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Nigerians better under Tinubu – APC *No, goodies for allies only – SDP
Only those connected directly to President Bola Tinubu can boast of having the good life in Nigeria today, while the rest of the citizens are subjected to the level of suffering never witnessed in the history of the country.
This was the reality with which Adewole Adebayo, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), confronted Felix Morka, spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, after the latter, tried to paint a rosy picture of the country under the President.
Both personalities, clashed while appearing as guests on Sunday Politics, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, where they presented a diametrically-opposed picture on the reality of the country in the last three years Tinubu had been in power.
Morka, National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party, had taken his slot on the programme to eulogise Tinubu, for bringing Nigerians from their hitherto life of fakery to the reality, through his policies including removal of subsidy and floating of the national currency.
His words: “I think that Nigerians have every reason to feel more confident about their country and, therefore, more hopeful about the future, because the state of affairs in this country as of 2023 compared to today is actually like comparing night and day. As of May 2023, this country was not doing well. All of the fundamental numbers were off.
“From the exchange rates to just basic living, it was all phantom. A lot of it was phantom, and I say ‘phantom’ because it was not real because the distortions in the economy were overwhelming in every facet.
“So it’s difficult to make that comparison between 2023 and 2025 because a lot of what you had then was unreal, and that’s the distortion that this government keeps talking about.
“What this president has done since 2023 is to really tackle the root causes of all of those distortions—whether it was the fuel subsidy or whether it was the crazy arbitrage in the foreign exchange system. None of that was real.
“And so, what Nigerians are dealing with today is closer to reality. And when you plan with reality, then you are more likely to actually have outcomes and results that are more realistic, more defensible, and more promising in terms of the future.
“And today, like you said, we’ve gone from $3 billion in our foreign reserves to nearly $50 billion. That counts for something because the world is taking us more seriously today, which is why you see a lot of investment, new investment coming in, in all the sectors, whether it’s oil and gas or other sectors. People are coming in to invest because they have more confidence.”
But Adebayo, a lawyer, countered the rosy picture, inferring that the APC spokesman’s shower of praises came from the fact that he was one of the privileged enjoying Tinubu’s goodies, as his position did not reflect the reality with Nigerians.
His words: “The fact of the matter is that no one’s life is better off except those who are in government. [Even] you asking the question knows that your life is no better off in terms of all the economic indicators. I know that my life is not better off, and those of my neighbours are not better off.
“But I want us to understand something clearly, which is going to give us context so that Mr Morka, or anyone who’s participating in this conversation, will not have a they-versus-us mentality. Let us agree on three fundamental principles.
“That four years ago or three years ago, 2023 that we’re talking about, all the grim pictures and the bleak statistics that Mr Morka referred to were grim pictures and horror movies — they were written after eight years of APC in government.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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