BY BRIGHT JACOB
A frontline politician from Edo State, Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, has told The Point that the gesture of the Buhari administration to approve the purchase of 10 Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs worth about N1.145bn for the Government of neighbouring Niger Republic was not only indefensible but akin to “a man without male genital helping another man with low sperm count to bear children.”
Reports had been rife about the purported purchase of some vehicles by the Federal Government to the Nigerien government after an investigative journalist and social media influencer, David Hundeyin, released documents which showed that the Federal Government had approved the release of funds for the vehicles on February 22, 2022.
Thus, after last week’s Federal Executive Council Meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, was asked about the purchase and she said Nigeria had a policy of assisting its neighbours to strengthen their capacity to deal with insecurity which rubs off on Nigeria positively, and the President had as much right to assess security situations and take appropriate decisions as Nigerians question the rationale behind the purchase.
Ahmed said, “Let me just say that, over time, Nigeria has had to support its neighbours, especially immediate neighbours, to enhance their capacity to secure their countries as it relates to us.
“This is not the first time that Nigeria has supported Niger, Cameroon or Chad, and the President makes an assessment as to what is required, based on the request of their president and such requests are approved and the interventions provided is to enhance their capacity to protect their own territory as it relates to security also to Nigeria.
“Nigerians have a right to ask questions, but also the President has a responsibility to make an assessment of what is in the best interests of the country. And I cannot question that decision.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, also told newsmen after the FEC meeting that the government had approved the sum of N2.68bn for the purchase of Utility Vehicles for use by security agencies in the FCT to fight insecurity.
Reacting to the action of the Government, Ogbeide, who is a grassroots politician expressed shock how, according to him, a collapsing economy like Nigeria’s could put taxpayers’ money into another country whose economy was doing relatively better than hers.
Also, while answering questions on the justification or otherwise of the reported purchase, Ogbeide stated that the Federal Government keeps “going lower and lower in the minds of the people” because of such decisions.
“Can a man without male genitals give assistance to a man with low sperm count on how to have children? That’s exactly what’s going on. The man who suddenly has no genitals is giving advice and suggestions to the one who has, but has low sperm count.
“You see, the government keeps going lower and lower in the minds of the people by the day because of these unreasonable decisions.
“You just asked me whether it is justified….that question alone is annoying, sorry to say. How on earth can we put our resources together, taxpayers’ money, into a nation where its economy is working?
“The Nigerian economy today is collapsing, we are not even in a recession, we have been in a depression,” Ogbeide said.
Shedding more light, Ogbeide said the nation’s depleting Excess Crude Account and the lingering strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities since February should have been reasons why the Federal Government shouldn’t take away billions of naira in the procurement of vehicles to the Nigeriens, who were “doing better than us, by every standard of security.”
His words: “Our Excess Crude Account that used to be in the billions of dollars now is in the thousands of dollars. Our foreign reserve has dropped to a mere $15m.
“Our lecturers have been on strike since February, children have been on strike because of the demand of lecturers to have a better university education system, to have a conducive environment for students to learn.
“And now our government….they took away billions of naira in the procurement of vehicles, the type we do not have to fight insecurity with, the kind our military does not have to fight our own lingering insecurity…we gave it to the Nigerian, who by every standard of security are doing better than us,” he told our correspondent.
“Can a man without male genitals give assistance to a man with low sperm count on how to have children? That’s exactly what’s going on. The man who suddenly has no genitals is giving advice and suggestions to the one who has, but has low sperm count”
Ogbeide also juxtaposed the security situation in Nigeria with that of Niger Republic when he said, “They are not having issues about their citizens being unable to travel by road. They’re not having issues about their citizens being unable to travel by train or having their children among people kidnapped.
“They’re not having issues about bandits invading airports like they (bandits) are doing to us. They’re not having the convoy of their President being attacked back-to-back like it was done to us. They’re not having their military being slaughtered like they’re doing to ours.
“They’re also not having their citizens in total despair like we have for ours and the money that we gave out would have been used to solve some of our (domestic) problems,” he said.
Speaking further, Ogbeide once again buttressed his arguments with the over five months ASUU strike and submitted that had the President given the amount “wasted” in purchasing SUVs for the Niger government to ASUU, Nigerians would have pressured the university lecturers to call off their strike.
Furthermore, he said contrary to popular opinion, restructuring wasn’t the problem of Nigeria, but leadership, and it was its deficiency that placed Nigeria on the bottom of the totem pole, and made Nigeria insignificant among member nations in the African sub-region.
Ogbeide also bemoaned the “setback” a lack of leadership had foisted on the nation, and said the attempt by the Buhari-led Federal Government to defend the N1.145bn spent on the SUVs was “shameful” and got him “upset”.
“The money we gave…you see, that’s the “trouble” with ASUU who are asking for better funding. Are you trying to say that if this money that was wasted and given to the Nigerien was given to ASUU, you think Nigerians wouldn’t have pressured them to call off their strike?
“It’s insane that we are having this kind of conversation about the country, and leadership, in my view, is the problem about Nigeria. It has never been…yes, we may have disagreed on restructuring, but the problem is not restructuring. The problem is leadership.
“This is why even in the African sub region, Nigeria is no longer respected. We are completely at the bottom of the totem pole.
“We are having foreigners troop to Ghana, troop to Cameroon, Troop to Sierra Leone…even by Nigerians. It’s a shame.
“I listened to the shameful defence of the Minister and I was so upset that I didn’t want to listen to her again,” Ogbeide declared.
On the Nigerians who alleged that there was more to the government’s gesture towards Niger Republic than meet the eyes, considering the fact that the Federal Government had earlier constructed a rail line from Nigeria to Niger Republic, Ogbeide said they may be right as the President could be looking for a safe haven to run to as his tenure approaches its twilight, and putting into perspective terrorists’ threat to abduct him and Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, such allegations would hold water.
Ogbeide also said that allegations that Buhari was from Niger Republic may not be far-fetched as it was likely the President was “doing his best for his people, and for his hometown” where he would go back to.
The People’s Democratic Party stalwart who is supporting the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, in the presidential election next year added that the level of insecurity in Katsina State was very perilous and the President was yet to do anything for the state to address the situation.
“I don’t blame those in the school of thought who claim there’s more to the vehicle donation than meets the eye because the President had been threatened by bandits he’d be kidnapped, and so too the Governor of Kaduna State.
“So, I strongly doubt if President Buhari will have the boldness to go back to Daura in Katsina State, where he’s from after his retirement from the Presidency.
“I hold this view that he is trying to assist the Nigerien because that’s where he’s going to end up going.
“And there are many allegations that that is where he’s actually from, and the man is just ‘doing his best for his people, and for his hometown, because that’s where he’s going to go to at the end of the day because there’s a level of security in Niger like they don’t have here or like he doesn’t have in Katsina.
“There are Local Government Areas in Katsina State that have been under the leadership of the bandits. The Governor of Katsina State has wailed and wailed through the years about insecurity, but has our President been about to secure his own State? It is shameful,” he lamented.
Whether the action of the president was one more ground for impeachment after some minority lawmakers in the National Assembly earlier threatened impeachment and handed him a six-week ultimatum to address the insecurity in the country, Ogbeide said the impeachment of President Buhari was long overdue.
According to him, the constitution made it clear that a president could be impeached when he is incapacitated and unable to perform his duties. Ogbeide noted that it was obvious the president could not secure the lives of or protect the interests of Nigerians any longer.
He added the country was collapsing and the president was not “even aware of what is happening.”
He also called on the National Assembly to “understand the ethos of their job” and mooted the idea that it was time Nigerians put pressure on lawmakers to impeach the president.
“I think if we really had legislators worth their salt, legislators who understood the ethos of their job, by now Buhari would not be president, and I strongly would advise that Nigerians put pressure on the National Assembly to impeach the president,” he opined.
