₦airaland Forum

FG want to give me a ₦10m loan that I will repay over 4 years or so to help my life. Meanwhile, I have a remnant of about ₦8.8m as the unpaid Earned Academic Allowance that is with the FG. I have about 3 and a half months' withheld salary, which is about ₦1.3m, with the FG. I have unpaid promotion arrears from 2017 to 2023 that I don't even know the amount and it's with the FG. There were other arrears that they deliberately refused to pay to university workers. If FG should pay me this money, which is even more than the ₦10m, I do not need their ₦10m loan. AbdelGhaffar Amoka

Al-Hassan Al-Basrī رحمه اللّٰه:

"Nothing in voluntary acts of worship compares to kindness to one's parents, not Hajj, nor Jihād."

[Adab Al-Hasan Al-Basri Dar An-Nawadir (p133) Trans: Abu Maryam]

Refinery said supply of substandard equipment was a deliberate attempt at sabotage, you're on NL arguing otherwise

BlueRayDick:
Let me just tell u straight right now ; If u want to have a discussion please stay and have a discussion like a man but if don't want to,kindly 4ck off!

You are in the habit of starting a discussion and when u can't keep up u run off either claiming u don't have strength to argue or saying the other party is arguing for argument sake.


Back to the Dangote Refinery delay-in-startup issue. You claimed Ur acquaintance told u theft, misappropriation of funds and employees supplying substandard equipment led to the delay.

For starters I hope u know what U claimed Dangote said in his statement today is Fauty equipment which is not one and same with substandard equipment. Let's even leave that aside.

My argument was that Dangote as a conglomerate deals with top engineering companies and it is highly unlikely they will be procuring substandard equipment. I went back and forth with Izzou and GloriousGbola on this insisting on my doubt about Ur claim. Glorious made a strong point talking about Dangote entering a new market being a factor and I reasoned with that viewpoint.

I know u are itching to link all of this up with that Ur "sabotage" story, but this is clearly a failure contractual liability. The fact that Dangote is not mentioning the company's name shows he has been duly compensated either by the vendor or their insurers.


I would not have responded to u but this Ur believe that someone argues to sound contrarian, please miss me with that bullshiiiit abeg!

Do u see me put mouth when people discuss American politics? Do u see me put mouth when people discuss sports like Boxing and Basketball which I don't have an idea of? There are are several discussions I sit out either out of lack of interest of because because I prefer to listen to other people's opinions/experience.

I expressed my doubt about Ur acquaintance's claim that day because I know the standard that is obtainable and expected in the space Dangote Refinery operates.

Rattled, eh?
Dangote said the act was deliberate
Here is the link to the man's speech:

We bought over 2,700 hectares of land, which is 7 times the size of Victoria Island in Lagos. One prominent company, which I should not name, supplied us with faulty equipment, which I believe was intentional and set us back two years in starting the refinery.

- Aliko Dangote… pic.twitter.com/ipv7Jx0SRS

— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) July 22, 2025

Seun unban this post if the bot hides it

Amoto94:
An acquaintance who is working with Dangote Refinery said that some of the employees were sabotaging the man's efforts by stealing equipments, supplying substandard products, and financial misappropriation were rampant these were the reasons for the delays and setbacks

This was my initial post that supply of substandard equipment lead to delays among other things you countered despite the fact that uncle Gloriousgbola citing his experience, you said it's unbelievable, now Dangote has confirmed the same thing I said you don't want to accept the fact that you goofed?
We are here to learn from each other; there are things I don't know I won't argue about it just to sound contrarian or logical

BlueRayDick:
Go and read Ur initial post I responded to and read what U posted as credited to Dangote. Then read my post u quoted again.

If u want us to go over it all over again from start, I will be here waiting.

I no get strength to argue with you. I mentioned how supply of faulty equipment among other things lead to substantial delay in project completion you countered that it was not possible, now that the owner of the refinery has come out to confirmed my tidbits you are asking to go back to your post.

Now that Dangote has confirmed what I mentioned sometime ago about faulty equipment leading to delays in project completion, now who lied

BlueRayDick:
I doubt ur acquaintance is right on this .

In the oil and gas industry , most if not all of the equipment are imported from abroad . How will employees import substandard products/ equipment when they have the mandate to buy from international suppliers of repute ?

They will get proforma invoice from the manufactures , open form M, LC’s , have their banks and the suppliers banks sort out payment terms and all. All of these processes have control. Some of those equipment even pass through SON ( standard organization of Nigeria ) .

If they were buying from local market, I would agree with this line of thought. Those international suppliers they purchase from abroad have a reputation to uphold .

The fact that Dangote actually uses Indians as top management staff makes this line of thought kinda unbelievable. Those Indians will fire anybody that appears incompetent or becomes a liability in the team without bating an eyelid

We bought over 2,700 hectares of land, which is 7 times the size of Victoria Island in Lagos. One prominent company, which I should not name, supplied us with faulty equipment, which I believe was intentional and set us back two years in starting the refinery.

- Aliko Dangote said today at ongoing Global Commodity Insights Conference on West African Refined Fuel Markets.

ON Buhari: Final
Charles Chidi Achodo

Legacy of Contradicting Public Perception:

President Buhari’s legacy is a complex and contested one. To his supporters, he will be remembered for his personal integrity, anti-corruption stance, and infrastructural investments in roads, railways, and power.

Yet, for a growing majority, his presidency is viewed as a missed opportunity—a tenure marked by economic decline, rising insecurity, poor governance, and the erosion of civic trust.

His administration saw Nigeria’s GDP contract, unemployment and inflation soar, the Naira collapse, and public debt explode. Youth disenchantment reached new heights, and once hopeful citizens increasingly turned to migration, protests, or extremism.

While some praise his integrity, infrastructural focus, and anti-corruption stance, critics argue that his leadership style was aloof, disconnected, and economically regressive.

That his tenure saw Nigeria’s potential stifled by misgovernance, insecurity, and economic hardships. To these Nigerians, Buhari will be remembered as a man who inspired hope in 2015 but struggled to translate that hope into transformative, inclusive progress.

To critically assess President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, one must also consider the exceptionally difficult context that confronted him upon assuming office in 2015.

His supporters are quick to point out that Buhari inherited a fragile economy, riddled with structural vulnerabilities and compounded by an immediate crash in global oil prices—from over $100 per barrel to under $40, alongside a drastic decline in oil production to just 700,000 barrels per day due to renewed militancy in the Niger Delta.

This same context existed when he came in as a military head of state in 1983 - dried up external reserve, skyrocketing external debt and crushing debt/service ratio and a crash of oil price from 45 dollars/b to 8 dollars/b. Some say it is an unfortunate curse to always assume office in the worst of economic downturn! Jixed maybe?

In a rentier economy like Nigeria’s—heavily dependent on oil revenues—such shocks had catastrophic implications for budget planning, foreign exchange stability, and public investment.

Thus, many of Buhari’s policy responses, his defenders argue, were made under tight fiscal constraints and institutional fragility along external shocks outside his control.

Moreover, much of what he attempted—particularly in anti-corruption, infrastructure development, and social investment—required deep structural reforms and time, the results of which may not be immediately visible within an eight-year tenure.

Initiatives like the Treasury Single Account (TSA), IPPIS, NLNG Train 7, and the AKK pipeline are cited as examples of long-term investments that required strategic patience and discipline.

The Health Factor:

An often-understated issue was the president’s recurring ill health, which led to multiple extended medical leaves in the United Kingdom. At times, this created governance vacuums and slowed down policy momentum. Nevertheless, his supporters describe his persistence despite frailty as evidence of personal courage and commitment. For a man in his seventies, with a serious health challenge, to continue steering the affairs of a deeply divided and complex country like Nigeria, is seen as a mark of patriotic resilience.

On Allegations of Religious Bias and Islamization:

Buhari’s tenure also attracted significant criticism over allegations of religious fundamentalism and Islamization agendas—claims that were widely amplified on social media and political platforms. Accusations ranged from bias in appointments, to complicity in the farmer-herder conflict, to attempts to muzzle Christian voices.

However, his defenders argue that such claims are exaggerated, politically motivated, or outright false.

While his administration certainly struggled with ethno-religious balancing, particularly in federal appointments, there is little credible evidence to support the notion of a deliberate, state-led Islamization campaign.

To many, these narratives are politically charged and reductionist, ignoring the complexities of security dynamics and governance trade-offs in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic state.

Supporters often point to Buhari’s reputation for personal discipline, his known distaste for ostentatious religious displays, and the fact that many Christian leaders held significant posts under his administration.

The use of divisive rhetoric around religion and ethnicity, they argue, may have distracted from more valid critiques—such as issues of weak governance, poor economic management, and lack of accountability.

President Buhari's legacy, therefore, is one that defies easy categorization. His presidency oscillated between commendable intentions and controversial implementations, between stability and stagnation, between personal integrity and institutional dysfunction.

While many of his critics see a missed opportunity, his supporters see a leader constrained by history, health, and hostile conditions—yet determined to do what he could, however limited.

In the final analysis, Buhari will be remembered as a man who symbolized hope and discipline, but whose administration often struggled to deliver transformation at scale. For every justified criticism, there remains a context that explains—though not always excuses—the outcome.

donjazzet:
I like the discourse on Twitter right now about the privilege of the political elite and billionaires.
Anything that leads to better class consciousness is a positive for the society.

The lesson her is; don’t let anyone sell you tales of wars they won without telling you the weapons they had as well.

Many also have the weapons but couldn't win a single battle. In fact coming from a privileged background can oftentimes serve as demotivation because you'll always feel like I have a fallback plan and not go all in to achieve your goals.

Greg Isenberg wrote:
cloudflare just BROKE the internet's business model. they launched "pay per crawl" websites can now charge ai crawlers for scraping content. instead of "block all bots" or "let them steal everything," there's option 3: "pay me."

why this is a BIG DEAL:

every SaaS has valuable data rotting in help docs, case studies, feature pages. ai companies have been training on this for free while building your competitors. now you can charge them $0.10 per page.

your dental saas help docs, well, that's years of practice wisdom. charge crawlers for access and make $3k/month from companies building "dentist ai."

tons of opportunity for founders building businesses:

build a restaurant review database, charge humans $5/month but charge ai crawlers $0.01 per review. two revenue streams, same content. im scanning startup ideas from ideabrowser dot com and seeing where i can add this rev stream.

expert knowledge platforms where you take 30% of human subs and 50% of crawler fees.

cloudflare handles the billing, you set the price.

they way to think about it...

what valuable data do you have sitting around... internal company docs, customer conversations, industry insights, process knowledge.

all of it can now generate revenue from ai companies who desperately need training data.

the winners will be content businesses that move fast. imagine owning a cooking blog with 10 years of recipes. that's training data gold for ai food companies. early adopters will set market rates before competition drives prices down.

this also completely changes saas valuations. businesses with proprietary content now have two revenue streams instead of one.

it's the beginning of a complete realignment of incentives on the internet.

suddenly, creating high-quality, unique content becomes dramatically more valuable. we'll see a renaissance of niche expertise sites because depth now pays better than breadth. the incentive shifts from "create content to rank in google" to "create content so valuable that ai companies must pay for it."

this also creates a new class of digital asset. your company's knowledge base is a revenue-generating asset that appreciates over time (not a cost center).

I'd expect more m&a activity around content libraries, not just user bases.

this makes human expertise defensible again. AI companies will pay premium rates for content from recognized experts because it's higher quality training data. this reverses the commoditization of knowledge.

cloudflare quietly changed the game.

pay-per-crawl just became your new best friend.
Cc; disstroy, seun

Yet again, another masterpiece, written by Segun Ayobolu. Enjoy:

The Nation Newspaper Backpage Columnist

Segun Ayobolu

July 19, 2025

PMB: Simplicity in life, dignity in death

It would have been surprising if his death last Sunday, July 13, in a private hospital in London, had been received with universal approbation and adulation of a virtuous, unblemished life in a polity as complex and fraught as Nigeria. First, there are no human beings without fault. With the possible exception of the immaculately spotless Peter Obi, according to the holy gospel of the ‘Obidients’, mortal leaders are no angels. Again, an inevitable and unavoidable price of greatness is the intense controversy evoked by those who make a significant impact on history across time and space. Those who love them do so fanatically, and those who detest them are implacable in their hatred. And so it was with President Muhammadu Buhari, unassuming military Head of State for about 20 months between December 1983 and August 1985, and two-term elected President of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. It was no different with Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ladoke Akintola, Murtala Mohammed, Odumegwu Ojukwu and several others who had played prime roles in Nigeria’s political evolution.

When he died in 1987, the great sage, unrivalled administrative genius and first Premier of the Western Region in Nigeria’s First Republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was passionately mourned by his teeming followers and remorselessly reviled by those who could not differentiate him from Satan. The great novelist and thinker, Professor Chinua Achebe, had issued a public statement after Awolowo’s death, accusing him of supporting genocide during the Nigerian civil war, and vigorously canvassing against according the great politician a state burial. He did not believe that the dead deserved some respect, and he was no doubt entitled to his view in a free and open society. It is instructive in this regard that Awolowo’s arch political opponent, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who defeated him in the 1979 and 1983 presidential elections, awarded him the National Honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), even though Awo was never President.

A near-unanimous refrain in the outpouring of emotions following President Buhari’s transition to eternity from both his friends and foes alike, however, was the unrivalled ethical pedestal he bestrode and the impeccable moral integrity that characterised his over five decades in public life. His aversion to material accumulation earned him the lifelong adulation, adoration and reflexive loyalty of millions of ordinary Nigerians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, where mass poverty is particularly pronounced, largely as a result of leadership lack of vision and elite venality. Indeed, in his slim but powerful classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, Achebe had traced the excessive materialism that is the bane of contemporary Nigeria partly to what he described as the deficiency in the political thought of some of our key founding fathers.

As Achebe put it, “A perceptive student of Nigerian politics, James Booth, has drawn attention to the poverty of thought exhibited in the biographies of Dr Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo in contrast to the expressions of ideology to be found even in the more informal works of Mboya, Nyerere and Nkrumah! In a solemn vow made by Azikiwe in 1937, he pledged: ‘that henceforth I shall utilise my earned income to secure my enjoyment of a high standard of living and also to give a helping hand to the needy’. Obafemi Awolowo was even more forthright about his ambitions: ‘I was going to make myself formidable intellectually, morally invulnerable, to make all the money that is possible for a man with my brains and brawn to make’. Thoughts such as these are more likely to produce aggressive millionaires than selfless leaders of their people. An absence of objective and intellectual rigour at the critical moment of a nation’s formation is more than an academic matter. It inclines the fledgling state to disorderly growth and mental deficiency”.

Though controversial, Achebe ‘s contention here in my view contains some grains of truth. Buhari was no intellectual and did not pretend to be one. He was a simple soldier who defended his country’s territorial integrity first on the battlefield, next in a war against indiscipline and corruption through ‘redemptive’ military statecraft between 1984 and 1985 and then on the partisan political terrain as a politician and emergent statesman between 2003 and 2023. Yet, he had a strong moral orientation to life undoubtedly influenced by his deep commitment to Islamic spirituality. It is amazing that a man who was military governor of the former North Eastern State comprising about five states today did not seize the opportunity to amass stupendous wealth. He was a former Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and military Head of State but never allocated any oil bloc to himself. He never acquired any property in Lagos. It almost sounds like fiction. It was after he left office in 2023 that the succeeding Tinubu administration upgraded his house in Kaduna.

When he assumed office as military Head of State in 1984, following the martial overthrow of a thoroughly corrupt and decadent Second Republic, the military still had the image of being a redemptive, messianic institution with the requisite reservoir of patriotism and professional integrity to rescue Nigeria from the havoc of predatory politicians. There is no doubt that Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon, pursued their War Against Indiscipline and Corruption in essentially purist and uncompromising, Messianic terms. Thus, they set up anti-corruption tribunals that tried and jailed corrupt politicians of the Second Republic for terms that amounted to life sentences. They publicly executed drug couriers and jailed foreign exchange speculators. They drafted draconian punitive laws against a media they perceived as veering beyond the bounds of liberty into licentiousness.

Even before his emergence as military Head of State, Buhari ‘s patriotic commitment to Nigeria was indisputable. In his thrilling and authoritative book, ‘Soldiers of Fortune’, the lawyer, writer and historian reputed for his extensive knowledge of Nigerian military history, Max Siollun, wrote, “Buhari was in charge of troops sent to Nigeria’s north-eastern border region in 1983 to prevent infiltration by armed rebels from the neighbouring Republic of Chad. After his troops successfully cleared the rebels from the border area, the troops advanced several kilometres into Chadian territory. The political hierarchy ordered Buhari to withdraw his troops, but he refused, arguing that the Chadian rebels would return to the area as soon as his troops departed… Buhari was finally persuaded to withdraw after President Shagari enlisted Buhari ‘s superior officers, Lt-Generals Jalo and Wushishi, to order him to pull back.”

As expected and as Max Siollun writes, the incident created a tense relationship between top members of the Shagari administration and Buhari and that “It also caused enough concern in the government for the Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, to place Buhari under surveillance. Dikko also pressured the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Wushishi, to block Buhari ‘s posting to Lagos…The strong-willed Buhari complained to President Shagari that Dikko had asked his movement to be monitored. When Shagari raised the issue with Dikko, Dikko did not deny the accusation, but simply warned Shagari that Buhari could not be trusted and should be retired. Dikko had woken a sleeping tiger.”
Read Also: Nigeria exceeds OPEC quota by four percent in June

Widely reviled by Nigerians, Umaru Dikko had a reputation for corruption, arrogance and contempt for suffering Nigerians. When asked on national television about the economic hardships being experienced by Nigerians under the Shagari administration, he responded by asking if any Nigerians had been seen eating from dust bins! The audacious attempt by the Buhari regime to abduct Dikko from Britain, where he had escaped to after the 1983 coup, an effort coordinated with the support of the dreaded Israeli intelligence outfit, Mossad, made global news at the time. Dikko had been successfully kidnapped outside his residence when he was taking a walk, anaesthetised into unconsciousness, bundled into a waiting van and driven away by Nigerian and Israeli security officers. He was later offloaded into a crate labelled “diplomatic baggage”, addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos and transported in a lorry to Stansted Airport, where a Nigeria Airways plane was waiting to depart for Lagos with its “diplomatic baggage” at 3 pm.

Unfortunately, there had been a last-minute lapse in the operation and British security and immigration agents in and around the airport had been put on high alert. Attempts by the British authorities to inspect the diplomatic crate were vigorously protested by a Nigerian officer, Major Ahmed Jarfa Yesufu (rtd) and one Okon Edet, a member of the Nigerian High Commission in London. According to Max Siollun, “The vehement protests were dismissed and the police opened the crates with a crowbar. What they found inside was shocking. In the first crate was a bound and unconscious Dikko with his torso bare. Dikko ‘s captors had shoved an endotracheal tube into his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit when he was unconscious. His captors wanted him brought back to Nigeria alive. Besides him was Shapiro, brandishing syringes and a supply of additional anaesthetics to administer to Dikko if need be. Shapiro asked the customs officers, “Well, gentlemen, what do we do now?”

Those were momentous episodes in Nigeria’s foreign policy at the time, resulting in a prolonged diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and Britain. Buhari’s transition from a feared military dictator to a democratically elected two-term President who governed with utmost respect for democratic ethos is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. Obasanjo also governed as a two-term elected President after previously serving as a military Head of State who voluntarily handed over to a democratically elected President in 1979. But on his second coming as elected President, his attempt to secure a tenure extension for a third term in 2007 had to be thwarted by a concerted resistance of critical political stakeholders. Obasanjo sings his anti-corruption credentials from the rooftops and labels everybody else as corrupt. But the monstrous Hilltop mansion in Abeokuta and the expansive Obasanjo Presidential Library complex, as well as numerous multi-billion Naira private investments, give the lie to his rhetoric. Buhari has no such baggage.

This column does not intend to join the debate on the achievements or otherwise of the Buhari administration for his eight years as elected President. His accomplishments are there for all to see, and his failings too, like any leader. One of these is that he was too trusting of some of his key aides who hid behind the cover of his unstinting integrity and credibility to amass humongous wealth without the slightest iota of compassion for the teeming talakawa that Buhari loved and who reciprocated his affection fervently. Yet, some of such unscrupulous persons see his consistently over 12 million votes over several electoral cycles as an asset they can inherit and trade with, even as the honest one leaves us in a blaze of glory. They should not underestimate the intelligence of Buhari’s masses.

Flashback to October 1, 1974. In his address to the nation, Nigeria’s military Head of State at the time, General Yakubu Gowon, told his stunned countrymen and women that his earlier pledge to return the country to democratic governance by 1976 was no longer feasible. Aba Saheed, pen name of Akogun Tola Adeniyi, fiery and unsparing columnist with the then trail-blazing Daily Times, responded with a pungent and incisive piece titled ‘Death, I salute you!’. He warned about the transience of human existence, the ubiquity of death and the ultimate vanity of power. Buhari needed no such admonitions. According to his media adviser, as President, Femi Adesina, towards the end of Buhari’s tenure, he asked the former President, “after here, what next?” And he responded, “I’m looking forward to leaving. And from there, I go to my grave at the appointed time”. No wonder he was so indifferent to the obsessive accumulation of wealth and the arrogant utilisation of power. May the honest one rest in deserved peace.

Oga Seun, your bot is frustrating my efforts whenever I post job openings with links my posts get hidden and my account banned for some minutes. Please, fix this glitch

Anytime I see someone say that Nigeria doesn’t have a labour and/or people problem, I know the person is either not an entrepreneur and/or employer of labour, or they are simply being dishonest.

We are facing a deep-rooted issue with our value system, and at the heart of it lies a culture of impunity. Ajayi Oluwatobi

Imam Ibn al-Jawzi رحمه الله said:

Know that the greatest door through which Iblees enters upon people is ignorance, so he enters upon the ignorant with security, and as for the scholar, he can only enter upon him stealthily.

And indeed, Iblees has deceived many of the devoted worshippers due to their lack of knowledge, because most of them are busy with acts of worship without perfecting their understanding of knowledge.

And al-Rabee' ibn Khuthaym said:
“Seek deep understanding (fiqh), then isolate yourself.”

So, the very first deception he plays upon them is making them prefer worship over seeking knowledge, and knowledge is more virtuous than voluntary acts of worship.

So he made them believe that the goal of knowledge is merely to act, and they didn't understood "acting" but to mean only physical actions of the limbs.

They did not know that true action includes the action of the heart, and that the action of the heart is greater than the action of the limbs.

Mutarrif ibn ‘Abdullah said:
“The virtue of knowledge is better than the virtue of worship.”

And Yusuf ibn Asbaat said:
“A single chapter of knowledge that you learn is better than seventy battles (in the path of Allah).”

And al-Mu‘afaa ibn ‘Imraan said:
“Writing down one hadith is more beloved to me than praying a whole night.”

📘 Talbees Iblees by Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 120

In all his stilt, strict, stubborn, and selectively subdued persona, he was also a humorous person. His humor came in bits and tits, at those moments you least expected them.

Two incidents come to mind for me.

One was during one of my initial pre-appointment reviews with him. I had objected to his offer to me to become the Group Managing Director of NNPC. I preferred the Ministerial Portfolio so as to focus on policies.

‘Why don’t you want to be GMD?’ he asked me as I settled into the sofa next to him in the residential unit of the villa. This was in early June of 2015.

‘I am worried about scandals and the expectations of friends and foe. I don’t want to be tainted’

He burst into a staccato of laughter

‘You think any public office insulates you from scandal?’ And he kept laughing, stopping in between to take a sip of water.

‘If you don’t plan to do anything corrupt, scandal should not bother you. Everyone who has occupied that desk has had issues’, he continued.

‘Well, no one gets free of scandal once you come into government. Even I, as straight as I try to be, people still accuse me of all sorts and abuse me.

We simply do our best and leave the rest to Allah. And on policy, you can drive policy from anywhere if you are determined.’

‘Ok sir’, I began to concur’, then adding, ‘I don’t also want to be absent from council and have a Minister torpedo the change efforts you are bringing me to lead in the petroleum sector’.

He rolled his eyes for a while, then bending forward he said in hushed tones

‘ok you will resume as GMD and when it is time for me to appoint Ministers I will also put you on the list’.

‘Thank you Sir’, I replied and as he stood up he added with new vigour and finality, ‘let’s hope you will be thanking me six months from now, but you resume tomorrow. I do not have time for equivocation.’

‘Yes, Mr President and my General’, I replied. I stood up and gave a mediocre imitative salute.

‘You are funny, Ibe’, he said with a dismissive laughter and wave of the hand, calling me by my name for the first time.

The second was when I went to him to suggest I wanted to go to the militancy zone and make contact with the militants to end the destruction of pipelines that was ravaging oil production in the sector. It was in his office and we were alone.

‘Well, I don’t think it is a good idea. They will take you hostage and ask for ransom and tie my hands. I will rather let the security agencies deal with security issues and you produce the oil’, he said with a fatherly smile.

‘Only problem is, we can’t produce enough oil if we don’t stop the disruptions Mr President’ ,I replied.

He leaned forward with his usual deeply probing eyes ‘are you one of the militants? How will you find them?’

That took me by surprise

‘No Sir, I am not one of the militants. But we have back channels’ ‘You want me to send officers with you into the creek?’ He asked ‘No Sir, that will be more trouble’, I replied.

‘You are on your own. This government does not pay ransome’, he scoffed at me, adding, ‘anyway, I am the substantive Petroleum Minister. If you don’t come back, I will continue the job without you.’

We had some good laugh on that occasion. It was to the credit of that trip, his willingness to accomodate my naivety, and our subsequent meetings with PANDEF under the leadership of Late Pa Chief Edwin Clark and the ceasefire that ensued, that oil production rebounded from lowly 1mbpd to 1.9mbpd over the next few months. All under the President’s leadership.

I did not have the opportunity post my departure from Office in 2019 to meet President Buhari again and to exchange ideas and compare notes . Perhaps it would have afforded me an opportunity to debunk so many mischevious tales of rifts and disloyalty that characterized our working relationship in those years, largely peddled by some self serving pretentious aides and flank opportunists.

I was keeping that opportunity for a one day suprise visit to Daura. The truth is that all I prefer to remember of my working time with President Buhari are my Reverance and Respects for a great man.

Regrettably, my visit today will now be only to participate in the burial Programme of a truly Great Man, for indeed THERE WAS A President.

May his soul Rest in Peace. Allah yaji kansa da rahama , ya bashi aljanna fir dausi.

Tuesday 15th July 2025 10:00am

•Prof Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, former Minister of State Petroleum Resources (2015 -2019); Former GMD of NNPC