Tinubu, beware the gathering clouds (2), by Hassan Gimba
Last week, we read how the signs are not looking good for a nation like ours that wants to be reckoned with internationally. We concluded by asking the federal government to look at ways to reduce the cost of governance and the unimaginable take-home pay of political leaders and redirect the excess towards production. And we emphasised that we must become a productive nation that eats, drives and wears what it produces.
We also exhorted anyone genuinely interested in the welfare of workers, and of Nigerians, to proffer solutions that would boost our economy and strengthen our currency and not suggestions that would bastardise our economy and drive the naira’s value further down. And that salary increase at the moment will not help the economy.
The federal and state governments must also, as a matter of urgency, resuscitate moribund industries dotted across the landscape so as not to only galvanise production but to improve locally generated revenue. And because millions will get direct and indirect jobs if the moribund industries dotting all over the country become alive, the production of local materials will be boosted as there will be more buyers, leading to more employment.
Government, and here I mean the federal and state governments, must always be truthful and fair to the citizens. They must also make their agencies work. The government must let government function. In almost all cases, it is the government that makes government fail because the actors do everything from a prism of personal gain. Nothing about service anymore. Then there is the Nigerian syndrome of “Do you know who I am?”
I will give you an example. Just recently there was a furore that the Presidential Villa owed the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ₦923 million, the Nigerian Police owed ₦1.4 billion and the office of the Central Bank Governor, ₦1.6 billion. Put together, the federal government and its agencies were indebted to the tune of ₦47billion. And, you see, God save any AEDC official who tries to disconnect power from Villa, Police Headquarters or CBN
But every year there is money for the payment of NEPA bills in the government and its agencies’ budgetary allocations, so why should the bills accumulate? If the power company has not been paid, where did the appropriated money go? Is the government here not strangulating the electricity company with its hand, yet every day we cry of epileptic power?
It is commendable that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered the immediate payment of the Villa bill; however, is it enough without instituting an investigation into the failure of the Villa bureaucracy to pay its electricity bills despite budgetary provisions? This is the sort of thing that would make Nigerians sit up and take note. Otherwise, it is just the old system: sweep the sleaze under the carpet and let sleeping dogs lie.
Perhaps, because citizens, rightly or wrongly, think those in authority would naturally dip their hands into the treasury, and also scramble (as the Europeans scramble for Africa) over state resources, that is why some of them scramble over any resources close to them. Maybe this is why any warehouse they see, any trailer load of food that enters their ‘trap’, they pounce on it. And do you blame them when they refuse to pay NEPA bills?
Every day something new is trending. Yesterday it was budget padding; today it is “each senator got ₦500million.” Who knows what tomorrow will bring? The citizens must feel that their interests are also part of the mix. That sense of belonging would automatically bring down the crime rate substantially.
Governance must be accorded the seriousness it deserves. When you go through our budget and the imputed figures, like a template across the MDAs, one would be forgiven to think that governance is a joke and budget implementation is akin to sharing the national cake within an anointed group.
Justice and fairness must permeate the land. No nation can rid itself of crime as long as its leadership does not go out of its way to give the people a sense of belonging and fairness, and its judiciary fails to give protection to the oppressed.
Therefore, leaders at the centre must be exemplary, which will make those in charge of other tiers of government follow suit. It is not enough for a leader to be mouthing platitudes while his actions go contrariwise. This is what is meant by “Change must begin with the leader” where the Brazilian lyricist and author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, said, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
I will never get tired of hammering it - to all who care to listen - what Sheikh Usman Dan Fodiyo wrote in his book, Bayan Wujub al-Hijrah alal ibad: that “the death of a thousand good men is not as tragic as having an unfit man in a position of national leadership and that “a kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.”
To ensure that justice is served, we must strengthen our legal and judicial systems. We need to reform our laws and improve the capacity and independence of our judges and lawyers. This will earn the system more respect and bring back the trust of the people that has been heavily eroded.
These, and more along this line, are the things our leaders must do to make our country the great nation it is meant to be. Every leader will be proud that under his watch we became a united people and forged ahead to become an industrialised nation.
To stitch the “merely geographical expression” that we currently have, therefore, is a task that must involve all of us. We do not have any other country to call ours. And we cannot afford to see the country put together by God through the British rendered asunder.
Another reason I always look at some Nigerians from the south and north who shout “Let Nigeria be divided” and shudder. Do they know what they are saying? Do they think that that is feasible anymore? Would it be beneficial to all concerned? We will look at this next.
Hassan Gimba is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime.
Exclusive: How Akpabio Abducted, Detained Me In His House Over Refusal To Step Down For Nse Ntuen – Essein Udim AHKA Aspirant
An APC aspirant for the Essien Udim House of Assembly seat, Mr Samuel Ikpa on Tuesday gave a graphic account of his abduction and incarceration in the hands of former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo during a protest and solidarity visit by his kinsmen from Midim community in Uyo, Mr Ikpa said he was subjected to inhuman, cruel and barbaric treatment by the former Governor for refusing to step down for his (Akpabio’s) annointed candidate for the Essien Udim State Constituency seat.
On the night of Sunday September 30, 2018, I was invited by His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio to his residence in Ukana Ikot Ntuen for a meeting. The agenda of the meeting was not made known. On my arrival in Ukana Ikot Ntuen, I met other aspirants including Hon. Nse Ntuen, Hon. Etido Ibekwe, Abom Ephraim Okon, Joseph Inyang and Anthony Etim who were already seated. Also seated were his Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, Bar. Ibanga Akpabio, Etekamba Umoren, Hon. Emmanuel Sunday Akpan, Godwin Afangideh, Sir Simon Etim, Nsentip Akpabio, Arc. Ubokutom Nyah and a host of personal staff and family”
“Senator Akpabio said me and all other candidates for the House of Assembly must step down for his cousin – Nse Ntuen and vaguely promised to use other positions in the incoming state and federal governments to compensate us. I pleaded with him to reconsider his position and allow the will of the people to prevail. I reminded the senator of the enormous effort and resources expended on campaigns already, the goodwill of teeming supporters who are yearning for change and whose trust I cannot betray, and the need for true progressive culture of politics to be entrenched in the best interest of democracy”, he stated.
Mr Ikpa said his position infuriated Nse Ntuen who then accused him of being agent of malice and chronic opponent of Senator Godswill Akpabio’s directives.
Then came the unthinkable moment, “Senator Akpabio rose up and physically assaulted me and ordered his security details to arrest me. I was dragged like a common criminal out of the meeting room. My brother – Celestine Mel – who was waiting outside, was shocked to see the assault on me and sought to know what was happening. He too was promptly arrested on the orders of an enraged and bitterly angry Senator Akpabio. Both of us were rough-handled, beaten, assaulted and thrown into a van with their phones were seized”
The APC aspirant said he and his brother were abducted against their will, and driven in a convoy to the police headquarters in Uyo to be detained by the senator.
He alleged that the convoy left the Police Headquarters after spending 15 minutes to Baracks Road Police State, Area Command, Uyo before being were driven finally into Akpabio’s private residence in Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo, where he was humiliated, harassed, scoffed at, and spat upon. He said he was made to sit on bare the floor at Akpabio’s house while Senator Akpabio and his team did all they could to maximally break his spirits by demanding he withdraws from the race.
He lamented that the traumatic experience lasted until 4.30am on Monday morning and caused him serious emotional, physical and psychological pain.
According to Mr Ikpa, he owes his life to the APC Governorship candidate, Obong Nsima Ekere, who intervened on his behalf before Akpabio freed him and was later driven in a car provided by Akpabio’s former Chief of Staff and later Secretary to the State Government, Sir Etekamba Umoren to enable him pick his personal car that was parked at Akpabio’s Ukana residence.
He condemned the return of impunity and intimidation in an entirely purely democratic process and called on President Mohammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the National Chairman of APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, National leader of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom Atuekong Don Etiebet, Senior Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly ,Senator Ita Enang, State Chairman of APC, Mr Ini Okopido, and all well-meaning Nigerians to come to his rescue by prevailing upon Senator Godswill Akpabio to discontinue his unending attacks and vicious dehumanizing treatment on him and his community.
