9-11-2024.

I watched a TikTok message where the sender from Kano city expressed total satisfaction with Bola Ahmed Tinubu regime, saying that he has no regrets voting for him. The reason he mentioned being that there were no more petrol queues at filling stations, instead it is the attendants who call on customers to come and buy. 

Well, I thought, Nigeria is a free country, and anyone is entitled to their opinion. Still, I kept on thinking that the man must be either a praise singer or a soothsayer, because they are the only two groups that have the means in abundance to live life to the fullest in the Tinubu time, apart from members of the Federal executive, other heads of government parastatals and agencies, as well as ‘elected’ members of the legislature. Besides, one may want to know from such compatriots the number of Nigerias who have the money to go to the ‘queue less’ filling stations and buy the petrol.

My belief was reinforced when I watched the video clip where the US President-elect, Mr. Donald Trump, thanked the Nigerian President for his generous donation of $8 million to him. I am sure President Tinubu did not give Trump the ‘donation’ when he became the President elect, but when he was on the hustings as a candidate of the Republican Party. 

If that was the case, and I am very sure it was the case, then how much did the president also ‘donate’ to Kamala Devi Harris, who was the candidate of the Democratic Party, and the then and still reigning Vice President of the United States of America (USA)?

Imagine what $8 plus the unknown amount given to the Democratic Party candidate, can do to the beleaguered economy of the country, where poverty among most of its citizens is palpable. By the way, was the ‘donation’ made on behalf of the Nigerian citizens, or was it just on behalf of himself and his immediate family, since it is said that he was the richest politician in the country? 

Since the US president elect, or Kamala Harris did not ask for the money from Tinubu, it must mean that the Nigerian leader expects some kind of support as repayment from his controllers in that country for his second term reelection. This was informed by the realisation that voters would not ‘elect’ him again, since his first term has exposed his clueless administration as a mitigated DISASTER for the country.

Early in the life of the compromised, corrupt, obsequious and Western Hemisphere-centric Tinubu led administration, the National Anthem, composed, written and sung by a compatriot, was unceremoniously replaced with the old one, which was composed and written by a foreigner. The unfortunate, unpopular and unpatriotic change of the National Anthem was facilitated by the ‘rubber stamp’ National Assembly (NASS).

This is an administration, whose principal actor, the ‘First’ this, ‘First’ that, the ‘errand boy’ Vice President, ministers, top heads of federal government parastatals and agencies as well as the elected’ National Assembly members, live in opulent luxury in terms of everything, while constantly regaling the poverty stricken Nigerians with the mantra that there is the collective need to bear with the very severe hard, harsh and unfriendly times that the country and majority of the citizens found themselves in. 

But these unedifying and unfortunate ordeal was purposely visited on the seemingly hapless and helpless citizens in the country, by the present inept administration in charge of running the land’s affairs.

The  Nigerian President and his Vice were shown in a viral video clip obscenely and shamelessly DANCING at a LAVISH event in the presidential villa as if they had no worries whatsoever, and that the country is buoyant with enough funds in its copers.

Before then, the Abuja based Daily Trust, a reputed newspaper in Nigeria, exclusively reported that Mr. president had the four tyres of one of his many new official vehicles changed at the mind boggling amount of $200,000. This amount to an unbelievable $50,000 per ONE tyre of the vehicle said to have cost the taxpayer the sum of $200,000 or exactly the same amount spent to replace the four tyres. 

According to the newspaper, many more of such tyres are ordered and stocked in Aso Rock, the name that the seat of power is called by the netizens. And the leadership claims that the country is completely broke to warrant the regime of very hostile and unfriendly economic policies that have eliminated the middle class in the country.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Mr. Olayemi Cordoso, Nigeria’s foreign reserves have, as at September this year (2024), reached a high of $40 billion in 33 months for the first time. Fine, but it is ONLY for the BENEFIT of the leadership’s selfish CABAL, not for the entire country, methinks.

The Lagos based Punch newspaper today reported that a national survey had shown that over one-third of Nigerians now fall within this low-income bracket, while fewer individuals are in the higher earnings categories. My take on the matter is that ‘it is definitely NOT a progress, but a SETBACK for the country’.

It would appear that many Nigerians, especially from the northern part, have unknowingly entered a one-chance motor car, joyfully driven by their leader to their total elimination from the face of the earth, the same way the middle class has disappeared from country.

Ultimately, however, the grand plan of God will eventually trump up every evil machinations against His obedient servants. May the their evil shenanigans boomerang against them.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina