21-12-2024.

To be charitable, it is not a fun to be a leader in Nigeria, either as a president or as a governor, at the moment. But to be brutally frank, it is nothing to brag about, because all it gets one is, at the best, an insult, or an abuse, in as many words, as there are perversive poverty and ravaging hunger in the country. All brought by the overwhelming corruption that, unfortunately, defines leadership on these shores. More so at this very time.

Not quite a long time ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu told his French hosts that there was no hunger in Nigeria, that it was a false claim being made in order to force his regime into reversing the subsidy removal and other (biting) economic policies introduced by his regime.

It is therefore, safe to give the president the  benefit of the doubt of claiming to be ignorant of the horrible situation in the country. After all, he is constantly shielded (to his liking) from the, or interacting with, common people. But his ministers and other aides are not so shielded, since they get to mingle or interact with the common people, and are therefore very much aware of the citizens’s suffering. However, because most of presidential aides are part of the problem, they appear comfortable with the president not being any more the wiser about the extremely negative situation.

But the traditional media owned by those in the government, both print and electronic, the social media set up by the government or set up by some people in the government, and some self serving Non Governmental organisations (NGOs), set up by the government, appear to always be in the annoying habit of fulfilling the aims for which they were founded; which is to praise the government for the performance that is NOT visible to anyone but themselves.

In the pages of such on and off lines media as well as the airwaves, and the rented voices of those who prefer the temporary enjoyment of a corrupted today than a better tomorrow for all, one finds and hears nothing mostly but praises, verging on obsequiousness, to the governments or their heads. Hardly does one ventures on a material challenging the corruption, inefficiency, poverty and hunger that defines the ill performance of the present leadership at the federal and state levels, in the country.

Otherwise, take the highly extravagant and flamboyant lifestyle of the people in the corridors of power, including the First Family and the Second Family of Nigeria, and a visitor would never believe the twin evil of poverty and hunger are severely rampaging every part of the country with a vengeance, as if on a revenge mission.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun and  the Central’s Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, who support the president’s constant (worrying) BORROWINGS (10 times from the World Bank so far) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), look like anything, but those suffering from the debilitating times in Nigeria.

They ride in a convoy of N150 to N200 million state-of-the-art vehicles, which are mostly the rides of extremely successful business people. The duo have perhaps, borrowed a leaf from Mr. President, who singlehandedly purchased multi billion naira air, sea and road means of transportation for his official use, without requesting or even informing the National Assembly (NASS), which would have, in any way, been only too happy to oblige him. He later did the same undemocratic manipulation by awarding the 15.6 trillion Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway, which traverses seven southern states to the company of his Paris based Lebanese ally (some people whisper FRONT), Mr. Gilbert Chagoury .

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, who is a former Governor, hired six Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), to file a counter case in court to block the many cases challenging the legality of the Lagos to Calabar Costal Highway, and its award without the consent and knowledge of the NASS. 

For a regime that claims to be transparently bereft of the corrupt practices of its predecessors, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) is at the moment enmeshed in controversy following the sudden removal of Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein, the substantive Accountant General, who was reportedly directed to proceed on a premature retirement leave.

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, is alleged to have demanded from the sacked substantive Accountants General, and was therefore shown the gate. But the handpicked Acting Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Shamsudeen Ogunjimi, is said to have agreed to the deal. 

However, apart from exposing the lie in the regime’s vaunted  ‘war against corruption’, which is elevated to a new hight by the president Tinubu regime, the drama has also cast a shadow of doubt over the credibility of the CBN Governor himself. It also gave credence to the allegation made by the rebellious biological daughter of the President, Adetoun Tinubu. She alleged the GBN Governor and another presidential aide were operating in different directions with Mr. President. She claimed that while the president meant to straiten the country, the singular desire of the two appointees was to enrich themselves beyond imagination from the Commonwealth. 

Senator Adamu Aliero, a former Governor of Kebbi State and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accused the government of being corrupt, (internal bleeding) during a presentation in the chamber of the Nigerian Senate, by the various heads of the revenue agencies, all of which are under the ministry of finance.

He asked the Senate President, to the hearing of all the heads, the reasons why Nigeria was borrowing from the world Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), when the revenue generation agencies had claimed to have exceeded their targets, some by up to 20%. And, he also wanted to know what is DONE (probably disappeared in private pockets, including the president’s deep ones) with the excess from N51 trillion said to have been generated, while the government submitted before the NASS, N47.9 trillion budget for 2025, of which 15% is allocated to debt servicing.

The Delta State Governor, Mr. Sheriff Oborevwori, also took exception to the biting economic policies of the Tinubu regime, accusing it, and the ruling APC of putting the nation “deeper into poverty”. 

President Tinubu is rightly the most hated for most, and despised for many, Nigerian leader the country is unblessed with in its history. No day, or moment passes, without one negative comment or another against his person or against his biting economic policies or against the style of his corrupt leadership or against his ministers, or the others of his overzealous aides.

Even in the (UN), a member of the parliament, Mr.  referred to the Tinubu regime as the worst in the history of war against corruption that the Tinubu regime is waging. If he claims not to know or be aware of the suffering in the country, then someone ought to tell him, since the relevant authorities charged with doing just that, are not living up to their responsibility.

May God come to the aid of Nigeria and its citizens, both held in a state capture like a vice grief. 

Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.