By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.
10-4-2025.
I am very good at advising others to ‘read between the lines’, but because I do not often practice what I preach, I find myself caught ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’, (Gaba Kura, Baya Siyaki) many times in the past.
A very bad habit, if there is one, because of its potential to wreak havoc on the life of the giver of the advice. That has been my experience, over the years, which however, only downed on yours sincerely just recently.
Although it is good to be healthy, it is however, not at all a bad thing to have some occasional health challenges. At least one gets the opportunity to know their real and fake relations, consanguineous or worldly (home and away). Moreover, the situation also exposes one to appreciate the sufficiency of little money, even though possessing a certain amount of wealth legitimately is not a bad thing at all.
Not all scammers are of the male variety, many of them are of the fair skinned type. They use their supposed innocence as both charm and armour, so as to be in their element when they ‘strike’. They mostly start with an innocent ‘hello’ before introducing themselves and, after ‘dogon Turanchi’, subtly announce the purpose of their calling. And the purpose of that calling is more often than not, ‘MONEY’. The difference this time is that they are put into it by people who appeared to have had employed all tricks and avenues to get the stuff out of me illegally. Their former modus operandi has been exposed, and were therefore unsuccessful in their attempts to continue swindling me.
I do not know what gives out the impression that I have the stuff in quantum to be able to give it without second thoughts, as happened in the past. Many female would now call, or send WhatsApp messages, or SMS messages requesting that they be given ‘seed money’ to start a business.
If the money is that available to freely splash it elsewhere, the best place to do it is ones own home where, for the responsible parents, there are bills to settle, such as the children’s general feeding (some of them do not take no for an answer), their medical care and school fees, among others. But with faith in God, and the determination to make better of the situation, nothing is impossible.
For most of the leaders however, there is always the public till from which to illegally tip one’s finger to pay for expensive schools abroad or in the country. Some even pay their children’s fees in advance at such schools in the Federal capital, as did by a disgraced former governor when he was in office, at the time his very poor state could not pay teachers their monthly salaries for about one year. And where retirees are alleged to be dying in queues, waiting to be paid non available pensions. What an unfortunate, shameful, sad and avoidable SCAM.
And because of the compromised judiciary in the country, only the corrupt highest bidders receive justice the way they want it, not the way it should be delivered; without ‘fear or favour’. This is why God fearing people distance themselves most of the time from having anything to do with the justice system in the country, if not for the correction of the injustice being perpetrated there.
As we often point out in our articles, some of such non-bribe-taking judges are deliberately not assigned to election tribunal duty because, not only will they refuse to accept bribery, they will also write their own minority reports to expose the nonsense of the ‘technicalities’ used to justify the election case in favour of the highest bidder.
Talking about fair skin reminds me of a ‘white’ skinned serving minister, who, shortly after his swearing in, promised to resign “the moment I am told to lie for the government”. Well, he has remained on his ministerial seat KAMFE for almost two years now, despite the government’s many false starts, falsehoods, and abject failures in serving the citizens of Nigeria. Are we to assume that the citizens are absolutely satisfied with the performance of the present CORRUPT and CLUELESS regime of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a way that it has found it unnecessary to lie to the suffering millions of dissatisfied Nigerias all this long time?
But Nigeria has never had it so bad in its history in terms of poor governance than in the present regime of Tinubu. The country has been thrown into a confusing mess where brothers abandon brothers, relatives reject relatives, friends run away from friends, and acquaintances forged one another's, all because of the terrible situation the present corrupt and inept leadership .
So it is impossible to say that it has not lied to the citizens, to the knowledge of every right thinking person, even for one moment. The fact of his being on the dining table for the National Cake apparently makes the Honourable Minister forget his voluntarily made promise to Nigerians. Even the virtual absence of electricity, despite its ubiquitous usage, in the Northern regiion, is not sufficient for the self serving minister to see the stark failure of the dictatorial regime he serves.
The same minister recently told Nigerians “to ignore Borno state Governor” for warning that the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists have regrouped and are threatening to take over some parts of the state. This is a well known fact, but because the minister is part and parcel of the same lying Tinubu regime, he would prefer to tell lies than tell the TRUTH.
The minister wants to tell the world that there is no monumental lie in the claim by a religious organisation that it was organising a Koranic Festival for 60,000 memorisers in the FCT, without the knowledge of the Tinubu regime? No religious body has the money to voluntarily sponsor such event even for one day, not to talk of days. Even the richest man in the country can not afford to do that. Only the federal government can do that.
The minister may as well be saying that an American (US) member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Scott Perry, was a lier when, not long ago on the floor of the Congress, he accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of founding and funding some terror organisations around the world, pointedly mentioning Boko Haram, Al Qa’ida and Islamic State In Sahel (ISIS), among others.
Boko Haram, Lakurawa, the so called Fulani bandits, were said to have been created by the Western World governments to keep the Northern part of Nigeria perpetually under the control of criminals, through some unpatriotic locals, so as to continue to illegally steal the vast mineral wealth buried under its ground. The ungodly activities of the West allegedly receive the approval and active support of President Tinubu, long believed to be a US agent (SPY). The president also harbours a desire to excite the North from Nigeria. Still, the minister does not see anything wrong with that.
By the way, if the Ministry of Information and National Orientation was a money generating place, it is debatable if any tribe but the corrupt dictator’s, would have been assigned there. But the ministry is given to the region that is DELIBERATELY wired for FAILURE under the regime so as to justify the division of the country into North and South, a move that the president has been subtly eying for most of his political career.
All the Commanding Heights of the Economy ministries are assigned to his tribespeople, who, apart from the fact that there is supposed to be a Federal Character Commission (FCC) in the country, it is a known fact that most of his tribespeople rejected him at 2023, and are even less likely to vote for him in the 2027 Presidential Election.
To date, the bigoted president has appointed 88 people from his tribespeople in the regime (according to his Special Assistant on Media, Sunday Dare), in less than two years of becoming the number one citizen in the country. The Presidency gives him the power to muscle his way and do what he does best with the Commonwealth that is entrusted to him; CONVERT most of its wealth into his own.
If these and more allegations against the president and his divisive and dictatorial regime are not true, then why sponsors many online media groups, and hire some rotten clerics to drum up support for them? That is what a small potion of the taxpayers’s money is used for, while most of the rest is pocketed privately.
Under the watch of President Tinubu, Nigeria may be one the few countries around the world where the president does as he pleases with or without the approval, or even the knowledge of the National Assembly (NASS). The N15.6 trillion ($13 billion) contract for the construction of the Lagos/Calabar Coastal Highway was singlehandedly awarded by President Tinubu, without the say so or even knowledge of the NASS.
Money worship appears to be the new religion in the world, as both leaders and the led happen to be in a mad rush to acquire it at all cost, regardless of its source. Nigeria is no exception to the madness, especially by its RULERS, who are supposed to hold the wealth of the society entrusted to them for the Commonwealth, but unfortunately convert most of it into their own.
Thankfully, God is not only protecting Islam, but making it to become the fastest growing religion in the world today. It is being widely accepted by the most diverse people, including those who believed in acquiring the pleasures of the body for money.
May God prevent us from falling foul of His favours and mercies, which are beyond the bound, fathom and comprehension of the insignificant human mind. May He also enable us to always correctly ‘read between the lines’ for a better understanding of His Commands.
Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.
