helinues:
You are ingrained with bitterness. Not for a day you have ever displayed any form of joy on this forum. Always hating on the progress of Lagos state
He would still write the rubbish and still add smiling emojis when the whole bunkum is just so dry
Please what progress has there been in Lagos since 1999 for low cost housing, which is the general issue of this thread?
How does ebilokan's 26 years master plan of forever increasing IGR squeezed out of the people compare with what Jakande achieved in just four years in the housing sector for the masses as a progressive politician that he was? Would all this drama be necessary if APC did low cost houses instead of looting the people's commonwealth all these years?
eluquenson: REVISITING SOME OF THE LATEEF JAKANDE'S GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS FROM OCTOBER 1979 TO DECEMBER 1983 (FOUR YEARS AND 3 MONTHS) IN LAGOS STATE
* His government built the current Lagos State Secretariat which houses all the state ministries as well as the popular round house hitherto occupied by all subsequent governors of the state.
* His government built the Lagos State House of Assembly complex.
* His government built the Lagos State Television
* His government built the Lagos Radio
* His government built Lagos State University
* His government established General Hospital in zones all over the state with assurance of free health care.
* His government established Teacher Training College and the College of Education.
* His government built low cost houses in Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Amuwo-Odofin, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry, Isheri/Olowu, Orisigun etc.
* His government established the Water Management Board and Waste Disposal Board on the 18th of August, 1980.
* His government constructed the Adiyan Water Works to increase water supply in the state to 18.16 million litres per day.
* His government modernized and expanded the Iju Water Works which was first commissioned in 1915. This increased daily capacity from 159 million to 204 million litres per day.
Are the biggest losers those tribal stockholm syndrome Yorubalokan loyalists who have to fight for APC daily bread palliative and risk being killed in palliatives because unemployment and inflation have become worse
Glimpsetv:
A large crowd of Lagosians was filmed in a long queue struggling to collect a loaf of bread. To maintain order, several military personnel were on the ground to control the crowd. This has triggered a lot of reactions online.
Watch the video, share your thoughts in the comments.
Putindbutt:
They have gone abroad again to demarket Nigeria.. Enemies of the state.
Can there be anyone who demarkets our country more than the APC shege master ebilokan made president four years after making him cry for calling him expired? Shege master that was packaged as messiah of change?
Did Buhari not call our youths lazy in London at a business conference to attract FDI?
Would you say that ebilokan demarkets our country by doing medical tourism abroad while hypocritically telling us to buy Nigerian?
thewinning101:
PANDORA PAPERS: Buhari visited Tinubu in corruption-tainted London villa acquired by Oyetola
Governor Oyetola, a relative of Mr Tinubu, may have sabotaged his own country by buying the exotic property as Nigeria made to seize it.
ByNicholas IbekweandTaiwo-Hassan Adebayo October 7, 2021 in Headline Stories, Pandora Papers Reading Time: 8 mins read
It was a meeting of two of Nigeria’s most influential politicians in London – President Muhammadu Buhari was visiting political kingmaker and senior member of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
In July, the presidency announced that Mr Buhari was heading to London for an education summit. The office also added that the president would also see his doctors for “medical check-up”.
Coincidentally, Mr Tinubu, who had travelled to London earlier, was also receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment in the British capital. So, a perfect setting for both men to meet was created.
Obiedun:
In all honesty, no reasonable person would take her seriously except the headless mob. She even call them idiots.
What reasonable person would take Reno seriously except [b{the Stockholm Syndrome patients in ebilokan hospital for hungry and starving people who are jobless[/b] and waiting to get APC daily bread palliative food since they have no idea how to create their promised jobs
swaggerjack:
Reno Omokri: I Challenge Tinubu To Prove If He Was Not A Drug Lord In Chicago
I want to sell a script to a Hollywood studio. The story is about a guy who owns a farm that constantly runs at a loss but never quite shuts down.
The farm is massive and underutilised, and the protagonist has all the opportunities in the world to improve its output and get a bumper harvest.
He has access to credit, machinery, free irrigation and gifts from neighbouring farmers, but all he ever does with these things is drink and smoke them away while his family suffers.
Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world
Apart from drinking, smoking and generally being utterly useless, his other pastime is to pump out children at an industrial rate. Needless to say, he takes no care of his children whatsoever, and many of them fail to survive childhood.
Those who do survive have to leave the farm and hire themselves out as hired labour to the neighbouring farmers, having picked up some survival skills from home.
With time, a number of them rise through the ranks and become senior managers, directors and even shareholders in these other farms while their father continues mismanaging his farm.
When good news about some of these successful children gets home, their father is filled with pride and joy, but when they end up on the wrong side of life, he acts as if he never knew them.
The successful ones make efforts to revamp their childhood home by sending back money and volunteering their skills and time, but all this guy ever wants to do is be a 62-year-old underachieving idiot carried through life by charity and luck.
Famzing” diaspora success is dishonest
I’m sure before the end of the second paragraph, you figured out whose story I was telling. The 62-year story of post-independence Nigeria — which the Hollywood studio would surely reject for being too sad with no redemption — is that of our fictional antihero.
Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world.
how everyone from corporate brands to Abike Dabiri made a big song and dance about ing Anthony Joshua the “Nigerian,” whose only chance to become someone in life came when his parents emigrated from Nigeria?
how things turned when he somehow lost against that chubby Mexican dude whose name I can’t ? when the Super Falcons won the female AFCON title and received a congratulatory tweet from the president, only for them to have to stage a protest before being paid their camp allowances?
That’s what we do in Nigeria. We try to live vicariously through the achievements of people who have achieved great things under their own steam, simply because said people happen to be called ‘Ifeoma,’ ‘Efe’ and ‘Ayotunde.’
Even when Nigeria had absolutely nothing to do with said success, or in fact happened in spite of Nigeria, as with Divine Oduduru, we bask in the reflected glory of their personal achievements.
Sometimes when those people wear a Nigerian flag or post something about Wizkid or Jollof Rice on Instagram, we go crazy with the Nigerian flag emojis because oh my god, they identify with us!
This is not about being a Killjoy
Somehow, the complete failure of Nigeria and our complicity in its failure is more bearable when we point at Nigerian immigrants doing great things in life and say “I knew Femi before he started calling himself Anthony.
His father and I were classmates in Aiyetoro.” It is unclear how exactly this helps our situation but hey, it’s also unclear how chugging the amount of alcohol we do helps either.
Escapism is a key part of our culture, and anyone who dissents must be a non-Jollof-eating, vegetarian heretic, and possibly also an atheist.
Now while all this is painfully cringey to my eyes, some will also point out that Nigeria is not the only country that has a weird obsession with its diaspora population.
Even ‘first-world’ countries like Ireland continue to have deep emotional and economic connections to their diaspora, and in any case Nigerians proudly ing Anthony Joshua or the NBA’s Giannis Ante…African-sounding-name is basically harmless fun. They’re not hurting anyone. Why be such a killjoy, David?
The reason this matters can be found in a quote that has been dubiously attributed to Russian President Vlir Putin, where he describes Africa as the place where its diaspora does not invest in, but returns to only to die and be buried with their ancestors.
While there is no concrete evidence that Mr. Putin ever actually made that comment, the truth in it is painfully poignant.
For diaspora success to be meaningful to Nigeria, it must correlate to on-ground results in Nigeria. The example of Somalia shows that having a well-educated, globally successful diaspora while being an absolute basket case are both possible at the same time.
oskopy:
Igbo to the world.congratulations pretty Angel, you are not only intelligent but beauty personified.
Please why is Anambra State not anything like Cambridge in the basic common utilities and services that are taken for granted by Britons?
Things like free education for all children in quality schools with adequate professional teachers and other staff who are well paid to work in appropriate classrooms, libraries, labs, playgrounds etc?
Why do you and 200 million Nigerians allow the selection, from your local government to state government to federal government in your legislature and executive branches
anonimi:
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events.
He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics.
The slowpoke doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
zero8zero:
The President is ticking the right boxes.
In politics but failing woefully in governance. What is the point of having a good politician who is cluelessly incompetent in governance- promising what he has no capability to accomplish
Majesty2:
The APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has revealed how he will drive the economy of the country, strengthen the Naira and making the country "import less" while "exporting more".
Who will investigate APC's exploitative practices that has hiked fuel price and spiralled hyperinflation in all sectors since 2015, deepening extreme poverty
Emergingnation:
Flashback: How Bola Tinubu spoke highly of Buhari in 2015, named PDP ‘Poverty Development Party
National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu had during the presidential campaign in 2015, referred to President Muhammadu Buhari as the only solution for the security and economic challenges facing Nigeria.
During a mega presidential rally, the former governor of Lagos State recalled how some powerful nations in the world returned to army generals when they were challenged, saying “Major General Buhari would revive Nigeria’s economy”.
He named the current opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP as the “Poverty Development Party saying they had nothing to offer.
His words at the time were; “Every nation has a period of their own challenges, when America was challenged, they turned to one great man, their ex-military general, General Eisenhower. When the French were challenged, they turned to their general, Charles de Gaulle.
“When Britain was challenged, they turned to their general. Today, Nigeria is economically and physically challenged so we turn to General Muhammadu Buhari. He is the right man for the job. If you talk about military experience, he has it abundantly, he has courage, simplicity, he has it abundantly.
“If you talk about great determination, a combination of vision and ability to perform, honesty and integrity, he has it abundantly.
“I laugh when the incapable government, ‘Poverty Development Party’ PDP were talking. They have nothing again to say, they now want to question the qualifications of General Buhari and look for his certificate”.
Following the manifestos in 2015 which projected the APC presidential candidate as a ‘saviour’, Buhari defeated the then incumbent president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with Nigerians expecting a total change in security and economy.
yarimo:
Na wa oo jobless people everywhere, just sit down and start searching for private life of someone that have no business with you
Is ebilokan no longer the president with his son enjoying the perks of office while his e-rats are wailing ebinpawa online for joblessness that is complicated by hyperinflation
zero8zero:
Always going off point, baba stop smoking.
Smoking is too small for babas like us.
We do the white stuff that Yekini Amoda Ogunlere was indicted for and paid $460,000 to wipe away his crimes.
If in doubt, please ask Reno, ebilokan's incoming US ambassador for cleaning up criminal records.
swaggerjack:
Reno Omokri: I Challenge Tinubu To Prove If He Was Not A Drug Lord In Chicago
SoftSport:
Rufai always talks bad when good things happen, Tinubu is working and clearing the IMF debt shows things are getting better.
Things may be getting better in the illusionary world of half-informed ebilokan followers, but well informed Nigerians are worried about the increasing debt despite subsidy removal, devaluation and worsening economy of extreme poverty, hyperinflation, unemployment, corruption and insecurity.
What is the wisdom in borrowing at higher interest from sundry lenders to pay off IMF concessionary loans
dododawa1:
Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N144.67tn ($94.23bn) as of December 31, 2024, representing a 48.58 per cent increase compared to N97.34tn ($108.23bn) recorded at the end of December 2023.
The Debt Management Office disclosed this in its latest report on the country’s public debt profile, which was released on Friday.
The report also revealed a quarter-on-quarter rise of 1.65 per cent from the N142.32tn ($88.89bn) recorded at the end of September 2024, highlighting the continuous increase in the nation’s debt burden during the final quarter of the year.
An analysis of Nigeria’s public debt on a year-on-year basis showed an increase of N47.32tn, representing a 48.58 per cent rise from December 2023 to December 2024.
The surge in public debt was primarily driven by significant increases in both external and domestic borrowings.
Nigeria’s external debt increased by 83.89 per cent from N38.22tn ($42.50bn) in December 2023 to N70.29tn ($45.78bn) in December 2024.
The sharp rise was attributed to new external borrowings and the impact of naira depreciation, which raised the naira equivalent of dollar-denominated debt.
Domestic debt also rose by 25.77 per cent from N59.12tn ($65.73bn) at the end of December 2023 to N74.38tn ($48.44bn) in December 2024.
The Federal Government’s domestic debt component grew significantly from N53.26tn to N70.41tn, reflecting a 32.19 per cent increase.
This growth indicates the government’s continued reliance on local borrowing to finance budget deficits and infrastructure projects.
In contrast, the domestic debt owed by states and the Federal Capital Territory dropped from N5.86tn to N3.97tn, representing a decline of 32.27 per cent.
This reduction points to a more cautious approach by some subnational governments towards debt accumulation during the year.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Nigeria’s total public debt increased by N2.35tn, translating to a 1.65 per cent rise from N142.32tn as of September 30, 2024.
According to the DMO, the increase was driven by both external and domestic debt components. External debt rose by N1.4tn, moving from N68.89tn ($43.03bn) as of September 2024 to N70.29tn ($45.78bn) in December.
This was influenced by new foreign loans acquired in the last three months of the year, alongside the further weakening of the naira.
On the domestic front, debt rose slightly by 1.29 per cent from N73.43tn ($45.87bn) in September 2024 to N74.38tn ($48.44bn) by the end of December.
The Federal Government’s domestic debt increased from N69.22tn to N70.41tn within the quarter.
However, domestic debt attributed to states and the FCT decreased from N4.21tn to N3.97tn, reflecting a 5.69 per cent drop.
As of December 2024, external debt made up 48.59 per cent of Nigeria’s total public debt, while domestic debt ed for 51.41 per cent, indicating a relatively balanced debt structure.
However, the rise in external borrowings points to a growing reliance on foreign debt to bridge budgetary gaps.
The breakdown of external debt shows that the Federal Government ed for N62.92tn ($40.98bn), while states and the FCT held N7.37tn ($4.80bn).
In the domestic debt segment, the Federal Government held N70.41tn ($45.86bn), with states and the FCT ing for N3.97tn ($2.58bn).
The rise in public debt has raised concerns among economic analysts regarding Nigeria’s fiscal stability.
The sharp increase, particularly in external debt, highlights the nation’s vulnerability to exchange rate fluctuations and changes in global economic conditions.
With the continued depreciation of the naira, the cost of servicing foreign debt could escalate, adding pressure on the country’s financial resources.
zero8zero:
Here is what he wrote on his official X handle
Thankfully the good news of daily free bread palliative instead of well paying jobs promised, makes us happy in Isale Eko.
Glimpsetv:
A large crowd of Lagosians was filmed in a long queue struggling to collect a loaf of bread. To maintain order, several military personnel were on the ground to control the crowd. This has triggered a lot of reactions online.
Watch the video, share your thoughts in the comments.
Nazgul:
I pity youths who fight and die for politicians. You'd shocked when you see pictures or videos of your favorite politician embracing the opposition.
Just cast your vote and move on. No kill yourself on top their matter cos they certainly do not care about you. And even if the appear as enemies, they can become allies any day.
Soludo should give him land in Onitsha so that he can learn trading.
Is that how oyinbos do to make their countries attractive to us for japa so we can help make their countries even better than ours
If only 10% of our population votes and far less are interested and invested in other aspects of the political and governance processes, then how do you expect those we allow into public office at the local, state and federal governments in the legislative and executive branches to be responsible and able to 200 million of us?
anonimi:
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events.
He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics.
The slowpoke doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
Omalicious1:
Chai...is the Governor still the Chief Security officer of the state?
Do the and military commanders in the state take ORDERS from the governor or from the Commande in Chief who cares not about Nigerians as long as he can continue the APC shege he packaged fraudulently as change 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, Ribadu is there to prop up ebilokan's insecurity failure with propaganda lies, which is the only thing that APC is good at.
Racoon:
National Security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has said that Nigeria has recorded over 90 percent improvement in insecurity under President Bola Tinubu istration.
Mr Ribadu stated this in Jos, Plateau State while briefing the press shortly after a meeting with the Commander of Operation Safe Haven, Major General Folusho Oyinlola at his office, following a gunmen attack on Bokkos community that left hundreds of residents killed.
According to him, President Tinubu istration will not relent in its efforts at ensuring peace and security in the country.
“In the last 1-year-ten-months, violent deaths have been reduced probably by over 90 percent in our country. We have the statistics, in 2022 and 2023 those who lost their lives as a result of extreme violence in the country has reduced,” Mr Ribadu disclosed.
The NSA stressed that a lot of bad people have been arrested and are undergoing investigations. “I can assure you that justice will be done, those who are found responsible will be prosecuted, we are doing it across the country.
“This Government has prosecuted close to 2,000 terrorists and we have got many convictions; we will not relent, we are serious, we are honest about what we are doing, we will do it to the best of our ability,” he said.
The NSA further commended the armed forces and other security forces in maintaining peace, restoring order quickly, and acting instantly in averting a major crisis in the state.
It can't be herdsmen. It must be those who are stuck in their dot of a circle with nowhere to go as APC readies to speak to them in a language they understand.
This is the ebilokan selfish narrative that was used to reinforce the failure of Buhari shege, which the Lagos landlord packaged as change in 2015 to hound out the southern president who is the best in our history and replace him with a clueless northerner, according to Obasanjo who also betrayed his fellow sountherners to please the north as usual.
Karma where art thou
Highways: Where Are The Cows? Is Evans A Herdsman?'
When Funke Olakurin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti was murdered instead of Bola Tinubu to make sure that the perpetrators were brought to book, he ended up making fun of the death of the young lady by turning everything into tribalism by showing his hates for Igbos.
Tinubu has never spoken against the deadly activities of Fulani herdsmen across the country
Mrs Olakunrin died of gunshot wounds in July 2019 after her vehicle was attacked by armed men, suspected to be marauding Fulani bandits whose violent activities had reached a frightening level across the southwest states.
Those arrested suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele area of Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada area of Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela area of Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi area of Zamfara State....
However, the leader of the team, identified only as Tambaya, and three others are yet to be found.
Tambaya has been declared wanted by the police and he is said to be capable of communicating in Hausa, Fulfude and Pidgin English.
chrisxxx:
We are not looking for repatriation compensation. We are looking for them to come and loot humans now. Let the slave trade start again. Let them berth their ships.
We will walk into it gladly.
This is not just the bitter truth, it is the sad reality as we do voluntary slavery, called japa and brag about being diasporans working to make the Arab and oyinbo places even better than ours.
This is in addition to our leaders looters in the public and private sectors stashing resources that should develop our continent in Arab and oyinbo places.
anonimi: Neo-black Problem: Must Blacks Be Ruled by Whites in Order to Prosper?
In short, the neo-black dilemma may be framed as follows: is it better to live under white rule without political dignity but with basic life-sustaining standards for many;
or to live under black rule with illusory political dignity and without basic life- sustaining standards for the majority?
@
@
The path forward for Africa lies in cultivating higher and adequate levels of personal and communal agential integrity as well as full personal responsibility and productivity. Not to mention creativity (including epistemic creativity), productive justice (such as merit and freedom), harmony and reconciliation at local and international levels, and a proper domestication of capitalism and other related values and institutions.
Africa must stop wasting her time on dreams of socialism because it is a system of wealth distribution primarily. Whereas, capitalism is a system of wealth creation primarily, and wealth has to be produced before it can be distributed.
eepeepook:
The west will not pay it. Let’s not kid ourselves.
Should we not be the ones to first pay the descendants of those we sold first before asking the Arabs and whites to pay the balance of what we felt was fair value when we sold their ancestros as slaves for tobacco, alcohol, umbrellas, mirrors etc?
The sad part is how we insisted to continue the criminal trade after the whites had a change of heart through William Wilberforce's advocacy.
anonimi:
The often cited biography titled Madame Tinubu: Merchant and King-maker, authored by Nigerian historian Oladipo Yemitan, paints her views regarding slave trading.
On one occasion, during her final sojourn in Abeokuta, she was alleged to have sold a young boy into slavery and was accused of it. When arraigned before Ogundipe Alatise over the matter, she reportedly explained: 'I have a large house-hold and I must feed them well. I need money to do that, that's why'.
— Oladipo. Yemitan, 'Madame Tinubu: Merchant and King-maker'
Another section of Yemitan's Tinubu biography, referred to as the Amadie-Ojo Affair, captures a slave trading deal gone sour in 1853 (notably after the 1852 Treaty abolishing slavery in Lagos) wherein Tinubu tells another slave trader (Domingo Martinez) that "she would rather drown the slaves [20 in number] than sell them at a discount".
emkz:
The fundamental idea was to embarass, gaslight and control the narrative with unsubstantiated accusations. She never wanted a court case, except noise. She never wanted closure except playing the victim.
Just as the waist-focused philander does not want to go to jail for looting, stealing and corruption.
Racoon:
Senator Godswill Akpabio, who has a pending case before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following allegations of stealing over N100bn from the coffers of Akwa Ibom State when he was governor, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The APC-led Federal Government has welcomed him with open arms and political analysts believe the defection could make the former governor to evade corruption trial, raising questions about President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
Unsurprisingly, the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday resigned from his position as the Senate Minority Leader. A day later, he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Perhaps, so much drama had surrounded his move to defect from the opposition PDP to the ruling APC, amid the senator’s romance with key of the opposition party and political leaders.He had met with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Aso Rock Villa last Thursday, accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang.
While the meeting was on, the 81st meeting of the PDP National Executive Council was holding at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.Then, on Sunday, Akpabio showed up in London to visit President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on a 10-day furlough.
Reacting to the senator’s visit to Buhari, the PDP expressed shock, saying the former Akwa Ibom State governor had told of the party’s National Working Committee he was travelling to .“He told us he was going to , but if he ended up in London, maybe he had a technical stopover,” the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said.
However, by Monday, the senator was back in the country to pay a visit to the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.The visit was said to be part of the last-minute consultations on his planned defection to the APC.
The PDP had earlier accused the APC of wooing its top with money and political opportunities. “Nigerians can now see the shameless hypocrisy of the APC, which is now going about, cap in hand, to beg the same persons it taunted as corrupt and evil, seeing that it has been overrun by the tides,” Ologbondiyan had said.
“Having failed to cow such persons through threats, media trials, trumped-up charges and raw violence, the APC is now seeking to ensnare them with promises of political opportunities it no longer has control over,” he added.
Akpabio’s defection came under the heel of gale of defections of key of the APC, including Senate President Bukola Saraki and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, to the PDP.Akpabio’s defection appeared like a relief to the leadership of the APC-led Federal Government which had apparently been worried by the mass defection of its key chieftains to the PDP.
Although the former Akwa Ibom State governor has attributed his defection to what he called President Buhari’s patriotism and integrity, media reports have linked his defection to pressure from the APC-led Federal Government over his case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as well as the disagreement between him and his successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel.
The anti-corruption agency is currently seeking court approval to resume its investigation of Akpabio over allegations that he stole over N100bn from the coffers of the oil-rich state while he was the governor.Operatives of the Department of State Services had in September 2015 stormed the Akwa Ibom State Government House and reportedly confiscated arms and millions of dollars.
Weeks later, the EFCC started investigating Akpabio and Senator Bassey Akpan, who was the Commissioner for Finance when Akpabio was governor.The EFCC wrote letters to Zenith Bank Plc, Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank, Skye Bank Plc, and the United Bank for Africa demanding information on the state’s s amid the investigation.
The anti-graft agency also extended its investigation to the ant-general, the auditor-general, the Speaker and the clerk of the state House of Assembly.The Akwa Ibom State Government later described the EFCC’s probe as a witch-hunt.
It have dragged the commission to court and obtained an interim injunction, restraining the agency and other Federal Government agencies from probing the finances of the state government, but this was temporary as the judge lifted the injunction months later, paving the way for full investigations.The matter was taken to the Appeal Court, where it has remained for over a year.
However, political commentators believe the former Akwa Ibom State governor’s defection could be attributed more to the alleged pressure from the APC-led government over his case with the EFCC.The Reformed-APC had Sunday accused the APC-led Federal Government of wooing PDP lawmakers who are still having cases before the EFCC, promising them a clean bill of health before the anti-graft agency.
A commentator and President of the Nigeria Youths Know, Mr. Emmanuel Olaosebikan, believed the former governor of Akwa Ibom State wouldn’t have defected to the APC if he wasn’t “afraid of something.”
“I have been following Akpabio for some time and I think he is definitely afraid of something. It’s possible it’s true that the APC wants to unleash the EFCC on him should he refuse to ‘cooperate’ and defect,” Olaosebikan said.
Previously, the PDP had alleged that Akpabio was being blackmailed by the APC-led Federal Government because of his case at the EFCC.
A top source in the party had also told Saturday PUNCH last Friday that Akpabio was considering leaving the PDP because the ruling party was threatening to use the EFCC against him if he did not defect.
“What is happening is that the APC has threatened to deal with him, using the EFCC and he doesn’t want that at all.“Although we are all pleading with him not to leave the PDP, but he is afraid. He doesn’t want to be in the EFCC’s net at all. He is really under pressure but we hope that he would listen to us,” the source had said.
However, Akpabio on Wednesday in Ikot Ekpene claimed that the “young man” who wrote petition against him to the EFCC could not prove his case, adding that this was why the EFCC was unable to charge him to court.
But the EFCC, in its response to media enquiries, on Thursday said the senator still had a case before it.
Considering the Federal Government’s past, an Uyo-based political analyst, Mr. Joseph Akpan, told our correspondent via telephone that it wasn’t impossible that Akpabio was coerced by the APC to the party, among other reasons.
He said, “Here in Akwa Ibom State, it is shocking that Akpabio would ever consider dumping the PDP for the APC. It’s not that it’s totally strange because no situation is permanent in life, but considering his influence in the party here, it’s surprising he would want to leave a party he has a grip of for the APC.
“It could be true that the APC wanted him by all means, by offering him certain ‘gifts.’ He has been accused of mismanaging the state funds to the tune of N108bn.
“Bearing in mind that the APC has always regarded as ‘saints’ those with corruption cases that the party, Akpabio may not be an exception. His ‘sins’ may soon be forgotten as he has ed the APC.
“His defection would certainly alter a lot in the political landscape here. No doubt about it, he has a big following in the state. He practically single-handedly installed the current state governor, Udom Emmanuel, and made the PDP to win virtually all the legislative seats in the state House of Assembly.”
An Abuja-based development economist and political commentator, Dr. Juliana Ogunyinka, opined that if President Buhari was leading a genuine anti-corruption war, he wouldn’t have been allowing politicians with pending cases before the anti-corruption agency to defect to his party.
She cited the example of a former Minister of Defence, Senator Musliu Obanikoro, who was allegedly involved in the diversion of N4.7bn from the imprest of the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014. Obanikoro defected to the APC in November 2017 and nothing has since been heard of his corruption case with the EFCC anymore.
However, Ogunyinka noted that as soon as the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, defected from the APC to the PDP, the EFCC “quickly” resumed investigation into allegations of corruption against him.Barely five days after his defection from the ruling party, the EFCC said the governor was being investigated of a N22bn fraud.
“One then wonders what the fuss about the anti-corruption war is all about,” Ogunyinka said.
“It’s not an anti-corruption war that this government is fighting; why is it that when you the APC, your corruption cases are swept under the carpet, but when you are in the opposition, you are haunted.
“Look at the Ortom scenario, where was the EFCC all the while the governor was in the APC? Why didn’t we hear anything about his case? But as soon as he defected, the EFCC then ed the governor had a case to answer regarding his security vote.
“While I’m not saying the anti-graft agency shouldn’t investigate any governor or senator, especially as we know that many of them are indeed corrupt, what I’m canvassing is that it shouldn’t be a selective anti-corruption war, which is why I loved Ortom’s response to the EFCC.”
After the anti-graft agency said it was investigating the governor for alleged N22bn fraud, he had urged it to begin the probe of President Buhari’s security vote.
Ortom had asked a series of questions, “Why am I being investigated by the EFCC? My records are there. But so far, I am the only governor in Nigeria whose security vote is being investigated by the EFCC.
“How can you single me out of 36 (governors) for investigation? It (security vote) is not something that any government will begin to disclose. Why should Benue’s case be different if not persecution? If the EFCC wanted a genuine investigation of security vote spending, they should have started from the Presidency and across the 36 states.”
TimeManager:
God bless the Nigerian Army, God bless Nigeria
-Kiss the truth!
The only truth to kiss here is the dummy sold to Nigerians by ebilokan who made his 2011 expired soldier into APC change messiah that was SUPPOSED to be strong enough to do what bloody civilian Jonathan failed to do.
Don't we know better now that Buhari and his chaperone are nothing but clueless incompetent olodos?
Nigeria Boko Haram: Militants 'technically defeated' - Buhari
Published
24 December 2015
Nigeria has "technically won the war" against Islamist Boko Haram militants, President Muhammadu Buhari says.
He told the BBC that the militant group could no longer mount "conventional attacks" against security forces or population centres.
It had been reduced to fighting with improvised explosives devices (IED) and remained a force only in its heartland of Borno state, he said.
Boko Haram has been described as one of the world's deadliest terror groups.
Critics of the government argue that it has exaggerated the scale of its success against the militants, and that each time the army claims to have wiped out Boko Haram, the militants have quietly rebuilt.
Firefire:
I am really worried about the increasing death toll...
Buhari said: “If you elect me as the President of Nigeria on February 14 (now March 28), I am assuring you that our government will chase Boko Haram out of Nigeria within two months because it is the responsibility of any reasonable government to secure the lives and property of its citizens.”
Izuchukwu70:
People are hypocrites, they will give anything to be in Tinubu's position. 😂😂😂
The position of robbing Lagosians and Nigerias of increased taxes, subsidy removal to get more luxuries for himself while dashing jobless people palliative bread
chisomkachy:
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s first supplementary budget includes a fleet of SUVs for himself and his wife, a presidential yacht and the renovation of his villa amid a cost-of-living crisis for some of the poorest people in the world.
The proposal — which seeks additional funding beyond the annual budget approved by Tinubu’s predecessor — comes as the government asks Nigerians to persevere through pain caused in part by a raft of economic reforms ushered in by the new president. Africa’s most populous country faces rampant unemployment, soaring food prices and a plummeting currency.
Federal lawmakers approved the president’s request for extra spending on Thursday, but eliminated the provision of 5 billion naira ($6.01 million) to buy a presidential yacht. Instead, they doubled the allocation to a student loan fund to 10 billion naira, according Abubakar Bichi, chairman of an appropriations committee in the House of Representatives.
The lawmakers approved 1.5 billion-naira proposed to purchase SUVs for the office of First Lady Oluremi Tinubu — an amount larger than that allocated to many individual federal colleges. The supplementary budget also proposes almost 6 billion naira to purchase SUVs for the presidency — more than the amount initially allocated to fund a student loan program for poor families.
Yeah right, they don't just love him, they adore him for throwing them under the cow to get his ebilokan turn at continuing APC shege that he installed in 2015 and reinforced the failure with Yorubalokan votes in 2019.
Did he not make his fellow southerner, Jonathan a one term president
Highways: Where Are The Cows? Is Evans A Herdsman?'
When Funke Olakurin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti was murdered instead of Bola Tinubu to make sure that the perpetrators were brought to book, he ended up making fun of the death of the young lady by turning everything into tribalism by showing his hates for Igbos.
Tinubu has never spoken against the deadly activities of Fulani herdsmen across the country
Mrs Olakunrin died of gunshot wounds in July 2019 after her vehicle was attacked by armed men, suspected to be marauding Fulani bandits whose violent activities had reached a frightening level across the southwest states.
Those arrested suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele area of Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada area of Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela area of Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi area of Zamfara State....
However, the leader of the team, identified only as Tambaya, and three others are yet to be found.
Tambaya has been declared wanted by the police and he is said to be capable of communicating in Hausa, Fulfude and Pidgin English.
Charly68:
It is a serious political hurricane ...PDP is really sleeping due to the greedy pills they took in the last election...They rewarded laziness and embrace greed now they are paying heavily . Atiku can't even sponsor the party ..he prefer to keep his money to rig primary election rather than using it to shape the party machinery
Why can't you sponsor the party so you don't have to wail that those who sponsored political parties are looting you silly instead of working to make life better for you?
What is the sense in leaving others to do what you are capable of doing for your own benefit
anonimi:
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events.
He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics.
The slowpoke doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
maasoap:
Gobe! Is Tinubu not winning re-election gradually?
He has won it already and will install every president after his second term just as he did in Lagos with his master plan for looting, stealing and corruption instead of employing civil servants who are well paid to provide services, amenities and utilities hence it has turned it into a waterless glorified ghetto.
anonimi: The eyesore on Bourdillon Road
2nd January 2025
Beyond his neighbours, there is something about the sight of people hanging around a president’s residence that does not speak well of his leadership capabilities. Maybe no one has nudged him to see it, but the impression that spectacle on Bourdillon Road generates is that Tinubu enjoys the sight of suffering humans and thrives in—and through— their poverty.
If all these years, impoverished people hang around you and you remain comfortable enough to keep them just so they can be handed tokens of your large heart, then it means you have a pro-poverty mindset. Such a frame of mind is oriented toward cultivating poverty rather than stimulating abundance.
That is why he could unproblematically relate the story of his “friend” who went from using five Rolls Royce to a far-less valued car and not consider the import of the nonsense he was saying. That spurious was an indication that this is a man for whom poverty—of others, not himself—is an ideal.
mecuries:
It's meant to be the cheapest/easiest form to get proteins.
NB:[/b] Beans is more carb than protein
I hope that the beans stomach infrastructiure shared two years ago is everlasting to cushion the effects of this shege hyperinflation, unemployment, extreme poverty etc. Otherwise...............................
You have put ebilokan's useless economic mismanagement so well.
chisomkachy:
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s first supplementary budget includes a fleet of SUVs for himself and his wife, a presidential yacht and the renovation of his villa amid a cost-of-living crisis for some of the poorest people in the world.
The proposal — which seeks additional funding beyond the annual budget approved by Tinubu’s predecessor — comes as the government asks Nigerians to persevere through pain caused in part by a raft of economic reforms ushered in by the new president. Africa’s most populous country faces rampant unemployment, soaring food prices and a plummeting currency.
Federal lawmakers approved the president’s request for extra spending on Thursday, but eliminated the provision of 5 billion naira ($6.01 million) to buy a presidential yacht. Instead, they doubled the allocation to a student loan fund to 10 billion naira, according Abubakar Bichi, chairman of an appropriations committee in the House of Representatives.
The lawmakers approved 1.5 billion-naira proposed to purchase SUVs for the office of First Lady Oluremi Tinubu — an amount larger than that allocated to many individual federal colleges. The supplementary budget also proposes almost 6 billion naira to purchase SUVs for the presidency — more than the amount initially allocated to fund a student loan program for poor families.
Putindbutt:
We ain't paying shishi, the Punch report una dey carry ontop una head is bullshit.
So who are we paying all the 2025 debt servicing to
Why is ebiolokan running a Ponzi scheme debt ecosystem?
Oladimeji556:
Nigeria’s external debt service is expected to rise to $5.2 billion in 2025, marking a growing fiscal burden despite ongoing economic reforms, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings.
The credit rating agency made the projection in its latest commentary, which also saw Nigeria’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating upgraded from ‘B-’ to ‘B’ with a stable outlook. The agency attributed the anticipated rise in external debt servicing to scheduled amortisation payments and a $1.1 billion Eurobond repayment due in November 2025.
anonimi: 5:26pm On May 10
