Is Tinubu clapping to victory with one hand? Jilli market airstrike, Akpabio’s homily, and Nwifuru’s alleged beast

While the opposition parties are pointing fingers at the ruling party as the cause of their endless internal wrangling, observers are wondering why there seems to be too much attention to the opposition in “disarray.” They wonder, “if the corpse is useless, why struggle over it?”

In Nigeria, the innocent always dies for the wicked and the culprit. The Jilli airstrike on my mind. And Godswill Akpabio proves his vintage self! What a homily!

Imagining 2027 poll without opposition

When in 2015, the then President Goodluck Jonathan said that his ambition did not worth the blood of any Nigerian, he was being a humanist. The person who contested with him in that election and won saw the election as war.

His opponent in that election had allegedly imported mercenaries into the country for a large-scale killing if the election did not go his way. Nigeria is still heavily paying the price of that mindless enterprise in many ways.

When an election is perceived as war instead of a mere selection process or game that demands gentleman spirit, the result is what happened during and after the 2015 election was won by Muhammadu Buhari.

Before the election, chieftains of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had emptied themselves into the then budding All Progressives Congress (APC). Even the then national chairman of the PDP had abandoned Jonathan, working secretly with, and for the APC. So, when the result began to trickle in, Jonathan was not under any illusion that he had lost. He quickly called his opponent to accept defeat even before the formal announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Ahead of the 2027 election, the unfolding scenario is that the sitting president has wooed almost all the state governors to his side. Some of the remaining five can be fittingly described as political “hermaphrodites”.

While they claim to be in the opposition, they are secretly working for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. From the look of things, Tinubu’s view of power and approach to re-election are completely at variance with what Jonathan believed in.

The singsong out there is that President Tinubu knows that every politician has a price tag, and he is really leveraging that to his advantage.

While Jonathan did not bother about what the opposition was planning, and so, did not ride roughshod over the APC, today’s sitting president does not tolerate opposition; he wants to win the election even before the election day. That is why many observers are pointing fingers at him over the intractable crises rocking the major opposition parties that are capable of giving him a run for his money.

The three parties that were expected to field candidates to contest against the sitting president cannot be said to be in a position to do so. They are being dragged forth and back.

What has amazed many observers is the fact that, despite having 31+ governors, the ruling party still appears uncomfortable with the remnants that make up the opposition. The question is, “If the corpse is useless, why struggle over it.”

If this is a political strategy, it is ill-conceived as it goes against the grain of democracy. The world is watching us, and our brothers in the West African sub-region are already covering their faces in shame, on our behalf. At least, we saw John Mahama, Ghanaian president, do that on live television programme the other day.

While speaking at the African Heritage Awards, Mahama said that he “prays” daily for Nigeria’s stability and success. He expressed worries that the high level of insecurity in Nigeria and the poor state of the economy were pushing the citizens into exodus, a situation that impacts negatively on his own country.

Unlike other elections in the past that provided excitement and many side attractions, the 2027 exercise will be drab and lacklustre.

In the past, there used to be debates for candidates organised by various bodies and media organisations; this time around, there may be no need for such as all the candidates are going to be APC.

The presidential debates that used to be heavy and attract a large viewership may not hold this time around.

The media will be worse hit as commercials or advert revenue will come in trickles and activities that could generate news and pageviews will be short in supply, because the main opposition parties are not on the ballot. The popular axiom, “the more the merrier,” would not apply.

Moreover, by the time it is established that the PDP, Labour Party (LP), and the African Democratic Alliance (ADC) will not be on the ballot for the Presidential election, many Nigerians will simply say, “To your tents O Israel.”

Although that may not bother the APC, because there is an anonymous quote that, “it doesn’t matter who you vote for, the government always gets in,” the consequences on the country after the exercise may be telling.

This is because it is always difficult to ride an angry ass (donkey). Those in doubt should read about the experience of Balaam as alluded to on this page last week.

Our dear President Tinubu will be riding an angry donkey of a nation if he is seen to have clapped to electoral victory in 2027, with one hand.

Jilli market airstrike, and Akpabio’s homily!

Why has insecurity become intractable in Nigeria? This has defied efforts by several administrations. It has lasted for over 20 years now. And it seems there is no solution in sight.

In fact, it is worsening by the day. What nation has fought insecurity for 20 years? Just a rag-tag army of insurgents? Low-grade war for 20 years!

There are many theories about what is fueling the upsurge. Some say it is because of too many mining sites in some states (that have become a “fishing trough” for local and foreign “illegal miners” but Godswill Akpabios of this world will tell you it is because of approaching election and the activities of political enemies.

The Senate President had last Tuesday, waxed flippant when he said the insecurity would abate just after the election. But there have been killings and abductions since he mounted the saddle in 2023 as the leader of the National Assembly.

Since he knows too well that it is the politicians who provide the oxygen for the killings and general insecurity, why are they not killing themselves; why must they be killing innocent people in the rural areas? He just dismissed the US recent safety advisory as inconsequential, saying it was to protect their citizens working in their embassy from possible bombs from Iran. Mtcheew!

While we engage in rhetoric and finger-pointing, innocent people are being killed on a daily basis across the country.

A few days ago, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft made a devastating airstrike on Jilli market on the border of the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe.

The unfortunate incident claimed scores of innocent lives. The Military said it was a ‘precision airstrike.’ But how precise was the strike? This can only be tolerated in a country like ours, where life no longer has meaning. A country where one wakes up every day to hear and read about bloodshed and deaths.

The government itself has grown weary of issuing condolence messages. Even if one thousand people are killed today, it does not move anybody. The International community is tired of condoling Nigeria. These days, no country sympathises or empathises with Nigeria, because for them, there is nothing you cannot hear from the most populous black nation!

This is not good for the image of Nigeria. But the most worrisome of it all is that it has become a new normal.

Pray, why on earth would a busy market be struck just to take away a few insurgents? Where is the technology that pinpoints bad elements in the midst of a crowd, which is being used in warfare these days to take out evil elements? If it was a “precision airstrike” as claimed, why were innocent people killed? What is happening to Nigeria?

Nigerians were told the reason the Sambisa Forest (the hiding fortress for Boko Haram insurgents) has not been bombed over the years was because government would not want innocent people to be killed. What has changed?

Was the bombing of Jilli market out of desperation, just to prove to doubting Thomases that the military is at work? Kai!

Nwifuru’s beast sets social media on fire

The social media was awash the other day with a post by one UncleSilas Media about the alleged BMW Bulletproof car that was allegedly worth N800million acquired by Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State.

The post claimed that there were two individuals in Nigeria who had such a beast! It mentioned the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and then Nwifuru.

But when Yours Sincerely probed further, a source in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, said that the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, also has the same car, but that both came as a gift.

“The governor has been using the car within the state until he travelled to Enugu for the recently held APC zonal convention with the car, and social media users started writing about it. It is not a new car.

“The governor may have bought it; I don’t know, but in the whole of South East, it is only him and David Umahi that have that particular BMW. Well, Nwifuru was already rich before he became the state governor,” the source said.

It is important to point out that flaunting such a luxury in a state, many indigenes of which are grappling with severe poverty and deprivation, smacks of insensitivity.

When recently Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), rolled out his Rolls-Royce during an official outing in Abuja, he was sufficiently tongue-lashed. Even the Presidency did not clap for him.

Nigerians are scandalised to see political actors without any verifiable business or factory brandish wealth in a country that is frequently cited in global reports regarding several negative socio-economic and governance metrics.

Confucius, Chinese philosopher (551 BC – 479 BC), said: “In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”

This famous quote implies that in a well-managed society, opportunities are abundant, making poverty a result of personal failure or laziness. Conversely, it suggests that in a dysfunctional or corrupt state, wealth is shameful because it results from exploiting a broken system.

The Commissioner for Information promised to furnish BusinessDay with the true story. Watch out for it in a more elaborate NEWS REPORT.

But don’t go away until you read this- our source in Abakaliki tried to play down the seriousness of the matter, saying: “Those critics want my governor to drive Keke so that they will call us backwards people. God forbid.” Can you beat that!