It’s all done and dusted and today, May 29, 2023, stands out as a day with a difference, for reasons that are numerous. However, because of time and space, I can not deeply underpin the significance of the day, except to buttress one aspect that puts it beyond the conventional democracy day. In doing that, I would bring forward the bizarre behaviour of Nigeria’s brand new President, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the 16th sworn in President of the country.
Author: Editor
It was Sir Hubert Henderson, the British economist and Liberal Party politician that said, there is a merit in being unimportant, which he paraphrased in a book under the caption, “The Importance of Being Unimportant.” Sir Henderson expressed the idea that, under the right conditions, it is desirable to be a very small part of something big. One needs not be an expert in English language to understand that Sir Henderson was talking about the goodness or distinction of modesty, particularly with respect to the righteousness of rectitude and the enviable quality of being moderate in behaviour. And precisely that is the quality that I think is missing in the displayed attitude of the now suspended Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Chief, Godwin Emefiele.
In 2020, one of the reputable national newspapers in Nigeria in its editorial comment among other observations noted that Nigeria would be facing another round of fiscal headwinds this year with the mix of $83 billion debt; rising recurrent expenditure; increased cost of debt servicing; sustained fall in revenue; and about $22 billion debt plan waiting for legislative approval.
#ASHENEWS This was first published on July 26, 2021 after the Eid-el-Kabir of that year. I find it still relevant and important, with a little tinkering in dates to come now.
It is no longer news that some of the first-term governors-elect will face many months of unpaid workers’ salaries and mounting pension liabilities, as well as agitation for the implementation of the nationally agreed minimum wage, rising inflation, escalating prices of goods and services, and dwindling purchasing power. These incoming governors, about seventeen of them, according to reports will have a difficult time boosting the economies of their individual states because they will take over at least N2.1 trillion in domestic debt and $1.9 billion in foreign debt from their predecessors.
The emergence of the member representing Hong Constituency in the Adamawa House of Assembly (ADHA), Bathiya Wesley, as the Speaker was more of a God-given and divine arrangement.
After an unexpectedly sluggish start (it took him longer than usual to appoint his spokesperson, which conduced to the luxuriant flowering of avoidable rumors and disinformation), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is finally decisively stamping his authority on the Nigerian political space with a frenetic blizzard of appointments and disengagements of the personnel of government.
One week after his suspension and subsequent arrest, Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), remains in custody. This does not speak well.
The end to wobbling efforts in checkmating security challenges in the country was manifested this Monday when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sacked former security chiefs and replaced them with persons believed to possess the capacity and determination to tackle the monsters of insurgency that have turned life into a nightmare for many ordinary citizens.
Now that there is a new government, my bet is that Nigerians would be asking themselves the question of whether there would be a new cabal in power and its possible composition. This is because there is a passionate and widespread belief that for each regime, there is a powerful informal group outside the government that pulls the strings acting as puppet master. Such groups are usually known as cabals. The most famous cabal in Nigerian political narratives is the “Kaduna Mafia”, which was said to have been the power behind the throne under military rule.