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Nigeria dying under Buhari’s jackboot

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Tunde Odesola

Once upon a Babel, there was a tower that reached to the heavens. Like Nigeria, Babel was a country that thrived on visionless tyranny, but eventually fell off the global map into extinction. For Babel to disintegrate, the country’s tongue lost the unifying power of communication and the falcon no longer heard the falconer.

Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, who built the all-saving Ark, led the construction of the all-destructive Tower. Sometimes, a prodigal son trashes excellent heritage by burning the tree of inheritance. Located in present-day Iraq, the remains of Babel ruled by Nimrod, a mighty hunter, fascist and narcissist, have become critical references in archeological studies and political misrule.

Babel shares a few disturbing traits with Nigeria. Like Babel, Nigeria, under Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), appears irreversibly committed to self-death, yet hounding all voices of reason pleading soul-searching and repentance from the sworn path of doom.

The breakdown of communication in Nigeria, as it was in Babel, is on three levels. They include intra-government level, government-citizen level and government-government level. Instructively, however, extreme leadership failure is the dagger to the heart of Nigeria’s communication breakdown and the harbinger of the accompanying hardship on the citizenry – just as it was in Babel.

The breakdown in intra-government communication is evident in the senseless wars that have rocked the Muhammadu Buhari nepotistic administration. They include the shameful combat between Buhari’s late relative and Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; the insult by Okija Shrine client and Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of Bullion Van fame and his failed Kogi governorship hopeful godson, James Faleke; Inspector General of Police, Muhammamed Adamu vs the Chairman, Nigeria Police Service Commission, Musliu Smith; disgraced Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu vs Department of State Service; Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami vs Magu; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu vs the late Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru.

Within the mismanaged Buhari government, sacked National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole and Ngige the giant, assaulted Nigerians with individual public hubris. In line with the chauvinistic body language of the Buhari administration which limits women to ‘the kitchen and the other room’, the intra-government war within the Buhari rulership is clearly no respecter of women as the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the Minister of Communication, Ali Pantami, used armed men to chase her and her staff out of the office space given to her commission. The list of intra-government insurgencies in Buhari’s confused government is endless but I’ll limit myself to the above-mentioned examples in the spirit of fairness as I ask a simple question: Are all these fights in the interest of the nation or the pocket?

Communication breakdown on government-citizen level is the government’s unheeding of the daily lamentations of anarchy, starvation, diseases, poverty, insecurity and hopelessness by millions of citizens who regret the country’s political leadership and wished they were citizens of other countries where leadership is meaningful. It’s also the agony of thousands of citizens who’ve lost their loved ones to killer Fulani herdsmen, murdering Boko Haram and terminator kidnappers and bandits who daily paint the country with the blood of innocent souls while the Buhari government folds its arms akimbo and lounges on the throne with legs crossed in indifferent majesty.

The Buhari-led APC government is light years away from ordinary citizens. It’s not close to influential citizens, either. The government is just stranded in a world of its own do-nothing.

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, grabbed his fertile pen last week and warned that Nigeria was fast sailing to the cliff of extinction. For the first time in the foreseeable past, Soyinka publicly agreed with former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the perilous direction of the Nigerian ship.

In a frightening depiction entitled, “Between ‘Dividers-in-Chief’ and Dividers-in-Law,” Soyinka said, “We are close to extinction as a viable comity of peoples…On Africa Day, May 2019, organised by Union Bank of Africa, I similarly seized an opening to direct the attention of this government to warnings by the Ota farmer over the self-destruct turn that the nation had taken, urged the wisdom of heeding the message even while remaining chary of the messenger.

“That advice appears to have fallen on deaf ears. In place of reasoned response and openness to some serious dialogue, what this nation has been obliged to endure has been insolent distractions from garrulous and coarsened functionaries, apologists and sectarian opportunists.

“This nation is divided as never before, and this ripping division has taken place under the policies and conduct of none other than President Buhari…Does anyone deny that it was this president who went to sleep while communities were consistently ravaged by cattle marauders, were raped and displaced in their thousands and turned into beggars all over the landscape?”

Soyinka went on to bemoan the suffering of pensioners, numberless Benue farmers slaughtered by suspected Fulani herdsmen, army of jobless Nigerian youths, age-long corruption in the petroleum ministry headed by Buhari in military khaki and the lopsided unitary system of government being deliberately practised by the country.

For a global literary colossus of Soyinka’s stature, preemptive intuition should be a given. Having been in the vanguard of social re-engineering struggle for 70 years, Soyinka perfectly preempted the unintelligent response of the Buhari administration to his admonition. He said, “The rains did not just begin to beat us yesterday in the nation… Past leaders will not be permitted to forget or gloss over own self-centered interests and nation corrosive lapses that brought us to this parlous present.

“But we do endure in this here and now, in the immediacy of current governance, so let no uppity flunkey attempt to divert attention from current realities, realities that now clearly pronounce this nation of once promising prospects a basket case of abject penury and insecurity, where hordes of trained minds and sturdy limbs roam the streets as beggars, as haphazard vendors of the products of other people, other lands.”

By his response to Soyinka’s advice, Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, is a perfect fit for the uppity flunkey character described by the octogenarian. And uppity flunkey means arrogant uniform-wearing manservant.

In his characteristically insulting reply to the myriad of cracks identified by Soyinka on Nigeria’s famished geography but which Buhari has widened into abysses, Adesina said Buhari inherited a ‘terribly’ divided Nigeria from Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, adding that there was nothing special about Soyinka’s warning.

If a terribly divided country was truly inherited from Jonathan, Buhari’s misgovernance has terribly shattered the delicate egg of the Nigerian nation into smithereens. If Buhari reads the news and has answers to Nigeria’s problems, he would’ve long known he doesn’t need uppity flunkeys like Adesina around him. Unfortunately, however, the delusive Adesina probably knows far too much than Buhari in everything except cocking a gun and herding.

Last but not least level of communication breakdown inherent in the Babel and Buhari governments is the government-to-government communication breakdown. The inability of the Buhari regime to get repatriated former public officers, who stole billions during the Jonathan years and fled abroad, is a telling indictment on the ability of the Daura leader to communicate the goals of his government to other world leaders.

Also, Buhari’s reaction to the visa ban imposed by the US and the UK on perpetrators of violence during the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections exposes the mouth of a crying government in diapers. If democracy had been improved by a grain in the last five years of the Buhari leadership, the US and UK needn’t hold up the cane of visa ban.

Make no mistake, countrymen, I hear deep snoring from the cockpit of the green-white-green plane on auto-pilot. The signs are ominous.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Politics

A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership. By George Omagbemi Sylvester

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A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership. By George Omagbemi Sylvester

A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester

In a disturbing revelation that should outrage every patriotic Nigerian, civic-tech organization BudgIT has uncovered a monumental financial scandal in the 2025 budget, one that shatters every illusion of fiscal responsibility under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. According to BudgIT’s damning analysis, the National Assembly padded the 2025 Appropriation Act by inserting 11,122 projects worth a staggering ₦6.93 trillion, projects not proposed by any Ministries, Departments or Agencies (MDAs), but smuggled in by lawmakers.

 

This is not a clerical oversight, but a calculated and treacherous move. More importantly, this raises one inescapable question: Why did President Bola Tinubu sign this fraudulent budget into law if he was genuinely against it? The answer is simple, brutal and damning: because he is part of the collaboration. This is not just corruption, it is institutional betrayal. It is the final confirmation that the war in Nigeria is not between political parties but between the corrupt elite and the suffering Nigerian masses.

The Anatomy of Budget Padding
Let us first understand the scale of this treachery. The 2025 national budget, totalling ₦28.7 trillion, now has nearly 25% padded content, courtesy of lawmakers’ “constituency projects.” These are not national priorities or economically strategic programs. These are politically motivated insertions designed to enrich contractors linked to lawmakers, reward political loyalty and in some cases, simply launder money.

BudgIT revealed that several of these projects are duplicated, vague, inflated or outrightly useless, such as the procurement of hundreds of boreholes and solar streetlights in areas that do not even have roads, schools or hospitals. These are not investments; they are tools of financial cannibalism.

A similar trend happened in previous years, but never on this scale. In 2021, former President Buhari complained that the National Assembly inserted over 1,000 projects worth ₦150 billion. Now, under Tinubu, that figure has ballooned to ₦6.93 trillion; which is nearly forty-six times higher. This is not reform. This is regression at gunpoint.

Tinubu’s Silence is Complicity
To sign such a budget, fully aware of its fraudulent padding, is not a mistake, this is an endorsement. President Tinubu, known for his political astuteness and Machiavellian tactics, cannot claim ignorance. BudgIT’s report was based on public records. If civic groups could uncover this, then surely the Office of the President, with all its resources, was also aware.

Yet, Tinubu raised no alarm. He signed it into law. Why?

Because the padding was politically convenient. This budget is not just a fiscal document, it is a loyalty purchase agreement. As the APC seeks to consolidate power ahead of 2027, especially in light of its underwhelming performance, it is using state resources to bribe lawmakers across party lines. These padded projects are political IOUs for securing second-term endorsements and collapsing opposition platforms.

This is not democratic governance. This is budgetary banditry, orchestrated under the guise of legislative “oversight.”

The Cost to the People


While the so-called leaders gorge themselves on fake projects and fraudulent allocations, ordinary Nigerians are gasping for breath. Inflation is above 33%, food inflation is at 40%, unemployment remains sky-high and naira continues to hemorrhage value, trading at nearly ₦1,500 to the dollar. Meanwhile, the masses are told to “tighten their belts” while the political elite expands theirs.

Public infrastructure is collapsing. Schools remain underfunded, hospitals are glorified mortuaries and insecurity has become a permanent fixture. Yet ₦6.93 trillion enough to build 20 world-class universities or electrify entire regions has been carved out as a political slush fund.

Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education and former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, once noted, “The problem with Nigeria is not lack of resources. It is the deliberate theft of the commonwealth by a few.” That is exactly what this budget represents: a theft of historic proportions, blessed by the presidency, executed by lawmakers and paid for by the blood and sweat of ordinary Nigerians.

A Nation Held Hostage
The fundamental betrayal here is not just the money. It is the normalization of impunity. Nigeria has become a hostage state where lawmakers legislate for themselves, the executive protects the corrupt and the judiciary often dances to the tune of power. The 2025 budget saga is not just another scandal, it is a window into how deeply broken the Nigerian state has become.

Even worse is the sheer arrogance with which this fraud is being executed. No lawmaker has denied BudgIT’s report. No investigation has been ordered. The Presidency has remained silent and the APC, whose manifesto once promised “fiscal discipline,” has said nothing.

Silence is not just death anymore, it is endorsement. Every day this padded budget stands unchallenged, democracy dies a little more.

Calls for Action
This cannot be allowed to stand. Civil society must rise. Journalists must demand answers. Every Nigerian must understand that this is not politics this is plunder. The 2025 budget must be reviewed, the padded projects must be removed and those responsible must face prosecution.

Section 81(1) of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the President to prepare and lay before the National Assembly an annual budget. However, it also states in Section 80(4) that “no moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund other than in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” This legal ambiguity has been weaponized by both the legislature and the executive to enrich themselves while the nation bleeds.

This is where the people must draw the line. Budget padding is not just bad governance, it is treason against the Nigerian people. Those who participate in it, approve it or benefit from it must be named, shamed and prosecuted.

Final Thoughts: Time for a Revolution of Accountability
The time for timid reform is over. Nigeria needs a revolution not of guns, but of accountability, transparency and civic outrage. If the President will not fight corruption, then the people must. If lawmakers will not serve the people, they must be voted out even if it means starting from scratch.

History will not be kind to the collaborators of this budget. And neither should we.

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The 2025 budget scandal matters. It is a defining moment in the fight for Nigeria’s soul. And we must not remain silent.

A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester

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One Voice, One Future: Youth Power for a New Nigeria

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One Voice, One Future: Youth Power for a New Nigeria

By George Omagbemi Sylvester

In the history of nations, there always comes a defining moment when the youth must rise to rescue their future from the grip of complacency, corruption and systemic decay. That moment, for Nigeria, is now. The clarion call is no longer a whisper in the dark, it is a deafening roar echoing across the cities and villages, the streets and campuses and the diaspora. 2027 is not just another election year; it is a generation’s opportunity to reclaim its destiny.

Nigeria, once hailed as the Giant of Africa, is now crawling under the weight of failed leadership, nepotism, economic collapse and insecurity. Over 70% of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 35, this is not a mere statistic; it is a superpower waiting to be activated. Yet, for decades, the same recycled leadership has ruled the country like a private estate, while the youth are sidelined, patronized or pacified with empty slogans.

The Reality: A Nation Betrayed
The facts are brutal and undeniable. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the fourth quarter of 2024, youth unemployment stood at 42.5%, one of the highest rates globally. Thousands of graduates are turned out yearly into a job market that has nothing to offer them. Our educational institutions are underfunded, with lecturers going on endless strikes, while billions of naira are siphoned into the offshore accounts of corrupt politicians.

The World Bank states that over 40% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, with youth bearing the brunt of the economic despair. The same youth are used during elections as pawns, thugs, online propagandists and cheerleaders for politicians who have never and will never fight for their future.

We must say: “Enough is Enough.”

The Power of Youth: A Sleeping Giant
Across Africa, the story is changing. Youth-led movements are challenging old orders and shaking the foundations of outdated governance systems.

In Uganda, Bobi Wine, a musician turned politician, galvanized millions of youth to challenge President Museveni’s long-standing dictatorship. While he didn’t win the election, he ignited a flame of hope. In Sudan, youth were at the center of the 2019 revolution that ousted the 30-year regime of Omar al-Bashir.

As Nelson Mandela once said, “Youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” But as things stand in Nigeria, tomorrow never seems to come, unless we seize it.

In 2020, during the #EndSARS movement, we saw a glimpse of what a united, tech savvy and courageous Nigerian youth can achieve. For once, the world stood still as Nigerian youth organized without a central leadership structure, crowd funded, coordinated logistics, engaged in civic education and peacefully demanded justice. Despite the violent crackdown at Lekki Tollgate, the spirit of resistance lives on.

2027: The Youth Mandate
If we are serious about change, then 2027 must be our electoral revolution. Not through violence, but through strategic mobilization, political education, voter registration and active participation in the democratic process.

Let us be clear: the days of apathy are over. As the African proverb goes, “He who is not part of the solution is part of the problem.”

Youth must no longer be mere spectators or online critics; we must become candidates, campaigners, policy drafters, party leaders, election monitors and political donors. Our demographic power must translate into voting power and our voting power must produce accountable leadership.

According to INEC, less than 35% of youth eligible to vote actually did so in the 2023 elections. This is a travesty. With over 90 million Nigerians under 40, if even 50% of us vote smartly and strategically in 2027, we can turn the tide.

Towards a National Youth Alliance
What we need now is not another party, we need a movement, a coalition, a National Youth Alliance that transcends ethnicity, religion and class.

A youth amalgamation that brings together student unions, tech entrepreneurs, young professionals, artisans, artists, athletes, activists and influencers. A youth vanguard that builds structures, fields candidates, protects votes and holds leaders accountable.

We must engage in issue based politics, not stomach infrastructure or tribal loyalties. The youth must demand answers to the questions that matter:

“Why are over 10 million Nigerian children out of school?”

“Why does Nigeria remain the poverty capital of the world, according to the Brookings Institution?”

“Why is our minimum wage ₦70,000 when a bag of rice is over ₦70,000?”

“Why are lawmakers earning ₦30 million monthly while civil servants are owed arrears?”

The late Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, once said, “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” We need a bit of that madness, the madness to challenge the status quo, to think differently and to act boldly.

From Hashtags to Ballot Boxes
It is not enough to trend on Twitter or rant on TikTok, social media is powerful, yes I agree, but it is not a substitute for civic engagement; we need to bridge the gap between online activism and offline results.

Youths must start at the grassroots to win local government seats, state assemblies and build a pipeline of leadership that is tested and accountable. The #NotTooYoungToRun Act must not be a symbolic victory; it must be a political weapon in our hands.

Let us support credible youth candidates with our time, resources and platforms. Let us organize town hall meetings, debates and policy hackathons. Let us raise funds, build apps to track campaign promises and expose corrupt leaders.

As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “When we refuse to engage in politics, we end up being governed by our inferiors.”

Time for Tangible Action
It is time for each Nigerian youth to ask themselves: What am I doing today to secure my tomorrow? Are we registering to vote? Are we sensitizing our peers? Are we demanding better governance at the community level?

We must begin to think long term, beyond 2027. The goal is not just to elect a few fresh faces. The goal is to build a sustainable youth-driven democratic culture where excellence not ethnicity, becomes the metric of leadership.

Let us stop romanticizing suffering. Nigeria has the talent, the resources and the manpower to be great. What we lack is visionary leadership and that is what we must now provide.

Final Words: A Movement, not a Moment
This is a movement, not a moment. It will require sacrifice, unity and strategy. There will be obstacles, betrayals and frustrations. But we must remain focused.

As the Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah declared: “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.” Likewise, any victory in 2027 will be meaningless unless it sets off a chain reaction of liberation, innovation and transformation across all levels of Nigerian society.

So, dear patriotic Nigerian youth; RISE! This is your time… Your country needs you more than ever.

Don’t wait for change, be the change.

Together, we can make a difference.

#YouthFor2027 #NationalAllianceNow #SecureTheFuture #NigeriaDeservesBetter

One Voice, One Future: Youth Power for a New Nigeria
By George Omagbemi Sylvester

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2027 Power Pact? Atiku Offers Peter Obi VP Slot in One-Term Deal Amid Mega Coalition Talks

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2027 Power Pact? Atiku Offers Peter Obi VP Slot in One-Term Deal Amid Mega Coalition Talks

2027 Power Pact? Atiku Offers Peter Obi VP Slot in One-Term Deal Amid Mega Coalition Talks

 

There are strong indications that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar may have proposed a single-term presidency deal to Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, in a move aimed at unifying the opposition ahead of the 2027 general election.

According to multiple high-level sources involved in the coalition negotiations, who requested anonymity, the offer was first tabled during a discreet meeting between Atiku and Obi in the United Kingdom earlier this year. Atiku reportedly pledged to serve only one four-year term and hand over to Obi in 2031—a strategic rotation aimed at strengthening opposition unity and appeasing both leaders’ support bases.

The former Anambra State governor, who served as Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 presidential race under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is said to have tentatively accepted the proposal. However, he is currently consulting with his inner circle and political loyalists before making any formal announcement.

This development comes nearly two months after Atiku, Obi, former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, and other political stakeholders publicly declared plans to form a coalition to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027. The March 20 coalition announcement in Abuja sparked widespread debate and raised hopes for an opposition merger capable of ending APC’s dominance.

Sources say discussions have moved beyond exploratory talks to active alignment of strategies, with plans to sign a formal agreement. “Atiku and Obi met earlier in the UK where Atiku suggested the coalition idea and asked Obi to be his running mate,” said a party insider. “Obi asked for time to consult his people, and recent developments indicate he has agreed.”

There are also discussions about the political platform the Atiku-Obi ticket might run on, given the internal crises currently plaguing both the PDP and LP. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has emerged as a strong contender, with several coalition loyalists reportedly engaging with the party’s leadership or quietly switching affiliations.

A source familiar with the talks explained: “The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was an option, but it’s believed that the APC has already infiltrated it. The ADC, on the other hand, is gaining momentum, with many stakeholders aligning behind its vision for a mega political platform.”

When contacted, Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, did not confirm the specifics of the agreement but acknowledged ongoing coalition talks. “What I can tell you is that both Atiku and Obi are focused on building a broad-based coalition capable of unseating the APC in 2027,” he said.

Obi’s camp has remained tight-lipped on the alleged deal. Peter Ahmeh, a close ally of Obi and National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties, avoided confirming the VP offer but noted Obi is actively working to resolve the LP’s internal disputes.

The National Coordinator of the Obedient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, dismissed reports of an Atiku-Obi joint ticket, saying: “As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing of this nature currently on the table. Obi has not discussed anything of the sort with me.”

ADC National Chairman Ralph Nwosu confirmed his party is in contact with all major opposition stakeholders and hinted at a major announcement soon. “The ADC is committed to building a mega African political party,” he said. “We’ve engaged with all key players and even government officials. The project is beyond Nigeria—it’s about rescuing Africa through credible leadership.”

As the political landscape begins to shift, Nigerians are watching closely. If sealed, an Atiku-Obi alliance under a united banner could reshape the dynamics of the 2027 election and pose the most formidable challenge yet to the APC’s reign.

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