• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Sunday, July 27, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NewsNet Nigeria
  • Home
  • News
    • Local News
    • National
  • Politics
  • Economy
    • Oil and Gas
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • MORE
    • Interview
    • Editorial
    • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Science & Tech
    • Videos
NewsNet Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

2023: Fuel & Naira Scarcity, A Stitch In Time, Mr. President By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

by NewsNet Nigeria
2 years ago
in Opinion
2023: Fuel & Naira Scarcity, A Stitch In Time, Mr. President By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

President Muhammadu Buhari

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on Whatsapp

At the end of his tenure in 1985, the then Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, granted his last interview to Halilu Ahmed Getso of FRCN Kaduna. The answer to the last question in the interview was very informative. What last message do you have for Nigerians? Halilu asked. Buhari, aware of plans to topple him, simply said that if anyone thinks leading the country is easy, let him come and try it.

Barely two weeks later, Buhari was overthrown. My kind-hearted mentor thought then he would retire to a quiet life. No. It was to be four years of torturous isolation and a haunting nightmare for 30 long years.

A decade later, Buhari would tell the world that he did not order the search of the houses of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi when he was head of state. It was done by some fifth columnists, he revealed. Unfortunately, as he noted, neither Awo nor Gumi was alive to forgive him.

To Egypt. In their bid to topple Muhammad Mursi from power, the military and some prominent businessmen orchestrated fuel shortages and power outages in order to pitch the Egyptian populace against the Muslim Brotherhood and its regime. They then hired some youth organizations to carry out demonstrations that snowballed into the 3 July 2013 coup. I was shocked to watch the public confession of the sabotage after all was done. Dr. Mursi was immediately arrested and incarcerated until he died.

Sabotage

The sabotage script is among the standard templates of people who want to topple governments. Opposition parties that lack credibility in fledgling democracies do the same. The recent cry of the APC presidential candidate cannot therefore be far-fetched. He echoed two issues—fuel scarcity and shortage of new naira notes—that are spawning the anger of Nigerians barely a month to the presidential election. With his name representing the ruling APC on the ballot paper, he has every reason to voice out his concerns. His reading of the situation is that it is a sabotage against him and the party at the polls by moles in government and business whose loyalty is to the opposition.

What else can explain the inability of the CBN to make the naira notes it printed available to citizens for 3 months since it announced the new policy last October? Is it that it did not print the new notes sufficiently or is it so incompetent of transporting them to its state branches and issue them to banks in sufficient quantities? That banks are unable to issue the new notes this late after threatening to reject any old one early next week reveals the incapacity of the present CBN administration or betrays its deliberate sabotage of the present government, targeting the harm that the pain would cause the APC ticket on 25th February.

ALSO READ  Delta Assembly Advances New Community Corps Agency Bill, Condoles Buhari’s Death

The pretexts for fuel scarcity under different pretexts since the flood of last September can hardly acquit the NNPC of the same intention. Government is paying the subsidy. Why would it allow distribution to become a problem at this crucial moment, just weeks to the elections that will determine whether or not it will retain power or lose it? Is the regime so inept of pressing the right buttons to force compliance by NNPC officials and fuel marketers, so basic a logistic that even undergraduates of mechanical engineering can execute successfully?

Indifference

I do not share the indifference of the President in this case because it undermines his legacy and his future. If he is proud of his performance in the past 8 years, which he ought to be, he must take measures to protect it. You just do not throw away a child you nursed for eight years to fate. Nigeria is that child which he nursed that long. The projects he started and the younger ones that traveled with him along the difficult path of governance must not be abandoned. There is a future for completion in one case and of political ambition in the other even as the president personally feels fulfilled.

The other reason is that no one can predict what happens after allowing power to slip away from his fingers. Because it could be brutal, chances are not taken. Men acquiring power after a dirty fight behave like lions, except for few forgiving ones. Once victors, the majority do not take hostages. They strangulate the enemy until it cannot no longer breathe. That tradition of power was miscalculated in the risk estimation of Buhari in 1985. The corruption he fought retuned full swing and the lieutenants he brought were suddenly washed away into the sea by the new regime as he spends his dark days in prison.

ALSO READ  Buhari: FG Declares Public Holiday, Presidency Postpones Special FEC, N’Assembly Suspends Plenary

Today, none can assure the President of the continuity of his good policies, finish his projects and shelter his lieutenants better than his party and its presidential candidate. Relying on the promises of the opponent is like writing on water. To think of safety in the jaws of the lion will be regrettable.

“Lion of Jada”

The opposition is naturally cashing on the pain which the deliberate failure of the government is causing Nigerians, smiling as if it has grabbed a manna falling from heaven. Officials—many of whom are companions of the opposition—who want the corrupt practices to persist should the opposition win the election are happy too, while the ruling APC and its candidate are left in pain, helplessly.

If I were the President or a member of his cabinet, I will have a rethink. I will remember 1985 and the pain it caused me. I will not miscalculate it this time as I can see the same people who orchestrated 1985 are today busy running errands for the PDP to defeat my government again. It will be a mistake to trust them or hand over the country to them.

And what will follow the victory of an injured “Lion of Jada”, can best be imagined. This time it will not only affect the President but also his family, relatives, friends, associates, ministers and the party. Anyone who does not know what election defeat portends should ask some ex-governors. Bauchi in 2007 is a classical example. Good luck was for Jonathan; it might not be for everybody. “The Lion” cannot be indifferent.

In the unlikely event of Tinubu losing the elections, the biggest loser will be the APC. It is a merger of three parties cobbled together to defeat the PDP and which will disintegrate in the ensuing atmosphere of distrust that the defeat will bring.

The President and the government must wake up to their responsibility and not allow saboteurs from within and petrol marketers to succeed. While we are in the front vanguard of welcoming the cashless policy, the CBN must be directed to issue sufficient new notes to banks and the public. The President must also press the NNPC to ensure that fuel scarcity is overcome quickly.

ALSO READ  Buhari Dies at 82 in London Clinic

Otherwise, he must know that he only has, like a coin, two outcomes in 2023: a head with the anticipated victory of the front runner, which must not be in spite of the President and his officials but because of them; a tail, in which he loses and the President and his officials must prepare for a long night in which the sun will set, stars will eclipse and life after office will not be the quiet they calculate but a bitterly distressing one.

Call

I will call on Nigerians, as did the APC candidate, to defy the antics of the saboteurs and vote for someone who has the capacity to change things; someone who in his business and position as a governor has proven to be an achiever; a modernising innovator; ready to draw from brains of experts and technocrats; deploy latest techniques and technologies to solve intractable administrative problems and to execute projects in record time; carry workers and the Nigerian public along; etc.

That person is the front-runner in the presidential race, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He leads with the determination that problems like fuel shortage and distribution of Naira notes shall be solved with the aptitude that will end the privileges of saboteurs, who conjure our present suffering and whom we must not support. Four years for our undergraduates, he said, will be four years. Period. That is the language of efficient administrators that saboteurs hate to hear but which we will continue to sound into their ears.

I must remind the President that in the game of power, peace is earned, not granted. The wise, like Obasanjo and many governors, by determining their successors, fought hard while still in power to earn the peace they would enjoy. President Buhari must fight hard to ensure the success of his flag bearer as if he were on the ballot paper. 1985 must not reincarnate. For his future peace, it must remain dead. A stitch in time!

Dr Tilde writes from Bauchi

Previous Post

Osun Election Tribunal Minority Judgment By Hon. Justice B. A. Ogbuli

Next Post

What’s Bola Tinubu’s tangible worth? By Abiodun Komolafe

MORE NEWS

RE: Clarifying Anioma Identity and the South-East Question – A Response to the Odogwu of Ibusa
Opinion

ANIOMA STATE: A BRIDGE OF UNITY AND BALANCE FOR THE SOUTHEAST AND NIGERIA

July 24, 2025
Smoking Weeds: Like Ibadan, Like Warri
Opinion

Smoking Weeds: Like Ibadan, Like Warri

July 20, 2025
Seats of Power: Aides, Hyenas, and Why Some Level of Dictatorship Is Needed in a Growing Democracy
Opinion

Seats of Power: Aides, Hyenas, and Why Some Level of Dictatorship Is Needed in a Growing Democracy

July 17, 2025
Ned Nwoko meets newly crowned Asagba of Asaba, says his commitment to creation of Anioma State irrevocable
Opinion

Ndokwa, Ukwuani and the Quest for Anioma State, By Nosike Ogbuenyi

July 16, 2025
Next Post
What’s Bola Tinubu’s tangible worth? By Abiodun Komolafe

What’s Bola Tinubu’s tangible worth? By Abiodun Komolafe

Leave Comment

RECENT STORIES

REMEMBERING CHIEF DANIEL OKUMAGBA, 25 YEARS AFTER

REMEMBERING CHIEF DANIEL OKUMAGBA, 25 YEARS AFTER

July 27, 2025
Fresh Tragedy Hits AAUA as Another Student is Murdered by Boyfriend, Sparks Protest

Fresh Tragedy Hits AAUA as Another Student is Murdered by Boyfriend, Sparks Protest

July 26, 2025
Agbateyiniro Redefines Local Governance with Road, Bridge, Education, Health Projects in Warri South

Agbateyiniro Redefines Local Governance with Road, Bridge, Education, Health Projects in Warri South

July 26, 2025
Oyibode Showcases Achievements in Udu as NUJ Launches One-Year Stewardship Assessment of Delta Council Chairmen

Oyibode Showcases Achievements in Udu as NUJ Launches One-Year Stewardship Assessment of Delta Council Chairmen

July 26, 2025
Okowa’s Top Aide, Hilary Ibegbulem, Mourns Father’s Passing

Okowa’s Top Aide, Hilary Ibegbulem, Mourns Father’s Passing

July 26, 2025

TRENDING STORIES

  • Solidarity Walk for Tinubu, Omo-Agege a Huge Success – Erhire Counters Oharisi’s Boycott Claims

    Solidarity Walk for Tinubu, Omo-Agege a Huge Success – Erhire Counters Oharisi’s Boycott Claims

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Omo-Agege Rejected in Ughelli North as One Million-Man March Flops — Oharisi

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Dafinone: Creation of Ethiope State Will Correct Historical Injustice, Empower Urhobo Nation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Warri Urhobo APC Members Hold Unity Meeting, Adopt 8-Man Leadership Council

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Delta Assembly Passes Community Security Corps Bill to Bolster Local Security Architecture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

NEWSNET NIGERIA Published By: Morex Consult Limited - Since 2020.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Local News
    • National
  • Politics
  • Economy
    • Oil and Gas
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • MORE
    • Interview
    • Editorial
    • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Science & Tech
    • Videos

NEWSNET NIGERIA Published By: Morex Consult Limited - Since 2020.