After running down the EFCC on that day, Obasanjo heaped praises on the EFCC under his own administration and its Chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu. It is quite understandable that Obasanjo should be happy with Ribadu who, unknown to most people who still heap praises on him was mostly incompetent and might have committed treason. He was also Obasanjo’s protector; he averted his gaze from obvious misdeeds of Obasanjo, supported the third term agenda and hoped to be rewarded with his own second term in office. Before presenting the charges against Ribadu, there is need to continue the list of Abacha family loot forfeited under Decree No 53 of May 1999 and which were handed over to Obasanjo’s government by General Abubakar.

Are you aware that in addition to the four refineries in Nigeria – Portharcourt I and II, Warri and Kaduna, this country also had a 30 per cent interest in West African Refinery, Sierra Leone which was handed over to President Obasanjo’s government in 1999? Are you also aware that has Obasanjo so far failed to account for that national assets and its disposal, he was handed a list of assets forfeited by Abacha to the Federal Government on May 26, 1999 – in the last decree –Decree No. 53 – which was the last signed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Head of State, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria? Are you also aware that other Abacha loot, returned between 1999 and May 2007, when Obasanjo was forced to step aside, remain unaccounted for and might have been re-looted? Prepare yourself for a shock – if it is still possible to be shocked in Nigeria by anything done by leaders of the PDP who had access to the corridors of power – especially the self-righteous Obasanjo. His administration established the template for looting Abacha loot. But, permit first a diversion – a necessary one.

One of the “bad” habits of professional economists is the tendency to quantify virtually everything. They develop metrics for assessing real human experiences in a manner that reveals certain truths which might be hidden from others. Like most Nigerians, it was clear to me, as a strong supporter of Buhari, long before the 2015 presidential elections that we might be electing a military-style disciplinarian.

By Dele Sobowale Read the first part here “The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a Military Governor, Petroleum Minister, Military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never have I heard of the words “Budget padding”. President Buhari, February 25, 2016. Abuja. Part one of this series started with the […]

It is one of the axioms of management carved on stone by the management guru Peter Drucker, that nothing is more wasteful than doing diligently what should not be done at all – especially when the step to be taken is based on anger – which might not even be justified. Reading that statement credited to Buhari again, one is immediately struck with the irony involved in the historical precedents the President cited. Budgets by military governments at Federal and State levels were never debated nor were they passed to another body to approve. So, if there was padding, nobody would ever know.

Seldom does one come across an individual about whom all those who knew him in life have nothing but good things to say. Professor Ajibade Abayomi Rokosu, “IROKO”, 1940-2016, had just completed one the most amazingly blessed lives anybody can dream of and spent. When good Prof passed away, late last month, he left everybody wondering if it is possible he could pass their way again.

Sam Rayburn, whose protégé was the late President Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973, who was Senator, Vice-President and President in 1963 when late President John Kennedy, 1917-1963, was assassinated in Texas, Johnson’s own state, was perhaps the most powerful Speaker ever in America’s history. He was also a Texan. If a President of Nigeria is ever killed in the home state of his Vice-President, a civil war would follow. Some of us who remember that episode in 1963 which brought Johnson to power, were praying extra-hard that nothing would happen to Buhari on his visit to Ogun State, early in the month. A civil war would have followed if something similar happened. I hope Buhari stays away from Ogun State; or the South West for that matter until his tenure expires.

An old friend called from the United States last week. He is a naturalized Nigerian American who had not been in Nigeria since he left about twenty years ago. He had been following the revelations concerning the arms deal and withdrawals of millions of dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, allegedly purely for the PDP campaign.

Our country is bleeding profusely from the blows inflicted on it by the apparently unending Boko Haram insurgency; another possibly prolonged round of blood-letting has started with the pro-Biafra movement which recently claimed reportedly over twenty lives in Aba on February 7, 2016. The last thing we need now is another religious conflict; and certainly not in Kaduna state. Yet, the stage is being set, even if inadvertently, for one. That would constitute the mother of all tragedies to befall Nigeria.

I was in Abuja on Tuesday, the day after the Minister made this announcement. As usual, I strolled out of the hotel to buy newspapers. But, from a short distance away, I could see that the vendor had more than the usual number of visitors; something big must be in the papers.

Once Buhari was declared the winner of the presidential election in 2015, everybody’s thought turned to the persons who would be appointed ministers and the portfolio they would be given. In every forum in which the discussions took place, and despite the long delay in announcing his appointees, I declared that one name would be on the list and the portfolio he would be saddled with. The man is Lai Mohammed – the Minister of Information and Culture. Let me quickly add that I also felt it would be a mistake to offer him that portfolio. The reasons were very simple and let me set them out now.

Political marriages variously called alliances, coalitions or accords are invariably the greatest risks of all. The “marriage” between the CPC and ACN which formed the nucleus of the APC reminds me of what happened to another marriage in Dorchester, Boston, USA in 1974. The two “lovers” desperate for marital bliss, but not financially strong individually agreed to pool their resources to make a go of their wedlock.

You may be young and infantile” was the title of an article in the PUNCH, on Monday, January 4, 2016, by Solaade Ayo-Aderele on page 16. Thanks to Ayo-Aderele, it suddenly occurred to me that you might also be old and infantile. Many politicians in Nigeria today, almost all over forty, are behaving, talking and acting like kids. Incredible as it might appear to thinking people, some adults are actually talking seriously about reviving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – which is already at the graveyard waiting to be buried. Wait for the explanation.

President Buhari may mean well for the country, especially on the matter of fighting corruption and indiscipline. But, his maiden media chat shows a man still sadly trapped in the past, a man moving along haphazardly into the future along a single track. He must be prevailed upon urgently to reform and mend his ways if democracy is to survive, let alone flourish.”

You may be young and infantile” was the title of an article in the PUNCH, on Monday, January 4, 2016, by Solaade Ayo-Aderele on page 16. Thanks to Ayo-Aderele, it suddenly occurred to me that you might also be old and infantile. Many politicians in Nigeria today, almost all over forty, are behaving, talking and acting like kids. Incredible as it might appear to thinking people, some adults are actually talking seriously about reviving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – which is already at the graveyard waiting to be buried. Wait for the explanation.