By
Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN
It is disheartening to hear that our oil was traded away by barter in this 21st century under our nose and all of us were keeping quiet.
Under Buhari, N21 to 23 trillion naira was borrowed and we conceded to the loan being paid back through oil lifting.
Some 95% of our oil output being lifted daily to offset the indebtedness leaving only 5% of our daily production for 230 million people to manage. Oh my God!
Where were all of us when Emefiele & Co were selling the voodoo economic theory to the economic illiterate Government of Buhari?
What is being done to make every participant in that government accountable?
Where is the N23 trillion borrowed? Where are the projects executed with the loan borrowed?
Where are the roads, refineries, aircrafts, ships, ports , educational institutions etc built, constructed, executed or commissioned?
Were we all under a spell more so after those who brought Buhari to power had informed Nigerians that the Baale of Daura and General was only good at instilling discipline but lacked basic knowledge of economics and Administration?
Obasanjo did warn, Obaseki warned, Soludo warned, former INEC chairman warned, Professor Jega warned, AKEREDOLU warned but we all travelled to Afghanistan during the time.
What was with all of us then? AREWA leaders warned, Afenifere warned, Ohaneze warned, Southern and Middle Belt Forum warned but the general populace kept quiet.
All these opinion leaders that should serve as our gate keepers lacked unity of purpose. They saw the dangers coming but out of selfishness and incoherent ideological vision failed to galvanise the general populace into positive action to stop the undertaker called Buhari.
I googled the various statements and warnings of these individuals and organisations today, and alas, they warned of the then impending dangers which have now become our garments. Obasanjo was categorical in many of his then unwanted letters. Yes he was one of the leaders who brought in Buhari in 2015 but never stopped telling us that other than his Spartan discipline, Buhari is an economic illiteracy and incompetent administrator.
We ignored the old Otta farmer and failed to interrogate him as to why he encouraged us to substitute one disaster for another. This writer was not innocent either. Many of us on this platform alongside our other colleagues across the country provided the legal cover for the ‘See no evil, Hear no evil and Say no evil to the General. What a calamity?
Where do we go from here? A Daniel (Tinubu) has now come to judgement to whip all of us out of our complacency and we are up in protest against him. What do we expect him to do?
Must we continue to observe the terms of the obnoxious loan backed by natural resources that is expensive, deep in corruption, deeply untransparent as postulated by Moghalu and Adesina above?
Can’t the 10th National Assembly undo what the grossly incompetent 9th National Assembly did? Must all of us, our children and generations yet unborn remain under the mortgage?
Reading through the postulations and cries of the various pressure groups mentioned above over the last 8 years, I feel sorry for us all. Yes, ‘mo sorry pupo fun gbogbo yin’, apology the iconic musician Lagbaja.
Please educate me and get me out of my ignorance. Which country in the world allows its commercial banks to charge the outrageous interest rates being charged in Nigeria? Google the dividends declared and the after taxes profits declared by our commercial banks in the last 5 years and you’ll see how the banks have been killing Nigeria by instalments over the years. I agree fully that PBAT should go after all the commercial banks and their CEOS living or dead together with their assets, offshore and inshore with immediate effect.
They have taken too much for the owners to see (apology to Chinua Achebe). The time to act is now.
CHIEF NIYI AKINTOLA IS A SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA, SAN
