₦airaland Forum

Sincere9gerian:
The Buhari campaign organisation just confirmed they will not be attending the channelstv presidential election debate scheduled for tomorrow.

Surely, even the NL Buhari apologists will be shocked by this latest development. Well yours sincerely is not surprised. Buhari is an embodiment of gross incompetence. QED!

Are you educated? Do you know or understand the meaning of "Incompetency"?. I advised you read Mr.Soludo reponse to Okonjo Iweala on Nigeria Economy,then use your brain not your mouth and tell me what Incompetency means,OK. Born to suffered people. You make me regret why I never supported abortion when you're born.

nwafuluozoh:
Wow! Charles the son of Soludo has finally found his calling: Discrediting our economy on behalf of APC.
Well I wish him well but he had better collect his pay now because after Buhari has lost massively , the money and position they promised him will become VOICE MAIL aka bad debt.

My Broda,Do you have conscience? It's not about APC but the quantum of money involved that could have gone long way to solve most of our problems. Not position,I think GOD has plan for Nigerians,we have suffered in midst of plenty too much.

Truth24:
Too much for an innocent reader

Kindly read my brother,it'so impactful.

I need to document this information for my children and posterity sake,how havard and world bank guru dupes Nigeria.

PART 3

AMCON is a big topic (which I will address at a later date) but her claims show either ignorance or mischief. She claims that N5.7 trillion of AMCON funds was used to rescue banks and the ‘bond issued’ as ‘cost to taxpayers’. Really? I will deal with the AMCON I envisaged and the AMCON under you later but let me state that even if 100% of the banks’ NPL was offloaded on AMCON, it would not be up to N5.7 trillion. Enough said for now. The fact is that the Federal Government has not put a penny in the AMCON fund: the banking system is financing itself, and together with the sinking fund by banks, AMCON surely can’t default (thanks to consolidation that the banks are now big enough to cough out such funds to solve the system’s problem). Did you intend to deceive the readers by refusing to tell them that much of the AMCON fund is ‘investment’ and not ‘expense’. Am sure you heard the IMF’s alarm about moral hazard? If you want, we can have a focused debate on AMCON.

Next, let me briefly respond to a few outlandish claims. She brags about ‘single-digit’ inflation rate ‘now’ and alleges that when I left office, inflation was above 13%. I just laughed at this one. In Nigeria’s history, no governor of the Central Bank has delivered 24 consecutive months of single digit inflation as I did until the advent of the unprecedented global crisis in 2008. It was not for nothing that the world cheered us as monetary policy czar, Madam! Perhaps you are also not aware that we broke a world record by having a depreciated real effective exchange rate during a time of export boom and this was at the heart of our reserve accumulation and the portfolio/FDI inflows. I resisted the IMF advice to deplete reserves for liquidity management, and Nigeria had enough self-insurance to survive the global crisis. The opposite has happened under you Madam, and the Nigerian economy is in trouble. Naira exchange rate appreciated under me from N133 to N117 before the global crisis; and reserves grew to all time high of $62 billion. For the first time since 1986, the official, interbank and parallel market exchange rates converged under me. You can’t match these records!

I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!

Next, Madam, I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam!

Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion.

Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?). How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years? As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process? Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone.

You alluded to debt relief in your response and tried to take credit. Well, your CV is honest enough to admit that your two achievements in office as Finance minister under Obasanjo were that “you led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club” and that you “introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation in the newspapers”. You are right about the two achievements. Let me put on record that Nigeria would have secured debt relief under anyone as Minister of Finance. President Obasanjo secured debt relief for Nigeria. Much of his first term was used to get Nigeria back into the international community and to campaign for debt relief. Before you were sworn in as Minister of Finance, President Bush visited Nigeria and both of us accompanied President Obasanjo during the meeting. There, Mr. Bush promised to support Nigeria with debt relief and asked our president to ensure that he met the conditions of the Paris Club. Obasanjo mobilized the global political support and coordinated all of us to ensure that the government met the check-list of ‘conditionalities’ as required. I spent five weeks in the hotel with my team (as coordinator/chairman for drafting the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS).

Some of the reform targets in NEEDS became the ‘conditionalities’ Nigeria was required to fulfil to merit debt relief. You and I signed the various MoU with the IMF on behalf of Nigeria (the policy support instrument). We had a great team at work and each member of the economic team had specific aspects of the conditionalities to deliver: Bode Agusto was in-charge of the budget; Oby Ezekwesili held sway at Bureau of Public Procurement and later Minister of Solid Mineral, and Education (but specifically tasked with delivering on EITI and procurement reforms); Nuhu Ribadu was at the EFCC fighting corruption; I was at the Central Bank delivering on monetary policy and banking reforms; Steve Oronsaye worked hard to delist Nigeria from the FATF; Nenadi Usman was in-charge of the parastatals; El-Rufai held forth at FCT and in charge of public sector reforms; privatization programme went on, etc. Did you know that the IMF wrote President Obasanjo threatening that there would be no debt relief if the CBN did not meet some monetary targets, and do you know the magic we performed to meet them? Can you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured.

Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated. Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria. Was there a conflict of interest on your part?

By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team—- barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.

You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrand Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis.

Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?

What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys. I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here!

Madam alleges that the NBS—as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times!

Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures.

Many of Madam’s responses were comical, but this one is classic. According to her, the chief economic adviser and NBS “worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year”, and went on to ask, “why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any good economist needs less than 10 minutes to compute this figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard work’ by your team. My calculation is that the number of jobs Nigeria needs to create each year to significantly reduce unemployment rate to sustainable levels in the next few years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team. We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please.

Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now. I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a N3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a N10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)—Africa’s premier infrastructure bank!

Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around. Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain. But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria!

What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen— I don’t belong to any of the two). Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12th February, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators. I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have carelessly rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate. Eagerly waiting for your response, please!

Chukwuma Charles Soludo is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

PART 2

How did Nigerians evaluate my public service? Unfortunately, we do not have scientific opinion polls on job approval ratings for individual public officers. But if the public opinions of individuals and organized groups (labour, employers, depositors, borrowers, stakeholders of the financial institutions, newspaper editorials, investors, etc) as expressed in thousands of newspaper/magazine clips during and after my tenure are anything to go by, then 82% of the public largely agree with the sentiments expressed by my two bosses. Your views belong to the other 18% which is okay, after all, no one is perfect. Five Nigerian newspapers and magazines simultaneously named us “man of the year” in one year— unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. I do not talk about hundreds of awards and recognitions by various segments of our society (during and even after service) for “excellent public service”. I was particularly touched by the historic award by the staff union of the Central Bank and the tears in the eyes of many as thousands of the staff gave me a standing ovation as I walked the aisle after my brief farewell speech.

Certainly, the international community (investors, bankers, scholars, donors, media, etc) took serious notice of the revolution in Nigeria’s monetary and financial system. I am recipient of five international awards as global and African central bank governor of the year, not to mention dozens of other recognitions (even after leaving office). The London Financial Times described us as “a great reformer”. Even as the global economic and financial crisis raged in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly appointed me to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system. You don’t appoint someone who has ‘mismanaged’ his national financial system to reform the global system. For 8 years until 2012, I served on the chief economist advisory council (CEAC) of the World Bank, and together with two Nobel Prize winners in economics and other experts we met periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank, and in 2011, I served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF. Again, these are not positions for ‘mis-managers’. Since I left office, I have been advising countries and central banks; and there is hardly any two months I don’t consult/advise on banking/financial and monetary policy. I have given these illustrations to make the point that for every one Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to rewrite history, there are thousands who disagree.

Now, to some skeletal facts of our stewardship! I will be brief as I have a whole book to tell my story. As chief economic adviser, I had advised that our banking system could not support the private sector-led economy envisioned under NEEDS. When I assumed office at CBN, I inherited 89 rickety, mostly family banks (all of which put together were not up to the size of number four bank in South Africa). Many were insolvent, with depositors’ money trapped, and 20 more about to collapse. To get a credit of $300 million probably required all the banks to syndicate it. For me, there was a national emergency. I drafted a 13-point reform agenda, discussed and agreed all the specifics with the President, and his VP; as well as my management team at the CBN, and we swung into action. President Obasanjo promised 100% support and actually delivered 1000%— which was decisive. I apologize to you Madam because I did not brief or inform you about it. We just wanted to keep it confidential given the sensitivity of the announcement. It is on record that you never supported it.

It was both a revolution and a war and most people thought it was “impossible”, but thank God we succeeded. For the first time in Nigeria’s history a policy of that magnitude was announced and deadline kept with precision. We were courageous to revoke the licenses of 14 banks, including those of my friends, in one day. The FT-Banker concluded that the scale, precision, and cost of the transformation were unprecedented in the world. Before then, Malaysia had the least cost of banking consolidation at 5% of Malaysian GDP. It did not cost Nigerian taxpayers one penny. Twenty-five new, stronger banks emerged but the powerful idea behind consolidation ignited something even more powerful—‘the race to the top’. Banks raised more capital, and even banks like First Bank, Zenith, GTB, etc that did not merge with others went on capital raising several times. The consequence was higher levels of capitalization and within two years, 14 Nigerian banks were in the top 1000 banks in the world and two in the top 300 (no Nigerian bank was in the top 1000 before I came). Even after I left office, still 9 banks were in the top 1000. Our vision was to have a Nigerian bank in the top 100 banks within 10 years. As I see the new Access bank; Zenith, GTB, Fidelity, Diamond, UBA, FBN, FCMB, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, etc, I cannot but feel that we have taken giant steps forward.

Deposits and credit soared (from barely N1.2 trillion to over N7 trillion); new technologies (ATM and e-banking) boomed, and banks had 57,000 new jobs; mega businesses emerged (ask any major operator in the Nigerian economy their experience with banking and credit before and after Soludo —the Dangotes, Arik, MM2, oil and gas operators; etc); capital market boomed and dominated by the banking sector. It was a new dawn for Nigerian private sector. I have heard Dangote twice say that he would not be near as big as he is today without the banking consolidation. Many other stakeholders still say it today. FDI and portfolio inflows flooded into Nigeria. The world celebrated, and one single transformative idea has changed the face of the private sector and economy forever. Banks became Nigeria’s first transnational corporations with about 37 branches outside of Nigeria.

Nigeria survived the global crisis because of this, and it is the banking sector that has largely been powering the economic growth you claim (compare banks trillions of naira credit for investments in the productive sector with your government’s miserable expenditure on critical infrastructure and investment; much of your borrowing – bonds – is from the banks). Your privatization of power sector, several PPP projects on infrastructure, etc, are now possible because of the mega banks. Today, Nigerian banks syndicate multi-billion dollar loans— unthinkable before. Madam, if the consolidation was ‘mismanaged’, there would not have been any bank to start with in the aftermath of the global crisis— as President Yar’adua correctly pointed out. Even you, during a recent presentation at the Banquet Hall in Abuja advertised consolidation as a historic achievement. How can you recognize a ‘mis-managed’ project as an outstanding achievement? As we say in Igbo, you can’t cover the moon with your palms.

Let me be clear: the quantum size of the new banks following consolidation presented challenges of risk management and supervision. We deployed all we had and overworked the CBN staff. The carry-over of bad loans from the consolidated banks was quickly cleaned up. To the best of my knowledge, we instituted stringent regulatory and supervisory regime (consistent with best practices at the time). We even had resident examiners in the banks and required bank MDs to personally sign their reports to CBN. I recall that the former MD of GTB complained of “regulatory intrusiveness”. To our credit, non-performing loans (NPL) came down from 22% in 2003 and 2004 to 6% as at 2008. Anywhere in the world, a central bank that brought NPL from 22% to 6% over a four year period does not look like one with a loose supervisory regime. Name other developing countries that performed better, Madam. So, on point of fact, Madam lied. Yours was a reckless assertion without basis by a Finance Minister.

The banks in Nigeria were supervised by the CBN and NDIC, but other institutions— international firms which audited them, international rating agencies which also examined their books, capital market operators since most were listed companies — all had oversight. I put on record that there was never any information/report of infractions by any bank which was brought to my attention and which we did not act upon decisively during my tenure. I heard the comment that some of the bank MDs were my friends. Well, my response is that perhaps as CME you should kill all your friends operating in the economy or become their enemies. For the record, my successor audited all the banks and none of my so-called friends was indicted. It speaks volumes. Indeed, it is also a fact that the alleged personal criminal infractions (including lapses in corporate governance Madam alluded to) by some bank CEOs were found out, only AFTER they had been removed from office. My successor told me that the comprehensive audit of the banks did not reveal such infractions. Of course, you must be God or have a special tip-off from inside to get to such information while the MDs are in office. Unfortunately, all over the world, no financial system has succeeded in routing out all criminal behaviours by the operators. So, Madam, I challenge you to provide one shred of evidence that ‘there was no separation between regulators and regulated’ or be honourable enough to retract your reckless statement.

What happened? The unanticipated and unprecedented crisis of 2008/09 hit the world. More than 40 US and European banks either collapsed or were shaken badly (remember the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Wachovia, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, even UBS, etc) and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent to bail them out. The contagion effects spread like a wild fire, destroying national stock markets and banks. The nascent (big) banks in Nigeria faced sudden multiple shocks— liquidity, exchange rate, oil price, capital market, etc. As oil prices collapsed, loans to oil and gas became non-performing overnight; loans to the capital market became non-performing overnight; etc. Our first priority was to save the entire banking system and the economy from systemic collapse. I assured Nigerians that no bank would be allowed to fail, and not many people know what it took to achieve it. Once we had navigated through the unexpected /unprecedented turbulence, we laid out a comprehensive plan to clean up the debris which we presented to stakeholders in Lagos (March 2009). I had pleaded with the Senate to pass the AMCON bill which we sent to them in 2004. But I had a comprehensive plan to finish the clean-up with or without AMCON by the end of 2009, including second round consolidation and a N500 billion fund (my book will detail all these). I left behind an 11-volume document of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) which has remained the policy roadmap for the CBN/financial sector since I left office.

I have two analogies for our experience. Ours was really like an airplane that was cruising and suddenly meets an unexpected and unprecedented turbulence. After the pilots and the crew succeed in navigating through the potential crash and probably land the airplane, people look in and start blaming the crew for the broken tea cups, chairs, and drinks that fell during the turbulence as evidence that the crew never kept the airplane clean or serviced it. My second analogy is that of a sudden earthquake in a region it was never expected and some houses collapsed. All of a sudden, the housing authority is to blame for not requiring earthquake-proof foundations for the houses. Well, my legal experts call it force majeure, an act of nature!

To be fair, after every crisis, there are lessons (and my book will detail what, with benefit of that experience, we should have done differently). Risk management— which has always been there— now took a new centre stage all over the world following the crisis. But for anyone to suggest that CBN under me, for one minute, took its eyes off the ball is, to say the least, ludicrous. The US financial system literally crippled the world costing America hundreds of billions of dollars but no one has suggested that Alan Greenspan is no longer the great maestro!

I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further. Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.

Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy—CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do. If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer. Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal.

I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first governor of central bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing. This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy.

In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense)— the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged— under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at N215 (from N158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning. For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!

Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs—just to keep the record straight!

In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record.

Said President Obasanjo (December 2004):

“Charles Soludo is a true Nigerian. He is the sort of Nigerian that we all know we can rely on. Among his numerous virtues is COURAGE. I have found in him a man who can take tough and realistic decisions, stand his ground, educate others on the salience of his decision, and work very hard to ensure that the decision is efficiently and effectively implemented. His dedication to duty is first rate. His leadership qualities are admirable and his willingness to listen and learn is simply infectious. Professor Soludo has within a short time emerged as one of the leading lights of our nation. Not because he has a godfather but by sheer hard work, loyalty, dedication to duty, commitment to the nation, creativity, and undiluted association with the reform agenda….”

President Yar’Adua (May 2009) had the following to say about the Central Bank of Nigeria under my leadership:

“… the CBN has performed creditably well in delivering on its core mandates. This is especially even more so in the last five years. Most people would agree that without the successful banking consolidation and effective management of our foreign reserves, the current global crisis would have shaken the financial system and our national economy to their foundations with calamitous consequences”.

In the President’s special letter of commendation after the completion of my tenure of office, President Yar’Adua (June 2009) had the following to say to me:

“As your tenure as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria comes to a glorious end, I write on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria to place on record our debt of gratitude to you for your dedicated service and uncommon sense of duty over the past five years. I am confident that your worthy antecedents in the CBN and in prior appointments in the service of our nation remain sources of inspiration to an entire generation. As I wish you even more astounding successes in the years ahead, it is my fervent hope that you will readily avail us of your distinguished service when the need arises in the future”.

To the best of my knowledge, President Obasanjo has not changed those views even after ten years. The views of my two bosses, not the emotional outburst of an angry person desperate to get even, are what count.

All those in Akwa Ibom,Delta states are not up to two third of votes of lagos State,how can Jonatha win?

Friend post this from his state .

Confirmed fraud from PDP.

I'm not under any cursed, some people just behaved as if they have been cursed to die poor,under poverty. They see and read clearly that things re not right in this country but still ready to stick their necks and campaign for Jonathan to be re elected to ruin what little is available about us.

Fela,look at yourself and you're aging,some corrupt politicians are amazing our collective wealth,no good roads,no security for you and your family,no quality education,no efficient healthcare system, all means of prosper in business is mismanaged by the rulers in govts, you re frustrated,no jobs. when are you going use your head.I lived in UAE with my family,work as a Doctor,earning what i would never earn for 30yrs if i'm working back home,giving a five bedroom duplex,my children schools fees are paid by government, each of my family have medical insurance worth 2million Dhriams a year(100,000,000 naira) Gold medical insurance and globally accepted. I'm not wealthy but i lived good life with my family. these are what is possible in our country if we have right leader,UAE doesn't have half of oil and gas we have,no farm to plant all desert,no water-they only desalinates the gulf water to drink costing billions,dubai alone has double of our annual budget. UAE eats the fresh & best of foods,fruits while they have no farm.don't let corruption kill you,vote BUHARI to help you kill CORRUPTION. i WEEP FOR YOU.

I'm not under any cursed, some people just behaved as if they have been cursed to die poor,under poverty. They see and read clearly that things re not right in this country but still ready to stick their necks and campaign for Jonathan to be re elected to ruin what little is available about us.

Fela,look at yourself and you're aging,some corrupt politicians are amazing our collective wealth,no good roads,no security for you and your family,no quality education,no efficient healthcare system, all means of prosper in business is mismanaged by the rulers in govts, you re frustrated,no jobs. when are you going use your head.I lived in UAE with my family,work as a Doctor,earning what i would never earn for 30yrs if i'm working back home,giving a five bedroom duplex,my children schools fees are paid by government, each of my family have medical insurance worth 2million Dhriams a year(100,000,000 naira) Gold medical insurance and globally accepted. I'm not wealthy but i lived good life with my family. these are what is possible in our country if we have right leader,UAE doesn't have half of oil and gas we have,no farm to plant all desert,no water-they only desalinates the gulf water to drink costing billions,dubai alone has double of our annual budget. UAE eats the fresh & best of foods,fruits while they have no farm.don't let corruption kill you,vote BUHARI to help you kill CORRUPTION. i WEEP FOR YOU.

It is noteworthy that since 2011, the Administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been prudent with the issue of debt and borrowing. The Economic Management Team not only looks at debt to GDP ratio, where Nigeria has one of the lowest numbers in the world at 12.51 percent but it looks at debt service to revenues. That is why in spite of the rebasing and a larger GDP, the administration has taken a prudent approach to borrowing. The prudent approach helped to drive down domestic borrowing from N1.1 trillion in 2010 to N642 billion in 2014. In fact for the first time in our nation’s borrowing history we even managed to retire N75 billion of domestic bonds outright in 2013.
Despite the present tough situation, we do not plan to go on a borrowing spree but to keep borrowing modest at a level sufficient to help us weather the present situation. We have already ramped up efforts to generate more non-oil revenues for the government while cutting costs of governance.

Prudent- Wow,this woman think Nigerians are fools with more that 10 private jets bought,$10 billion subsidy scam,pension scam and oil theft with connivance with government. if you think Nigerians are sick,I'm not.

We are improving infrastructure across the country. For example, 22 airport terminals are being refurbished, and five new international airport terminals under construction in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja, and Enugu. Soludo’s kinsmen in the South East now have an international airport in Enugu, and for the first time in Nigeria’s history can fly direct from Enugu to anywhere in world for which they are very grateful to this Administration.

Jallopy Airport- Wow This woman. Is that the same airports you see travelling thru world bank all your life,Does it look like modern day airports leaking and overtaken by floods

In Agriculture, over 6 million farmers now have access to inputs like fertilizers and seeds through an e-wallet system, which is more than the 403,222 that had access in 2011. Rice paddy production took off for the first time in our history, adding about 7 million MT to rice supply. An additional 1.3 million MT of Cassava has also been produced and as a result, the rate of food price increase has slowed considerably, according to the NBS.

Is there another country called Nigeria- I don't have to be an economist to know this is fraud and voodoo. I never get to a see the a seed of your rice and cassava bread not available as well in the market,I buy from local market in my neighborhood and mile 1.

In Housing, we have put in place a new wholesale mortgage provider – the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC) – to provide affordable mortgages to ordinary Nigerians, starting with those in the low-middle income bracket. This sector will help the economy grow as we tap it as an economic driver for the first time. Mortgage applications from 66,000 people are currently being processed and 23,000 have already received mortgage offers

Madam, soludo was asking about surplus from our oil sales when it's booming,selling for like $140-$170 per barrels,not we have put in place or we will do. how many houses built in the last six years by this administration?

Our Manufacturing sector is reviving with new automobile plants by Nissan, Toyota, etc. This is in addition to the backward integration policy in key sectors like petrochemical, sugar, textiles, agro processing and cement, which Nigeria is now producing 39,000 MT and exporting to the region.

Liar- how can you export what you don't have or has not become acceptable /available in your country,aside cement by dangote which is private investment.

CRAP ECONOMISTS, I DON'T JUST GET IT. FEBRUARY 14 IS AROUND THE CORNER,WE SHALL PROBE ALL YOUR THEORY AND FAILED PRACTICE

Vote the People's General,Buhari, Never vote Jonathan.

PDP should not get 10% of Nigerians votes on Feb 14.

Jim Nwobodo after that show he's unrepentantly corrupt when he was the chairman of NFA,he took the National stadium generator for his mother's burial in the east despite been convicted during Buhari regime. This kind of people are afraid of Buhari second coming. Buhari presidency is for common man who cannot afford basic things of life due to corrupt officials in government. He is over 70yrs,he has no interest to steal and accumulate wealth as he has never done in his life but corrupt people in government and private corporations would do everything not to have him because corporations and businessmen like corrupt government on their side to cheat people and keep them impoverished unlike Buhari that will make corporations serve the people justly. My compatriots should look beyond tribes and religions because poverty knows no religion,colours and tribes. Hausa/ Fulani once have their people as head of state,Do that saved them from poverty? Balyesians are poorer than most sections of the country inspite of having their own,the militants like Tompolo re feeding fat at expense of their people pretending to be freedom fighters,Dokubo boasting of investment local and abroad,even keep the greatest investment in other country to protect his wealth,not to employ Ijaw nation they claimed to be fighting for.

How did we get to the stage of our national lives? what did you say her name was? Already ridiculed slut has become spokeswoman for jonathan,Wow and folks re celebrating that as a Virtue.

Former Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has predicted that the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari will be the next Nigerian President which why those who are afraid of him are creating so many obstacles on his way, Saying “a general is always a general.

Obasanjo, who was reacting to the controversies generated over the school certificate of General Buhari said: “I see Buhari as the next President and Jonathan is aware of that, and that is the reason they are hitting him everywhere to put confusion in his camp. But a General is always a General… “

The former President said the truth of the matter is that Jonathan is aware that Buhari is qualified to contest for President election but that “some hawks with Jonathan do not want him to contest because they believed that he will win and come for them.

“The issue (of Buhari’s certificate) came up in 2007, and we investigated and found out that his WASEC is with the military and that was why he was allowed to contest in 2007. Buhari cannotlisten to anyone about his certificates because as a General of Nigeria Army, he will speak when he chooses, not by Femi Fani Kayode and Okupe asking him.

Fayose and other corrupt people including Kashamu do not want Buhari because of his anti-corruption slogan.

“Even Jonathan did not finish his PhD course but when it was presented we stated that, it does not matter but many people do not know because it was PDP thing.”



Read more: http://newsrescue.com/dropout-president-jonathan-didnt-complete-phd-accepted-like-obasanjo/#ixzz3PYKDrrxN

Buhari please give them your NEPA bill, Me and my Wife will vote for you,

Don't mind the SaTans they're possessed with evil spirits looool

Buhari please give them your NEPA bill, Me and my Wife will vote for you,Don't care about the SaTans they're possessed with evil spirits looool

Why are you also speaking for me,speak for yourself. Moreover you only have one vote but I have two(me and my wife). When did we appoint you to speak on our behalf too? Yoruba know where to cats their votes,just watch. SaTans.

Beautiful Story

One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn’t too luxurious.

When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the President’s secret service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner.

Following this conversation, President Obama asked Michelle, “Why was he so interested in talking to you?" She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her.

President Obama then said, “So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant?" Michelle responded, “No, if I had married him, he would now be the President Of The US.”

Believe it or not, sometimes it's a woman that makes a man who he is! smile emoticon

So for the single men that are still searching for a wife, may God help you to find that help mate that will turn you from " a nobody" into "a somebody". For that single lady that is reading this, may you be that blessing no man can do without.

A liar pastor,when Pastor Adeboye supported jonathan in 2007, the church did not divided,why should it divided if he decided to support a VP from his Yoruba clan and member of his church? Hipocrisy of the order. Why can't they just remains neutral like the muslim scholars of the Yoruba land especially Lagos now that they lost governorship position though it's never an issue to us. Apart from the facts that Jonathan is a failure, Yoruba says "Omo eni o sedi bebere ka fileke sidi omo elomiran. Tell me why re niger delta desperate to re elect jonathan despite failure and why Me and my Yoruba clan should reject osinbajo with good quality leadership. Nigerians irrespective of religions want good governance and the benefits to all. I'm a muslim from yorubaland, i dont care if you're muslim or not, but be sincere,just and show equitable distribution of wealth like in UAE and inspires us.

This will not save you from going to jail for plunging and looting our treasury.

Yes we need more prisons for thieves who looted our treasury. I'm so disappointed with Jonathan fighting corruption with IT,even China and other western nations have prisons for criminals. Why is Mr.President afraid of prisons and keep mentioning schools as if we don't have schools,I guessed there is no hiding place for them after 2015 election. You can see why all of them are afraid, even Fani kayode because we would open their cases and all the madam presidents co-thieves. I thank God for seeing this happening in my lifetime, they have stole so much that and in today's world no escape routes, we would bring them back to the country from wherever they hide. Nigerians will eventually be the winner and it would serve as lesson for the new APC government to be.

Thanks

kneeling is not new to the hausa,it's a custom to elders and traditions even for us Yoruba. you re quickly admonished if you don't go on knee for elderly people.

Lieutenant colonel, General Jeremiah Useni

said" Even in Nigeria, when I was a governor; Bendel State under General Buhari, we were told in clear terms that we should not answer Excellency because we were not the most excellent in the state, there are many excellent people"

This is no big deal on twitter if he could accept your following,he also have a right to unfollowed or blocked you. Then i saw your post saying "shameful" that is an insult to him. he has a right to tilt on sides on glaring evidence especially between age and good governance,and the available scenario.

Now the bells are tolling - a year is dead. And my heart is slowly beating the Nunc Dimittis to all my hopes and mute yearnings of a new year. And ghosts hover round dream beyond dream Dream beyond dream mingling with the brightest gleam. Bell-sounds fading into memories like rain drops falling into a river. And now the bells are chiming - a year is born. And my heart-bell is ringing in a dawn. But it’s shrouded things I see dimly stride on heart-canopied paths to a riverside. - Gabriel Okara

Fellow Nigerians, please, permit me to welcome you into the New Year with that exceptionally beautiful Poem by Gabriel Imomtimi Gbaingbain Okara. The words of that legendary writer encapsulates my message on this page today. The beginning of a New Year is usually a period of renewed hope for mankind. It is a time when we all bury our unfulfilled dreams and give birth to new fantasies. I really don’t know what has happened to the old tradition of men of God, especially Pastors, publishing their prophesies and predictions at the beginning of the year. It used to be a hot potato in those good old days and newspapers used to fall over themselves to get copies from famous prophets and then run them almost verbatim most times. Man is a naturally curious animal. In Africa, most of us practise syncretism, a combination of religions, because we are never too sure about which way would ultimately lead to heaven. This is why the oracle men (Diviners), marabouts and others are still very popular and generously patronised till this so-called modern day. Many of us would want to see our future, if it is truly possible.
I shall attempt to undertake such a task here and now. The year 2015 is too crucial to our dear country Nigeria. All manner of permutations are going on right now wherever two or more Nigerians are gathered and it all centres on what would happen before, during and after the elections coming up in February. The situation is already getting tense to the extent that many rich folks are relocating their families abroad or seeking new homes or hideouts far from the madding crowd that they think Nigeria is. It is such a shame that Democracy has become a theatre of war in our clime when elsewhere it is meant to be a pleasurable game of who controls the numbers. The question on everyone’s heart and lip is what happens if President Goodluck Jonathan fails in his second term bid and General Muhammadu Buhari wins! Will the ruling party, PDP, which has entrenched itself in power give up the fight, arms akimbo, and walk away so quietly and miserably into insignificance and irrelevance? Will the core supporters of President Jonathan, made up of militants and possible soldiers of fortune allow power to slip from their hands, just like that, without putting up some riotous protest in defiance and to delay the inevitable. Those who are beating the war drums in anticipation and rehearsing their war strategies ahead of time may wish to test their true might when that time comes. The second question is what happens if General Buhari fails and President Jonathan wins fair and square, or by hook and crook, and Buhari’s supporters cry foul, especially if the rigging or whatever it is called becomes too obvious and a free-for-all fight breaks out! No matter how the results go, one way or the other, will the loser agree to concede defeat? The general impression is that head or tail, a serious, possibly ‘roforofo’ fight (apologies to Fela) will ensue after this election. I beg to disagree. My prediction is very simple and straight forward. The 2015 Presidential election is not going to be too close to call as many people expect. Whoever wins will do so decisively. A wind of change is blowing across the land at the speed of light. It is like a hurricane majestically sweeping across the nation carrying everybody along in its wake. If it persists, General Muhammadu Buhari will win resoundingly. The victory will be so blistering that the PDP won’t know or even see what has hit it as if in a lightning strike. If President Jonathan is able to bounce back from the current blitzkrieg, then it means the wind of change would have been fatally downgraded to the extent that something major would have gone wrong with the APC candidates and/or their campaign. But I don’t see this happening. I’m willing and ready to place a bet that the PDP has reached its final bus stop, for now, after reigning unchallenged for 16 years. This is to be expected. Even the best of democracies abroad, political parties often suffer from natural law of diminishing returns after staying in power for so long. This kind of fatigue has already set in for PDP and a President Jonathan would be the natural collateral damage in the process. Many factors will determine this almighty election. I will break them down once again. I will start with two interesting analogies. The first is original to me while the other comes from a discussion I had yesterday with a very famous Itsekiri man over breakfast. Let’s begin with mine. The belief of most people I know is that neither APC nor PDP is perfect. They are readily dismissed as two sides of the same coin. Let’s stretch it further. Buhari and Jonathan both have their k-legs. But the former seems to have managed his own in such a way that people have come to terms with whatever is regarded as shortcomings while they have given up on any redeeming grace for Jonathan’s apparent weaknesses. In fact, Buhari in comparison to Jonathan is like having to choose between ulcer and cancer. Both ailments will definitely cause pain and discomfiture but the difference is still crystal clear. My Itsekiri brother stretched my thoughts further. He said he had asked his wife a question recently while discussing Buhari and Jonathan: “Darling, who among the two would you want to leave our kids with if we decide to travel for one week…?” The stunned wife took a deep breath before answering: “If I’ve no other person to leave them with than those two, I think I will pick Buhari. I know he might not allow them to eat too much and he may even ban them from watching their Disney channels but at least the kids will be safe and we’ll meet them at home when we come back.” C’est finis! That is the sad reality today. Many Nigerians don’t think the President has any new solutions to our economic woes, general insecurity, epileptic power, archaic infrastructure, reckless profligacy, epidemic corruption, ethnic conflagration and religious bigotry. What the President’s men are promoting ceaselessly as achievements are signs of backwardness for a nation as big, ambitious and prosperous as Nigeria, the proverbial giant of African. Most of them are nothing but relics and antiquities and we deserve much better if we must compete on the world stage. Nigerians are down and out and the options are too little and too few. They believe they have to try whatever else is available even if there is no guaranty of how things may turn out again. Except for those profiting from the present status quo, and may be telling the present government lies about the situation out there, the cry everywhere is change. The scenario I foresee is that Buhari will clear a large percentage of the Muslim votes, while the Christian votes would be split but with the majority still following the Buhari/Osinbajo team. The choice of Prof Yemi Osinbajo, a respected Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) as running mate to Buhari has refined my former thoughts in this respect. There is no gainsaying the fact that Jonathan had previously succeeded in playing this religious card by his constant forays in the sanctuaries of various churches, Pentecostal and otherwise, but with Osinbajo being brought into the equation most of this advantage has vanished and the pendulum of the Christian votes has swung the way of the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket. Buhari will make a serious incursion into the President’s traditional territories while the President would find Buhari’s terrain almost impenetrable. Indeed people are now saying that Jonathan no longer has the monopoly of Christianity. On the regional front, Buhari will score more votes than Jonathan in the entire North West and North East and Jonathan may struggle to record twenty-five percent in even a couple of them. The North Central will be a battle ground but Buhari will still have a slight edge. The South West will vote massively for Buhari this time even including Ondo and Ekiti states but Jonathan will record up to 25 percent in most of them. The South South will shock Mr President as Buhari will record minimum of 25 percent or more in Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta States and win more than 50 percent in Rivers and Edo States because of the Amaechi and Oshiomhole factors. Bayelsa is the only totally safe ground for President Jonathan. Even then one is not certain because of the schism within the PDP in that State. In the South East, Buhari may shock pundits by recording up to 50 percent in IMO state, about 25 percent in Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States. Those who think the President will lock down the entire South South and South East are in for a rude shock and reawakening. In essence, APC will not only win in majority of the States it will win big because it controls most of the biggest states with massive votes in Nigeria. Most of the PDP states are seriously going through one crisis or the other at this moment less than 45 days to the elections. On the contrary, APC has been able to manage its own internal crisis better without much ado. Where there have recently been cracks, those gaping holes have been practically healed except Ogun State where I still expect my godfather former Governor Segun Osoba, to return to the fold having invested so much energy and resources in the past. If what the President’s people are banking on is their campaign of calumny against the General, it won’t fly this time around because Nigerians have virtually acclimatised to the bad weather that a Buhari Presidency may bring while they find the PDP heat too hot and scorching to bear again after 16 years of misadventure. The election will not be as controversial as most people expect as the winner will be decided loud and clear. Of course, there will be skirmishes here and there but it won’t be anything the security forces won’t be able to handle, contain and crush if necessary. Many of those threatening brimstone and fireballs will be the first to flee in their private jets and speedboats now that they’ve made too much money from a fluid system. I can see a star studded cabinet after May 29 formed of the crème de la crème of politicians, technocrats and professionals, all committed to serving their motherland. Every effort would be made to form a government of national unity comprising of both party and non-party members and Nigerians with proven talents from across the world will be invited to join and participate in this wind of change. The new government will work harder on giving a sense of belonging to all without alienating anyone. The current regime of those who fan the embers of ethnic and religious divisions for personal gain will be reversed and consigned to the dustbin of history. This shall come to pass. God bless Nigeria.