Politics
(OPINION) Buhari’s Squandered Goodwill: Atiku Abubakar To The Rescue? -Wole Adejumo
Three and a half years and as the Muhammadu Buhari administration winds up, the Federal Government has made everything Nigerians complained about in the Goodluck Jonathan era look like a side show. No one ever thought Nigeria would find herself in such a situation, not with the many electoral promises.
The last three years have shown that most of those who voted for Buhari are no longer pleased with him. He has found himself in a situation similar to the one Goodluck Jonathan found himself shortly before the 2015 presidential election. Almost everything Dr. Jonathan did then was seen as insipid; simply lacking flavor. And when Nigerians decided his fate, it was a sentence without appeal.
It has however become clear that the man brought to replace the immediate past President might not have been the right one after all. The fact that President Buhari aspired for office for 12 years before eventually becoming President didn’t mean he was prepared for the office. He couldn’t just translate the long wait into action. For months, activities were almost at a standstill, no thanks to the President’s refusal to appoint people to oversee the various Federal Ministries. In the President’s opinion, the Ministers were “noisemakers”.
Not a few Nigerians saw President Buhari as a man of distinction before the 2015 elections. Mai Gaskiya (the honest one) was seen as the solution to Nigeria’s problems. That has however changed now as people now believe that being transparent is one thing, for people around the leader to be upright is another. The famous quote, “I belong to nobody” went a long way in raising the hopes of millions of Nigerians when Buhari was sworn in. But three years down the line, it became clear that Mr. President indeed belonged to some people.
The much anticipated anti-corruption crusade has proved to be more or less a moral disaster. Right under the President’s nose, grass in the Internally Displaced Persons’ camp was cut for hundreds of millions. And when the culprit was asked to step down by the Presidency, he had the effrontery to ask reporters “who is the Presidency?” That was enough to tell the people that something was disturbingly wrong in the seat of power.
The Buhari Nigeria presently has as President is far different from the Buhari those who were around in 1983 knew. He was known to be a man full of high principle. Some of those who supported him however had cause to change their minds when he posited that General Sani Abacha might not be corrupt. The question they could not ask publicly was ‘where did all the loot being repatriated by foreign governments come from?’
One wonders why people still complain despite the achievements the government reels out in the media almost on a daily basis. The truth is that the achievements do not translate into what the ordinary people can see or lay hold on.
What Nigeria needs is a blend of experience, of age matched with vigour. At the beginning, the President tried exhibiting both but it was only a matter of time before it became crystal clear that some of the things he promised would not happen. A cabal of “hyenas and wolves” soon rose and they have been taking full advantage of the situation. Some would even aver that the cabal has successfully wrested power from the President.
Sadly, those who should offer advice seem to have become part of the problem as the country’s leadership became the butt of jokes. One major undoing was that under a living President, dead people were penciled down for appointments.
The blame game too went on for too long. Rather than facing the job of charting a new course for the country, which he signed up for, the President started a portrait of tragedy in trying to paint the immediate past administration in bad light. While the portrait remains uncompleted, the job has largely remained undone.
Till today, the “technically defeated” Boko Haram still sacks villages; they still kill soldiers and take Nigerians and foreigners hostage. Nigerians have now realized that the Buhari we were proud of during the Nigeria-Chad border crisis of the 1980s has lost the vigour he was known for.
The Shiite matter is also another ember of trouble being gradually fanned into a big flame. It is starting almost the same way the Boko Haram crisis started two administrations ago. Between then and now, the sect metamorphosed into a full blown terrorist organization.
The Naira still stands at about 360 to one American dollar while food has become largely unaffordable.
With the 2019 presidential race reaching the final lap, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is about the only man that can give President Muhammadu Buhari a good run. He is not a stranger in Nigeria’s political circles, having served as Vice President for eight years.
Apart from being an astute businessman, Atiku, the Wazirin Adamawa recorded a number of feats while in office. He oversaw the revolution of the telecoms sector which paid off with the addition of about 500,000 direct jobs into the Nigerian economy. And outside office, he is about the biggest private employer of labour in Adamawa, his home state. Incidentally, more than half of his 50,000 employees are youths.
He single-handedly brought in young people in their 30s and 40s to become Ministers, some of them later did well as Governors of their respective states. To show that leadership truly matters, the woman Atiku brought in from the World Bank was the star minister in the Obasanjo-Atiku years, only for things to change when she served with another government.
Atiku also oversaw the privatization of many public enterprises that consumed government resources without yielding profit.
In the years Atiku served as Vice President, Nigeria’s territorial integrity was preserved. Internal and external aggression got curbed as appropriate. In one of the meetings with South South leaders that time, President Obasanjo made jest of militants, asking them “which kind militants you be wey you dey run when soldier man come?”
As a man who has seen it all in the business sector, which he can effectively combine with the experience of being a two-term Vice President, Atiku stands a bright chance of becoming Nigeria’s next president. He is first a businessman before being a politician; he believes in human and capital development, which he describes as “the effort to increase the productive capacity of a society, improve the people’s well-being and expand the frontiers of freedom, while protecting the ecosystem for current and future generations”. With the elections a few months away, Atiku has already cut the image of the infinite precious leader Nigerians have been waiting for. The name Atiku Abubakar is already echoing in the political firmament.
Not someone that showed his interest overnight, the man Atiku has done his assignments and he is in the best position as he not only understands the Nigerian problems but is poised as the man that has the solution.
The message is clear for all to see, and his ambition is clearly giving nightmares to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress which has gone out guns blazing to try and cut him down based on the knowledge that he is a formidable candidate, a strong wind that is shaking the political structures of the nation.
Among the teeming Nigerian youths, he is the hope, with the aged, Wazirin Adamawa is a choice and as they say…’time will surely tell’ as Nigerians have less than four months to decide.
Wole Adejumo is a journalist and publisher of Theanchoronline.com.ng
Business
“AMCON MD In Trouble Over Keystone Bank Acquisition By Father In-law”, Isa Funtua
Why Bank Customers Are Making Panic Withdrawals…
Following the controversy generated by the leading opposition party, the People’s Democratic party, PDP, over the alleged acquisition of Keystone bank and Etisalat by Alhaji Isa Funtua and the CEO of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered probe into the alleged fraud.
A highly placed source at the headquarters of the Economic and financial crimes Commission, EFCC yesterday told daybreak that the President was thoroughly embarrassed with the allegations linking him to the transactions.
According to the source, a discrete panel will be set up soon comprising of the Chairman of the EFCC, representative of the DSS, ICPC, federal ministry of Justice to look into the allegations.
The source further added that, both Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, the governor of the central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Chief Godwin Emefiele and management Staff of the Keystone Bank and 9Mobile will be quizzed by the operatives of the EFCC for some interactions.
Recently, a mindboggling scandal broke out to public knowledge about how Keystone Bank and 9Mobile were acquired in controversial circumstances by the business interests of one Alhaji Isa Funtua, a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari, via the instrumentality of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
The PDP challenged the federal government to come out clean on what could be a serious dent on its anti-corruption stance, there is indeed no smoke without fire.
The leading opposition party also confirmed fact that the son-in-law of Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, is the current CEO of AMCON.
Before him, the previous CEO, Chike Obi, was a first-class gentleman and technocrat who was strangely removed from office before the expiration of his term and was replaced with Kuru, the son-in-law of Isa Funtua.
Now, let us get into the insider details of how Funtua bought Keystone Bank and 9Mobile in the most bizarre of dealings that circumvent the laws of the land. Keystone Bank was sold by the current CEO of AMCON to his father-in-law, Funtua, without any AMCON Board’s approval and with the active connivance of CBN and NDIC at a grossly undervalued price of 25 Billion Naira. To put things in context, let us recall that Enterprise Bank was sold for over 60 Billion Naira and Mainstreet Bank was sold for over 100 Billion Naira under the former CEO of AMCON.
Before the sale of Keystone Bank to Isa Funtua, all bad debts in the books of the Bank were taken over by AMCON. So, it was a clean Bank with all the Assets and no Liabilities that was sold to the Buyers.
The Executive Management of AMCON was coerced into approving the transaction and those who were willing to submit a much higher bid were disqualified under a most opaque, suspicious process that lacks all transparency. The process was just manipulated in favour of the father-in-law of the AMCON CEO.
The Corrupt Payment for Keystone Bank The most disgusting part of the entire sale of Keystone Bank is how the 25 Billion Naira sales price was paid to AMCON.
The Isa Funtua Team paid 5 Billion Naira to AMCON, and then the balance of 20 Billion Naira was later paid through the most criminal and corrupt approach ever perpetrated by AMCON in favour of the Buyer. What happened was that AMCON moved 20 Billion Naira of their own funds as a fixed deposit at GTBank to Heritage Bank. Heritage Bank then paid the 20 Billion Naira on behalf of the Funtua Group to AMCON. In other words, AMCON used their own funds as a collateral for a loan to the Funtua Group for 20 Billion Naira!
When the Funtua Group took over Keystone Bank, they went borrowing immediately at the Interbank Market for 20 Billion Naira to refund AMCON’s funds. This has left a hole in Keystone Bank’s Balance Sheet and makes the Bank one of the most undercapitalized Banks in the Country as at today. The evidence of this highly compromised acquisition process can be obtained from the current and former staff of AMCON, from NDIC, CBN and from the current staff of Keystone Bank itself.
Another suspicious acquisition scandal surrounding the Funtua Group is about the untidy way 9-Mobile, formerly known as Etisalat, was bought. It is Mr. Adrian Wood of Teleology Holdings, a very sound telecoms professional, who collaborated with the Funtua Group for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.
The problem with their bid was the lack of a qualified Operator to support the bid which was one of the minimum conditions of NCC. Adrian Wood alone was not a substitute for an Operator.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) gave several conditions that must be met by the Ultimate Buyer of 9-Mobile to ensure the protection of shareholders value, prevent loss of jobs, protect the telecoms industry from slipping into a crisis and ensure transparency and professionalism in the post-acquisition entity.
The conditions listed by NCC that must be met by the Buyer are Strong Telecoms Operating Experience, Strong Financial Capabilities, Strong Technical Knowledge and Strong Administrative Skills.
The first thing that happened once Teleology was announced as the preferred winner was that the Funtua Group edged Adrian Woods out of Management and turned him to an Insignificant Shareholder.
The second development was that the Funtua Group raided Keystone Bank again and forced the Bank to Pay 50 million Dollars as down payment for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.
The third issue was that Teleology Nigeria replaced Teleology Holdings to remove any influence of Adrian Woods from 9-Mobile totally. The fourth step taken the Funtua Group was to borrow 260 Million Dollars from African Exim Bank.
The fifth thing was to coerce NCC to approve the sale at all cost without meeting 90% of the conditions set up ab-initio by the NCC.
The sixth strange action of the Funtua Group was to force the board of NCC to approve the sale through the influence and pressure from the Presidency. And the seventh Funtua infraction was to use the influence of CBN to force the Banks to the table and waive their own conditions of sale of 9-Mobile to the Teleology Nigeria group.
Efforts to reach the acting Head media and publicity of Economic and financial crimes Commission,EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade to confirmed the latest developments proved abortive as his lines were not connecting.
Source; The Capital
News
‘Seye Will Return To Ilesa’! The Interview That Lands Lamidi Auxilliary In Trouble
To the dethroned Oyo State Park Management System boss, Lamidi Auxilliary, it was like a bad dream when he was paraded by the police and charged to court recently.
Papermacheonline can reveal that the accused, a former aide of Governor Seyi Makinde landed himself in trouble after granting an interview where he threatened another top aide of the governor, Seye Famojuro and promised to reveal more in another interview.
Just some hours after the interview, Auxilliary was arrested by the DSS in his home at Olodo, Ibadan before he was later paraded and charged to court for murder, armed robbery and illegal arms posession.
A source hinted papermacheonline that Auxilliary’s threat to reveal more was like a death knell, explaining that he was the head of Governor Makinde’s ‘protection team’ and his decision to start granting interviews on radio is unacceptable. Again, the person he threatened, Seye Famojuro is the closest person to Governor Makinde.
The source furthermore explained ‘are you aware he just left the UCH some months ago? He was hit and injured by a car when he went to buy drugs, he almost died! So, we all wondered how he could get so silly and start granting interviews. He is just an illiterate and there are so many evidence against him’. The source revealed.
In the interview he granted to Media personnel, Ajibola Akinyefa, in the Yoruba Language, the former PMS chairman said, “If he (Famojuro) is the governor or Seyi Makinde is, we will know. It is just a matter of time. Everybody will face the consequences of their actions. The people he chose to manage the park are cheating themselves.
hen asked if it was his hooliganism that led to his removal, Auxiliary queried how many people reported that he beat them to the police.
He further said that Seye would still return to Ijesha because Ibadan is not his homeland.
News
From Boardroom To Politics, Ex-First Bank Boss Eyes Oyo Governor’s Seat
Adesola Adeduntan, the erstwhile Managing Director of First Bank has been named as one of the would-be successors of the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde come 2027.
The banker who was allegedly eased out of banking for some undisclosed misdemeanors is claimed to have began consultations as he charts a new path in politics.
Sources hinted that Adeduntan had been interested in an elective position but his participation was measured because of his banking career. But now, the coast is clear and he is already aligning himself with some stakeholders ahead of 2027.
A list of names including Ilaji boss, Dotun Sanusi, Taofeek Arapaja, Stanley Olajide and many more has features as interested minds gunning for the number one seat in Oyo, a list Adeduntan has recently joined.
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