26-12-2024.

Christmas 2024 will forever be remembered as the day of hen most Nigerians would rather not remember. It was a day that came with many minuses for compatriots, including the exponential increase in the cost of making calls and purchase of data in Nigeria. Telephone calls and data are increased by a whopping 40%.

With yet another tariff hike, it means life for the ordinary citizen will be twice as hard as it is now, and that they should brace up for a bumpy ride in 2025, from the ‘smooth’ drive ‘enjoyed’ by all under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regime in  2024.

From January 1st of 2025, use of the telephone in Nigeria would be reduced among the not so rich in the country, because the National Communication Commission (NCC) has been directed to give in to the demand of the telecom operators, and increase the telephone rates for calls and data in the nation.

This means, only the usual suspects can afford to use the phone all the time. In fact, they could still afford it even if it were to be added tenfold. The increased money for the telecom companies would translate into additional tax for the federal government, most of which would end up in private accounts, courtesy of the overwhelming corruption that is rampant in the country, with most of what is left going to Lagos and Ogun states, under the yet to be forced on the country tax reform that is before the National Assembly (NAS).

This explains the Presidency’s desperation to have the bill passed into law by the NASS, so as to fleece a part of it, and make the Southern part of the country financially much more stronger than the North with the rest of it. The Northern part of the country is considered by the president and his southern leaches as ‘excess luggage’ in the country.

The same President Tinubu, who when he was just ordinary Tinubu, would run to the public to lead and speak against any government policy he and his crowd of cheerleaders perceived as not in the interests of the citizens, is today leading Nigeria into oblivion due to the nonstop hostile regime of economic policies he constantly forces on the country. This he did so many times during the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

However, the President Tinubu’s co travellers during those infamous campaigns, are no where to be found. Such people, who parade themselves as ‘activists’, include a garrulous International awardee, a holier-than-though lawyer, and a religious politician. They are very loudly heard in the country by their deafening SILENCE, at the time when their ‘activism’ would come handy in a burning Nigeria. Perhaps the trio opted to be silent because it is now EMILOKAN.

If the conspiratorial silence of the three is not enough to convince all genuine compatriots that EMILOKAN is real, then nothing will. After all, the two of the trio are supposed to be poles apart from one another in their religious beliefs. While one is an old confused and confessed atheist, the other is a so called man of God/politician, who at some time wanted to become the number two citizen in the country.

There is therefore no better time to join the fight for a better Nigeria than than NOW, to oust the dictator at the Presidential Villa, unless one is with him for reasons far removed from the advancement of the interests of the nation. There are a known few who would have no hiding place in the country when the CORRUPT contraption at the centre comes crashing down (and surely it WILL, by the Grace of God).

It is in the plans of the Tinubu regime to excise one of the regions out of the union called ‘Nigeria’, that he appointed one of its virulent haters as a minister in charge of an all important and encompassing ministry, which works all over the country. But under this minister, who was a former state governor, he visits the North only to campaign for the president’s reelection bid in 2027, otherwise his businesses with the region are always to CANCEL whatever projects under his ministry that he believes would be beneficial to area.

Dr. Garus Golobo has proven himself to be a real patriot and fearless member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who has consistently stood up against corruption, dictatorship and injustice in Nigeria. The country needs more of his type, whose consistent fight against injustice in the country is not a partisan-based politics.

Meanwhile, Nigerians would not have worried much about the increase in the phone tariff, if there was the money available in their pockets to pay for the extra. They would also ‘grin and bear’ the increase, if the tax to be made on it by the government would be used for the benefit of all. Unfortunately, most of the money would be lost to corruption.

It is government’s cunning way of minimising the sharing of people’s increasing complaints about the harsh conditions in Nigeria. The country has now become a society where only the fittest survives. It is akin to George Orwell’s  ‘Animal Farm’, where the leaders have the best of everything to themselves, with no consideration for the rest of the poor citizens.

The increase also tells why the president wants to INSTALL the First Son as the next ruler of Lagos state, so that the unrestrained pilfering of the Commonwealth would continue within the family, which, by the way, appears insatiable for illegal wealth. Led by its head, the family would do anything for money, including selling the country to its enemies.

No wonder that not very long ago there was a warning by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode A. Egbetokun, that the federal government would start monitoring and closing social media platforms to stop the constant spread of complaints against the policies of the present regime.

It is instructive to know that the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani is from the same tribe with, and one of the, president’s ‘boys’. The cost of telecom’s upward review in Nigeria is therefore not surprising.

The wanton brazen and rampant abuse of the Commonwealth under the watch of President Tinubu is legendary. It is unfortunately the subject of regular negative commentaries and discussions locally and internationally. Locally, the extreme corruption, poverty and hunger are now discussed openly by leading traditional rulers and religious figures in the country.

The Military leader of Niger Republic, General AbdouRahmane Tchani, challenged President Tinubu, in a Radio interview, to tell the world how Much France PAID him to sell Nigeria for them to occupy a part of the nation. The fact of their obscene corruption does not appear to be of any bother to the president and his chosen fellow co travellers.

At over 75 years old, it beats one’s imagination what Tinubu plans to do with all the money he is corruptly accumulating. Many things are clearly certain; no matter how much he helps himself from the Commonwealth, he cannot be as rich as Elon Musk (reported to be worth about $350 billion (US) at the moment), nor is he going to the grave with the loot, when he eventually kicks the bucket, which he will surely do even if he lives to be 1000 years old.

May God relieve the country of rulers who would use the Commonwealth like their personal inheritance, while the actual owners die of starvation and poverty, under the watchful eyes (perhaps encouragement, too) of the president of the country who would rather die with an illegally accumulated amount running into untold billions of dollars. Allah Ka ba Nigeria shugabanni masu tsoron Ka.

Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.