraft on the fleet are abroad, payments are often made in U.S. dollars or another foreign currency to ensure uninterrupted operations,” a government official explained.

In July 2023, N1.52bn was disbursed in two tranches of N846m and N675m for ‘Presidential air fleet forex transit funds.’

The following month, N3.1bn was disbursed in three tranches of N388m, N2bn, and N713m for the same item.

In November of that year, N1.26bn was released to the Presidential Air Fleet Naira transit account.

The first overhead for 2024 came in March, where N1.27bn were disbursed twice, amounting to N2.54bn. The transit account received N6.35bn in April, N4.97bn in May and N210m in July.

August saw the highest frequency of transactions, with N5.60bn released in six separate disbursements.

Although these transactions were not clearly labeled, the monies were paid into the Presidential Air Fleet naira transit account, including the N35m transfer made in September.

In late April, the transit account received N5.08bn; this came around the same time the President was on a two-nation tour to the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Although Tinubu arrived in the Netherlands in a state-owned Gulfstream AeroSpace 550 Jet, the aircraft could not proceed to Saudi Arabia due to unspecified technical problems. He reportedly continued his journey on a chartered private plane.

At the time, the President’s Boeing 737 business jet was undergoing maintenance. It was later replaced with an Airbus A330 purchased for $100m in August through service-wide votes.

The nearly 15-year-old plane, an ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (MSN 1053), is “spacious and furnished with state-of-the-art avionics, customised interior and communications system,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga said, adding that it “will save Nigeria huge maintenance and fuel costs, running into millions of dollars yearly.”

The new Airbus A330 is just one of several aircraft currently on the Presidential Air Fleet, arguably one of Africa’s largest, with around 11 aircraft of various makes and models. Until August, it comprised the 19-year-old B737-700 and a 13-year-old Gulfstream Aerospace G550.

The BBJ was acquired during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at $43m but became a money guzzler as it aged.

Onanuga, defending the purchase of Airbus A330, argued that the new Airbus 330 aircraft and the costs of maintaining the air fleet were not for the president but in the interest of Nigerians.

“It’s not President Tinubu’s plane; it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it is our property…the President did not buy a new jet; what he has is a refurbished jet – it has been used by somebody else before he got it, but it is a much newer model than the one President Buhari used.

“The one President Buhari used was bought by President Obasanjo some 20 years ago. There was a time when the President went to Saudi Arabia, and the plane developed some problems. The President had to leave the Netherlands with a chartered jet.

“Nigerians should try to prioritise the safety of the President. I’m not sure anybody wishes our president to go and crash in the air. We want his safety so that he can hand it over to whoever wants to take over from him,” Onanuga said.

The presidential aide said he discussed with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on the faulty plane [Boeing 737 jet] and he said the maintenance costs were excessive because of the age of the aircraft, hence the need for another plane.

The presidential fixed-wing fleet includes a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7Xs, a Hawker 4000, and a Challenger 605.

Three of the seven fixed-wings are reportedly unserviceable. Meanwhile, the rotor-wing fleet includes two Agusta 139s and two Agusta 101s, all operated by the Nigerian Air Force but supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Former President Buhari promised to reduce the number of aircraft in the PAF to the absolute necessary.

In April 2023, three jets were put up for sale, but there were no specifics on which.

However, efforts to sell one of the Dassault Falcon 7x and the Hawker 4000 in October 2016 stalled when a potential buyer reduced their initial offer from $24m to $11m.

Since 2017, budgetary allocations for the fleet have shown a growing trend, with one exception in 2020.

The allocation for the fleet increased from N4.37bn in 2017 to N20.52bn in 2024, showing a 370 per cent rise in running costs.

In 2018, the fleet’s budget rose significantly by 66.13 per cent to N7.26bn, driven by a substantial increase in capital project allocations while maintaining similar levels for recurrent costs. This upward trajectory continued into 2019, slightly increasing the total allocation to N7.30bn.

The exception came in 2020, when the budget dropped by nearly seven per cent to N6.79bn, primarily due to decreased overhead costs, a reflection of the global economic impacts of lockdowns and disruptions in operations.

By 2021, however, the budget surged dramatically to N12.55bn—a record increase of 84.83 per cent from the previous year.

In 2022, maintenance expenses for each aircraft ranged from $1.5m to $4.5m annually.

The 2022, 2023 and 2024 appropriation acts earmarked N12.48bn, N13.07bn and N20.52bn respectively.

On his way to the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa, a foreign object damaged the cockpit windscreen of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s GulfStream aircraft during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.

According to Lee Aerospace, manufacturers of the Gulfstream, jet windshields consist of thick multilayered structures of varying layers of glass and transparent acrylic built to withstand collision with a 2kg object.

However, damage to the windshield must have affected its inner layers. While specific prices for replacement can vary based on supplier, labour rates and regional costs, estimates suggest that a single windshield replacement for a G550 can range from $50,000 to $70,000 for part and labour costs.

In an interview with our correspondent, the General Secretary of the Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, blamed the meteoric rise in the allocations for the PAF on the age of some of the aircraft in the fleet and declining value of the naira as well as the “commercial use” of aircraft by the Nigerian Air Force.

Ohunayo said, “The cost will definitely increase over the years because for one, this issue of the naira against the dollar. As the naira keeps falling to the dollar, we will see a rise in cost because most of the costs of training crew and engineers and replacing aircraft parts are all in dollars.

“Also, some of these aircraft are not new. The older the aircraft, the higher the cost of maintenance and operation.

“Lastly, during these past years, terrorism and insecurity have increased in Nigeria, which has also affected the cost of insuring the aircraft.”

For his part, the Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, argued that the administration’s spending habits were opposite to Nigerians’ expectations of frugality.

“What we are getting from this administration is opposite to our expectation. We thought we would have an administration that would be frugal in spending and very meticulous at implementing its budget.

“But what we are getting is an administration that has fallen in love with profligacy; that doesn’t see anything wrong in living big amid a poverty-stricken nation.

“It is a reenactment of the Shagari administration, whereby they bought the biggest Mercedes Benz and made themselves as comfortable as possible without considering how much the masses are suffering.

“So when you look at a Vice President saying he’s not travelling [to Samoa] again because there was a splinter on the windscreen of his private aircraft. Why should that be the case?

“First and foremost, we need to be represented at such an international meeting, where we should be well represented by the first two citizens of this country.

“He abandoned that, which means we would have lost certain representation that we deserve at that forum. Two, money will have been spent on advance parties that went ahead of the Vice President. But he abandoned the journey altogether.”

Headline

Pastor Tunde Bakare: Celebrating a Visionary Preacher @70

Published

1 week ago

November 10, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

He is visionary, blunt, articulate, passionate, fiery, evangelical, fearless, controversial and the newest septugenarian. He is the Founder and Presidng Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), formally known as the Latter Rain Assembly. He is Pastor Tunde Bakare.

A thought provoking preacher, social commentator, legal expert and politician, Tunde Bakare has come of age in the business called Nigeria.

Born on November 11, 1954, Pastor Bakare is regarded as not only a prophetic-apostolic pastor, but a social and economic image maker, whose contributions to the originality, truth and oneness of the nation cannot be overemphasized.

Originally a Muslim, who embraced the Christian faith in 1974 at the age of 20, Bakare has contributed his quota as a nation builder, seeking both the Vice president and president positions of the nation on two different occasions.

Pastor Bakare started his educational life at All Saints Primary School, Kemta, Abeokuta, and subsequently Lisabi Grammar School, Abeokuta, where he obtained both the School Leaving Certificate and the West Africa Examination Council certificate

After his secondary education, he was admitted into the University of Lagos where he studied Law between 1977 and 1980 before attending Law School in 1981, and was subsequently called to the Bar and following his time in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Bakare kickstarted his career when he started practicing law at the Gani Fawehinmi Chambers. His dexterity on the job propelled him to Rotimi Williams & Co., and later to Burke & Co., Solicitors.

In October 1984, he went solo, and established his own law firm, Tunde Bakare & Co. (El-Shaddai Chambers). Within the preceeding periods, he combined his legal duties with pastoral functions working as a legal adviser at the Deeper Life Bible Church, and later moving to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where he became pastor and founded the Model Parish.

Following his time at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Bakare left to start the Latter Rain Assembly Church in 1989, known today aa CGCC, where he presently serves as the General Overseer. In addition to his time in the church, he zeroed into part time politics, serving as the running-mate to presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election. Bakare has been critical of Nigeria’s leadership and has sparked controversy with comments considered inflammatory regarding Muslims and other spiritual leaders.

Also in 2019, Bakare announced his intention to run for president of Nigeria following the end of Buhari’s second term with a total conviction that he has a direct mandate to do and will surely become the next president of Nigeria. He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) but, lost at the primaries conducted at Eagle Square, Abuja, in May 2022. He launched his then political trajectory under the New Nigeria Progressive Movement.

While expressing his intentions to run for the 2023 presidential election towards becoming the next president of Nigeria to church members in 2019 when he was quoted as saying, “I will succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria; nothing can change it. I am number 16, and Buhari is number 15. I never said it to you before. I am saying it now, and nothing can change it. In the name of Jesus, he (Buhari) is number 15. I am number 16. To this end, I was born, and for this purpose, I came into the world. I have prepared you for this for more than 30 years.”

Bakare also presides over the Global Apostolic Impact Network (GAIN), a network of churches, ministries, and kingdom businesses committed to advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as well as the President of Latter Rain Ministries, Inc. (Church Development Center) in Atlanta, GA, USA, a ministry committed to restoring today’s church to the scriptural pattern. He was given a Doctor of Ministry degree by Indiana Christian University under the leadership of his mentor, Dr. Lester Sumrall, in 1996.

Bakare has been instrumental to some uprisings in the country that challenge unhealthy administrations. It would be recalled that his Occupied Nigeria Movement led the protest against the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2012 after minor increase in fuel price. The protest was a total success, and led to reduction in fuel pump price.

Also a social critic, Bakare is critical of Miyetti Allah, labeling the Fulani herdsmen as a group of terrorists who rape, murder, and kidnap innocent civilians. Several Fulani Islamic scholars criticized Bakare’s comments about Fulani herdsmen as Islamophobic. Bakare had said that Fulani herdsmen were driving Nigeria towards a civil war.

He also holds a yearly state of the nation address to set the stage for the future and review national issues of the year past.

In his 2019 address, he stated, “We can therefore confidently state that, over the past thirty years, we have faithfully executed our God-given mandate to the nation from this platform. Over the past thirty years, we have deployed appropriate tools for appropriate occasions, from prophetic declarations to confrontational advocacy and from political activism to propositional policy advisory. Over the past thirty years, we have done this consistently, sometimes at the risk of being misunderstood by friends and foes alike.

“We have been motivated not by wavering
opinions of men but by our unshakeable faith in our national destiny and an unalloyed commitment to seeing that destiny fulfilled.”

Reports have it that he was arrested in March 2002 after preaching sermons critical of Nigeria’s then-president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

No matter how it is viewed, and the direction of his controversies, one thing is obvious, Bakare has stood on the side of truth, hope, and justice, and has remained consistent over the years.

The Serving Overseer has been very vocal, his trademark, over the recent hardship in the country, condemning the politicians for preaching what they cannot practice.

He said Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring economic hardship.

Bakare said this while delivering the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation” at Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024.

He is a strong believer in the theory that the pen is mightier than the sword. He write in an essay of same title that:

“The likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, armed with no other weapon, mobilised the Queen’s language in the struggle for independence from the Queen. They fought their battles through such media as West African Pilot, Accra Evening News and The Tribune. Decades after independence, when free, fair and credible elections were annulled, and a tyrannical dictatorship held sway, the Nigerian press took up the baton and contended against the sword of oppression by deploying the armoury of vocabulary. I am so glad that the labours of these pen warriors and all others who fought for the democracy we enjoy today have not been in vain after all.”

For seven decades, Pastor Bakare has remained a voice in Nigeria politics, religion and socio-economic circle, relating with with Nigerians according to where the matter lies.

On this occasion of your 70th Birthday, we celebrate your consistency, focus and leadership acumen that has affected the people positively.

Congratulations sir!

Headline

US Polls: Tinubu, UK PM Starmer Congratulate Trump

Published

2 weeks ago

November 6, 2024

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has extended his heartfelt congratulations to President Donald Trump on his re-election as the 47th President of the United States of America.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday, said President Tinubu looks forward to strengthening the relations between Nigeria and the United States amid the complex challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world.

Donald Trump claimed victory on Wednesday and pledged to “heal” the country as results put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a stunning White House comeback.

President Tinubu said: “Together, we can foster economic cooperation, promote peace, and address global challenges that affect our citizens.”

According to President Tinubu, Trump’s victory reflects the trust and confidence the American people have placed in his leadership. He congratulates them on their commitment to democracy.

President Tinubu believes that, given President Trump’s experience as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, his return to the White House as the 47th president will usher in an era of earnest, beneficial, and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the United States.

Acknowledging the United States’ influence, power, and position in determining the trend and course of global events, the Nigerian leader trusts that President Trump will bring the world closer to peace and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has congratulated Donald Trump on his “historic election victory”, adding that the UK-US special relationship would “continue to prosper”.

“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise. From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come,” he said.