Clay Richie

I spent the Christmas holiday with my family in Kwara State as I do every year. However, when I arrived Ilorin last Thursday, I could sense a feeling of foreboding that this was an unusual season. Everywhere I went, the stories of deprivations and lamentations were the same. The challenge was further compounded by an acute fuel scarcity which made many motorists to spend days and nights at fuel stations. Incidentally, four days before arriving the city, two persons, a taxi driver and a commercial motorcycle rider, (otherwise known as okada rider) were crushed to death by a passing train while they were on the queue for fuel. And throughout the Christmas holiday season, several of the roads were blocked by desperate motorists who were seeking the elusive commodity and the situation never improved.

In the early 70s, precisely 1973, when children of my age were going to secondary school, I gained admission to a Mission school known as N.K.S.T. Secondary School in Adikpo in the then Benue Plateau State. There, we met Mr.Vanger who was the principal. About a year and a half later, he left the school and Mr. Andrew Kenti was made the acting principal. Mr. Kenti was a genial, liberal and extremely nice person; a perfect gentleman, but he lacked essential administrative skills necessary for running a school meant for grooming exuberant adolescent kids into well -adjusted young adults. As a result, things deteriorated.

For the past several weeks, Nigerians on social media have made a big sport of what we’ve styled “Dasukigate—with an imitative eye to the Richard Nixon-era Watergate. The made-in-Nigeria Dasukigate has arisen from astonishing allegations that detail how Sambo Dasuki, who served as National Security Adviser under former President Goodluck Jonathan, divvied up more than $2 billion of the country’s defense budget among (mostly partisan) political interests.

The recent violent confrontation between soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) should not come as a surprise to anyone who understands the Nigerian state. It was bound to happen. In a country where truth is a scarce commodity and where impunity (whether by state or non-state actors) is the norm, it will be difficult to know exactly what happened in Zaria on December 12, 2015. Since nobody takes responsibility for anything in Nigeria, that egregious crime – committed by both parties – will go unpunished. Of course, there will be an enquiry, perhaps a white paper, and that will be the end of the story; well, until the next crisis.

Following Dr Ibe Kachikwu’s Christmas day outing at the Port Harcourt Refinery where he gleefully announced the removal of petroleum subsidy and a reduction of the pump price of fuel in Nigeria from N87 to N85 (something he said he’d already signed off a day before Christmas, but due to be announced on January 1, 2015), Nigerians had called for further clarification from a Minister fast becoming an expert in obfuscation. But what did we get? Another outing at Kaduna Refinery and more obfuscation in a supposed attempt at clarification.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of planning to borrow at least N5 billion per day to finance the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget. The spokesperson of the party, Olisa Metuh, who spoke with reporters on Tuesday in Abuja, said a breakdown of the N1.84 trillion to be borrowed by Mr. Buhari to fund the budget shows that Nigeria would be borrowing N5 billion a day for the next 365 days, starting from January I, 2016, without corresponding provision for economic production and a clear repayment plan.

Please take time off to sanitize your image, reputation, and widely held doubts about your sanity and lack of veracity for truthfulness, before you write anything to anyone. You raised issues about arms purchase and the war on terror. Did you really learn anything from that high end Law school you claim you attended in the UK? We from Uniben Law seem to be thinking more suitably. Your timing is befuddling. Imagine bringing up the matter about your government and arms “purchase” smack in the middle of a huge arms purchase scandal, where your hatchet man has admitted he actually did share our arms money to you and other members of your party.

Renowned Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, on Tuesday accused the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, of running a parallel government in the North. Gumi, while speaking with newsmen in Kaduna, said the Shi’ite members had been undergoing military training over the 40 years of its existence.

Malam Suleiman Ahmed, the Special Assistant to Sen. Shehu Sani (APC- Kaduna), on Politics and Ideology, says nothing will deter his principal from criticising the “anti-people” policies of the state government. Ahmed stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday while reacting to the alleged suspension of the senator by the Tudun Wada North, Ward 6 of APC.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf was the Minister of Information in the dying days of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Nicknamed “Comical Ali” by British tabloids, al-Sahaf made a fool of himself during the Iraqi war by constantly fabricating victories of the Iraqi army, even as territory after territory fell to the American-led allied forces.

Mr. President, as one of your most loyal and faithful subjects who has nothing but the utmost respect for your person and your office, I am constrained to write you this open letter. This is because there are a number of issues that I believe that it is important for you to clarify and to come clean on.

We are in dangerous times, and your actions, or inactions, will count for a lot. The truth is that whenever someone begins a project, especially a project which he has fought so hard for, it is important to make haste, lest motivation wanes. If motivation wanes, there is a clear and present danger of the entire project faltering. That, is the cliff down which we all stare at the moment, including you, no, especially you.

The year 2015 has come and almost gone, yet the 8thSenate has recorded significant progress, as well as faced a number of challenges. The distinguished Senators of the 8th National Assembly, under the leadership of Senate President Bukola Saraki have all in one way or the other contributed immensely to the successes and achievements of the 8th Senate thus far and most importantly to the growth and development of Nigeria as a whole.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said he did not plan to lose the Boko Haram war as is being suggested by President Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan spoke on Sunday in reaction to an interview Buhari granted the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Last week, I was writing on this same title before I experienced a change of subject-matter. I concluded within me that it is for another time. Hence, the obliteration from the screen of Bill Gates invention. If it was completed and you’ve got to read, then the the recent heinous act performed by a drunk Nigeria policeman wouldn’t be captured. If one is to wait, then the wait will be forever till citizens are manumitted from the spontaneous wild behaviours exhibited by police officers on duty.

Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the PDP speaks about his party, the ruling APC, President Buhari’s government and sundry political matters. He spoke to Tony Egbulefu What positive impacts do you feel the PDP has made, playing opposition politics in the past six months?

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, says the Nigerian government led by Muhammadu Buhari has suspended the subsidy on petroleum products as at today, December 27, as a result of the current low price of crude in the international market. Dr. Kachikwu said the non-payment of subsidy would remain the same, as long as market trends allow.

President Muhammadu Buhari would not stop surprising Nigerians. It is possible that by the time he is through with his tenure, he would be penciled down for either the Guinness Book of Records, or A People’s Prize for great Speeches, and great delivery!

I write with a heavy heart, on this Christmas day, as a result of what is going on under your leadership regarding the Biafra agitation and the leader of the IPOB (Indigenous people of Biafra), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. Let me first say that I, as an Igbo person, supported your election and campaign passionately for it on social media, but I am now on neutral grounds, because of the way you are handling the cry for Biafra though I will always support any good strides you are making for the people of Nigeria.

“How was Christmas?” “It’s come and gone. Life goes on. We thank God for the gift of life.” “Life will always go on.”

I read the press statement of one of our most respected leaders, Senator David Mark, commending president Buhari and urging Nigerians to give him time, and I ask, when did we all become cowards in this nation?

The comma in the middle of my headline converts it from a name to a remark or a sentence. As in prison sentence. For I predict that by this time next year, the best-known bearer of that name, Nigeria’s former leader Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, will be serving one. In the closing weeks of 2015¬¬, what was sometimes conveniently dismissed by his supporters as heavy criticism of Mr. Jonathan has proved to be fair. Thatt ragedy is that he did not run a government; he ran a no-rules and no-responsibility bazaarto ennoble, and enable, theshameless privatization of Nigeria’s resources.

Last Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) presented his Administration’s 2016 Budget proposal of well over Six Trillion Naira (N6tr) before the National Assembly (NASS), and the nation’s citizens. In Naira terms, the budgeted amount is much higher than last year’s but in dollar terms it is likely to be approximately the same, as the Naira continues to lose chunks of its value by the day – down almost thirty percent from its worth this time last year.

Government would on January 1 next year reduce the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N85 per litre. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu broke the news to journalists in the Port Hacourt Refinery Company (PHRC), where he spent Christmas inspecting the plant.

As the war on corruption heightens, the political battle-line between the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has sharply been drawn.

Christmas looks so different these days from what it was when I was growing up. It is so different it is almost unrecognizable. In this same country, in the 70s, Christmas was a season of celebration, but also of spiritual upliftment, joy abundant, hope, reaffirmation of faith in the certainty of Salvation, and the ritual of that which begins, and that which ends, as a New Year beckoned.  We were brought up on a steady diet of Sunday School lessons, and so Christmas and Easter were very much a part of our growing up. We always looked forward to Christmas with excitement. It was that time of the year when we all wanted to act one role or the other in the re-enactment of the drama of Nativity.

Dr. Obiajulu Aduba’s preliminary analysis of the Buhari Budget is right on target. I like it more when he argued that the devil is in the details. I would like to add that the language Buhari used in his budget speech stands up well compared to other budget speeches in Nigeria, including those presented during all of the years of Okonjo Iweala as Finance Minister. Dr. Aduba specifically compared Okonjo-Iweala’s performance to that of her successor who neither went to Harvard nor earned a Ph.D. Mrs. Adeosun never worked for the World Bank, but she served a few years as Commissioner for Finance at Ogun State before her appointment as Federal Minister of Finance.

I was lying down on a beach mat, in the lush green grass in the garden, shortly, I drifted into a nap. Imagine that you are trapped in a dense, dark jungle, virtually all sunlight is blocked by the lush canopy overhead, surrounded by thick vegetation, you can barely move. To escape,you must cut your way through with a machete and a lantern, such is the state of the nation.

I have forgotten the last time Nigerians suffered a fuel scarcity that lasted for 2 months (and still counting). PMS now sells at around N180/Ltr with most independent marketers. The main issue is not even the price at which it sells. Besides NNPC mega stations, most of the filling stations owned by the Majors are not selling and this puts too much pressure on NNPC stations. Even when you are ready to buy at a high price, it is hardly available. Transport fares have hiked. It is comforting that Mr President has finally apologized to Nigerians for the scarcity. But the most comforting thing I expected to hear was the removal of subsidy. Should President Buhari really allow subsidy to last till 2016?

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday in Lagos told senior journalists during an interactive meeting that they cannot afford to be neutral when Nigeria is at war. Soliciting the support of the nation's media for the war against terrorism, he said: “Yes, you must remain professional at all times, and we are not asking you to do anything less, but you must also act in the national interest always.

Political vanity is a particularly Nigerian affliction and has been an ancillary scholarly interest of mine. I published an academic article in 2004 on the subject, citing several examples from Nigeria’s then fledgling experiment with civilian rule. The article dwelled extensively but not exclusively on the cases of late former governors Abubakar Audu of Kogi State and Mohammed Lawal of Kwara State.

When on October 22 this year the National Communications Commission (NCC) imposed an unprecedented fine of $5.2 billion (N1.04trn) on the Mobile Telecommunication of Nigeria (MTN), I was one of the people who felt that it was too severe a punishment even when I agreed that what the company did was indefensible. My position was premised on two factors: One, such a sanction should not be seen as a way to generate revenues because it would demean our country; and two, there are many Nigerians working in MTN and we should not endanger their jobs.

The Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has flagged off the construction of the Ivo Water Project estimated to cost overN1.2bn. Speaking at the ceremony in Amagu Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area, Umahi disclosed that the project which was conceived when he was a deputy governor was a Federal Government-assisted project.

“Rome is not built in a day” has become the cliché President Muhammadu Buhari’s (Buharists, as they are called) staunch supporters would tell you the moment you open mouth to criticise his ‘saintly’ presidency. Who said it was? With due respect, many of us, having grown up in uncritical, dogmatic societies and cultures, fail to differentiate criticism from condemnation and nitpicking.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday presented the 2016 budget proposals of N6.08tn to the joint session of the National Assembly with a commitment that the Federal Government planned to finance the deficit of N2.22tn by borrowing N1.84tn from domestic and foreign sources.

The leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu is to be charged with treason. Kanu was arrested on October 14 in Lagos and arraigned before an Abuja Magistrate’s Court on October 19. The court struck out the charges brought against him by the Department of State Service (DSS) because the prosecution applied to withdraw the charges.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has finally released the new power tariff regime, in which it outlined the various rates of increase in energy charges for consumers across the country. It also announced the removal fixed electricity charges for all classes of electricity consumers and noted that power users would only pay for what they consume.

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria yesterday said the state-wide broadcast made by Kaduna state Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i over the mass killings of their members in Zaria by the army has revealed deep anti-Shiites sentiments in some official quarters.

An Abuja High Court yesterday remanded erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), a former Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda and three others in Kuje Prison pending when they would perfect their bail conditions.

The Federal Government is planning to recover a total sum of N350.33bn from funds said to have been misappropriated in the public sector as part of its revenue drive in the 2016 fiscal year. Details of the amount to be recovered, which had already been captured in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2016-2018, are expected to be unveiled on Tuesday (today) by President Muhammadu Buhari during the presentation of the 2016 budget to the National Assembly.

Protocols and Introduction Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The core purpose of our gathering today is acquaint you with some of the emerging strategic priorities and plans of the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development for accelerating and scaling up the role of solid minerals in Nigeria’s economy. I speak today on behalf of the core leadership of this ministry and duly acknowledge the support and contributions of my brother and colleague Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, Minister of State and the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Istifanus Fuktur.

A name that has always been associated with controversy as far as the issue of national security is concerned both during the military era and our present democracy, has been in the news for the wrong reasons for the major parts of the last quarter of this year. Dasukigate or Dasukibonanza, whatever binoculars one prefers to view it from may not be enough to describe the “man of the moment”, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the former National Security adviser to the immediate past president, has been caught in his own pool of unshakable profligacy.

The Presidency and the embattled former National Security Adviser (NSA) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), have begun negotiations over a possible out-of-court settlement in the $2 billion arms procurement scandal.

Nothing in the world prepares you for this kind of encounter. Not the fact that you grew up in middle-income Surulere, Lagos or that you know Lawanson like the back of your hand. Not the fact that you spent holidays with your cousins in Mushin and played ‘set’ on the streets of Olodi Apapa which everyone insist on calling Ajegunle.

Indulge me this morning as I share a very personal story — although I will tie it back, later, to today's discussion. Most people know me as a journalist, but that is a quarter of my story. When I started my post-NYSC journalism career in 1993, I took a dispassionate look at my salary and concluded it would take me nowhere. With a widowed mother and three younger siblings, and with hopes to marry "as soon as practicable" — which meant getting my own accommodation — I knew N1,072 per month was going to be a miserable drop in the ocean. I began to think up ideas that could give me better income. I had ideas but I did not have money to push them.

So much has been said about the December 12 confrontation between the Nigerian Army and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria led by Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Shia in Nigeria.

Before the troll mob advance, consistent with the misshapen line of pedestrian reasoning that dogs Nigerian social discourse, that my given name and the religion it suggests that I profess effectively disqualify me from commenting on the massacre of Zaria, I present my credentials: I am a human being. And my humanity obligates me to interrogate that rash annihilation of members of my species by the Nigerian Army!

“Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her” – John 8: 7 Before starting this piece, I will like to crave the indulgence of the non-Christian readers for the use of biblical reference in this piece. It is not a deliberate attempt to propagate the religious beliefs but  the best way I can use in driving home the message. Thanks for understanding.

Former Central Bank Governor and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II has said that, he graduated from the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman’s school of progressive struggle to become a radical teacher, banker and now a radical Emir.

The Federal Government warned on Friday that Boko Haram terrorists are plotting another sensational abduction of students or foreigners to hold them ransom for money, food, medical supplies, and armaments.