Three Cheers For President Tinubu

“Tinubu begins probe of CBN’s N30tn overdraft.” Report, March 12, 2024.

That was the third measure in a row on which the President apparently has listened to views emanating from outside official circles. The first was his order to suspend new charges on expatriate quota; and the second was the directive given to the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to return food items seize from trucks alleged to be smuggling them out of the country to their owners.

On March 12, it was reported that the Customs had returned 15 trucks of food seized in compliance with presidential orders. Tinubu deserves great credit for taking these steps to avert turning our economic crises, daunting but still manageable, into woeful calamities. Customs and EFCC attempting to play to the gallery while opening avenues for corrupt self-enrichment, had taken steps ostensibly patriotic; when indeed they were traps for the Federal Government. I start from the Customs story to illustrate how devious their schemes were.

 On March 6, it was reported in various newspapers, that, “FOOD SMUGGLING: FG intercepts 141grains trucks…” The report went further to tell Nigerians that the Customs apprehended 120 trucks and the EFCC 20 on their way to Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic. Most Nigerians might have been fooled deliberately by the report. I was not one of the fools. For more than 45 years, living and working in all corners of Nigeria, I can claim to know the country very well – including over 130 routes used for smuggling various types of contraband.

The story struck me as not only bogus but was a cover up for illegal seizure of trucks loaded with food stuff – which the services can then auction off for a profit. In response to the planted story, I wrote a rebuttal challenging the Customs and EFCC to tell Nigerians where exactly the 141 trucks were stopped. Furthermore, I know for a fact that trucks going to several parts of those countries can never travel the same route.

A map of ECOWAS and CAR would reveal the following: Niger (sitting on top of Nigeria), Cameroon (on the eastern flank), Chad (situated to the Northeast) and CAR (which can only be reached by crossing Cameroon and going southeast). How on earth can 141 trucks going to those nations be heading in the same direction?

 Fortunately, Tinubu must have been reliably informed that the Customs and EFCC officials were only playing games with us; they just want to cash in on the hysteria of the moment. Nothing proves the point better than two follow-up developments. First, the Customs which announced seizure of 120 trucks returned only 15 on March 12. What happened to the rest?

Meanwhile, on the same day that they were returning trucks to owners in the North, another bogus story was planted in the media. According to the latest joke from Customs, N250m yams in three trucks were allegedly intercepted in Oron as they were about to be ferried to Cameroon.

“We are not amused”; said Queen Victoria of England, 1819-1901 – whenever some jesters annoyed her with their utterances. I bought two excellent and big yams days before this story at SPARS Supermarket, Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island at N2000 each. For N250 million, I would have carried home 125,000 yams at retail price in Lagos. Each of the three trucks would have been carrying at least 42,000 yams!!! Is that possible?

Furthermore, Oron is well within Nigerian borders. How can trucks be stopped and drivers accused of smuggling more than 50 kilometres from the Cameroon border? Tinubu has done well to order foodstuff seized returned to their owners. Otherwise, Customs, EFCC, Police, DSS and other security officers will start benefiting from legalised robbery or “authority stealing” – as Fela Anikulapo called it.

 Additional levy on expatriate quota is simply ridiculous. Given the current exchange rates and the ransom companies must pay if one foreigner is snatched by bandits, no employer will engage a non-Nigerian unless he cannot find a Nigerian capable of doing the job. We must all thank God that the President could see how that idea would make things a lot worse. Indeed, it is a minor miracle that we still have foreigners working in this country.

NOBODY SHOULD BE ABOVE THE LAW.

“The [President] himself ought not to be subject to man, but subject to God and the law, because the law makes him [President].” Bractor, 13th Century, edited.

 The announcement that the President has directed that the N30tn Ways and Means, W&M, facilities for which requests were made, and which were supplied and collected by the Buhari administration, without NASS approval, is not just another crime by a corrupt government. Its consequences, now, in the short term and long term are as devastating as the invasion of Rome by Barbarians who brought an end to Roman Empire and civilisation. Tinubu, Edun and Cardoso can try all they want, but Nigeria will remain on the brink of disaster for years to come unless we recover the loot.

Everybody can see that palliatives promised cannot be delivered, education loan deferred indefinitely, the CBN alters the exchange rate for Custom duty virtually every week, making it impossible for import-dependent organisations to plan. But, few can understand that by colluding to mortgage Nigeria’s future with reckless borrowing and spending, Buhari and his co-conspirators have ensured low Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth for Nigeria for more than ten years to come; meaning that the nation’s ability to repay its debts has been irreparably impaired – unless we can recover as much as we can of the looted N30tn by whatever means necessary.

 We can learn from Peru, a nation whose former President, Alberto Fujimori, once declared that “Traditional democracies will end up in the garbage heap.” Virtually every one of the former Peruvian Presidents have been probed and jailed by successors. Every current President in that country now is aware that he could be called to account for his misdeeds while in office. Nigeria missed the boat when President Jonathan and the PDP-led NASS allowed Obasanjo to bluff his way out of accounting for $13-16 billion collected to achieve 10,000MW per day of power supply. We are the poorest nation on earth globally because we lost 2-3 per cent each year on account of inadequate power supply. If Jonathan had guts, Buhari would not have dared to get us into a N30tn economic manhole.

“A precedent embalms a principle.” William Scott, 1745-1836.

 The ball is now in Tinubu’s court. Granted, it is a very hot potato. But, it must be pulled out of the fire. The alternative would be inevitable total failure of Tinubu’s government. His own successor might not be so squeamish about stepping on his toes because the country would have become a failed state.

A few chicken-hearted and many myopic individuals might think that any attempt to probe Buhari would result in a conflict between North and South; that Northerners will rise up in Buhari’s defence. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Northern elite and educated youth have now realised that Buhari’s rule was more destructive for Northerners. The North has been ruined by Buhari – for the benefit of a few people in his cabal. At any rate, if we don’t punish this gross violation of our laws by a lawless ex-President, then we are inviting more atrocities in the future. We must put a stop to bare-faced official economic sabotage.

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