The clamour for an alternative to the APC and PDP has led to
movements like the Red Card and 3rd Force to name a few but
realistically,no movement can gather momentum enough to make a
significant impact next year.Thus,the PDP still remains nigerians’
best hope of ousting the APC government next year.It has an
existing structure with guaranteed bloc votes from 2 regions of
roughly 18 million registered voters. The shabby handling of the
affairs of the APC; prominent among them party disputes,is largely
attributable to the fact that it was a helter-skelter arrangement
put in place simply to kick out the PDP. Structuring the party to
cater for the many big egos and divergent interests; was never in
contemplation and now that it has accomplished its sole goal,the
chickens are coming home to roost. The PDP officially kicked off
its electioneering campaign on the 26th of March at the Abuja
Transcorp Hilton and its quite shameful that of all the things said
by Prince Uche Secondus,the national party chairman,the APC gang
has chosen to focus more on the apology he issued on behalf of his
party than tackle the issues raised against their government.I
highlight 5 of those crucial issues. 1.THE APC BORROWING N11TRN
IN JUST 3 YEARS This really should have had people buzzing the
most.The PDP; bad as they may be,borrowed N6trn in 16 years and had
projects to show for it.The APC on the other hand has borrowed
N11trn in less than 3 years.What exactly have they used that money
for?.We have seen Buhari earmark unprecedently high sums for
capital expenditure.If they restricted themselves to completing the
unfinished projects of the Jonathan administration like they made
us believe at some point,then they ought to have made even more
impact than we anticipated.It is quite sad that the APC has
serially defended its incompetence by chastising the PDP and my
prayer is that the future of our country is not tied to the
repayment of huge loans incurred as a result of this government’s
ineptitude 2.THE BOKO HARAM LIE Though it is
really hard to tell if the herdsmen are an extension of the boko
haram sect or not,Secondus was right about the Buhari government
lying to its people about decimating the sect.Nothing could be
farther from the truth.Boko haram has brought this administration
to its knees and through the payment of multi million euro
ransoms,the nigerian government have become its main sponsors. When
last did we go through a whole week without the fulani herdsmen
killing innocent nigerians?.This administration has failed in its
paramount duty which is safeguarding the life and properties of its
citizens. 3.INCOMPETENCE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVALUATION OF
THE NAIRA The devaluation has been attributed to the fall in
oil prices.Before Jonathan left office, oil sold for less
than $50 and we even witnessed a N10 drop in fuel price
to N87 per litre.Yet the exchange rate was N199 to $1.What i’m
driving at is quite simple-they managed the plunge in oil prices
much better than Buhari and the APC has That the free fall of the
naira was more down to Buhari’s incompetence was confirmed by none
other than the Vice-President himself,Prof.Yomi Osinbajo.Buhari’s
medical trip afforded him a clear opportunity to implement the
resolutions of the National Economic Council which he headed.The
sum of $250M was injected into the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) and
the Central bank was advised to adjust its forex policy.The CBN did
and released $371M into the inter-bank market.Barely 48 hours
later, the naira had fallen from N510 to a dollar to N400.A couple
more moves and it fell further. Word in some quarters was that he
was ready to do more but despite describing the success as a ‘team
effort’,key members of the cabal felt intimidated by his soaring
popularity and had the President pull the brakes on his policy.
What this proves is that despite what Buhari and his gang may want
us to believe,the falling value of the naira could be better
handled if Nigeria was in the right hands.The previous government
had some of the best economic minds Nigeria had to offer on
board.Buhari on the other hand doesn’t even think it needful to
appoint an Economic adviser. 4.A NATION DIVIDED
UNDER ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS FAULT LINES Virtually
every secessionist agenda tells a story of a suppressed and
deprived people seeking to put an end to the status quo.The fact
still remains that President Buhari justified every agitation for a
separate state with the 97%-5% declaration.He said those who didn’t
vote en masse for him shouldn’t be expected to be treated as well
as those who didn’t.True to his words,he made more than 30 straight
non-ministerial appointments without any south-easterner among
them.Even the south west which seemed less bothered about its own
state kickstarted its own agitation just incase they were asked to
quit the north like the ibos at some point. And like we all
know,while Nnamdi Kanu was having to fight off the army for
violating his bail conditions,the Arewa youths walked
scot-free.Like Secondus rightly pointed out,we have never been this
divided. 5.THE FUEL SITUATION This is one aspect that has
perhaps illustrated Buhari’s incompetence the most.When President
Buhari sought approval from the national assembly to settle the
subsidy claims of oil marketers with N413 billion,a few questions
were asked as to the propriety of that.Paying that huge a sum in
one fell swoop didn’t feel right especially if the state of our
finances was taken into consideration.It made you appreciate the
sound economic minds around his predecessor much better.A lot of
things combined to keep our economy going and paying marketers in
instalments was one of them.In January of 2016,the government
removed subsidy and barely 3 months later,it reverted to paying N13
per litre.In May of same year,it removed subsidy again and
increased fuel price to N145.There can only be one logical
conclusion from all these-the government is very confused. After
subjecting nigerians to untold hardship with its cluelessness and
blaming the 2015/16 scarcity on a number of reasons,it introduced
the final one as its justification for increasing in fuel
price-marketers were unable to source foreign exchange because of
the dollar rate.It took it almost 6 months to know that. Well,like
we all know,selling fuel at N145 and even with a much reduced
foreign exchange rate hasn’t meant an end to fuel scarcity. We
deserve better. Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer based in Kano
Twitter:@alaye26 Email:uhassan077@gmail.com
The clamour for an alternative to the APC and PDP has led to
movements like the Red Card and 3rd Force to name a few but
realistically,no movement can gather momentum enough to make a
significant impact next year.Thus,the PDP still remains nigerians’
best hope of ousting the APC government next year.It has an
existing structure with guaranteed bloc votes from 2 regions of
roughly 18 million registered voters.
The shabby handling of the affairs of the APC; prominent among them
party disputes,is largely attributable to the fact that it was a
helter-skelter arrangement put in place simply to kick out the PDP.
Structuring the party to cater for the many big egos and divergent
interests; was never in contemplation and now that it has
accomplished its sole goal,the chickens are coming home to roost.
The PDP officially kicked off its electioneering campaign on the
26th of March at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton and its quite shameful
that of all the things said by Prince Uche Secondus,the national
party chairman,the APC gang has chosen to focus more on the apology
he issued on behalf of his party than tackle the issues raised
against their government.I highlight 5 of those crucial issues.
1.THE APC BORROWING N11TRN IN JUST 3 YEARS This really
should have had people buzzing the most.The PDP; bad as they may
be,borrowed N6trn in 16 years and had projects to show for it.The
APC on the other hand has borrowed N11trn in less than 3 years.What
exactly have they used that money for?.We have seen Buhari earmark
unprecedently high sums for capital expenditure.If they restricted
themselves to completing the unfinished projects of the Jonathan
administration like they made us believe at some point,then they
ought to have made even more impact than we anticipated.It is quite
sad that the APC has serially defended its incompetence by
chastising the PDP and my prayer is that the future of our country
is not tied to the repayment of huge loans incurred as a result of
this government’s ineptitude 2.THE BOKO HARAM
LIE Though it is really hard to tell if the herdsmen are an
extension of the boko haram sect or not,Secondus was right about
the Buhari government lying to its people about decimating the
sect.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Boko haram has brought
this administration to its knees and through the payment of multi
million euro ransoms,the nigerian government have become its main
sponsors. When last did we go through a whole week without the
fulani herdsmen killing innocent nigerians?.This administration has
failed in its paramount duty which is safeguarding the life and
properties of its citizens. 3.INCOMPETENCE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE DEVALUATION OF THE NAIRA The devaluation has been
attributed to the fall in oil prices.Before Jonathan left office,
oil sold for less than $50 and we even witnessed a N10
drop in fuel price to N87 per litre.Yet the exchange rate was N199
to $1.What i’m driving at is quite simple-they managed the plunge
in oil prices much better than Buhari and the APC has That the free
fall of the naira was more down to Buhari’s incompetence was
confirmed by none other than the Vice-President himself,Prof.Yomi
Osinbajo.Buhari’s medical trip afforded him a clear opportunity to
implement the resolutions of the National Economic Council which he
headed.The sum of $250M was injected into the sovereign wealth fund
(SWF) and the Central bank was advised to adjust its forex
policy.The CBN did and released $371M into the inter-bank
market.Barely 48 hours later, the naira had fallen from N510 to a
dollar to N400.A couple more moves and it fell further. Word in
some quarters was that he was ready to do more but despite
describing the success as a ‘team effort’,key members of the cabal
felt intimidated by his soaring popularity and had the President
pull the brakes on his policy. What this proves is that despite
what Buhari and his gang may want us to believe,the falling value
of the naira could be better handled if Nigeria was in the right
hands.The previous government had some of the best economic minds
Nigeria had to offer on board.Buhari on the other hand doesn’t even
think it needful to appoint an Economic adviser.
4.A NATION DIVIDED UNDER ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS FAULT LINES
Virtually every secessionist agenda tells a story of
a suppressed and deprived people seeking to put an end to the
status quo.The fact still remains that President Buhari justified
every agitation for a separate state with the 97%-5% declaration.He
said those who didn’t vote en masse for him shouldn’t be expected
to be treated as well as those who didn’t.True to his words,he made
more than 30 straight non-ministerial appointments without any
south-easterner among them.Even the south west which seemed less
bothered about its own state kickstarted its own agitation just
incase they were asked to quit the north like the ibos at some
point. And like we all know,while Nnamdi Kanu was having to fight
off the army for violating his bail conditions,the Arewa youths
walked scot-free.Like Secondus rightly pointed out,we have never
been this divided. 5.THE FUEL SITUATION This is one aspect
that has perhaps illustrated Buhari’s incompetence the most.When
President Buhari sought approval from the national assembly to
settle the subsidy claims of oil marketers with N413 billion,a few
questions were asked as to the propriety of that.Paying that huge a
sum in one fell swoop didn’t feel right especially if the state of
our finances was taken into consideration.It made you appreciate
the sound economic minds around his predecessor much better.A lot
of things combined to keep our economy going and paying marketers
in instalments was one of them.In January of 2016,the government
removed subsidy and barely 3 months later,it reverted to paying N13
per litre.In May of same year,it removed subsidy again and
increased fuel price to N145.There can only be one logical
conclusion from all these-the government is very confused. After
subjecting nigerians to untold hardship with its cluelessness and
blaming the 2015/16 scarcity on a number of reasons,it introduced
the final one as its justification for increasing in fuel
price-marketers were unable to source foreign exchange because of
the dollar rate.It took it almost 6 months to know that. Well,like
we all know,selling fuel at N145 and even with a much reduced
foreign exchange rate hasn’t meant an end to fuel scarcity. We
deserve better. Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer based in Kano
Twitter:@alaye26 Email:uhassan077@gmail.com
Read more https://nairalaw.com/i-second-secondus-the-salient-issues-left-untouched-by-umar-hassan/