BOLA AHMED TINUBU AND THOSE WHO WANT HIM DEAD By Olufemi Olu-Kayode

I do not like to delve into matters touching and concerning the APC because I am not a member.
However what is happening in the ruling party today transcends partisan politics and should be a concern to us all. At the very least we can learn some very hard lessons from it.

The truth is that the behaviour of Chief John Odige-Oyegun towards the man that single-handedly made him the National Chairman of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is reprehensible.
And neither does this matter begin or end with the way and manner in which the Ondo state governorship primaries were conducted or its final outcome.

It goes much deeper than that and the Ondo affair is only symptomatic of a much deeper malaise and wider conspiracy to humiliate the National Leader of the APC by forces within his party that are even greater than him.

Those forces represent the hidden hand. They are a small cabal of power-brokers who constitute the leadership of the Buhari-led CPC. These people believe that they were born to rule and that they own Nigeria.

They simply used Tinubu's old ACN as a compliant and ready piggy-back to catapult their way back to power and once they achieved that they never looked back.

Some of us warned Tinubu at the time about the dangers of riding the tiger and allowing himself to be used by these very dark and sinister forces but he would not listen.

No true student of history could have made such a cataclysmic and monumental error given the terrible experiences of others from the south-west, and indeed the entire south, who collaborated with such ultra-conservative, sectarian and arcane forces with a clear and distinct ethnic and religious agenda in the past.

Such forces can never be comfortable with a well-connected, highly sophisticated, independent-minded, strong, unpredictable, uncontrollable and experienced Yoruba leader and southern gladiator with a June 12th pedigree, a NADECO background, a massive war-chest and a widespread and formidable political base.

They may use him to achieve their objective but they can never trust him or allow him to have control of the party machinery or to wield any real power when it comes to running the affairs of the nation.
Most importantly once they have finished using him it becomes their duty and cardinal objective not just to cut him down to size but also to castrate and render him impotent and eventually destroy him.

That is their way. It is also a classic and vintage Nicollo Machiavelli move. This great writer that has had more influence on political thinking and strategies than perhaps any other author in human history taught us a critical and crucial lesson in his famous 14th century literary masterpiece and treatise on the power game titled "The Prince". He tells us that the first thing that a Prince must do once he has achieved power is to destroy those that put him there.

And that is precisely what those that seek to do Tinubu in are doing. Worst still they are using his own erstwhile disciples as a first line of attack against him.

It is not just Odige-Oyegun that has turned his back on him but also his former political protegees and former ACN associates like Tunde Fashola, Ibikunle Amosu, Kayode Fayemi, Biodun Ajimobi, Olorunimbe Mamora, Niyi Adebayo, Rotimi Akeredolu and numerous others.

Pulling the strings from behind the scenes and encouraging and funding the rebellion are hardline Buhari-supporters like my good friend Governor Nasir El Rufai and a number of others.

Their objective is to establish a new political order in the south west which is beholden to them alone, to replace Tinubu as the National Leader of the party and to utterly demystify and crush him in order to prepare the ground for the emergence of a new and more compliant Yoruba running mate for either Buhari himself or El Rufai in 2019.

As a graphic illustration of this interesting and unfolding agenda, the powers that be in the APC, led by Buhari himself, fired six shots at Tinubu immediately after they formed government.

The first was the Senate Presidency affair and the Bukola Saraki matter which saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinubu's preferred candidate for Senate President.

The second shot was the Speaker of the House of Representatives affair and the Yakubu Dogara matter which, again, saw the defeat and humiliation of Tinibu's prefered candidate for the position of Speaker of the House.

The third was the vital issue of Ministerial appointments in which not one single Ministerial nominee of Tinubu's was accepted and appointed as a Minister by Buhari.

Every single person that he nominated from the south west and elsewhere as Minister was rejected and instead the slots were filled by his political adversaries and/or their nominees.

Many erroneously believe that Mr. Lai Mohammed, who is from Kwara state, was Tinubu's choice and nominee for Minister of Information but this was not the case.

The person that he nominated for Minister of Information was not Lai Mohammed but Mr. Dele Alake, his former Commissioner of Information in Lagos state.

Again he nominated Mr. Wale Edun, his former Commissioner of Finance in Lagos state, for the position of Minister of Finance but this was rejected and Governor Ibikunle Amosu's candidate, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, got the job instead.

This went on across the board for every single person that Tinubu nominated and presented for the position of Minister last year and it was a terrible humiliation for him. It was a dirty slap in his face.
The fourth shot was the James Faleke matter in Kogi state where it was agreed by the real landlords of the APC in the core north that Tinubu must not be allowed to gain a foothold in the north central zone by getting his own Yoruba kinsman and candidate to be elected as governor of that state.
Hence Faleke was ruthlessly dropped and shabbily treated and another person was selected to be the gubernatorial candidate of that state. It worked, Faleke went to court and sadly he lost. That was the end of the story.

The fifth shot is the thorough and systematic, though subtle and covert, humiliation and relegation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a close associate and political protegee of Tinubu and a spiritual son of the revered Pastor Enoch Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), to not just a spare tyre as Vice President but also to a very flat one.

Rather than being allowed to participate in the crucial decision-making processes on vital and critical issues of state and governance as any Vice President should, Osinbajo has been kept in the dark about virtually everything and he has little or no power to effect anything.

When such decisions are to be debated, discussed and made the Vice President is never invited into the room and neither is he even aware that there is such a meeting going on.

Worse still he is constantly being directed to represent the President at official functions all over the country as if he were more his Personal Assistant, Special Advisor or Minister rather than the Vice President of the country. Osinbajo's crime is simply that he is loyal to Tinubu and he has refused to dump or betray him.

The sixth and perhaps most devastating shot is the fact that the party machinery has not only been taken away from Tinubu with the effective hijacking of Odige-Oyegun but that it has also opted to do the bidding of his mortal enemies and to fight him.

An eloquent testimony to this disturbing fact is the outcome of the Ondo state gubernatorial primaries where Tinubu's candidate was edged out and cheated of the nomination by the party leadership.
This was the last straw that broke the camels back and predictably Tinubu has reacted in a very loud, aggressive and profound manner by publicly calling for the removal of the National Chairman of the party.

Yet calling for the removal of Odigie-Oyegun is not enough. The whole situation calls for critical thinking, sober reflection and deep retrospection.

The point that needs to be clearly understood when considering these six shots and the unfolding anti-Tinubu agenda within the APC is the fact that, contrary to all pretensions, President Muhammadu Buhari is part and parcel of it and he is in fact the moving spirit behind the whole conspiracy.
Nasir El Rufai and a number of others are simply the strategists and enforcers. Buhari, Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari are the masterminds.

Given all this one thing is clear: these people want Tinubu dead. If he does not realign quickly and fight hard to save his dwindling political fortunes and empire his APC friends and allies will destroy him in a slow, clinical, sadistic and systematic manner. And they will do it with a big, beautiful and friendly smile on their faces.

The fact of the matter is that, right from the outset, Tinubu failed to accept the fact that he was in bed with demons.

He refused to appreciate the fact that he was sleeping with beasts that are hell bent on eating his flesh, drinking his blood and ruthlessly implementing an ancient ethnic and religious agenda.
He gave them his all, caused them to win an election and trusted them to honor their word and treat him with respect and decorum.

He failed to appreciate the fact that you cannot make a deal with snakes and expect them to honor their word.

He forgot that you cannot wine and dine with cancerous lepers and hungry tigers without ending up being served as the final dish in a long, blood-curdling and Byzantian satanic feast.
Yet if the truth is to be told, no matter what mistakes he may have made, Tinubu does not deserve to be treated in this way.

Up until the Presidential elections were conducted last year he led and held together the south-western wing of the APC with an iron fist and he was the undisputed leader of the APC in that zone.
All four APC governors from the south west and virtually every single party leader waited on his every word and he called all the shots.

Sadly today, just over one year later, he is a caricature of his former self. Today Tinubu can only boast of having the ear and the full support of only two of those governors, namely Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state, who will NEVER betray him no matter what, and Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos state who will also stand firmly behind him until the very end.

The truth is that Tinubu has lost much ground and political mileage in recent times and, as more daggers are pulled out over the next few months and years it is bound to get worse for him.
Yet that does not mean that he is finished. I say this because he is a tried and tested fighter and a formidable adversary who is quite capable of pulling the whole APC house down.

It would be a fatal error for any of his adversaries, including President Buhari, Vice President Atiku Abubakar or Senate President Bukola Saraki, to underestimate him or dismiss his ability to fight back.

In July 2016, just after my release from detention and during the course of an interview with Channels Television (which can still be viewed on Youtube) Mr. Seun Okinbaloye asked me whether I could ever contemplate going back to the APC and how I thought the ruling party would fare into the future.

I told him that I would NEVER go back to the APC under ANY circumstances. I also told him that in any case by 2019 there would not be an APC, as it is presently constituted, left because the party would have split up into three separate and distinct political entities.

I told him that the Tinubu group comprising of men like Baba Bisi Akande, Rauf Aregbesola, Akinwummi Ambode and others would establish one party, the Atiku Abubakar group comprising of men like Bukola Saraki, Rabiu Kwakwanso and many of the former PDP leaders and governors that had left for the APC when President Goodluck Jonathan was in power would establish another and that the Buhari group comprising of men like Nasir El Rufai, Bello Masari, Aminu Tambuwal, Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Chris Ngige, Ogbonaya Onu, Adams Oshiomole and virtually the entire structure of the old CPC leadership in the core north would constitute yet another. I stand by this prediction.

These three strong and equally forceful factions can be likened to the proverbial three blind yet ravenous wolves.

They cannot stay in the same cage or remain on the same platform for long without tearing each other to pieces.

Eventually they will all go their separate ways and, hopefully, contend with a newly-branded and reinvigotated PDP in the field of battle in 2019.

What we are witnessing today in the ranks of the APC is the beginning of that bitter separation and messy divorce and it is going to get far worse.

It will be loud, bitter, acrimonious and rancorous and many political empires, careers and aspirations will be destroyed as a consequence of it.

My hope and prayer is that the PDP, which is also going through its own rigorous process of redefinition and reinvigoration, can get its act together before then, take advantage of the situation, pick up the pieces and win the presidential election in 2019. I am sure that we will.

Meanwhile my advise to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is to watch his back, consolidate his base, fight his enemies, reach out to new friends, accept the fact that he is at war and sleep with one eye wide open. The truth is that it will get far worse before it gets any better.

-Olufemi Olu-Kayode

OYEGUN’S ONDO FRAUD: THE VIOLATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE APC

TINUBU MEDIA OFFICE
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2016
OYEGUN’S ONDO FRAUD: THE VIOLATION OF DEMOCRACY
IN THE APC

The APC, a party born of the quest for democratic good governance, is under critical threat by those who managed to be in the party but never of it. From the party’s inception, the principles of democratic fairness and justice were to guide APC internal deliberations. Party founders realized that only by intramural fair dealing could the party remain faithful to the progressive ideals that we presented to the Nigerian electorate as our governing creed. If the party could not justly govern itself, it would find it difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation.

In essence, the party was the embodiment of a democratic promise made between its members as well as a democratic vow made to the public. Evidently, some errant members believe promises and vows are mere words to be easily spoken and more easily broken. Chairman John Oyegun has breached these good pledges in a most overt and brazen display. In doing so, Oyegun has dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira. The party was supposed to buttress APC members elected to government at all levels. Because of Oyegun’s conduct of our affairs, the party is rapidly becoming an albatross to those it was meant to help.

Oyegun’s comportment regarding the Ondo State primacy will become the textbook definition of political treachery and malfeasance of the basest order. In early September, the state primary was held. A purported winner was named. Having faith in the ways of the party, Tinubu publicly accepted what he assumed to be a verdict honestly derived. As a democrat, one must face the possibility of defeat and accept such as outcome with as much grace as one would embrace victory. One of the few bright spots during the conduct of the primaries was Jigawa Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar. He chaired the primary convention with decorum and impartiality. He was unaware that a tampered list had been slipped into the process.

Indeed within hours of the announcement, news began to filter in that gravely disturbed me. Credible allegations of fraud troubled the waters. The delegate list had been materially altered by someone in a strategic position to so do. The names of over 150 valid delegates were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors. This was not a clerical error. The alteration was willfully executed that the primary would be directed toward a chosen end that bore nothing in common with the will of most state party members. A cunning few had tried to deceive the many into believing they were outnumbered.

A conspiracy to steal the Ondo primary had been uncovered. Fortunately, the grand deception afoot had been unable to cover its tracks fast enough. Truth began to cry for justice.
Several candidates filed petitions contesting the result. The party established an investigative board to review the evidence. In a two to one decision, the panel found the delegate roster had suffered tampering. The panel recommended that a new primary should be held using the valid delegate list. This recommendation was tabled before the National Working Committee (NWC).

After many hours of deliberations spanning several days, a final vote was held by the NWC. Before hand, NWC members agreed that the decision of the majority would become the stance of the party. Such is the way of democracy. The NWC voted six against five to cancel the fraudulent results and hold an honest primary. For a moment, it seemed the party would restore its integrity by giving democracy a chance. However, those who sought to scam an entire state would not let the vote of 11 people spoil their enterprise.

After the NWC vote, a noticeably agitated Chairman Oyegun proposed the NWC engage in prayer before concluding the meeting. Adhering to this chairman’s request, NWC members began to pray. Seeing that the others had taken his bait, Oyegun used the prayerful interlude to secretly excuse himself from the meeting. Contravening the NWC decision and in violation of all rules of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by perpetrating a greater fraud. Oyegun arrogated to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party.

Truth has finally come to light. There exists a regressive element in the party that cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which this party was founded. They joined the APC because it was the best ride available at the time. Now they want to guide the party into the ditch. They want to turn the party into a soulless entity incapable of doing good, just like they are. When such a person tastes power, they shed all good restraint. They come to abuse the trust given them as if they are the owners of that trust and not its mere custodians. These people did little to build the party but now will do much to wreck it.

Such a man is Oyegun and those who conspired with him to sabotage justice and democracy in Ondo. Our party was to stand for change. Oyegun and his fellows seem to be on a different wave length. They are the cohort of Unchange. The APC wants to guide Nigeria into a better tomorrow. Oyegun and the cohort of unchange want to pull Nigeria back into the past where rigging and vote stealing were the old and new testaments of politics. They want the people to think that there is no alternative to their reactionary system of skewed politics and imperious government. Thus, they seek to turn the APC into a factory of the very political malpractices the people soundly rejected in the past election. To choke the APC in this manner is to kill the chance for progressive reform for the foreseeable future. Much more than the Ondo primary is at stake. Oyegun has revealed his team’s game plan: It is the destruction of progressive politics and governance on behalf of the people.

As party chairman, Oyegun was supposed to protect our internal processes and be an impartial arbiter, a person in whom all had confidence. Instead, he donned the garment of a confident man, duping the NWC, the party, and INEC in one fell blow. He has robbed APC members in Ondo State of the chance to pick in a fair manner who they believe is the best candidate.

As such, he has broken faith with the party and probably has broken a few laws. The consequences of what he has done are more expansive than a man of his scope can fathom. There must is a powerful and sinister arm at work to compel a man of Oyegun’s age to steal the decision of the party in a manner so crude that it would embarrass even the commonest thief.
With strong expectation, we await a response to Oyegun’s wrongdoing from those who clamored so long and loudly about Tinubu’s alleged role in the Ondo primary.

Leading into the primary, a prominent lawyer from Ondo published lengthy missives alleging that Tinubu was a malicious hand intent on rigging the primary. His letters spoke of his great love for democracy and justice. Though Oyegun has assaulted democracy in a most public and vulgar way, this lawyer’s prolific pen will remain stilled. He dare not publish a word about this travesty. His silence will be sign for all who care to decipher its meaning.

The plan was to point the accusing finger at Tinubu. With everyone focused on Tinubu, they would have distracted all attention from the heist they had set in motion. As fate would have it, the trickery they hoped to conduct in the shadows has come to light.

Thus, Oyegun was forced to undertake his desperate fraud in broad daylight in order to salvage the wrong initiated under the lamp of darkness. Those who so actively attributed imaginary wrong to Tinubu now stand dumb and mute in the face of confirmed impropriety. They remain silent for reasons they cannot divulge. Oyegun and his ilk turn out to be gangsters adorned in the tunic of party authority.

Oyegun has engaged in the strange math where five is greater than six. This smacks of how the PDP conducted its affairs and orchestrated its own downfall. Tinubu disparaged such malpractice when it was not in his party. Tinubu surely disowns it now that it has invaded the party he helped bring to fruition.

Tinubu has consciously refused to hold any official position with the party to avoid the perception that he was trying to control all and sundry. Tinubu has even kept his peace for some time despite many things that happened within the party that were not quite right. He exercised this forbearance because the party is young. A collective endeavor cannot avoid the mistakes and errors of organizational newness and evolution.

Yet, the wrongs Oyegun committed had nothing to do with newness or the mistakes occasioned by the path of reform. His actions are in the nature of the old wrongs that have afflicted our national politics much too long. If Oyegun wants to walk backward into the past, he has every right to it. However, he has no right to drag the party or any of us with him. Against our choosing.
The informal title of national leader of the party was given to Tinubu at the onset which he accepted it as a sign from those who wished to recognize my contributions to the party’s formation. It is an honorific title which he has been proud to wear until today. I would rather not have any title yet reside in a party that honors democracy than hold a title in a party that says it honors me but that treats justice with indecency. I find greater honor and comfort where democracy and fairness are found and respected.

Oyegun has done the irredeemable. His coup is an insult to party and to patriot, to reason and to the reform agenda of this government. To remain silent would be to admit the defeat of the reform and progressive change many have labored to bring forth. While the forces resistant to change and reform are strong, Tinubu dare not submit to them. Tinubu encourages all party members not to submit to them. If we acquiesce in this wrong, the one greater than this shall cascade upon us.

Oyegun’s transgressions are a warning. He is but the mercenary of forces that seek to return the nation to the old ways. If they get away with this infraction, no telling what or whom they will undermine tomorrow. Much is at stake. On the chopping block, lies the future of the political party in which the majority of voters had placed their confidence. To rescue the party, Oyegun must go. He has shown that he and democratic fair play cannot exist in the same party at the same time. If Tinubu is to choose between John Oyegun and progress toward a better Nigeria, the choice has already been made. For those who care about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow, now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass all we have built and all we hold dear.

Tinubu Media Office, TMO.

WHO STANDS WITH ASIWAJU? By Hon Segun Olulade

“He wanted to become the President and never wanted to relinquish regional power, was the world created for him alone?”;

“He was a thief too because he was making One kobo on every bottle of Coke?”; “If he was a selfless and prudent leader, why did he build one house at Oke Bola in Ibadan, another one in Apapa-Lagos yet another one in his home town in Ikene?”

“He was in the cult; he led us astray, he was too rigid, he was an alien, his wife was a witch, he was originally from Dahomey, he was a wizard and too power conscious”.

The legendary ‘Yoruba Ronu’ exponent late Hubert Ogunnde warned of imminent backwardness in the face of pull-down syndrome and unbridled envy amongst the Yoruba political class. The late ace comedian Gbenga Adeboye and fuji maestro Sikiru Ayinde Barrister also separately described the Yoruba race as one that is wise, intelligent but riddled with disposition of vain expectations from human what even an angel cannot meet.

During the travail of late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, while the nation burns in agitation for actualisation of the ‘June 12’ mandate, some eminent Yoruba leaders were spotted in and around Aso Rock romancing the late dark-google General to foist any attempt to let Bashorun Abiola off the hook of the ‘khaki boys’. When the business mogul and philanthropist finally died in detention, Yorubas were fast to say “afterall he was an International Thief Thief man according to late Fela Anikulapo”. Abiola was described as a man that sponsored several coups and therefore deserved to die in a coup circumstance. They claimed he had too many wives and children. While Abiola was being honoured globally for laying down his life for Nigeria to entrench a democracy, his kinsmen were busy scoring him low on the pages of history.

However, nature has way of raising banners before God and men for those who truly distinguished themselves. While Awolowo and Abiola became known and remembered for their roles in our nation, those who envied their historical records had settled in the dust of history. Awolowo and Abiola paid their dues and will forever be remembered among those who have made significant impacts in the political sphere of our country.

What does Tinubu owe us?

Indisputably, this era has provided yet another hero for the Yoruba race in the political sphere. The nation unanimously agreed that Tinubu’s expertise dislodged incumbent federal government to install a progressive opposition. Before then, he had held political space consistently as leader of liberation movement with astonishing records evidently.

Tinubu’s legendary has now surpassed Nigeria’s political space having been recognised as one of the most influential personality in the world and among most powerful political leader on the continent.

The truism that “no leader is successful until he produces equally competent and successful leader(s)” has been proven to test in Asiwaju’s case. Not only has he produced second successive outstanding Governors in Lagos State, he has equally raised high profile lieutenants that are presently occupying significant political offices across board; all of them equally competent and powerful. What does Tinubu owe us?

Popular with our brand of politics is the pull-down syndrome rather than rally round a successful one to score a point for our growing democracy. Topmost amongst Tinubu’s political enemies today are his kinsmen and those who have once been favoured by his political dynasty. His political influence is so enormous that he made those who never dreamt of attaining a political feat reach power, this after he must have discovered their leadership potentials which in itself is a great leadership quality.

The silent gang up is hard to imagine. Tinubu is a politician who recognises political freedom and acknowledged that political space is meant for nothing but for contest and prove-of-strength. Hiding and ganging up strength to fight his popularity is not politics but sycophancy. Let anyone who opposes Tinubu come out from the hiding, declare opposition and allow a contest. As a Jagaban, he has never been afraid of contest. He knows the rules of the game. He contest, he does not fight. A gentleman and generous living legend he is.

Those who think they can assemble from the back stage to launch political attack against Tinubu need to suspect a more ground breaking onslaught from the loyalists among his reigning political empire. This is not a fight for Tinubu, but a fight for the real progressives who uphold loyalty as guiding principle from day one they enrolled in Asiwaju’s political and leadership institute.

Personally, I want to believe all rumours linking former Governors of Lagos Raji Fashola, Ekiti Kayode Fayemi, Rivers Rotimi Amechi and present Governor of Ogun State Ibikunle Amosun to the political ambush better remain rumours and rumours for ever. They are gentlemen. Rather than ambuscade, let anyone in doubt flow a political party, establish a lead and show the world how to sustain a political empire.

Undoubtedly, even Mr President who has a proven integrity and fear of God is not expected to stand against Asiwaju at this crucial moment save for the vultures trying to hijack his political influence to submerge popular opinion such as seen in Kogi and the Senate among other references within the party.
Every coup against Tinubu has always vindicated him and vindictive of the traitors. As it is, Nigeria sees the Senate under a Saraki and the ongoing polarisation in the national progressive camp simply because a man’s achievements are grossly envied by those who cannot half his records even if they live and do politics for a decade more.

Tinubu’s many sacrifices are unusual. His contributions to political and national development are unequalled in this generation. His legacies for Nigeria’s democracy will take another decade to see its like. His influence across all industries and strata are not a coincidence. The growth of his political reign has witnessed ingenuity, hard work, commitment to the masses, love for the country, firm believe in team work and exceptional gifts ordained by God. He never fought clandestinely; he does not do illicit pattern. He just owned his game.

Today, we have an icon that is already a living legend. Those who truly believe Asiwaju is a worthy leader and benefactor should wait for no other time to stand with their leader. I stand with Asiwaju. The forces at the national stage and the domesticated ones in Lagos cannot be greater than the grace of God upon this enigma called Tinubu.

For the Yoruba race, for sure it takes another century before we see like of Asiwaju again. What do we stand for at the moment? Celebrating our own glory or settling for otherwise which is far less a decision?

Olulade is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The Generational Unrest In The Niger Delta Region. By S. Kazeem

As long as there is abject poverty, injustice, archaic federal infrastructures and ecological damages in the South South and South East regions; viz a viz the damages done by the exploration of crude oil and the inability of the government in power to alleviate their standard of living, the unrest in the SS & SE regions will never cease, and our crude oil 'powered' economy will never rebound. Realistically, until something very pragmatic is done in those regions or at least their demands are partially met, don't expect any 'magic swing'. In-arguably, the Niger Delta Avengers have caused us so much 'economic depression & recession', they have taken their agitation to the next level and seem to have outweigh the damages done by their forefathers. Believe me, with external 'aids and support' which they earnestly await, Nigeria will be in a more sorry state, except the government in power do everything possible to prevent that fro happening. Well, some people still believe that 'what unites us is more than the things that divides us. While some believe that the geographical area called 'Nigeria is on a death roll'; they consider a further stay as an act of injustice to them and their people. NB: I am not a Biafran agitator, but of what importance are those regions, in the absence of their Crude Oil. Twitter: @MrSteam_

Buy-naija to Grow-naija; Nigerian Football League in focus. By S. Kazeem

You find great pleasure and pride in wearing 'original' foreign football clubs jerseys, many of u wear their customized wrist bands, their customized face caps and use their customized sunglasses, you wear their customized ear rings and use their crests, you have their original customized shots and their customized socks, your have original football boots and other footwear customized in their logo. In addition, you have their customized foot mats, customized bed-sheets, customized duvets and customized pillow cases, u have their customized center rugs in ur living rooms and bedrooms, u have their customized blankets and big towels, your sofas and center tables are customized in their logo, in fact your cars are partially branded in their logos... but barely can we find any Nigerian Football Club merchandise on you or in your house. You travel abroad to watch their friendly matches, their derby matches and the unveiling of their newly signed players, you pay an annual online membership fees, you leave the office early so as to watch their matches, you even go as far as sticking your hard earned Naira in a bet on them.., but u can't imagining paying a 'dime' to watch Local football matches, or sitting in your comfort to watch them on Television, not to talk of flying to watch their matches in a far Nigerian State. It is very saddening that many of you are ignorant of how much foreign countries make in taxes from these foreign football clubs and their footballers, from issuing football rights to broadcast stations and from companies manufacturing computer 'soccer games' like X-BOX, PS1-PS4. In fact, you have no idea of how much foreign football clubs are making from endorsements and from exporting football materials u all wear with pride and that others crave for..., but u always look the other way, when the need to support our local league arises. Well, if in case you still don't know why Nigeria Football League is in a very terrible shape, that paying a minimum of N150,000 monthly salary to their footballers has been very difficult for Nigerian Football Club managers; the aforementioned should help your case and also educate you on how foreign clubs raise so much money to pay their players millions of pounds a week..., even without winning a trophy for a decade. My problem with 'many' Nigerians is HYPOCRISY, this parasite lives in their skulls and has obviously affected their reasoning. In fact, some have failed in life, because of their 'blind' support for foreign football clubs and because of their addiction to computer 'soccer games'. Don't attempt to throw jabs at me, but look critically inward so as to see the clearer picture. Our economy is in recession, not only because of the failure of past administration to diversify the economy and save for rainy days but also because of huge importation, to include sporting wears. Well, i am not criticizing football lovers or-and enthusiasts, i am only saying that we also need to support our locals leagues, the way we have supported foreign clubs for centuries without 'national-economic' gains, if truly we are determined to help them grow. Enjoy your weekend. Twitter: @MrSteam_

Nigeria; submerged in turbulent 'economic' waters

Nigeria has been submerged in turbulent 'economic' waters. Over the last few months, Nigerians has expressed their disappointment over the failure of the past administration to save for rainy days and further expressed their popular dissatisfaction with what they see as 'economic-financial policy somersaults' in the President Buhari led government, which they believe can not rebound in a time soon.

Undoubtedly, it will take more than the 'ordinary' to unseat the ruling party at the next polls, but opposition political parties are joining forces in an effort to give the ruling party a run for their 'money' in the 2019 elections. Believe it or not, members of the 'Nigerian lower class', who traditionally have been reliable supporters of President Buhari, are already backing down on their support for the principal occupant of the Aso Villa, this is due to obvious reasons that bothers on striking hunger and job cut...

Together with a deep economic crisis, these developments have set off fears of impending instability, political violence, and even state collapse. Any of those outcomes could produce a humanitarian catastrophe, which might take us another decade to 'outrun'.

Well, the good news is that the event that could have triggered the worst political violence in the Nigerian history, was deferred at the 2015 general elections. Thanks to those that contributed in all ways. In addition, the lingering 'Oil driven' crisis in the SS-SE regions of the country and the insecurity in the NE region of Nigeria could also cause 'loss of control' but it is still unlikely. Take it or leave it, that is because the present government and the top echelons of the troubled regions enjoy an unusually close relationship.

We will 'overrun and outrun' our present predicaments, but our present situation is a reality that we must live with.

Twitter: @MrSteam_ 

NIGERIA: THERE WAS AN OIL BOOM. BY SULAIMAN KAZEEM

Caveat: Don't expect castles in the air, don't expect flying elephants, there is nothing practically possible that can be done to revive our economy, by the government of the day... Nigeria is currently faced by a monumental financial crises, which no doubt, is as a result of the failure of past administrations to diversify the economy and invest in both infrastructural and human development, when crude oil was sold at a ridiculous high price in the international market. But instead of huge capital investments that would have strengthened our economy and perhaps save us from our rainy days, the money in the Excess Crude Oil Account was shared among the State Governors during the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, with Governors in the SS/SE taking the Lion share. While the remaining was squandered by unscrupulous elements in the same administration. To make matters worse, the previous administration left a depleted national treasury and an almost empty foreign reserve, with 'a little' to show for it. The reality remains that Nigeria and other affected countries, as members of OPEC has absolutely no control over the price of Crude Oil in the international market. Well, it should interest you that the drastic drop in oil price is at a great advantage to countries who are not members of OPEC, because they get to buy at a reduced price and save up to strengthen other sectors. Dear friends, neither do u need a college degree in Accountancy or Finance, nor do u need a Masters Degree in Economy and business management, to be able to understand and interpret our present financial predicaments. Well, for those who were mute during the last 'Oil boom' but are now clamoring for the diversification of our economy under the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, you are joking and thus need more enlightenment. How do u diversify an economy, in the absence of the needed 'funds' to fuel other sectors of the economy?. The ongoing 'diversification of the economy', which is obviously biting the masses hard is driven by captains of industries and other 'money bags' in our society, making them richer at the expense of the masses but what do u expect from the present government, when they lack the financial force to drive other sectors of the economy?. Again, the reality is that our economy is crude oil driven, and until the price of Crude Oil rise in international market, the economy will continue to deteriorate, foreign reserve will continue to deplete, job-cut will continue to skyrocket, Sates will continue to owe salaries, infrastructures will continue to fade, prices of goods and services will continue to soar into the sky, and above all poverty will continue to stare at the faces of Nigerians. Unfortunately, the price of crude oil in the international market does not look like one that would rebound anytime soon. Well, you may be of the opinion that the present administration has made some economic blunders which seem to have obvious retrogression on the drained economy but don't be beclouded by your hatred for this government. Don't expect castles in the air, don't expect flying elephants, there is nothing practically possible that can be done to revive our economy by the government of the day, than for the government to excel in its race to block leakages in government, reduce ridiculous high wages and allowances by Public Office Holders and senior civil servants in the government, bring corruption to its bearable minimum, quell the ongoing vandalization of crude oil pipelines and other oil facilities by the Niger Delta Avengers in the SS/SE-NG, and encourage foreign investors to invest in Nigeria, just to mention a few. It is no news that our crude oil production has experienced the worst hit in history, 'a round of applause' for the vandals in Nigerian oil producing States. In other words, even if the price of crude oil rise in the international market, you can not sell what you don't have. Hence, Nigerians should not expect miracles from this government but expect more 'bites', if the vandalization continue. I pray that this present administration succeed, else ... Enjoy your weekend. Sulaiman Kazeem Twitter & Instagram: @MrSteam_ Facebook page: Mr Steam