Tinubu dey carry us go where we no know!

“Help me, help me. He dey carry me go where I no know.” Those were the very pathetic words of a police woman who was seen in a video that went viral and she was actually calling out for her rescue from the hand of her captor in whose car she jumped into apparently because the driver may have beaten a traffic light.

The said driver was driving her to an unknown destination and she had to cry for help.

It was not so glaring where this incident recorded on video by the driver took place, however that poetic scream for help by the distressed uniformed police woman became sensational and indeed many musicians have adapted it into their songs. Millions of Nigerians have also accepted it as a common denunciation of an action that is not utilitarian.

For instance, Asake reportedly used it in his song ‘peace be unto you,’ whilst a well known disc Jockey ‘DJ Yk’, also adapted the words of that aforementioned Police lady spoken in Pidgin English, in making a mix tape.

Also at the weekend, the world of statistics released a list of most spoken languages World wide in which English was ranked as the most spoken language World wide by over a billion speakers.

Interestingly, Nigerian Pidgin English ranked as number 50 out of the 100 sampled World’s most spoken languages.

This statistical popularity score of Nigerian Pidgin is therefore my poetic licence that authorizes me to articulate this piece in the aforementioned title couched in Nigerian Pidgin English.

No doubt, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu sworn-in on may 29th 2023 after a highly disputed Presidential Poll this first quarter of the year, is surely carrying us the people of Nigeria ‘to where we no know’.

The first sign that there is ‘fire on the mountain’, was the off the cuff statement the president made that ‘subsidy is gone,’ whilst reading a prepared inaugural speech.

Those few words made about fuel subsidy which was not part of the written speech the President read, sparked off what can be called organised chaos even as petrol dealers all across Nigeria shut their doors to motorists and sold the product at exorbitant costs in the black market for about two weeks before the slumbering Nigerian National Petroleum company limited reeled out what it calls the new price regime for fuel.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as said issued a fresh circular to oil marketers on how much they will pay to get petroleum products.

This came about two weeks after the Federal Government announced the removal of fuel subsidy.

NNPCL Retail, in a circular released about that time aforementioned abd publicised in the media, directed marketers to consider merging their old orders which carry the old fuel price in order to buy a truck of 45 million litres of petrol. It was gathered that marketers had before the deregulation ordered one truck of petrol for about N7.7m.

However, the new circular by the company advised marketers who had probably ordered three trucks at N7.5m (N171/litre old price), to merge their orders or ask for a refund.

That statement goes thus: “Following the full deregulation of PMS, NNPC Retail has made the following options available to help customers manage the impact of the additional cash flow requirement: Marketers now have the option of consolidating pre-paid self-owned tickets for fresh tickets in line with the revised price. Interested marketers can engage their respective NRL Depot Representative for guidance on how to initiate this option.

“Also, there is an option for cash refund. Marketers who are interested in initiating this option should send in official request addressed to the MD NNPC Retail. The request should include evidence of payment and order details (RRR number, Sales quotation number and Meter ticket number). Upon receipt of official request together with the above supporting documents, your refund request will be made processed,” the memo from NNPCL Retail read in part.

The Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, confirmed the development. He however said it might be difficult for some marketers to raise such huge funds required to place an order for petroleum products.

“Where do you want us to get such money from?” Osatuy asked.

“The price difference is huge and most can’t afford it. So what we will start seeing is that instead of ordering for one truck, marketers can now go for maybe a quarter or half truck just like it’s being done for diesel,” he said.

“Since NNPC said we consume 66 million litres daily, we are sure that it would drop to as low as 30 million litres soon,” Osatuyi said, corroborating what a former Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, and Chief Executive Officer, 11 Plc, Tunji Oyebanji, had told The PUNCH last week. NNPCL also hiked the pump price of fuel. But Oyebanji also said an increase in fuel price by the NNPCL would see smaller downstream companies folding up, and being acquired by bigger companies

“Removing petrol subsidies is one of the best decisions Nigeria would ever make because smuggling would stop. This is the time we will know the real petrol consumption of Nigeria, likewise, many smaller stations will fold up and would get acquired by bigger ones” Oyabanji said.

Another confusion orchestrated by the new President is his imposition of a single exchange rate for Nigeria.

At the direction of the President, the CBN abolished its hitherto multiple exchange rate windows and collapsed them into the business based investors and exporters (I and E) window. The immediate consequence of this pronouncement of devaluation of Naira is that on June 17th 2023, Nigeria’s currency hit a record high N791/&1 USD. A pound sterling is over a thousand Naira.

This happened only a week after Tinubu, using the Department of State Services, arrested the CBN governor.

Curiously, after nearly a month in detention, it has emerged that Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been charged for possession of fire arms and ammunition. This ridiculous charge is at variant with the earlier allegations of sponsorship of terrorism made against him by DSS.

As if these cocktails of confusion are not enough, Tinubu who cancelled fuel subsidy because he claims that a lot of money is wasted, then went on to announce that he has saved N400 billion from the withheld fuel subsidy.

On the same day he announced that he will spend N500 billion as palliatives to cushion the pains of withdrawal of subsidy on petrol. This does not make any logical sense. Why do you suspend a policy, then saved N400 billion but you are distributing N500 billion to cushion the effects? Someone said it’s like selling a dog to buy a monkey.

This writer thinks this is just like robbing Peter to pay Paul when we even consider that the parliamentarians in Abuja will pocket N110 Billion allowances which are not approved legally.

We will return to this illegality. First let us dwell on the fact that the Federal Government is basking in the euphoria of saving over N400 billion since it scrapped the fuel subsidy regime, but has injected more cash for palliatives.

Surely, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu dey carry us go where we no know!

Funny enough, the Tinubu administration said that it would transfer N8,000 to 12 million poor and vulnerable households for six months to absorb the economic shocks triggered by fuel subsidy removal. Is this N8k for Agbado, ewedu or for what?

This so-called palliatives would be funded from an anticipated $800 million World Bank loan designed for the national social safety net programme.

According to the analysts, the phrase “vulnerable Nigerians” has become a cliché used by dubious government officials to siphon intervention funds under a wonky Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) template.

They argued that CCTs have never been a potent solution to addressing social needs of the masses, as over 133 million Nigerians (60 percent of the population) sank into multi-dimensional poverty in 2022, despite billions of naira reportedly spent on various CCT programmes by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The truth is that anger has continued to trail the decision by the National Assembly to earmark N70bn for its members out of the N819bn federal supplementary budget passed by the legislature last week.

The lawmakers had said the N70bn was earmarked to support “the working conditions of National Assembly members.”

But many Nigerians have described the N70bn budgetary allocation for lawmakers as insensitive while the majority of Nigerians are grappling with economic hardship heightened by the removal of fuel subsidy.

In a statement on Sunday, an advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project urged the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, “to drop the scandalous plan to spend N40bn on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials, and N70bn as ‘palliatives’ for new members.”

Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in a statement on Sunday, said, “Out of sheer insensitivity coupled with impunity, the members of the National Assembly, regardless of political affiliation, conspired to breach the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by padding the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2023 to provide the so-called palliative of N70bn for 306 newly-elected members.

“While the masses of Nigeria are groaning under the excruciating economic pains unleashed on them by the ruling class, the National Assembly has awarded N228.7m to each of the newly elected legislators. As if that is not enough, the members of the National Assembly have earmarked N40bn to purchase 465 Sports Utility Vehicles and bulletproof cars for principal officials and members. However, the legislators approved the sum of N500bn for 12 million indigent people in a country where the National Bureau of Statistics has said that ‘62.9 percent of people (133 million) are multidimensionally poor’.”

So where exactly is Tinubu taking Nigerians to? I ask this because the same President who had admonished his political rivals that disputed the credibility of the poll in which INEC returned him as winner to go to court, the same Tinubu is threatening fire and brimstone if his victory is annuled by the Court. That is if my reading of the written address by Wole Olanipekun SAN, is correct.

In that written address to the ekection Tribunal, President Bola Tinubu had warned that nullifying the February 25 election that produced him as president, on account of the fact that he did not score 25% of the lawful votes cast during the election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) could “lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.

Besides, Tinubu told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PREPEC) that the two petitions filed by candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi and his counterpart of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, seeking the nullification of his victory at the February 25, presidential election are not only novel but not familiar with the country’s electoral laws.

Tinubu’s submissions were contained in his final written address against the two petitions pending at the PREPEC.

The five-member panel had on July 5, given the respondents in the two separate petitions 10 days to file their written address, while the petitioners were given seven days to reply.

The panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani gave the order shortly after, Tinubu, Shettima and the All Progressive Congress (APC) closed their defence in the two petitions as it would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission had closed its case a day earlier.

I repeat my earlier statement that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu dey carry us go where we no know and this is dangerous if this development is not sufficiently arrested.8

*EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.