Editorial
NASS exotic bulletproof cars: It’s about Obi, not LP
Published
2 years agoon

On July 4, 2023, at this year’s edition of the yearly lecture series organised by Freedom Online, one of the frontline online newspapers published by Gabriel Akeneworo, Richard Akinadewo, lawyer, journalist and one of Nigeria’s earliest and foremost rights activists of the Gani Faweihinmi school, raised what had been in the public discourse at that time – the place of the lawmakers produced by the Labour Party (LP).
There had been heavy talks, mostly in the social media that the LP members at the National Assembly, had not displayed any characteristic different from the ordinary day Nigerian politician. If anything, they had been as acquiescing as the next man or woman sitting in either the Green or Red chambers, especially those from the much vilified All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For supporters of the other parties, particularly the APC and by extension, President Bola Tinubu, it was an ample reason to believe that the Obient Movement, through which sentiment the lawmakers got to power, would be no different. That also stretched to a further argument that Peter Obi, the patron and purveyor of that movement, would also not be different from those he had vilified and painted in inelegant colours and accused of official bad behaviours.
Sampler – the issue of the “token” Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, had promised the members of the upper legislative chambers of the NASS, which he later changed to “prayers” but which Nigerians understood quite clearly to mean what it actually meant – free money for members – money not earned – money not covered in official seal – money not required for any useful purpose outside for the members to enjoy themselves, of course in the midst of the suffering masses they were supposed to be their constituents – came to the fore.
Hear the remonstrations! Where are the LP lawmakers? Where are the Obidients? Why have they suddenly gone quiet? Did they collect their token or prayers? Why didn’t they reject it? Why are they not speaking out? Are they no longer the moral compass of the nation? Are they not supposed to be as clean as Obi, their patron? These people are just pretenders. Just like their master.
Now, it is not known from which angle Akinola was coming during that event held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos. Was he part of the mocking, jeering crowd of the mostly APC and Tinubu supporters or was he just raising a genuine concern, as an ordinary citizen and compatriot, in consistency with public advocacy, an enterprise, which had informed his activities for decades now? That, again, was difficult to ascertain.
But there was no doubt that he was right. So were those who had spoken on the issue before him. They were all right, regardless of their motivations. There was incontrovertible evidence that the Obidients and the LP members had presented themselves in like manner and had acted no differently from the usual Nigerian politicians.
But where the critics miss the point is to associate, tag or blame Obi for this reality. Even the former governor of Anambra State must be aware of this fact. He would be quite naïve not to recognise the fact that most of those who trumpet his name are like the biblical pretenders Jesus Christ, warned the world about, when he stated that it is not those who shout father, father in the street that represent His adherents, but those who do His will. Of course, a cursory check, would reveal that the LP candidate, does not paint the picture of a political imbecile.
If he does not know that he is almost alone in the battle for the pristine and untainted brand of politics and leadership he preaches and for which millions of Nigerians have become his converts and devotees, then he would naturally fit that character of a neophyte. It will also be the same and quite surprising an disheartening if he allows this realisation either skew his mission or sedate his enthusiasm towards attaining it.
Only recently, Julius Abure, National Chairman of the LP came out with a directive that the party’s 36 members in the House of Representatives should reject the exotic bulletproof cars worth N160million, in consistency with the philosophy of the party. What has, however followed, is a definite silence. Almost every Nigerian would be ready to wager a bet that nobody would listen to the party boss. Not even the most passionate Obidient, including those who claim to be ardent friends and his close allies.
Abure did not mince words when he gave the directive on Tuesday, October 17, when he clearly told the LP members to: “Kick against this unnecessary wastage of resources in line with the ideology of the party which is social justice and equal opportunity for all.” He presented a clear picture on which he relied on to make the declaration, reminding the members of their obligation, not only to propagate the ideals of good behavior, but be on the side of suffering Nigerians.
His statement, read: “A few days ago, the news filtered that 360 members of the House of Assembly are to be gifted with vehicles worth about N160 million each. The Labour Party is indeed shocked, saddened and disappointed at the level of insensitivity being displayed by the executive and the legislative arms of the President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress administration.
“It is saddening that with deepening poverty among Nigerians the administration has decided to increase its appetite for a life of opulence to mock hardworking but underprivileged Nigerians. How else can any government justify the bloated Federal Executive Council of 48 cabinet ministers, with each of them given three luxurious four-wheel drive vehicles on the first day in office, paid for and fueled by taxpayers?
“This is notwithstanding hundreds of presidential and ministerial aides, as well as numerous aides to the aides who are being funded by the government. These vehicles will be costing Nigerians about N57.6 billion and this is happening at a time when the government claims it cannot afford to increase the minimum wage of N30,000 monthly to workers.
“A bag of 50 kg rice is today N50,000 and most families can’t afford two square meals a day, how insensitive can a Government become? This same government is still going round the world cap in hand seeking loan, what a shame! As things stand today, inflation is likely to hit 30 per cent by December 2023, yet all they are concerned about is the comfort of a privileged few who found themselves in public office.
“Why spend so much money on the import of and purchase of vehicles from other nations amidst the scarcity of needed foreign exchange for manufacturing? Why not empower local manufacturers such as Innoson Motor in Anambra and Peugeot Automobiles in Kaduna to save forex and boost our local economy?
“When our Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, said we in the Labour Party want to move the economy from consumption to production, this is what we mean – Nigeria first! We implore this government to in the interest of our dear nation retrace its step and give priority to revamping the economy instead of its current obsession with luxury living.
“We are also calling on the Labour Party legislators in the 10th Assembly to kick against this unnecessary wastage of resources in line with the ideology of the party which is social justice and equal opportunity for all. Nigerians will hold them responsible if they fail to live above board or give proper account of the electoral investment reposed in them. Nigerians are fed up with the status quo and they crave for a different leadership that must factor in the interest of the suffering masses. The poor must be allowed to breathe again in this country.”
But even the party boss, must know that the best his admonition could get is to serve as a mere reminder to the lawmakers, should they claim to have forgotten on what vehicle they rode to their current destination. Beyond that would be to expect the ninth wonder of the world to happen in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, it is not impossible. A random check will prove that none of the LP members is a pauper in the real sense of the word. There is virtually none of them that would not have more than two cars already, which is enough to live a fairly appreciable life of luxury.
Yes, to a British Member of Parliament (MP) or US Senator or member of Congress, having two cars might actually be unnecessary surplusage. But not in Nigerian where, greed, avarice and show of obscene, vulgar wealth is the second skin of those in the public sphere, the picture is different.
If anything, for just that singular car largesse, which they actually do not need, the lawmakers would be prepared to become willing tools in making choices that could plunge the country into the deep ocean from where it will never rise again. For that singular gesture, virtually all of them, would give their index fingers as well. So, for the joke is on those who are mocking, they are actually the ones to be pitied for not reading the political character barometre well.
In fact, the next stage is for all of them to denounce Obi and his ways. The only thing holding them back is the ray of hope that somehow he could still emerge President, if the judiciary reverses the victory of Tinubu. If that does not happen, the bandwagon effect, could happen from the minute the court affirms his presidency.
Indeed, the only way the table could turn is if Obi actually becomes the President. That way, they would either be whipped into line with the official leadership he would toe as President, or bow to the new reality out of fear of losing out.
The fact that Obi seems not prepared to yoke the lawmakers with the same moral standards with which he has pursued public life, underscores the reason he has carried the LP burden on his own shoulder, including funding the party with his private resources, without any recourse to reliance from outside help. He knows those he is dealing with.
Yes! A New Nigeria many desire is POssible! But it does not lie in the LP NASS. It lies in Peter Obi. Anything else is wishful thinking!

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Editorial
Is N39billion to renovate ICC built with N240milllion not criminal?
Published
1 month agoon
June 11, 2025
Where is the subsidy money? This was the question Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the February 23, 2023 election, posed to his host during an outing on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS, Nigeria’s television network.
It was a question to underscore the promise President Bola Tinubu made when he told Nigerians that he would be deploying the proceeds from the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol to engage in massive development of infrastructure across the country.
The idea behind the thinking as contained in the reform structure signposting his Renewed Hope Agenda, is not only to cushion the immediate impact of the policy on the polity, but to evoke a quantum leap in the economy of the country. Of course, not a few have hailed the move as a bold step that underscored the President’s courage to dare to step into a forbidden ground where his predecessors feared.
But if any impact has been cushioned or the economy has been jumpstarted, two years on, it is in the imagination of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu’s immediate cabinet, appointees, the hundreds of his appointees he has given jobs and of course state governors and members of the legislature, who are either themselves swimming in the deep ocean of unimaginable quantum of raw cash now suffusing the coffers of their individual states or are too scared of the now ubiquitous “Hurricane” the government of the day has created around itself to make as much as a whimper of protest.
The rest of Nigerians not only see differently, but feel differently, having been at the receiving end from the moment Tinubu pronounced those three-letter words on May 29, 2023 at the podium of Eagle Square, Abuja, shortly after taking the oath of office to commence official duties as Nigeria’s 16th President – subsidy is gone! To further deepen the ugly situation, the President also, followed up with the floating of the national currency, plummeting the value from N400 to N1,700 to a dollar.
Here is how the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the main mouthpiece of organised labour in Nigeria attempted to capture the situation: “Instead of reinvestment, Nigerians got inflation so vicious that families now skip meals, businesses shut down daily, and transport costs consume what little remains of workers’ wages. The naira, left to the so-called ‘market forces,’ has collapsed in value, turning Nigeria into a bargain basement for neighbouring countries, while local industries suffocate under the weight of imported inflation.
“What makes this pain even more frustrating is that none of it is new. We’ve seen this script before – subsidy removals, devaluations, and IMF-approved austerity – each time sold as the bitter pill Nigeria must swallow for a brighter future. But when has it ever worked? These same policies under past administrations only widened inequality, enriched a few, and left the majority poorer. Tinubu’s version is no different – except the suffering is deeper, the anger louder, and the government’s response more brutal.”
But the wackiest part of the sad story is not captured in the massive pain the labour body captured or the oft-sung mantra of the President, luxuriating in in obvious wealth and making no bones about it urging Nigerians to be patient and give him time for the benefits to mature, which in itself instead of suggesting a genuine appeal, appears more of an insult and mockery.
No! It is not even much more in the fact that the President himself and those at the corridors of power are engaging in the level of obscene revelling never seen before of public officials in Nigeria – buying up everything under the sun – spending cash like drunken sailors – or competing in opulence that mimics Arabian kings or medieval monarchs.
No! It is in the impunity – the utterly licentious – let the heavens fall attitude of it all, as captured in the cost of the projects being showcased in the so-called infrastructure gulping the Nigerian commonwealth in question and the inability of Nigerians not even make a whimper of protest. That is what rankles – like pouring vinegar to a festering sore.
Apart from Tinubu himself, nobody seems as culpable in this regard as Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Those who name him the alternate President of Nigeria, may not be far off the mark, because in everything, the former Governor of Rivers State appears to copy Tinubu. The President is reputed to parade one of the longest convoys of cars in the world. Wike’s convoy is merely a few cars short. Tinubu bought a Cadillac Beast, Wike now appears at functions in latest Rolls Royce.
On Tuesday, Wike gathered the world to launch the newly-renovated International Conference Centre (ICC), now named the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre (BATICC) Abuja, at the cost of – wait for it N39billion. Everybody, including the President was there to celebrate. It is of course, one of the wonders Wike, the poster-boy of the Tinubu administration is doing in the FCT.
But as the backslapping and chest-beating were going on, it was obvious that nobody bothered to ask the basic question – what was the N39billion for? What could have been put in that structure to gulp such an amount? How much would a brand-new structure have cost? This was a structure that the military government of Military President Ibrahim Babangida built in 1991 at the projected cost of N240million, from the scratch. Granted that the Naira is almost valueless. But has become so worthless that the renovation of a mere building would cost that much?
That missing question is what we are asking today. Has Nyesom Wike been given a blank cheque? What level of financial scrutiny goes into these projects or is he immune from such assessment? Only on Monday, May 6, 2025, Tinubu presented a whopping ₦1.78 trillion proposal to the National Assembly as the FCT budget for the year. This was after the approvals of other humongous amounts for the same entity.
We raise this issue because we believe it must go pari-passu with the celebration of the Minister as the poster-boy of the Tinubu administration for which he has earned the sobriquet – Mr. Projects – and an award to go with it from no lesser influential organisation than ARISE NEWS, Nigeria’s frontline television station.
While it is apposite to join other numerous Nigerians to pop the bottles and roll out the drums in celebration, the greater duty is to ask, how much of the mind-boggling financial accruals from the federal purse and the also huge internally-generated funds from Abuja, goes into actual project and how much goes into maintaining imperial lifestyle associated to him, including those highly dollarised apparels such as he spotted on Monday and fancy cars.
If renovating the residence of the Vice President at N21billion, parading state of the art cars in a convoy, driving to a function in the latest edition of Rolls Royce and renovating the ICC or now BATICC, originally built at N240million only 34 years ago at N39billion, is not criminal, we wonder what else qualifies. We won’t keep quiet!
Editorial
NASS must reject Tinubu’s N34.15trillion loan, it’s death sentence!
Published
2 months agoon
May 29, 2025
When in 2021, Peter Obi called attention to the indiscriminate borrowings of Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, the reaction was instant as it was virulent. The former Governor of Anambra State, had pointed out to the President that his penchant for grabbing money from foreign and domestic lending institutions, was not only a bad behaviour, but completely dangerous to national health, because it was akin to mortgaging the future of the country and putting the children of the next generations in harm’s way.
Naturally, the quick riposte from Buhari and his men, was that Obi was jealous of the administration and the giant strides it was making and that his intervention was dangerous to the general health and wellbeing of Nigeria. In other words, he was effectively declared the nation’s number one enemy. In fact the noxious attacks against the former governor could have been likened to the venoms from the desert puff adder, a rock scorpion and the Amazon spider put together – more lethal than the poisonous gas that escaped from the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine.
But because truth was itself a buffer and the most potent antidote to such mortal poison, the barrage of attacks constituted little effect on him. Intriguingly, Obi’s, like that of John The Baptist in the wilderness calling for repentance to the Jews, was a lone voice calling attention of Nigerians to the danger ahead at a time many others including the so-called Nigeria’s celebrated economists, decided to switch to the silent mode.
From Lai Mohammed, the official spokesman of the government to the duos of Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesmen to the goons at the APC, and many more of their supporters at the Brantyre Wuse Secretariat, the remit, was to make a mincemeat of Obi and cast him as enemy of progress, as they echoed the oft-sung mantra of their principal – we’re building infrastructure.
Today, where are the infrastructure that administration claimed they were sinking the billions of dollars they were borrowing from left, right and centre? The Port Harcourt Refinery, has become the perfect metaphor for the idea of resuscitating the nation’s four refineries. The railway project, another drainpipe of that administration remains comatose, confirming Obi’s fears whenever he asks – where are the infrastructures?
Of course, in connivance with their collaborators abroad, who for a clearly diabolical purpose, have ensured that these loans keep coming continuously, aware of the mindset of the recipients is not only the voracious appetite for lavish spending, undiluted corruption and the penchant to return the money to their banks, had to rig the 2023 election to ensure that Obi never came close to office to stop the stream of continuous sleaze.
So, what did the world see? With the first set of loans, President Bola Tinubu, like Buhari, went on a binge of spending, buying everything in sight. He suddenly remembered that the nation needed a N5billion yacht and that the Vice President needed a new lodge and gifted N21billion. Then, there was the need for a new Presidential jet to put him at par with his United States counterpart or the King of Saudi Arabia, who are Nigeria’s contemporaries.
Then, there was the home front to be taken care of. For that, some N2billion was devoted for the cars to ensure that the First Lady luxuriated around in optimum pleasure devoid of the impact of road craters. To ensure that the largesse went round, about 500 mint super-comfort, freshly-minted Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), were ordered from the automobile factories of Japan for members of the National Assembly.
Since then and two years on, the story has remained the same – streams of borrowings that seem to go into nothing outside pampering the palates of people in the corridors of power with Nigerians, whose children and grandchildren are supposed to repay the debts, left in the lurch, while their fortunes continue to plummet such that majority of Nigerian families now go to bed hungry.
But the scary part has just arrived the scene. Like the python that goes for bigger preys as it increases in size, Tinubu has gone for the kill! Last Tuesday, he notified Nigerians of his intention to borrow a whopping N34.15 trillion.
Naturally, he port at his usual arena – NASS, his pliable ally in the entire macabre dance. In a letter to lawmakers at the Senate and House of Representatives, he sought approval for a new external borrowing plan of over $21.5 billion, which translates to N33.39 trillion at the official exchange rate of N1,590 per dollar as well as domestic bond issuance of N757.9 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities.
Hear him: “The 2025–2026 borrowing plan covers all sectors, with specific emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth, security, and employment generation, as well as financial and monetary reforms, among others.” Now, does this not sound familiar? Was this not the same mantra Buhari sang throughout his tenure that got Nigerian into this deep morass?
We must warn from the outset that this loan is a death sentence that must not be touched with a long stick. We say so because nothing in the borrowing of the last two years indicates that Tinubu is going to deploy the proceeds to the needed areas. Nothing suggests so. Recently, Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), claimed that previous loans were shared before the got to Nigeria. Unfortunately, this is the dominant public position.
It is not surprising that the NASS appears in a haste to hit its rubberstamp on the proposal as usual. In both chambers, the matter was referred to committees dealing with the subject, with a mandate to report back in two weeks. That again bears a familiar tone. But before the gavel sounds to approve the request, the lawmakers must call the President to give a clear and comprehensive account of what he did with all the previous loans they approved for him.
The answers to this must be the cogent, verifiable and justifiable reasons for the approval or rejection of the proposal. They must also call the President to question on where the money from the removal of subsidy on petrol has also gone. Nigerians were told that the reason for the move which Tinubu announced minutes after his inauguration on May 29, 2023, for which they have been experiencing the level of deprivation, poverty and pain nobody ever thought was possible, was because funds needed to be freed to pursue massive infrastructure development in the country.
Where are those infrastructures? Has anything been added to the rail infrastructure project Buhari left behind? Have Nigerian roads become smooth and clean that NASS members no longer need SUVs to navigate them? Have Nigerian hospitals and other federal institutions acquired the needed state of the art equipment that ensures that medical tourism will be reduced and made a choice and no longer a necessity?
If these are not evident, then the proper step to take at the moment is to ask Tinubu, where is our money? This question will not be answered by pointing at the four kilometres they have done on the Lagos – Calabar super highway or the students loan initiative that is currently reeking of accusations of massive corruption. It is not about the conditional cash transfer and other claims, which Nigerians see as more audio than real. These claims are too scanty and far in-between!
We are not taking this position because we are not aware of the propensity for Tinubu to muscle his way or because we are numb to a NASS that seems sworn to live fully by its tag of rubberstamp legislature. No, we want to put it on record that we did not keep mute when things are going south. Like Peter Obi was on record for shouting when Buhari embarked on his own binge, we must shout and put it on record that this loan is another reckless attempt by Tinubu that he has completely captured Nigeria.
Let it be known that we do not support this new loan, which only result is to plunge Nigeria further into excruciating pain and unlivable condition. It is bad for the health of the nation, both now and in future and must be rejected. NASS, reject this loan request. We need not say more!
Editorial
NAFDAC’s N700,000 on Onitsha drug market traders: What manner of extortion?
Published
2 months agoon
May 26, 2025
On Friday, May 23, 2025, a video surfaced on the social media showing Martins Vincent Otse, celebrated media influencer, otherwise known as Very Dark Man (VDM), with a group of young men at the Head Bridge, Onitsha home to the popular Onitsha Drug Market, which is reputed, like its parent Onitsha Main Market, to be the largest market in Africa, to be the biggest market for all sorts of medicines in the sub-continent.
Apparently frustrated by their ugly fate in the hand of the National Agency for Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), they had reached out to Otse, who seems to have carved the niche of the voice of the powerless and oppressed in Nigeria – a clime where such voices now appear scant and far in-between even against an obviously bourgeoning sequence of official bad behaviours.
What is in issue? In February 2025, the agency had invaded the market and shut it down without warning, in one of the biggest operations of its anti-fake drug campaigns in recent years. During the operation, all the more than 5,000 shops were sealed. But intriguingly, if not strangely, the body did not only shut down the shops selling all manner of medicines, but also the ancillary markets – building materials, textiles, upholstery and all.
Expectedly, not only were the hundreds of thousands of traders directly linked to the primary trade of drugs were suddenly shut out of business but thousands more involved in support services – food vendors, hairdressers, hawkers, shoe-shiners and other artisans populating the market as the source of their daily bread, were equally denied the space.
Amid the hues and cries, Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, who had had to manage the same situation at a point when it was his remit as the Chief Executive, visited in solidarity with the traders and made a point that while it was apposite and critical for NAFDAC to carry out the operation, it must be done with human face.
For instance, he wondered what offence the ancillary agents in the market committed to warrant the closure of their businesses since they were not directly involved in the drug business, the raison d’etre for the agency’s operation, urging the body to consider the collateral damage in the number of families that could go without food, since many of them depend on daily incomes.
He argued instead that a complete closure not being the best option, the operation could go pari passu with those not in the immediate radar of the agency carrying out their businesses. But NAFDAC not only thumbed its nose at the suggestion, but had an ally in Charles Chukwuma Soludo, who rushed to Onitsha from Awka, so soon after to give fillip to its decision for the market to remain closed.
Now, it was obvious that the incumbent governor was sold to the counter arguments of the agency, one of which was that since the drug traders were hiding their fake products in the shops of the other traders in the market a total shutdown was the only option to achieving a complete cleaning up of the market and saving Nigerians from the sure death the evil traders were feeding them.
In fact, the daily reports of the seizure of fake drugs – some of them said to be some of the world’s most dangerous coupled with other eerier tales, which accentuated the cries of danger – to the extent that the suggestion of death sentence by Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of the agency was easily bought by Nigerians, not only underscored the supposedly stark realities of the situation, but swallowed the feeble voices of the traders in the market that the operation was far something else and that the world was being sold a dummy.
Now, what is the situation that brought in VDM into the picture? The traders in that video episode, revealed that NAFDAC has ordered each of them to pay a whopping N700,000 as condition precedent to reopen every shop. A quick calculation puts the total figure the agency could generate from the traders to well over N3.5billion for the 5,000 plus shops.
What is this money for? This was the question Otse asked the agency in that outing. Incidentally, not even the traders could offer any reason adduced by the regulatory body to make such a demand. To convince Nigerians that they are not lying, some of the traders, who had already paid, displayed receipts issued by the agency as proof.
Incidentally, what the world which had watched NAFDAC regale it with the terribly sordid tales of the atrocities of these evil merchants of death, is to come out with the final report of its investigation. This includes not only establishing where the truck-loads of the so-called fake drugs the excavated from these shops ended, but a disclosure of those involved.
Where are the culprits of this dangerous escapade and the drugs running into trillions of Naira, by its own admission? Three months is more than enough for NAFDAC to have broken its silence on the state of its operation. NAFDAC is not a private body as to claim that it has no obligation to make full public disclosure of its activities.
It becomes even more germane with this N700,000 revelation coming into the picture. We dare ask again, what is it for? Is it operational fee for cleaning up the market? Is it a penalty for the traders not doing the job hitherto? Is it official or the underwater deal in exchange for the traders to continue business as usual?
Well, for now, it is better to adopt the option of circumspection until NAFDAC speaks on the matter. For all anyone could tell, the traders, might just be lying or skewing the tales to suit their own purposes or undermine the reputation of the agency, which has in the past posted a stellar performance in making Nigerian health system safer.
But we demand however that this reaction must be fast and immediate. Nigerians cannot wait and silent is not golden at this time. There had been many tales from the traders imputing that the regulatory agency is not smelling roses. For instance, it has been said that the so-called seized drugs, at the right price, end up back in the hands of their original owners or resold by the operatives who seized them to willing buyers.
In fact, the so-called cleanup operation is seen in many cases as scams, staged to hoodwink the public. It has also been alleged that managers of the agency are hands and feet into the mess of fake drugs business they claim to fight against and official sleaze runs writ-large in their daily affairs.
Aside from the high level of corruption trailing the NAFDAC operation, there is also the claim in high quarters that the instant operation is decked with ethic biases and that it is part of the ethnic-targeting of the current government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Igbo people. This point was clearly made by VDM outing.
It does not lie in our mouth to disclaim or affirm either way. That burden lies with NAFDAC. Clearly, it is not a burden that will not be discharged by keeping silent. There must be clear evidence that it is neither playing hanky-panky as it is wont elsewhere nor targeting certain Nigerians. This must start with adducing cogent and verifiable reason for demanding this N700,000 from traders if actually it did so.
Gladly, those who should speak out already doing so. Tony Nwoye, Senator representing Anambra North at the National Assembly has just called out the agency on the matter, demanding not only the immediate reopening of the shops, but explanation for money, which he sees as extortion.
While we find the intervention of the Senator highly commendable, we also call on Soludo to quickly intervene in the development and ensure that there is full disclosure to ensure that the people he supervises their affairs are not cheated out of their money. As an economist and in fact former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he should know what it means for a whopping N3.5billion to leave the economy of the state, especially when it goes into private pockets unjustly. We need not say more!
News Editor:
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July 13, 2025 8:14 pm



July 13, 2025 8:14 pm

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